Remember the shock of learning that Harry Potter lived under the stairs? We felt so sorry for him because of his living conditions.
There are people who live under our stairs. Each apartment building has people living under the stairs in an area the size of Harry Potter's closet and this is the door opening into the stair people's closet. It would be a terrible invasion of privacy to take a photo of the inside but it is wide enough for a bed and I caught a glimpse of a hot plate and a little box TV. They must be packing masters to fit even that much into such a tiny space. They are the people who take away the trash (you put your bagged trash outside your door) and keep the stairways clean. The lady who lives in our stairway is outside very early every morning (she's there when we leave for our run at 6:30am) sweeping and picking up trash that has blown around the front of the apartment building. She always has a smile and san ban o (that's not how you spell but its how it sounds) for us. I have to wonder where she washes up and where her toilet is and how she fixes food for herself. It doesn't appear there is any running water in the tiny space. The nice thing is that she has a place out of the cold during the winter. I'm told there are under the street people as well. It actually is a good place during the winter because the hot water pipes are under the streets and they can stay warm. Some missionaries have seen the people coming up to street level from manholes. Could this be an urban myth? Are these missionaries messing with me?
Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore.
