Closing Down the Apartment

When I first wrote about my apartment on this blog, I didn't own a camera. Before I started to dismantle the couple of rooms which have been home the last eight months, I thought I'd take some photos. So here we go.

This is my desk, in the northwest corner of the apartment. I have a bit of a view out this window into the hills on the other side of town. It's a view I enjoy. And on warm days I can open both windows and get a good breeze going through the apartment.

This shot was taken standing in the northwest corner of the apartment, back to the windows. You can see the front door and the little drop-leaf table with the colorful tablecloth. The apartment also came equipped with a couch that makes into a double bed and a little coffee table of sorts.

This is my "kitchen." It consists of two electric burners (on the left side), a small refrigerator, and a sink (on the right side). The only work space is between the burners and the sink. Needless to say, I don't do any fancy cooking. In winter I would make soup or some other one-pot meal. Ted also brought me a bag of Snoqualmie Falls oatmeal! But mostly I eat my hot meal at school and have something light at night. That seems to work out fine.

This is the bedroom. I have two twin beds, a wardrobe, and small chest of drawers.

Here is a great photo of my foot -- and in the background the wardrobe and dresser. We found the dresser in a Walmart-type place, and Ted assembled it for me when he was here. It's been a great blessing.

Of course, I do have a bathroom. Not very exciting. The walls and floor are all covered by the same tiles.

That means that the whole bathroom becomes, in essence, the shower. There is a space about three feet wide to the right of the toilet. There is a drain in the floor and a water tap with shower head on the wall opposite. There is a shower curtain, but that doesn't contain the water so when you take a shower, the bathroom floods. I have a kind of sponge mop (see the handle against the wall) that I use to get the water near the drain. Then Ted brought a shamee that's normally used for detailing cars. It works great for getting the rest of the water up off the floor. Makes taking my morning shower a bit of a task, but at least the bathroom floor stays clean.


Not having to go to work today -- it's National Youth and Sport Day -- I actually fixed myself a good, local-style breakfast: boiled egg, tomatoes, olives, cheese, and pita bread, hot from the oven at the bakery down the street. I added the apricot -- fruit is not a normal part of a Turkish breakfast. The one thing missing is cucumber. The jam is pumpkin preserves. That's not common either but I found it in the jam section of the supermarket.

And finally, my upstairs neighbor Zeus. He belongs to a young couple (see the Thanksgiving blog; Joe was the chef and his wife Laressa is standing next to him) who teach in our program. Every once in a while I get to "Zeus-sit." He's such a loving little creature and so patient with everyone one in the neighborhood who knows him and wants to pet him.