I know, I haven't blogged in a while. Frankly, I've just been tired in the evenings, and our internet has been slow, and there hasn't been any electricity. So, all in all, not a great combination for me sitting with my computer and thinking of something entertaining and somewhat coherent to say. Anyway, I don't even really know if anyone reads this anymore! I've been feeling a bit disconnected from, well, from life lately, too, just because there's been so much going on, so that also doesn't help motivate me to expend the energy to write. But, maybe it's time to turn over a new leaf yet again and come out of my shell a bit again.
At the moment, I'm sitting in the dark in my living room. Austerity measures have come to our organization. There's been no diesel in town for some days now, and no good prospect of more diesel coming in soon. Which means that we have cut down the hours that our generator runs each day. Of course, the government ran out of diesel a long time ago, so we haven't had city power in quite some time, so we're solely running on our own compound generator once again.
And, since my computer battery has somehow been pooched by the heat and crazy power situation, I only get about 10 minutes of power on my laptop before it also loses power. So, when the generator goes off, I have to come home and plug into my back-up battery system. Which I am so thankful that I have! I had gone for quite a few years without any kind of power back up. Because I kept being so optimistic that we'd have more stable electricity from the government. And it's a relatively big investment to get a back up system set up.
But finally, early this year, when I realized that I would be sticking around this country for another little while, and that the electricity situation was not likely to get better, I finally put out the cash and got myself a big old battery. My neighbor happens to have an inverter and charger, which he uses in his mud hut. So I just added my battery on to that system, and we ran a long wire from the mud hut into my house. He kindly wired up a light in my main living room/kitchen area, and ran a little extension cord down into the house itself. So now, when the power is off, as it is now, I can come home and plug my computer into my little extension cord, attached to the battery in the mud hut!
I don't have the light switched on at the moment, since I'm trying to conserve the battery a bit - without long hours of generator, the battery doesn't always charge up completely. Having this system has made a huge difference in my frame of mind over these past few months of little electricity! What a joy it is to be able to actually SEE the vegetables that I'm chopping in my kitchen for dinner at 6:30pm! How much fun is it to be able to see my contact lense container when I take out my contacts at 10:30pm? And is there nothing better than actually being able to work on my computer past 4pm!?
That being said, the austerity measures have definitely hit here. No more milk for our tea at tea time at the office. No more Nescafe option, either - just black tea with some sugar! And we have to pay for our snacks at tea time - though $0.75 is a small price to pay for a little bowl of freshly roasted peanuts.
At least I can eat for free from the fruits of this compound!
Mmm.... that's right, it's pumpkin season! These were the first fruits, that came off the vine last weekend. So deliciously sweet. I tried to ameliorate the austerity measures in the office today when we cooked up a huge pumpkin to share with all the folks here. A very normal breakfast for people here during pumpkin season is a chunk of steamed pumpkin - just chop the thing into pieces, with the peel still on, and put it in a big pot on the charcoal. Put a little water in the bottom of the pot, and let the pumpkin bits steam for a while. When the pumpkins are as deliciously sweet as these ones, you don't need anything else with it!
At the moment, we've also got a ton of guavas growing on a tree, and greens growing wild in the back garden. There's even a tree bearing a funny fruit, which I think is called a custard apple in English. But it's most delicious, and the strangest looking fruit you ever did see!
So, even in these austere times, I am a very blessed girl.
At the moment, I'm sitting in the dark in my living room. Austerity measures have come to our organization. There's been no diesel in town for some days now, and no good prospect of more diesel coming in soon. Which means that we have cut down the hours that our generator runs each day. Of course, the government ran out of diesel a long time ago, so we haven't had city power in quite some time, so we're solely running on our own compound generator once again.
And, since my computer battery has somehow been pooched by the heat and crazy power situation, I only get about 10 minutes of power on my laptop before it also loses power. So, when the generator goes off, I have to come home and plug into my back-up battery system. Which I am so thankful that I have! I had gone for quite a few years without any kind of power back up. Because I kept being so optimistic that we'd have more stable electricity from the government. And it's a relatively big investment to get a back up system set up.
But finally, early this year, when I realized that I would be sticking around this country for another little while, and that the electricity situation was not likely to get better, I finally put out the cash and got myself a big old battery. My neighbor happens to have an inverter and charger, which he uses in his mud hut. So I just added my battery on to that system, and we ran a long wire from the mud hut into my house. He kindly wired up a light in my main living room/kitchen area, and ran a little extension cord down into the house itself. So now, when the power is off, as it is now, I can come home and plug my computer into my little extension cord, attached to the battery in the mud hut!
I don't have the light switched on at the moment, since I'm trying to conserve the battery a bit - without long hours of generator, the battery doesn't always charge up completely. Having this system has made a huge difference in my frame of mind over these past few months of little electricity! What a joy it is to be able to actually SEE the vegetables that I'm chopping in my kitchen for dinner at 6:30pm! How much fun is it to be able to see my contact lense container when I take out my contacts at 10:30pm? And is there nothing better than actually being able to work on my computer past 4pm!?
That being said, the austerity measures have definitely hit here. No more milk for our tea at tea time at the office. No more Nescafe option, either - just black tea with some sugar! And we have to pay for our snacks at tea time - though $0.75 is a small price to pay for a little bowl of freshly roasted peanuts.
At least I can eat for free from the fruits of this compound!
At the moment, we've also got a ton of guavas growing on a tree, and greens growing wild in the back garden. There's even a tree bearing a funny fruit, which I think is called a custard apple in English. But it's most delicious, and the strangest looking fruit you ever did see!
So, even in these austere times, I am a very blessed girl.
3 comments:
sounds like its time for an investment in solar power!!
ameliorate! nice! and the guava tree is putting out fruit!
blessed indeed.
Hi Tanya! Glad you're blogging again. How does one actually eat a custard apple? And would the pumpkins ever turn orange on the outside?
Love and Prayers,
Karen and AMelia
Post a Comment