Our Apartment

How pleasantly surprised we were with the apartment! High ceilings, marble floors (plentiful and inexpensive here--no creaking floors). Plenty of room--entry room with settees and exercise equipment, living and dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms (we will be hosting Church visitors), three baths (misnomer), and an office larger than mine at home. It's nicely furnished. Kitchen has a tabletop gas four-burner for cooking (haven't made it work yet) and a microwave sits on top of a small oven. Elder Kasper reminds us of how blessed we are to have Western toilets and hot showers in the missionary apartments. The Indian people squat over a hole or use urinals if they haven't already urinated on the streets (have seen plenty of men so engaged--pretty disgusting). I tipped the camera for the bathroom picture to try to get a bit of everything in. I missed the hot water heater which is a two-foot container on the wall. We click a switch about 10 minutes prior and turn it off after. The spray hose at the left is what East Indians use instead of toilet paper. The shower head is at the top left. As you can see it comes out of the wall and the water goes right to the floor. We use a squeegee afterward to sweep the water into a floor drain. (Camera's battery exhausted itself today and couldn't take more apartment pix or others I had hoped to because it was the official P-Day.)

The two pix at top are views from our balcony where we have a washing machine. We hang our clothes on a rack inside to dry. Just as I finished clicking, Elder came out and saw a woman staring suspiciously from one of the windows. She isn't in the pic and hope she isn't offended as she appeared very unhappy. We didn't have sense enough to wave and smile--just slipped quickly back inside. Took pic at right to show trash on the ground but this view is mild. Everything is so dirty and trashy. Sister Nichols said she has found members' homes to be clean but no one has any regard for the outside and they throw anything they have on the streets. Obviously, there are no litter laws and no city workers. It's really bad.

We climb four flights of 20 steps each or take the lift if we dare as it is powered by electricity. We have air conditioning units in our bedroom and the office. We turn them off at night and are comfortable with the fan--one in every room. We took our first alone trip to the Kaspers (only other missionary couple in Hyderabad) today for lunch (delicious dinner meal). I like their apartment better, though smaller, because it is so much lighter. This one is dark all day long. She thinks ours is nicer but she likes the light in hers also.

An interesting aspect of homes here is that some type of airshaft is built between apartments or condos. We see them through screens in the bathrooms which the Lyerlys (couple before us) covered with fabric. They enable us to hear conversations as well as all kinds of other noises as if they are right in our apartment. I am startled often by gasps, etc., which seem to be emitted from someone right next to me. The apartment next door is being renovated and we hear constant hammering all day. The Muslims chant their prayers at various times on a loud speaker. The sounds of baby cries and play will be a welcome relief.