Of our nearly three months now in Ethiopia, we have spent the majorityof the time in our bedroom. While we have a living room with couchesand a TV, the couches are so low to the floor and unlike our formercouches that we're only in the room to watch TV or eat. Our bedroom,on the other hand, is warm and comfortable. So for this over-dueupdate, we'll focus on the simple setting of our bedroom.
The bedroom is, of course, dominated by our bed. But it's so muchmore than a bed. Because we have the bed pushed up against a wall, weoften sit and lean against the wall with our legs stretched out beforeus. So it is also a couch or chair. When we have to work at home, weusually do so sitting there on the bed, so it also serves as our desk.We occasionally eat while sitting on the bed, making it our table.The bed itself isn't really a "mattress," but really a large foam pad,but it's surprisingly comfortable. Well maybe that is anexaggeration, let's say we've gotten used it and it is still the placewe sleep, can we really hate it! The pillows that came with the houseare also foam, nearly two feet thick, and nothing close to soft.Thankfully we brought our own pillows with us. While not quite ourbeloved down comforter, we do have a nice, flowery comforter thatKeegan constantly kicks off the bed in the night.
In addition to the bed, we now have some furniture in our room! Thisis very exciting for us considering the first month or so we only hadour bed to comfort us. But now we have splurged and have a shelf weuse for our books, Anne's makeup, shoes, various electrical chords andadaptors, and clean clothes waiting to be put away. A coffee tableserves as our night-stand, which is usually full of books, medicinebottles (Yes, Mom, we're both taking our vitamins!), our tiny alarmclock, and whatever Keegan happens to bring home in his pockets.
One wall of our bedroom is dominated by three ceiling-high closetsthat are more like cabinets. One for Keegan's clothes, one forAnne's, and one for random items. Because there are no drawers orshelves, we are technically still living out of our suitcases, whichwe use as a "drawer" to organize the clothes in the bottom ourclosets. We have limited hangers so our clothes are double or tripledon the few hangers we have!
The best part of our bedroom is that along one wall is a series ofwindows and a glass door that opens out to a small patio overlookingour courtyard. On lazy days we'll often open the curtains all the wayand lay on our bed basking in the sunlight. We're thankful that ourroom can become such a sunny, warm, and relaxing place. So that's our bedroom. While it is not fancy, the bedroom makes ourhome truly feel like a home. Having it as our sanctuary significantlyeased our transition to Africa. Lately, though, we are spending lessand less time in the bedroom. Between our recently added Amharicclasses, business at work for both of us, and more and moreopportunities to get together with friends, our schedule is startingto become very much like it used to be…busy!
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