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October 4, 2009

My living situation was a mess before. The Russian organization that is hosting me apparently ran out of money, so they consolidated three flats and an office into one downtown flat. What’s the problem? There were 6 people living in one bedroom. There were 3 Ikea bunk beds and a few drawers for storage. This flat wasn’t meant to be lived in, so there’s no kitchen. But we are making do with it because there’s a full-sized fridge, electric stovetop, a microwave, and that glorious hot pot (kettle). No kitchen sink, though. Fortunately, we get along fine and share responsibilities so living together wasn’t too terrible. Oh, and the kicker--the other room of the flat was used as the organization’s office. So, I could wake up one morning and come to my kitchen and sit with a stranger. We were told that Russians live in small flats just like ours. When we spoke to Russians, they were appalled by our living conditions. The fact that non-related men and women lived in the same bedroom shocked people even more. Most people felt bad for us and even offered to board us temporarily.

Naturally, we stirred up some trouble until something was done with the situation.

Currently, the situation is much better. The organization moved out of our flat, so now 4 of us are living in the same bedroom and the other 2 are in the window-less room. We can’t split 3-3 because we have bunk beds. Yes, it is exponentially better having more room to live in, but it’s even better now that we don’t share the space with the organization. That made things very uncomfortable, as you can imagine. There’s no Internet, TV, washing machine, dishwasher, or kitchen sink, but I really don’t need that much to survive happily. We are waiting for wardrobes, though. I don’t recommend this living situation for people who have never experienced dorm or hostel life. Or messy people--we are constantly cleaning the flat.

Our kitchen/common room. Notice the drying rack on the side. This is the view when you first enter the flat.

Oh yes, I should address the fact that I live with boys. But I couldn’t ask for any more respectful boys to share a room with. Of course, most of you care about my well-being, so I really want to emphasize that my flat mates are very considerate. I am very comfortable with the people I live with, but I bet my parents and brother are still uncomfortable with this.

My bedroom now with only 2 bunkbeds. I forgot to take a picture of the other half, so I'll do that and randomly post it later. This is the only room with a window.


A portrait of my temporary family created by yours truly. It reads, “My (^Swedish) Family.” At first, I thought that was cute because one of the girls is from Sweden. Then I learned the definition of “Swedish Family” and no longer think it is cute. Funny, but not cute.