Electricity

Electricity is something that we take for granted. In the US, we generally have power. It is on the rarest of occasions that we are without (hurricane, bad storm, tornado, etc). And even then the reason the power is out is because something is broken, not because there is actually a lack of available power.

I bring this up because it is 8:45 on a Tuesday night and we have no power. Of course, my laptop battery is charged, so I can type, but otherwise, no electricity is flowing in the town of Sao Dumingus tonight. I think the power went out at about 5:30 or so and probably will be out all night and into the morning. This happens every couple of days, but generally we are lucky enough for the power to be out during the day when we don’t really need it. This is the first evening we’ve been without. One other instance occurred after midnight when everyone was fast asleep. I usually notice this because my fan quits working at some point and I begin to sweat profusely because I have closed my window to keep the bugs out and the cool air in!!!! GREAT!

At any rate, the power outages are just that, outages. There is not enough power to keep the city running, thus NO LIGHTS! I’d say that we are without power 2 to 3 days a week for a few hours at a time. It’s really no big deal except that when the power is out all day, things like refrigerators and freezers begin to lose their cool, so to speak. In a society already plagued by less than desirable sanitary conditions, lack of power does nothing for the weak American stomach (actually I have been one of the few people to escape the pain of stomach ailments, knock on wood).

Speaking of food and sanitation, I’d just like to say that things are a little different here. We have a fridge and a deep freezer, but what you might imagine keeping in the fridge, we do not. Our refrigerator is full of water, juice, beer, fruit, and condiments. Things like leftover food does not make it’s way into a cooling unit, rather it sits in the kitchen, on the stove, covered with a towel or in a pot until the next meal rolls around. Fruit, something that really doesn’t need to be kept in a fridge, is. It’s all a little odd. Interestingly enough, all fresh vegetables are kept in the deep freezer (onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, etc). When my family returns from the market, the veggies go into the freezer, not the fridge. Weird! Very weird!

Okay, I guess that is enough of a tangent from me right now. I think I’ll go read by candlelight (velha). Oh, one last thing. It is GREAT when the lights go out in the city because the stars are absolutely amazing here. Actually, the stars are always more visible here because we have fewer lights, but when the lights all go out, the sky is incredible. Tonight, I was standing outside and I saw the longest shooting star I’ve ever seen. It seemed like it kept going forever. Good night all. Bon sonhu, txua, ti Manahan.