Kibazo

So, yesterday I wrote that cheesy post about loving my life and thus invited disaster. I should know better than to tempt fate by publicly declaring satisfaction! It really and seriously bit me in the ass. Last night, around 11pm I was awoken by my phone ringing. It was my neighbor Sue saying “I think your water is on” I knew at that moment that I had  BIG kibazos (problems)

The men who had come from school to fix my tap had not fixed it but jerry rigged some contraption that had burst the second the water came on that night.  So, there I stood in my tiny courtyard looking at the torrent of water spewing out. I knew it wasn’t long before everything flooded so I weighed my options. My first instinct was to lay down on the floor and cry.  In New York, you are almost never helpless. There are 24 plumbers and building supers that can be called no matter what. Here, there is no 24 nothing. Nowhere to buy a wrench until morning, no 24 water company number to call and ask them to send someone. The hardest times for me here are when I feel powerless and helpless and this was the pinnacle thus far. Although I am sure there will be more instances.

I fought the urge to admit defeat and let the water drown me and reached for my emergency stash of Kit Kat bars. With a little bit of chocolate in me, I decided the best option was to start calling people. As I said yesterday (Stupid Jane!)  people are so nice they would come and help with anything no matter what. But, at 11pm, people have been asleep for many hours. So I called every local in my phone book and did not succeed in waking anyone up.

Finally, I reached Yves who was not in Nyanza at the moment but was able to rouse Alodie, who in turn roused her friend a “technician.” Sue was able to wake some neighbors, so we had a fine little contingency looking at the problem. But, no one had a wrench, the only tool that could possibly stop the rapids to cease. There were a few attempts to cover the hole with duct tape and plastic, which quite literally blew up in their faces. Then, they were able to shove the end of a broom into the hole and secure with rubber. Impressive and it actually held till the water went off in the morning.

I learned my lesson and decided to buy a wrench today instead of relying on anyone else to fix it. After a few minor setbacks including the new spout snapping in half and having to buy a new NEW more expensive one….I did it! I was feeling great and starting composing a blog in my head about the W curve and how the rollercoaster of life here goes down and up rapidly but doesn’t stay down.

Then, I came home and opened my front door with my key.  And the key got stuck. And would not come out. And down we go again…..This happened last week and I had to pay 8K ($16) to have it fixed. So now, I am waiting for another “technician” to come and replace my lock. But that won’t happen until tomorrow as it’s past 5pm.   Just to put this in perspective, I spent 15K ($30) on the water and soon to be $36 on locks. And my stipend works out to $8 a day.  So I have spent about 30% of my monthly allowance on the house and its the third week. I am now praying to any thing that might listen  that my house curse will be lifted. My sanity and wallet depend on it.

On the bright side, my S4  class was really cute today and giggled every time I used a French word and applauded when I said “je ne sais pas”. I taught my classes (except S6 who are a waste) phrasal verbs and they were all really productive and receptive.  I realized sometimes its just easier to give them vocab word definitions in French and English because then they actually understand the meaning. (For example… they could not get “put off” and did not know delay or postpone so I gave them suspendre and they all went “Ah, okay”).

I have no pizza to drown my sorrows in, so I am off to mash some potatoes and scarf biscuits. Emotional eating is my go to no matter what side of the world I am on.