May6 Written by:Kayle
5/6/2009 9:52 PM
I am constantly amazed at just how long it takes to live life here--just the basics of one's daily life take so long here.
Let's talk about electricity, shall we? Saturday night, there was a dip in our power and the lights began to flicker. Due to that split second of a flicker, one of the electrical phases on the house went out, meaning that all the electrical plugs on the first floor don't work. Fortunately, the outlets to the refridgerator, deep freezer, washer and dryer to work, but the electric oven is not working. What does this mean for us practically? No vacumming the floors, no charging computers, phones downstairs, no lamps working downstairs. Gotta move all of our small electrical appliances into the laundry room so we can make toast, coffee, microwave food and print documents. I have been wanting to make rusks (South African version of biscottis) for a long time and have finally gathered all the needed ingredients (a feat in its own), but because they have to be in the over over 12 hours to dry out, I can't make them until we get our electric oven back and working. Even though it may sound bad, this problem is not a "train smash" (as they say here). The real problem is that the electric company has to come and fix the phase and this can take weeks for them to come out. Mat called on Monday and they said it was a fault and that someone was working on it (they tell you what you want to hear in order to appease you). I tried calling again on Wednesday, but all the phone lines to the electric company weren't working (as phone lines often go down here as well). So we wait and wait and hope that the electric company fixes it soon.
Meanwhile, we are trying to connect our generator to the electrics of the house so that when the power goes out, we can still have electricity. We have to build a burglar proof cage around the generator so it won't get stolen. Mat decided to take on this project to save money. So we decided to build a brick cage with a steel door. We finally gathered up all the tools and items we need (again, no small feat). Mat began to mix the cement with the river sand that was on the property. As he was mixing it, a strong ammonia smell was coming from the cement. Turns out there was fertilizer in the sand and so the smell was outrageously srong! Poor Mat is trying to mix cement in a wheelbarrow that has holes in it (so water pouring onto the ground) while trying hard to breathe and keep his eyes open while mixing! He put down the first layer of cement only to find that he's going to need a blade and saw to cut some bricks in half in order to keep building. So project is on standby until we get a saw and blade...
Let's talk about water, shall we? On Monday and Tuesday we had 0 water--not a drop of that precious liquid! On the first day, you find that you are able to cope. We had jugs of filter water that we drank during the day, we used the hot water tap (the water still stored in the hot water tank) to wash hands, wash dishes, etc. I didn't do any laundry, we didn't bathe or shower or mop floors. We got by on day #1, but on day #2 you go into despondent mode. I began the day praying for God's grace as I knew I would need it. Then I found 4 guys at our gate with empty water jugs asking if we could fill them with our well water. I called a friend to ask if I could come to shower and fill filter water up in our jugs. Our gardener filled up a huge bucket of well water outside from which we did everything for the day: we would scoop water to fill the washing machine, scoop water to fill the sink for dishes, scoop water to flush toilets, scoop water to wash hands, mop floors, wipe off counters, etc....we even used this water right when we woke up to make our coffee (though I saw the dog drinking from it) as we were desperate for some caffiene to start this day! Anything you need water for throughout the day came by scooping it out of this huge bucket of water outside.
Meanwhile, we are working to sort out a water tank and pump system for our house to have 5000L of water always stored up on our property so that we'll never be out of water. I spent the entire day on the phone trying to compare local prices to prices in South Africa and Botswana (note: you usually have to dial and redial about 5-10 times before you get through to just one phone number). I came to the conclusion that the price savings would not be worth the hassle of crossing the border and buying the items myself. But the project still remains on hold while we consult the owner of the house, consult the guy installing the tank, consult experts about the exact equipment we need, and try to gather up enough money (from ATM machines across the border) to start the project.
Ahhh...so much time, energy and effort that I seem to devote to just the basic necessities in life like electricity and water!
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