Doo, doo, doo, Looking out my back door.

Er, I guess it's my window actually... 

Several people have asked me to post pictures of our apartment, both inside and outside.  

In comparing the apartment to where we've lived in Bend, OR and Lebanon, OR, this is most definitely not our regular standard of living. However, before we arrived we basically envisioned ourselves into "worst environment imaginable" expectations. 

I routinely read articles on lifehacker.com on how to build a makeshift air conditioner because we knew the temps would be 100+ but expected no A/C available. 

Our expectation wasn't exactly mud huts, but knowing this is a former Soviet satellite country, we did picture squat concrete buildings with no windows and no paint or 10-story tenement buildings with dripping water and one bare lightbulb in the stairwells. 

So when we arrived and were asked "how's your apartment, is it OK?", we both said "it's fine".  

Although the outside looks like it went through a war, (which it did in the 1990's), the inside is "modern" and has all the amenities you would expect to find... Tajik-style :)

Next blog: the inside!

Sunrise through the kitchen window... I think it's nice. 

Looking at the "yard" from the kitchen - it's dirt, weeds, and some random detritus (read garbage). The two paths converge on a point where the kids (and some adults) climb the wall to get to the streets behind.

Above the yard it's pretty - trees & rooftops. (Yes, there's security bars on the windows). 

Out the living room window.

Outside (LR side) - that big cable running across @ head level is 480V electrical supply running from one building to another. 

There's the panel box the cable runs from/to.

Side of building - our sidewalk to get into the apartment building entrance. 

Rounding the corner...the blue door on the left is our main entrance. Further along the path is another entrance for the apartments on that end. 

Our building (from the courtyard wall). Top left is our kitchen window. Like I said, looks like it has survived a war (note the right side of the peak is missing the roof).