goodbye Chai Wan

Goodbye Chai Wan
Goodbye spiders, goodbye mould
Goodbye leaks
Goodbye toilets which never cease
to overflow

Goodbye Russians
Goodbye Brazilians
I am so sorry that I never knew your names

Goodbye black scum round the sink
and smells from the pipes
Goodbye drips on my head that wake me up at night

Goodbye camping stove to cook on,
Goodbye single bowl for 13 girls,
goodbye, sayonara, ciao.

After sleeping in cwb for a night and waking up to realize the cold I thought I was coming down with had disappeared and must thus be a symptom of the dust, smells, and other indistinguishable particles which litter the air of my chai wan abode, the simple thought of returning there to rest my head was enough to make me want to cry. What started out as me being so broke that I had no money to move somewhere else and the agency telling me there was nowhere else available eventually developed into a sort of personal challenge/self harming marathon of survival. I made it 9 weeks. I have finally caved. My bags are packed. With Michelle and Ariel, my two best friends from the apartment gone, the only person I will miss is our local laundry lady:



rented room in cwb, hotel, or couch, I don't care where I stay,
so long as it was built for human habitation (read: not in an industrial building)
and chai wan is far away!