dorm of stairs and a significant vacancy

Nov 09, 2012 20:33

(Note: there are no actual stairs.)

In only one aspect, my dorm life is starting to remind me strongly of William Sleator's creepy YA novel House of Stairs. We have motion-controlled lights, and we are being classically conditioned.

Bedrooms have normal light switches. Three-position switches allow you to turn the lights all the way on or all the way off in the public rooms, which is a fine thing to do in the toilet stalls during the day or when you're trying not to wake up all the way, respectively. (Not so good when people turn them on and then wander away assuming they'll turn themselves off.) In the hallways, though, motion detection is the only option I've found, which means when you're hanging out in the hallway talking to people and not actually pacing or anything, the lights will frequently shut off.

And then we all start waving our arms. The electronic eyes (which I would actually like to be more all-seeing, they've got these annoying blind spots) flash red and give us our lights back.

For a while, until we have to perform again.

The other deeply unsettling thing about the dorm is actually a thing about Japan as a whole: there is no oven in the kitchen. Two microwaves, two refrigerators, two induction-heating and one radiant-heating burners... and a little "grill" drawer that you can put, say, grocery-store tempura into to heat it up.





Is there any place in the English-speaking world that you would possibly have a real stovetop range but no OVEN? This is truly shocking and upsetting to me, as I am a stress-baker deprived of nearly all outlet. I guess I could make and eat cookie dough, which is what I mostly do at home anyway, but not having the option for baking is like wearing a chastity belt or something, it takes the joy out of the stages prior to completion.

You may have noticed I made pie recently. This is because the lab office has an oven, the total capacity of which I estimate at about 15L. My colleagues are shocked at the energy inefficiency of giant, electric American ovens. Actually, I'm not sure they believe me that such ovens exist, though I think they acknowledge the existence of giant, culturally necessary turkeys. Our Russian student has also corroborated my assertion. (The ovens. Well, turkeys too, actually.) When I had lunch with my co-TA and some students today, we discussed this important matter, which distresses her as well. At least I have oven-deprivation commiseration.

This entry was originally posted at http://jinian.dreamwidth.org/537767.html. Respond wherever you like.

nagoya2012, housing, books

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