We went six days without the
generator. The NAPA electricity was off
for over 24 hours. We spent multiple
nights, in sweltering heat that reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity at
75% with no lights. To avoid the malaria
mosquitoes, which only come out in the dark, and the creepy critters, we sat
under our bed net from 6:30 in the evening until morning. Misery almost doesn’t cover how bad it
was. I was seriously at the end of my
tolerance by Friday. I was sick to my
stomach and couldn’t eat for a couple days.
I felt light headed and had a terrible headache. With no power, I could not use my breathing
machine for my sleep apnea. We had so
much heat exhaustion we couldn’t walk to get supplies and without a working
refrigerator we had nothing cold to drink.
Clint finally went higher on the chain of command at our school to get
something done on Friday.
We had been told we had to wait until
school started and the business manager was back from vacation to pay for the
repair. Suddenly shortly after Clint’s
call we had a repairman working on the generator. Friday night was amazing. We had a whole new appreciation for our
accommodations. To make things better we
were told Saturday morning at 7:30 am the exterminator was going to spray
inside and outside all the flats. I
hesitated with the time wondering if it would be Nigeria time or really 7:30
am. I set the alarm anyway.
We got everything ready the night before
and our bags were by the door. At 7:30
am we went outside to play cards at our table.
Nobody was around. About 8:45 our director came out and said she could
not reach the maintenance guy. At 9:30
she was ready to call it all off. Wow,
we were really looking forward to a hotel with a pool and TV even though we had
to pay the bill. We had to stay at a
hotel Saturday night for the insecticide to work the best. No regulations here. They use strong stuff. Finally at 10:30 they were here and she took
us to the hotel.
By dinnertime one of our expat friends
who had returned home for the break arrived at the hotel. We ate dinner with her and caught up. Clint ordered fish and chips and was served a
whole fried fish head and all. I cannot
tell you how many times this kind of thing has happened. We speak the same language but English words
here mean different things than they do in the US.
This morning we planned to work at the
school which was across the street and then worry about how to get home after
that but a school van arrived to take us home from the hotel so we went with
him. It is so nice to have a driver
again. School starts tomorrow
morning. It feels like we are starting a
new school year we have been gone so long.
A month is just too long for a winter break. We never did get a chance to work at the
school over the break. We would not have
had electricity so I guess we could not have done much anyway.
Time should really fly now with three
weeks to the semester break, international day activities coming up and the
science fair right after it. I am
working with a group of high school students on the yearbook. I am the assistant chair on the project. We have our first due dates for submissions in
February. Before I know it, it will
be spring break time in March.
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