So, first actual night in the new apartment. Been running back and forth buying necessities all day, and am fairly thoroughly pooped. When I was getting ready to make dinner, I took a closer look at what the cooking area of this apartment is actually like.
There's a roughly 50cm2 wooden countertop. That's it. There's a slightly smaller metal area between the sink and the stoveplates, presumably for drying dishes.
The stove has 2 electric burners, and three dials. The unmarked middle dial, I have discovered, is a timer... The really annoying "TICKTICKTICKTICKTICKTICKTICK" kind of timer, and as mentioned it's unmarked, so there's no saying how long of a timer you're setting. Furthermore, the stove doesn't actually heat up unless the timer is active for the entire duration. The smaller plate, at its highest setting, eventually managed to boil roughly 750ml of water after about 20 minutes.
There are no cupboards. None. Nowhere to put plates and glasses, no drawers for cutlery or tools, no storage space for spices and dry goods. Just the countertop, and an open shelf above it where the pots are kept.
There's also no real fan above the stove, just a charcoal filter that blows into the shelf where the pots are. Hope y'all like steam.
I'd had plans and encouragement to expand upon my cooking skills after I got out from my ex's environment, where I was chastised for pretty much anything and everything and limited by noise and space constraints (not to mention energy levels of being around her the whole time) to a very limited section of the available amenities. Now? Now I'll have a rough uphill battle to even get back to the same minimal level I had back then.
So much for trying to better myself and grow as a person. Or for wanting to eat well.