Water

While I have electricity here, I don’t have any running water.  It’s actually not that hard to get used to not having running water.  I have a water barrel for the water, and I have small buckets in key locations that function as portable water faucets.

One of the most interesting things about not having running water is the change of perspective that I get regarding water. It really does start to seem rather valuable. When my water barrel starts get close to being empty, I start planning my activities around the remaining supply until I get it refilled. When it’s empty, I start feeling very handicapped, very thirsty, and the air seems to feel hotter. But when the water barrel is full, it feels great. It feels as though the shelves are full of food and fire is blazing during a cold winter storm.

I experimented for a while with gathering rainwater from my roof run off. This seemed to be a great idea for a while. I was feeling very independent and satisfied as I dashed around in the pouring rain moving buckets under the “drip line” and dumping them into my barrel. “No more relying on others for my water! It was a great time. Finally the water barrel was filled to the top, and the rain continued to pour in, causing it to overflow. It felt luxurious in some way, just seeing the water stream down the sides of the barrel. Water was plentiful.

This temporary exultation was short-lived though. I looked down into the barrel one day, and noticed that my water barrel had been transformed into an aquarium. If it weren’t for the fact that I was actually trying to use the water, it would have been interesting to let it go and see what sort of creatures the barrel would support. But seeing an assortment of little water creatures moving about in my soon-to-be drinking water was a bit unsettling. I do filter all my water with a high quality filter, but I still don’t want to be filtering and drinking the same water that the creatures were using for their swim meets.

So, my rain water collection adventure ended. I did make several more attempts to filter the water by using a cloth, but it didn’t seem to be adequate. I now rely on the students from the school to provide me with water. This is an extremely common practice with all the teachers. It’s actually culturally inappropriate for me to collect my own water. I wouldn’t mind the freedom to go out there and collect it, but it’s just not allowed. So I call various students in the morning and let them know that the water barrel needs to be replenished. Today I sweetened the deal with some toffee, and was rewarded with a completely filled water barrel. Quite a fair trade!

Having running water would be convenient, but would I really want to miss out on all this excitement?