The other day, while the apartment was still empty, I asked my landlady where the thermostat was. It was noon and my extremities felt like ice blocks — this even though I was wearing two sweatshirts, a T-shirt, jeans and socks.
I didn’t know how to say thermostat, so I asked, “Where is that thing on the wall that has the temperature?”
She said in Spanish, “Oh, the heater? There isn’t one.”
Whaa?
“Oh, yeah, it’s that way in any Mexican home. It’s because they make the houses out of cement, which makes things colder inside. I bought a space heater, which works pretty well… ”
Note to self: Buy a space heater and try not to burn the house down.
Guess I won’t be giving away my wool socks after all.