Shower

One thing that I failed to mention was the shower here. It’s cold. If I wanted to shower at night, I had to plan in advance because after you step into that water, you’re wide awake. After water like that hits your body, you aren’t sleeping for a while. Luckily I got into contact with one of the building managers today. After 10 minutes of hand signals and almost offensively-slow speaking English, I learned that there’s a switch outside my bathroom to turn the heater on. Just flip the switch, wait ten minutes, and I’ve got a hot shower waiting for me. A scorching hot shower. So hot that you’re wide awake after getting roasted. I’m not complaining though; I’m definitely grateful for it.
The only part that annoys me is that I had heard about the switch before I came here. I have been flipping a switch inside the bathroom (rather than outside) which turned a red light on that I assumed meant the heater was on. I thought I was such a pro coming here the first day, flipping that switch, and waiting ten minutes only to step into the ice storm brewing in my bathroom. After asking management about it, I found out it does nothing.
But really, I got lucky with my shower. At least in mine, I have a divider and curtain to keep the rest of the bathroom dry. Steve got it rough. Or maybe lucky depending on how you look at it. He can pee while he’s in the shower – just turn left. No divider, no curtain, and toilet sitting inches away. Moreover, this design also comes with the price of his toilet paper getting wet whenever he wants to shower. Other than Steve’s room though, the accommodations here are western style. Some of the apartments even have marble flooring, including a marble balcony.