Communality

For once, I'm not going to blog about paint. No more paint. Yes, the ceiling is done! But that's it.

In fact, let's leave our living space alone for now. There are cool things happening outside our office door that are worth mentioning.

Number one: the shared bathroom. This is one of the first things people ask about when we tell them about living in a school. Even though Rusty and I have one of the two (?) lucky residencies with a toilet (the other is the Kindergarten space... ooh boy, more about that some other time) -- the toilet doesn't work. It's basically just a closet space. Maybe we'll rip the bowl out sometime and make more room. Sometime.

Most of the residents share the updated facilities of the (former) Girls' Bathroom. The stalls have been expanded, and the doors are extended upwards by artfully carved plywood, for beauty and privacy. Then there are the shower room and the tub room. It was actually these two rooms that first convinced me I wanted to live here. I couldn't imagine a nicer bathroom. Sharing is not an issue; even with 14 residents to one shower, I've only had to wait once for 10 minutes. I think everyone's schedule is erratic enough that it works out; not everyone here is a nine-to-fiver.

Just outside the main bathroom is the Free Table. This is a stroke of brilliance: any item no longer wanted by its owner gets placed there, free for the taking. If the item is still there after three days, the owner has to take it back and dispose of it some other way. I've already gotten rid of numerous items this way (extra rice cooker, straw hat, feather boa) and picked up items (Portuguese phrase book, microwave oven!). Today someone has deposited a pile of Christmas decor, complete with blinking wreath. (And apparently it's all found a good home already, too!)