Today I went to a mall to be inside

Let me tell you something about living on the equator. The concept of inside isn’t really all that important. The main floor of most apartments is open-air. There are tables and people generally lounge around, play ping pong, and smoke. Then there’s the levels that people live on. The stairs have big openings where people in Canada would put a glass window. Each floor again has huge open “windows.” Then there are the apartments themselves. The balcony and living room aren’t separated. There’s a sliding glass door that doesn’t really close and there are no screens anywhere. Basically what I’m trying to describe is that you are always outside . . . even when you are inside. On campus, a complex, like the business building, will have a common roof, but each room is its own separate entity with its own air conditioning. Going from one class to the next through the halls means you go outside. And the roofs aren’t really attached to the building. Air freely passes through the metre gap between the ceiling and the top of the wall. The only way to walk somewhere and be inside is to go to the mall.

Questions:

So are you outside right now?
I’m in my apartment, so yes I’m outside.

Then what prevents the lizards from taking up permanent residence under your microwave?
Nothing. I call the small one Shifty.