october 10

Every time I’m in danger of taking for granted how relatively nice I have it here, the universe comes back with some karma to remind me. The past two days have been so so so so so so hot, all I can do from about 11-4pm is alternate between lying in bed and sweating and sitting at my desk and sweating and sitting outside and, you guessed it, sweating. The problem is not only the heat but the fact that for two days in a row we’ve lost electricity, and thus ability to pump water to the pipes, all day long. And it’s just so miserable. But each day, when the lights come back on in the late afternoon, and the sun sets, and I put the fan on and open the fridge and have the potential for cold beverages and an eventual shower, I thank my lucky stars that we have electricity. I’ve improved my bucket bathing skills too, because it takes a long time for water pressure to build enough to use my showerhead, but in the bathroom I also have a faucet about a foot off the ground, and I use that to fill a half a 2-liter soda bottle and am in heaven with my “shower”. It’s hard to imagine how the 7% of this country without electricity (read: fans) manages.