child devil of tuna

Communal Living

Having gone to school in the over-crowded UC system, I know what it's like to live in a communal situation. To have to share a dormroom with two complete strangers and a suite with 16 more. Later, to have to share an apartment with 3 then one other person, but at least in these latter cases, it was with people I chose to live with. Alternatively, I experienced the liberation--and often times the slight loneliness--of living on one's own while in Japan. For two years I could be as messy or as neat, sleep as late or wake up as early, fill my fridge or let it go empty exactly as I wanted it. At first I missed having someone with whom to share late night conversations or a homecooked meal, but with time, I grew to like the complete and utter freedom which is associated with roomate-less living.

And then I went to grad school.

This time, I no longer had to share a room with anyone, but I had to share a KITCHEN with three random people. It's one thing if the dishes you leave in the sink or the food you leave in the fridge is yours. You know what's there and when it needs to be cleaned/washed/eaten/thrown away. But when other peoples' mysterious messes creep out of the dark recesses of the back of the fridge, or the cabinet under the sink, it takes ALL of my patience not to go nuts and dispose of all offending moldy forgotten foodstuffs. Or what had once been food, now no longer fit for human consumption. How do I tell someone nicely that I've taken out the garbage 4 times this week already? Or that if you spill pasta sauce all over the stove, you need to clean it up? Or that if you steal all of my eggs one by one while you think I'm not looking, I will eventually find out?

If these people were my friends or family, it would be easier to communicate these feelings. I have tried doing things like making rotating kitchen cleaning duties, straightening up the kitchen in full view of my flatmates, taking out the trash way more than my fair share of times... but to no avail. Lesson learned: If I can help it, I am never cohabitating with random people ever again. Hopefully, this will be the last time I'll ever have to do this again.

Mmmmm... yummy lemons.

posted by Grace @ 7/03/2006 03:31:00 PM