Apartment Living

Our four story apartment is located in Mahasarakham, about a 15 minute song tau (sort of like a Thai taxi but cheap) ride away from the university. It is among shops and restaurants and we must raise our garage door to get to our front door (it’s sooo safe here). The first floor is a lobby type area with a ping pong table and fortunately an air conditioner. The kitchen is and one bathroom with a squatty potty is also on this level. The next floor has a small library room with a table and the top two are the living quarters. The girls share two rooms on the fourth floor with one restroom with a western style toilet. These toilets do not flush, you throw the toilet paper (if you use paper and not the badeau :) ) into the trash and scoop water from the surrounding water bin into the toilet until clarity desired hahaha this makes me laugh every time but people here are very open about bodily functions. The showers are a mere shower head in the bathroom with a drain in the center. Josh has the top floor to himself, consequently, it is the hottest. No air conditioner for us, only a few floor fans. So far I have been okay with the heat but even the Thais complain of it often.

We have various markets surrounding us. An internet café, my only resource to internet at the moment, is only a hop and skip down from us. One thing that really stood out to me is the necessity for convenience here. At any given time you could see up to 4 Seven Eleven stations in eye range. To wash our clothes, a kind lady two apartments down will wash our outerwear for a minimal fee. We also have the Big C about a ten minute song tau ride away, which is basically a Wal-Mart to buy our necessary items if the local markets cannot provide.