Life is Different Here!

For the fourth day in a row, we wakened to no electricity. That means cold showers and warm coffee.

This fall, an electrician from the US installed in the guest apartments shower heads with an electric heating unit: the water is heated (only) as it passes through the shower head. The outgoing water is not exactly hot, but at least it is tolerably warm: Thank God for small blessings! We also have in the guest apartments units that look like office water cooler units, which provide us with instant hot water out of one spigot, and cold water out of another. (The 18 liter water jug I spoke of in an earlier blog sits upside down on top of this unit, and supplies the water by gravity feed.) This is one of true (and few) luxuries of life we enjoy here.

So, on those days when we awaken to electricity, it is possible to have a warm shower, and hot coffee! But, as I have said, for the last four days, we have to be content with cold showers and warm coffee!

This morning I serviced seven bicycles that were shipped over in the last container. Three more are missing parts, which if I can find here, I also will be able to repair. There was nothing very complicated to do, but without the right tools, simple tasks can become quite challenging! But when one has no alternatives, it is surprising (I am surprised myself!) how much one can do with a pair of pliers! Of course, I rather enjoy such challenges.

I have just had to interrupt this blog, to go around the apartment and close all the windows. There is a garbage pile behind the dormitory, and typically late every day they set it on fire. Sometimes, like today, that produces a lot of smoke…bad-smelling smoke.

As you can discern, life here is quite different!