Monday, October 5, 2015

Perfect Timing

Here in Pavilon E on the campus of a Central European (formerly "Communist") country,
I live in a dormitory.
It is not the worst dormitory.  My room is relatively large and has a separate kitchen corner.  I do not have a stove, but only a hot plate--which regularly ceases operation.
(But if I ask, they will repair it.)
It can be noisy here, and my windows face onto a nearby high rise with its thirty or so balconies.
On the other side of the flat, I see an ugly intersection where billboards are illuminated all night.  The paper thin curtains do a poor job of keeping out light.

However, I have the luxury of not needing to clean my own toilets.  A cleaning lady does that twice a week.  But I never know when she will come...And she is here now, just when I was about to take a shower.

I've got to teach soon, and I don't know if I will manage to shower.
Ahh, she's just left.

I don't like the thought that one person does all the dirty work.  And I don't like the way the cleaning ladies sit in their room on the ground floor smoking,.....The smoke filters up the stair well, and the place stinks.

Yet, they deserve better.  Their job is not respectful.  

Ah, gotta go take a shower...

So much for a slice of life from a post-Socialist paradise..........