CBC's Andrew Chang in Rio: What the media accommodations look like

Why two desks? Because all the journalistshave roommates.Generally, it's a person from the same media organization as you,so it's another CBC journalistI'm rooming with, albeit one I hadn't met before.

And fortunately, we each have separate bedrooms (one of which is a complete mess, so I'll spare you the photos).

Allinall, it's a pretty good setup and photos taken fromthe right angles can certainly make our accommodations seem resort-like.

But I've also heard my share of unpleasant stories from neighbours: cockroaches crawling in from the drains, roosters crowing at obscene times of day, brown water from taps,and strange, sewage-like smells coming from nowhere in particular.

Speaking of water,one of my colleagues had the misfortune of taking a shower the other daywhen the drains backed up.

She didn't notice it at first, because there's only a little lipabout one-inch high that keeps the water in and wet bathroom floors are normal here.

But when the drain is actually clogged, that spells bad news. Her entire unit flooded.

Needless to say,she and her roommate had to change rooms.

For my part, I've had brown water, strange smells and insects but perhaps mercifully, my biggest problem is the air conditioner.

I don't even have mineplugged in, but the unit from the floor above me drips onto mine.

The dripping water is louder than you might think. It's as thoughmy air conditioner is a giant speaker.

By my second night, I put a towel on top of the AC unit, which deadened the noise.But once the towel is soaked withwater, the noise is back again.

Oh well. It's not like we came all the way to Rio to sleepanyway.