After many unexpected twists, turns, and delays in the construction process, last Monday we moved into our new room! We’re really excited about no longer having a locked door between us and the toilet, having a bird’s eye view of the community, and having a much quieter, ventilated space than we were living in before– now our front door opens onto a peaceful roof space instead of onto a busy alleyway. There are a few things left to be done– we’re hoping to get a roof and a door added to our bathroom soon, but it the meantime I’m enjoying bathing at night under the stars. So far this is proving to be a really restful little refuge in the slum 🙂 Here’s a virtual tour of our new place:
A view of our front porch/roof space from our stairwell. Behind the curtain on the left is our bathing area and toilet; in front of our water storage drum is our sink/laundry area.
When they finished building the room, our landlord hung up these rice-filled packets as a sort of blessing.
Having an actual desk and chair is good incentive to sit down and study Hindi!
View out of the window next to our desk: a beautiful neem tree in our neighbors’ courtyard.
Our kitchen
And on the other end of the room, our bed, with storage space above and below.
Our ceiling fan, suspended from a bamboo pole overhead.
Looking across the rooftops through our laundry lines and power lines.