Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Bad karma and the results


Bad Karma and the results

It's been a pretty eventful past couple of days.  So I have running water, three months of the year, when it rains enough to fill the tank.  We have not had running water since August, though we have had some rain (this will be explained later).  I apparently had left my tap on this weekend, though in my defense there was no reason why this would have brought up a red flag for me.  I come to my house on Sunday and my house is flooded.  Half of my living room, half of my bedroom and my whole kitchen is covered in water.  It turns out Tanzania baba had turned off the water for our building, so main baba had water.  This means that Tanzania baba did not have to manually fill the tank.  I do not mind pulling my water so this was not an issue, but it explained how I never had water even when the tank was full.  At least I do not have to mop my floors for awhile.  Things are not so bad.

Sunday night my gas jiko (small, small propane tank that I cook on) goes out, mid meal. No biggie, I borrow Meredith's.  I go into Oyugis, my market town, and buy a new one.  Gas is cheap right now, it cost me 1250 KSH (about $11), plus the 140 KSH it takes to get to Oyugis.  I get home and want to warm up my leftovers.  The burner will not screw into the tank.  Crap.  So I go back to Oyugis, another 140 KSH.  I bring it back home.  It does not work.  And it is too late to go to Oyugis.  Well this sucks but it is not the end of the world.

Monday night the power goes out, which is not unusual, if it rains the power goes out for a bit.  I use my computer until it gets down to 2% power.  Just as I am about to go to bed the power comes back on.  I briefly consider plugging my computer in while I sleep.  Probably the only good thing that had happened in these two days was the fact that I did NOT plug it in.  About an hour later the transformer blows up, causing loud sounds and bright lights.  Things are a little shady now.

Today I took a cold bucket bath and decided to go back to Oyugis.  Thankfully the voice of reason, ed volunteer MR, suggested I call them to make sure they were open.  I finally got a hold of someone and they said no, the place does not open until 9 AM.  I had to be in Kisumu at 11:30, so this was not an option.  I have been assured that I can, yet again, exchange my non-working tank for a working one.  Giving this is Kenya, I do not have my hopes up, but I will not go down without a fight.

So today I, as well as 8 other volunteers, had a lunch date with the new US Ambassador to Kenya.  It was held at the CDC compound in Kisumu, which is a pretty awesome compound.  The lunch was great, it was a great combo of volunteers and meeting with the ambassador was great.  He was a great guy and was interested in our work, our opinions and our thoughts.  It was also great that he spent most of his time with us.  Things are starting to look up, maybe the world is not against me.

On my way home, I see a double rainbow.  It's awesome.  I also learn that the power is back on.  Even better.  I get home without incident.  That is until I look for my Nalgene.  I left it in the matatu.  Damn you Karma!!!  

So my number one wish list item is a new Nalgene bottle.

So things look like they might be getting better, but who knows.  TIA.

for some good websites to check out, go to the following:

1) Mr. Burns is a ed volunteer here in Kenya.   He's awesome and is a great person.  Lots of the cartoons he makes is a pretty good representation of things I go through/feel/see.  Check out his stuff.

http://truestorykenya.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2013-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=41

2)  What should Peace Corps call me?  This site is pretty right on to issues that any PC volunteer faces and goes through. 

http://whatshouldpcvscallme.tumblr.com/

3)  What should Africa call me?  I am pretty sure this person is from East AFrica probably either Kenya or Tanzania based off of the language.  It again rings true to my stay here.

http://whatshouldafricacallme.tumblr.com/

1 comment:

Fundi said...

You are getting true taste of Kenya or i should say Africa. Fun reading your blog, Long time back I owned a store in Oyugis. Now settled in USA.

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