Still in the high 20’s at close to 10 pm, the prospect of sleeping without a fan wasn’t exactly welcomed by either one of us. Kaja turned in for the evening and I played around on my computer for a while, editing photos of my showdown with a butterfly I’d had earlier in the day.
Eventually I dragged myself to my room by candlelight and tried to position the window and curtains for optimal ventilation without pulling the curtains too far back. Half the vehicles park in our compound overnight as in case of early field trips, I didn’t want to be completely exposed in my sleep. After a bit of adjusting, I blew out the candle and climbed under my mosquito net, ready for bed. But the heat was a challenge and after lying awake for a while, I decided to have a shower to cool down.
Cooled down from my cold candlelight shower, I crawled back into bed only to be tormented by the sounds of the taps dripping in the bathroom. I spent a bit of time trying to decide if they were letting up, or I hadn’t turned the taps quite enough. I got up check, but couldn’t tighten them anymore. Back in bed the drip, drip, drip of the showerhead onto the metal floor of our shower continued to tease. I called up all my inner strength to ignore it, counting breaths to force mind over matter.
That’s when the wind started. A welcome breeze made its way through the opening in the carefully positioned curtains. At last, I thought. But then the door to the bathroom started creaking. The wind coming through the open bathroom window in gusts sent the door swaying back and forth ever so slightly, but just enough to set the creaking off.
I debated getting out of bed again to close the window, but during my contemplations, I heard my roommate get up. Finally I drifted off.
Monday morning we woke up without power, still. However, in the morning it’s not a big deal. I grabbed a quick shower and headed to the office where I knew the generators would be running, needing power to re-charge my computer battery if I was to get any work one and to run the fan in the office once the mercury started rising – usually as early at 10 am. The generator was indeed running, and Monday was a scorcher with a relative humidity above 50 per cent. During the course of the day the generator would intermittently cut off, halting the relief of the fan and returning me to battery-power.
To combat the problem of the generator dying, Abdi, one of our logistics/facilities guys, took it upon himself to be the fan-police. Going from office to office with a message of, “I know it is very hot today, but you can not use the ventilator. It uses too much power for the generator.” I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who met Abdi with an incredulous look that read something like, “you’ve got to be kidding.” Really, he should have been going around asking us to turn off our computers, they consume much more energy than the fans!
Despite the heat, our little Dire Dawa running club (consisting of Mark, Kaja and me) decided to meet up at the stadium around 6:30, hoping that sunset would bring some relief to the heat. Now running laps around a track in 30+ weather might seem like a strange activity for someone who can’t sit in an office without a fan, but to counter all the jumbos we’ve been consuming since my return, it’s intended to keep me at least a little in shape. Kaja and I are also in agreement that it’s important for our metal health, even if it is a struggle to change into running gear and lace up the shoes every second night (in theory) – especially on the really hot (and humid) days.
Monday just happened to be one of those days where you feel like you need to shower a few times to cool down. Around 4 pm Kaja had slipped home for a shower. Later, she commented that she hoped we’d still have water later. I said, “especially” if we’re going to run!” We’ve been having trouble with the water tank at the office and also the pump, so hand-washing with done with water from a bucket and a little jug to pour the water over your hands. It’s not terrible, until you have to scoop a worm out of the bucket first. But I suppose the water we have in the taps is probably no better than whatever water the guards are fetching for the hand wash station.
After a painful 10 laps around the stadium in the twilight, Kaja and I agreed to meet Mark in a half hour for street-dinner and went back to the guesthouse to shower. Guessing what happens next isn’t hard. No water. Somehow a bucket shower just isn’t as refreshing as standing under a constant stream of water, even if the water does seem obnoxiously cold. We were both “showered” and ready in now time. My first (and luckily so far, on Friday afternoon) only bucket shower so far.
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