With the school year winding down there is a lot to be
excited about and a lot to be gloomy about. The way of life here leaves all of us Americans
constantly thinking about life at home.
The comforts and the things that we used to take advantage that we do
not of the benefit of here. To say
that my perspective on necessities has changed is an understatement. Whenever things are broken or go wrong
in the states I will be able to look back on my experiences here and be
reminded that somehow (probably easily) life will go on. Things will be dealt with and solutions
will come about, and no you won’t die because you don’t have power for a day,
even though it will be very frustrating.
So here are a few of the comforts that I have been missing…this is also
a demonstration of life here.
I will be very excited when I arrive in the Atlanta airport
on my way home and can flush my toilet paper. A year of throwing your toilet paper in the trash next to
the toilet is enough for me. While
it is normal now, when I really think about it, it is quite gross, not to
mention unsanitary. When in the
states, you can just flush all of that away and not have to deal with it or
question where it goes and what is done with it. It is handled in the appropriate way for you so you
don’t have to deal with it.
Along the same lines, I have become a pro at what we have
dubbed “bucketing your business.” I wrote in a previous post that the water at
the school had broken so we had to have water brought in to school that we
could flush the toilets with (by bucket) and wash our hands with. We were told that an engineer had been
brought to town and it would only be a week until it was fixed. HA! That was not the case,
it has now been well over a month and we are still flushing our toilets
with buckets. In fact the school
has even bought some cute brightly colored sand-type buckets for us to use, which
does not instill confidence that this is a temporary solution. As if doing this at school was not
enough, our toilet at home has broken and we must also “bucket our business”
there. It only adds to the degrees
of unsanitary. Needless to say,
not only will I be excited to flush my toilet paper, but I will be excited to
just hit the handle and have the toilet flush itself!
The past couple of months have been the height of the dry
season. It never rained and the
river was slowly depleted to the point that it was more standing water than an
actual flowing river. With this
came the control of water usage.
The water was often shut off during the day hours, which didn’t really
effect us except on the weekends.
The problem though is that as May continued on and no rains came they
had to really limit the water and it started staying off into the evenings and
for days at a time. We learned of
the importance of pilas during this time period. Fortunately mine and Cassidy’s house is on the water project
line (whatever that means) which means our water was rarely turned off. It also meant that our fellow teachers
often escaped to our house for showers.
Last week though the water coming out of all our faucets and shower was
reduced to a trickle. We were utterly
confused and figured they just had to turn our line off to. After a whole day though we learned
that our fellow teachers were getting their water back with no problems. So now the roles were reversed and we
began showering at their houses.
After 3 days we realized that it was a problem only in our house, so we
had our landlord send someone to check it out. After 5 days without water, the problem was fixed and we
were returned back to our normal state.
In the states if I didn’t have water for 5 days, I would be freaking out
and extremely worried, but here it was just part of the experience and
something that interupted our lives, but only in a minor way. Water is something that, especially in
Michigan, is greatly taken advantage of.
The dry season though has recently come to an end, marked
with the arrival of the first big evening storm. The storms are becoming a regular staple at night marked by
huge lightening strikes, loud booms of thunder and the pounding noise of rain
on the tin roof. It is beautiful
sight that reminds you of the power of nature. It also tends to knock the power out for the whole
town. Over the past couple weeks
we have begun spending a lot of nights and even many days without power. When this happens I am reminded of just
how dependent I am on power, especially in the states. I cook on a stove or in a oven, a keep
most of my food in the fridge, I do everything on my computer for school, I
watch movies on my computer, I read books on my iPad, my cell phone is how I
stay connected with people, as well as the interent which all requires
power. Also here, the showers are
connected to elecricity to heat the water, so no power means an ice cold
shower. I remember experiencing a
few power outages as a child and they were always kind of fun and
exciting. They have become less
frequent though in the states which is a good thing since our society has
become so much more dependent on it to power all of our electronics and
gadgets. While my use and
dependence on technology has greatly decreased while here it will still be nice
when I get home to know that I have a dependable power source.
While I am looking forward to all of these things, and many
more including food, shopping, cable, family and friends, I know that leaving
this place will be difficult. The
field trip I took with the students was a reminder of the connections and
friendships I have built with people here. While they live a different lifestyle and endure different
hardships from Americans, they are some of the most amazing people I have
met. When I think about how much
my students study and the conditions they are studying in I am even more
impressed with their successes. School
and homelife here is so unbelievably different from the States and yet they are
able to succeed, learn and develop into great people. Despite the difficulties they encounter in daily life, I
have met people that enjoy life more than most Americans and who are grateful
for the hand they have been dealt no matter what their circumstances are. I am constantly reminded of the word
perspective when I am here and all I can say is that this experience has
definitely given me a new one. My
goal is that I don’t fall back into old habits upon returning but I continue to
remember this new perspective and let it guide me in my daily life to be a
better person and to enjoy every moment of life I have.
