Don't Pray for Rain

You'd think the early rainy season would only increase or in some way add to the water supply.  Well, you'd be wrong.  

The first 24 hours in our house we had water.  Just cold water though because the boiler was on the fritz, as was every other component necessary to a working household.  Still, we had water.  I was cleaning up a storm.  I must have mopped my bedroom a dozen times that first day, as well as a play area for the kids.  I can't have my babies playing on a dirty floor now.  Nope.  I bleached that nasty thing.

And then there was none.  

No water.

For 3 whole days.

What did we do without water for 3 days you ask.  Let me tell you what we didn't do.  Didn't flush the toilets. Didn't take showers. We didn't wash our hands or even our brown feet before crawling in bed.  No cooking, which means no dish washing.

(One night we did use a "community" water bucket to wash our hands.)  Not sure of its efficiency.

I had to stop cleaning.  Gasp!  I know.  But only until I could haul water back from the nearest guest home in 1-liter  water bottles, which I used to make my own cleaner.  Then it was back to work.   Those smiley faces are for the "Safe Cleaner" I made out of castile soap, which I thoughtfully packed.

Let me go back to those non-flushing toilets for a moment.  Our family of 5 had the use of 2 toilets.  The toilets here have about half a cup of water in them to begin with.  Take that combined 1 cup of water and add to it the daily excrements of 5 people, of whom 3 are males.  Now, that's important because everyone knows that males produce more poo than females.  Oh, my!  I wish I could have somehow bottled the smell and sent it your way.  Not that you would enjoy it.  No, no.  But naturally I want to share with others any grotesque thing, whether it be taste, sight, sound or smell.  I feel the need to force this experience on others.  

It was so bad, I used a quarter of Keith's cologne on the bathroom door and frame so that when the wind blew in the stench in from the bathroom to where I slept a few feet away, it would hopefully be masked by the scent of my beloved.  

The morning of day 3, Keith couldn't even stand it.  He took a 5-gallon yellow water-fetching jug to fetch water and hauled it up 3 flights of stairs.  Took him 4 trips to fill the toilet tanks.  4 trips up 3 flights of stairs carrying 5 gallons of water each time.  Finally flushing that stinky sludge down town. 

All this, we were told, is because the extra rain has caused problems with the water supply.   Anyway, I think through very carefully each time I turn a faucet handle.  

Our newest arrival.  Hopefully, this will help resolve the issue in the future.  You are correct.  That monstrosity is a water tank.  It is also the complete view from our living room.  Nice.  

Here are some pictures of my bathroom.  Pretty snazzy.  

We finally got a shower curtain.  Keith said he bought the most descent one available.  It was that bluish clear plastic liner and awful covered rings.  My goal was to get a dark shower curtain to blend in with the current stains that look like muddy grout.  

Days after Keith hung that plastic curtain, I unpacked a chocolate colored black-out bedroom curtain that was too short to use in our bedroom here.  I safety pinned that bluish liner to the two curtain panels and strung it on the rod.  

I also dug out a taupe padded bathroom rug and traded out the purple trash can for a brown one I had spotted in the corner of the living room.  

Next: bleach the grout or paint it using the darkest nail polish I can find.  

This is before I found a mirror.  That bottle of water is for brushing our teeth.  We were using the drinking water, but now I'm boiling water tap water to save a few birr.  That's the Ethiopian currency. 

And, finally a mirror but no light fixture.  It's a work in progress.