this is an ode to the first place where i felt safe and warm during my refuge
my dear friend was kind enough to offer me a place to stay during, what was supposed to be, a 10-day-long visit to Rotterdam to see my pals. a laundry room at the place they were renting. the war started 3 weeks before my flight to the netherlands. in march, after 2 weeks on the road and a different reason to leave, i got to my destination, and the short-term-stay little laundry room turned into a place i called home for a year and a half. to be specific - 527 days.
this laundry room has gone through so much with me
i did so much there
i cried myself to sleep so many times
had so many nightmares
smoked so many cigs on its balcony
i had flu of some sort probably 10 times
finished uni, wrote my thesis
had so many nice moments, sleepovers, little dinners
i really loved this place, and i think it loved me back
this page is a digital ode to the laundry room,
as well as its archive
i never said a proper goodbye and will forever regret it
on the last day of moving out and cleaning,
i did not at all realise it was the last time id be there
this here will never make up for it, but it is a way
to bring me some peace about the fact that i never said goodbye
during the summer the friend who was hosting me
found out that the place was being sold and that
they needed to get out, and so did i
no one knows what's gonna happen to it
- renovation of what kind and scale
i do not know if my laundry room will be there at all
what will they do to it? remove the shelves? connect it
to the other little storage space nextdoor?
Or the other room next to it? connect it all together?
or just paint the walls? or do nothing?
with this page i want the room to be remembered as a place
that brought at least a bit of peace, comfort and safety
to someone. as a home rather than just a laundry room.
special thanks to my dear friend for helping me and providing me with a safe space. thanks to my partner for helping me with editing texts for this project. thanks to all my friends and everyone who helped me. this is an ode to you, too.
pictures are in chronological order, from the very first photo i got from my friend, to the one i took on the last day when i was moving out
