The {Not Entirely Grand} Tour

Yes.  Finally.

 

This is just outside my building.  Why is it in English?  Good question.  I have no idea.

 

I’m up all the way up there on the top right corner.

 

Down in the bottom corner is something that looks a bit like a garage.  It’s actually a little shop.  They’re everywhere, and they’re called boutiques.  They’re basically the local version of a convenience store (without the drastically higher prices we usually associate with convenience stores). If I run out of matches or phone credit or eggs, I just have to walk down the stairs and pop in the boutique.

 

Well, here we are on the fourth floor (or third floor, they’d say here).  Out of breath, are you?  Better take it easy next time.

 

Welcome to my humble abode.  Some might call it an apartment.  Others, a flat.  In French, it would be une appartement.

 

I call it an igloo, ’cause I’m different and cool like that.

 

Just kidding.

 

First of all, let’s check out the dining room/living room.  From where we’re standing, the front door is just to our right.

 

 

Cute little bookshelf, isn’t it?  The furniture was provided for me; I’m basically renting it from the Mission.

 

The basket was a welcome gift.  Ladies here would use them for shopping in the market, but I use mine for yarn, fabric scraps, etc.  (Fabrics are my one weakness.)

 

A favorite verse of mine.

 

Now let’s go out on the patio.  You can see quite a bit of life from this vantage point (sometimes more than you bargain for…).  It’s hardly picturesque, but it certainly isn’t boring, either.

 

 

Before Tabaski (one of the most important holidays of the year), there were three sheep being kept on that roof over there.  And boy, were they noisy!

 

 

Okay.  Seen enough?  Let’s go back in.

 

 

We’re back out in the hall now.  Kitchen’s on the left; dining room’s on the right.

 

This is a pretty decent-sized kitchen for here.  And it has cabinets with shelves, which I’m told is not always the case.  Hurray for storage!

 

Oh, and that corner by the sink?  That’s Rue’s favorite hang-out.  If I go into the kitchen in the evening, that’s where I’ll usually find him.  (Although he likes to scurry away when I turn the light on.)

 

My itty-bitty oven.  I can’t fit a 9” x 13” pan inside side to side; I have to put it in long-ways.  But hey, it’s an oven, and it works!  I’m getting to know its quirks a little better now, but I still wouldn’t want to attempt baking without an oven thermometer.

 

Air-drying dishes is more sanitary than towel-drying them.  Unless you have cockroaches crawling all over them.  Ick.  But this was during the day, so cockroaches wouldn’t be too much of a concern.

 

 

 

The window across from us is my office window.

 

(Does that have you confused?)

 

Thanks to an oddly-shaped hallway, I have this little nook right next to the kitchen.  I like it.  And I like my coffee sign.  And I like coffee.

 

But you already knew that.

 

 

Another nook.  This one is my laundry area.

 

This is to confuse you even more.  From the window right above the laundry area, you can see three other windows…that belong to the neighboring apartment.  Yeah.  That has taken some getting used to.

 

Okay, we’re still in the hallway, but facing the other direction (the laundry area is right behind us).  Left wall – office.  Right wall – kitchen.  Below are the horses.  There’s only one there at the moment, but usually there are two that you can see from this window.

 

And here’s the office/spare room.

 

If the curtains were open, you’d be able to see into my kitchen.

 

Hee, hee!

 

Since I can’t have a garden, I content myself with lots of flower pictures.  And eventually I’ll get a houseplant or two.

 

The apartment has no closets, so stuff gets stored…in wicker armoires, under the bed, along the wall…you get the idea.

 

Now we’re looking from the office toward my bedroom.

 

Yes, the tiles are square.  Which means the walls are not.  It’s been quite a few years since I took geometry (which, incidentally, was the only math class I ever enjoyed in my entire life), but I still know what a right angle is, and that is something this apartment is sadly lacking in.  Walls, ceilings, doorframes…everything is just. not. straight.

 

No walls or curtains around the shower.  (But yes, there is a door!)

 

Tulip frames!

 

Tulips are my one weakness.

 

These were a gift from my friend Lindsey.  I had them at my apartment in Missouri, when I moved back home to California, and now here in West Africa.  They make me happy.

 

(Side note: On the strength of two things alone, I’m convinced the Netherlands must be a great country.  Tulips and cheese?  Enough said.)

 

So here’s my room.  It gets pretty hot back here – one of the walls is an outside wall (painted black, no less!), and there’s not a lot of air circulation.  When the weather was really hot, I pretty much just slept back here (with the fan on full blast), and spent the rest of my time out in the living room, which gets a decent breeze.

 

 

 

Ugh.  Bad lighting.

 

On the right is the hall, and on the left is the bathroom doorway.

 

Come Thou Fount.  One of my favorite hymns.

 

The bear family, a picture of my niece and nephews (lovethemlovethemlovethem!), and other knick-knacks.

 

I’m not sure how well you can see them, but there’s a tiny little elephant from one friend, a painted lady bug from another, and a little tea cup (around a hundred years old!) from yet another.  I have a special fondness for little things.

 

…Although there are exceptions.  I have no fondness for little cockroaches, for example.  Actually I have no fondness for cockroaches at all, regardless of size.  Vile creatures.  Loathsome things.

 

But let’s move on to more pleasant topics.

 

I couldn’t use the curtains for the window, since they weren’t long enough to prevent the neighbors from seeing in.  But I had to find some use for them, since after all, I made them and they’re green and they match my quilt.  So, I strung them between the bedposts, and voilà!  As a bonus, the unsightly-but-useful mosquito net is now hidden (at least from this angle).

 

Well…this is the end, my only friend, the end…

 

The end of the tour, I mean.

 

And now I can breathe a sigh of relief and cross that off my to-do list.  (Since it’s, um, been on there a while.  “How long?”  “Too long!”  “Can you be more specific?”  “Three months too long!”)

 

Thanks for stopping by!  Don’t forget I have guest accommodations for those interested in visiting in person…