home sweet home

i like to refer to this as my little cottage on the hill. I think my favorite part is the view from the back of my house... except i cannot full-heartedly agree with that because i get this amazing breeze going through when all my windows and doors are open and it always smells fresh with a relaxing vibe.

(view from the back of my house... if you look at the far hill in the background you can see my favorite tree... i named it Sylvia... and yes, I now name trees.)

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(view from the back of my house during a thunderstorm)

my cottage is composed of 4 livable rooms. (technically there are 5, but the fifth room is forbidden. it is where my 70 year old land lord, Shua, keeps her extra charcoal and furniture that should be thrown away.) When you walk in the front door you enter the sitting room. Walking through the sitting room you enter the kitchen with my "running" water... by "running" water i mean i have a bucket that i refill with water and there is a spout. I didn't create it until my 5th week at site, and it has been wonderful. My gas stove runs off of a 16 kg tank that sits in the fireplace. Next to the kitchen is my bathing room. As you can see it is an empty room, with a drain, without electricity, and with several buckets. In order to find my soaps and shampoo while i bathe i bring a carosene lantern back with me. It sizzles everytime i splatter water on it.

(this is how close i live to Shua...

my landlord who makes me pay her for ridiculous things)

(this is my living room! ... and my guest bed/napping bed.)

(and this is what it will look like [a couch] once i make pillows for the back)

(my kitchen!)

(my kitchen sink!)

(my preparation/cleaning area)

(my new dresser)

(my bed and bedside table)

(my bathtub)

(my "toilet"... the choo)

(my enormous front yard and gate)