Technical Hurdles
Hey, folks. This post had been going to be all about food.... and that requires pictures. But the picture-uploading widget for some reason isn't working quite right, meaning the food post will have to wait.
I estimate I have 10-20 minutes more of electricity at the house--a.k.a. until close to 9 a.m.---at which point it (including the internet) will cut out until about 6 p.m. tonight. This has been the way of things for the past 5 days. The prevailng rumor was that there would be no electricity, possibly at all, for 10 days! And when you hear a rumor like that from more than 4 people, well....in China that's about as good as taking the rumor as fact. For the first few days Old Town didn't have any power whatsoever, not even at night. In New Town at the house our electricity at least has been morning and evening, if not in 白天。
Oh yes and we still don't have running water, since that randomly cut out ~1.5 weeks ago or so. Which is to say we still don't have running water, and haven't "really" since early December. But starting in March the water began flowing into the tank in the yard, which gave us village-style running water. I'll take it! Come on Paradise, give us water back!
ah well. All the same, semi-lack of functioning amenities does make one realize one's underlying assumptions. Such as that flicking a light switch, sometimes unconsciously doing so on going into a dim room, and then expecting a light to go on. Or lifting a faucet handle and expecting water to come out. As a friend put it recently, "Why isn't the magic working?"
That's all for now, if I can even hope to publish before internet and electric cut out.
yours via carrier-pigeon,
K.
I estimate I have 10-20 minutes more of electricity at the house--a.k.a. until close to 9 a.m.---at which point it (including the internet) will cut out until about 6 p.m. tonight. This has been the way of things for the past 5 days. The prevailng rumor was that there would be no electricity, possibly at all, for 10 days! And when you hear a rumor like that from more than 4 people, well....in China that's about as good as taking the rumor as fact. For the first few days Old Town didn't have any power whatsoever, not even at night. In New Town at the house our electricity at least has been morning and evening, if not in 白天。
Oh yes and we still don't have running water, since that randomly cut out ~1.5 weeks ago or so. Which is to say we still don't have running water, and haven't "really" since early December. But starting in March the water began flowing into the tank in the yard, which gave us village-style running water. I'll take it! Come on Paradise, give us water back!
ah well. All the same, semi-lack of functioning amenities does make one realize one's underlying assumptions. Such as that flicking a light switch, sometimes unconsciously doing so on going into a dim room, and then expecting a light to go on. Or lifting a faucet handle and expecting water to come out. As a friend put it recently, "Why isn't the magic working?"
That's all for now, if I can even hope to publish before internet and electric cut out.
yours via carrier-pigeon,
K.