A home without a house

You wake up during the night, in your warm and cosy bed. So comfortable. But wait. It slowly dawns on you that you just really, really need to pee. You weigh up the options.

The worst thing is you're actually in a van. To pee you're going to have to trek outside in the cold and darkness to the nearest long drop toilet. Who knows what kind of bugs will be attracted to your head torch! You just really, really want to find another option.

Only, when you finally clamber out of the van, you are met with the most incredible view. The stars above you are so clear. It's so quiet, and peaceful, and you really sense the beauty of the nature around you.

You're reminded that you're alive. That you're pretty small in this big beautiful world. That you should pause and appreciate what is around you.

Living in a van is an incredible experience. There are so many small events in the day that bring you beauty. Without a shower, you swim in lakes, seas, rivers, natural hot pools and, less glamorously, public swimming pools. You do your washing up in rivers through valleys surrounded by mountains. As you're cooking out the back of the van in horrendous rain your van neighbours bring you some hotdogs. 

Not only can you move with freedom, lingering and travelling as you wish, the experience itself is one of simplicity.
  Yes you might miss a toaster. Yes you might miss normal towels (quick-dry towels are not okay). But to be honest, you might not miss much else.

In Cardiff, Dan and I lived in a two bedroom flat. I loved that little flat. But the past 7 months have offered alternatives which have definitely changed my perspective. After the past seven months, I'm definitely finding myself moving away from my 'Escape to the Country' obsession, and developing one with 'Tiny House Movement' and 'Van Life Diaries'. And my current living arrangements don't even fit those categories.

My current home proves a popular topic with some people at work who struggle to understand the concept.

Yes, I live in a house of 23 people.

Yes, I guess it's somewhere between a house and a hostel.

Yes, there's only one kitchen. Yeah, one oven. Yeah the kitchen is often a mess.

Yes, we share 4 bathrooms.

Yes, if we all decide to start cooking at the same time it can be a nightmare. 

Yes, baking both Bara Brith and sweet potato pastries for my work's morning tea whilst housemates needed the oven was a highly stressful situation.

Yes, one weekend we got a warning from the Police about the level of noise.

Yes, with the cyclone last week we had a minor case of water dripping in our room.

Yes, there has been a mouse and a cockroach or two.

But no, I'm not planning on moving out any time soon. 

In this new city, I made a bunch of friends straight away. We have similar interests, and there are always people up for doing something and going somewhere. There are no other teachers, so we don't end up talking about work. We have house BBQs, our own pub quizzes, day trips. We even manage to bake and make house roasts. Again, we don't need much stuff, there's not really much space for it and everything you need is here already, so it's cheap, we save money, and get to do more!

I'm not saying I want to live here for ever, but for now it's pretty great, and it's definitely challenged my ideas of what makes a home.