Living in 208 Square Feet

Yep, that's the size of my apartment... a whopping 208 square feet. Think of it as a large master bedroom suite in the United States. The total dimension is 13 ' by 16'. It consists of my bedroom which also serves as the living room. The kitchen area doubles as my closet. And then there is a room with a toilet and another with a shower. It's a little shabby by most standards I suppose, but it's home and I really enjoy it.

My bedroom is the largest of the rooms being 7' by 10.5'. I am a little spoiled so I have what is called a 5x6 bed. Simply put, it means it is 5 feet by 6 feet, which is near to a queen size back home. I have an ample supply of pillows because it serves as a couch for other MALE guests. Females must sit in either the desk chair, or a simple arm chair such as what we would call the captain's chair at a dining room table. Usually, a woman would never enter the bedroom of a male but it's permissible as long as they can sit in one of the chairs, and preferably if there is another person present. I also have a desk with space for my laptop and TV. Storage is at a premium so there are shelves tucked up around the room.

As I said, the kitchen is also my closet. It's only 7'x7' and has a set of shelves for clothes, a set of shelves for dishes and food, and a stand for my cooktop. I don't own a refrigerator so perishables such as meat need to be bought at the time I will be cooking them. Other items, such as githeri (beans and maize) can be cooked and kept overnight as long as they are heated in the morning. I cook on a little two burner propane stove.

The bathroom... Well let's just say that you need to be good at squatting. I moved up in the ranks of luxury when I moved into town. Prior to this apartment I used a "long drop" which is basically a a whole in the floor of an outhouse. My toilet here is a flushing long drop. It's not a regular toilet that you sit down upon. It looks like a urinal put into the floor and so you squat down on your haunches and do your business.

My shower room is truly multipurpose. I do use it as a shower. There is an electrified shower head that serves as an instant hot water heater so that I do get a hot shower. Again this is a luxury in these parts. Many people in town have showers but the water is not heated. In other more rural areas, a shower is bathing from a bucket. This room is also where I do my dishes and do my laundry. I have several sets of buckets for different purposes. Two basins serve as my "double sink." One is for washing and the other rinsing. Dishes go into a drainer and then sit on a shelf in my kitchen area. Two 5 gallon buckets are for doing small loads of wash. And, then I have two huge basins that I use when doing larger amounts of wash.

Everything has to have it's place in such a small area. This is good since it helps to satisfy my burgeoning obsessive/compulsive disorder. I can spend time rearranging to get the perfect fit of things. I think most followers of my blog are also Facebook friends. There are pictures of my apartment there although I should take some new ones as I've made some changes.