No water for a Day!

I wish this post was about my experience in Malawi going without water for a day or something exotic like that, but instead of writing about Malawi and the distance women and girls have to travel for water each day, I wanted to share with you all my experience going without water in the city!

Crazy to imagine right?  I mean when in Malawi, it's just how things are - I know that the water in the buckets is truly precious and I truly treasure and savor each little bit.  I cherish the drinking water and the bucket next to the toilet and the water used to wash my clothes.  And somehow, when I get back to the states and the city and water is abundant and gushing from the faucets, literally, I forget all of those things I have seen and experienced.

Well let's just say on Sunday, I was reminded of how precious water truly is!  And I had quite the wake up call, literally, with my neighbor frantically ringing my doorbell and banging on the door at 6 AM - it was dark out people!  I don't know about you, but I don't get up that early - it's DARK outside!  And my heart was beating a mile a minute.  At first, I thought it was a joke, a sick one mind you, considering it was so early on a Sunday morning and still DARK outside. But the joke didn't stop, it continued...with a harder knock and incessant doorbell ringing.  I thought the house was on fire or something, and I literally walked into the kitchen to make sure I hadn't left the kettle on or something.  I was thankful for our little peephole, and extremely relieved when I saw that it was my neighbor.

He kindly informed me that my outdoor faucet wouldn't turn off and there must be a broken valve.  I'm surprised I heard any of it considering I thought my heart was literally going to burst out of my chest.  He went on to say, you need to turn the water off, there could be damage...you need to crawl under the house into the crawl space...you need to call Seattle city water - the water company.  After enlightening me with his profound thoughts, he kindly informed me that he was on his way to work and he had to leave.

I was operating on adrenaline.  I walked into the house and called Seattle city water only to realize they don't service us.  I should have known this, but I was in panic mode.  And then the kind woman gave me the number to another water company...I called them and left a message only to have them call me back and inform me that they didn't service me either.  I literally laughed and said who did I call?  And he kindly gave me the number to the correct water company to call - so I called their emergency line, left a message and while I waited, I figured I needed to do some investigating of my own.  So I got down and dirty and grabbed a flash light and ventured under our crawl space...in the dark.  I could barely see all the spider webs, but I could feel them with my face!  And luckily, there wasn't any water damage to the house, in fact there wasn't any water down there at all.

But I knew that I needed to turn the water off and fast...I had no idea how long it had been running nor did I know how much it was all going to cost me nor did I know just how to do it!  So I asked the man from the water company, to come help me, but when I asked him how much it was going to cost me just to have him come turn the water off and when he responded $200 - I nearly vomited!!  He kindly had pity on me, and yes, I played the pregnancy card and I'm all alone card on the message I left on the emergency service line and he was the one to hear that message - lucky man right?  And it probably helped that I sounded anxious and panicked!

Well I spent the rest of the day doing research and calling plumbing companies, but it was Sunday, and who works on Sunday?  Definitely not the smaller plumbing companies that I wanted to work with!  I had a quote from one big company that was just outrageous and I turned them away merely out of principle.  I mean Peter always gets at least 3 quotes before landing on a company, and it just felt wrong to go with the big guys.  We're all about supporting small businesses.  But the clock was ticking, and as much as I wanted to persevere through the water outage, I knew I wasn't going to last a night!

So after emailing loads of friends and after having some dear friends come visit me and try to fix the issue themselves, I finally got the name of a plumber who kindly came out and fixed everything before the sun went down, on a Sunday!  Praise the Lord!!  What could have been such a terrible situation, especially since Peter wasn't there, turned into such a beautiful one.  I was so abundantly blessed by my community, my family, and my friends and those kind men that came to save the day!

And I felt like I experienced a little bit of Africa today and the preciousness of water.  I only had one jug of drinking water.  I couldn't flush the toilet.  I couldn't wash my hands or the dishes.  I couldn't refill the ice cube tray.  I couldn't do any laundry.  And it was crazy to think about all the water I would have used (wasted) that day had the water not been turned off.

So I challenge you to try it...turn off your water for a day and see how you operate without it!  Crazy to think about right?

Xoxo,

Malia

Roadtrips.

So we are on another road trip, but this one isn’t to the airport, this one is to Lake Malawi. The weather is a bit iffy today, and by iffy I mean cloudy and a bit cool, but still in the 70s. It was also sprinkling a little this morning. I love road trips. I don’t quite know what it is about them, but I just love them. I love seeing new terrain. I love covering so much ground and speeding down the road. However, there have been a few moments on this road trip where I wanted to jump out of the car simply to take a picture of something that I deemed picture worthy. However, car pictures will have to suffice.

Peter informed me this morning that we had surpassed the halfway point for our time in Africa. I didn’t really want to talk about it. Over breakfast he asked me what I would miss most about this place, and to be honest I told him that I would miss spending so much time with him. I mean we see each other every day, and we spend nearly every moment together and I will miss that. At home, life gets in the way, there are things to do, work to be done, movies to watch, people to see, tv shows to watch (is the Biggest Loser over yet??). I will miss the intentional time. However, Peter will be coming home with me, so I have to think of something else that I will miss. To be honest, I will miss the simplicity of life. I will miss the bright colors and the beautiful people. I will miss the heat. I will miss the double bed, fans, mosquito net and even bug spray! I will miss the uncertainty of hot showers. I will miss having my meals cooked for me. But mostly, I will miss learning about a country, culture, and its people.

So today will be spent at the Lake – we brought our bathing suits, one little towel, the camera, sun screen, sunglasses, and some snacks of course! I was just informed that the 2 hour journey to the Lake was quickly coming to an end.

Well we are on our way back from the Lake, and I can honestly say I had such a wonderful time today! My skin feels a little tight and toasty, so I am thinking I am slightly burned. We took TONS of photos and after much coaxing I got Peter to put his suit on with me and we went for a dip in the lake. The lake reminded me of the ocean because of the current and the waves. It was nice to see water again and it made me realize how much I LOVE living so close to water. I grew up in a house that is right on the water. My parents have another house on the Hood Canal, but even before that property we spent our summers on Bainbridge Island in another house on the water. When I studied abroad, I studied in Mexico, and lived in a place that was literally right on the water. Even when I moved to Ireland, I was still close to water. Are you getting the point? I love water – I love the smell of the ocean. I love the sound of the waves. I love the sand beneath my toes and the water on my feet. I have never lived anywhere that is entirely landlocked and I don’t know if I ever will. So it was wonderful to see water today!

On our way out of town we stopped to buy African treasures. Everyone bargains here, but to be honest, I have a really hard time with that. I mean Peter and I truly don’t have that much money (especially after this trip!!!), but these people have even less than we do, which is crazy to think about!! Our one purchase could keep them going for a whole month, so that’s why I have a hard time bargaining. So I let Peter do all the talking and all the bargaining. But it’s hard because everyone wants you to come into their shop and check out their items. Kind of reminds me of Mexico!

This afternoon we walked away with some elephant bookends, a wood map of Africa, and a drum. Love the drum, but I am going to need some drumming lessons from the locals before our drum makes it’s way back to the states! They had so many cool items like a chess board on a table, a big carved box, carved chairs, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to buy any of them because I am such a practical shopper. Before I buy anything I have to figure out where it is going to go, which is hard considering we are currently living in a tiny apartment that doesn’t have that much wall space. But some of the things we have purchased for the future – like the bookends – they are cool and I wanted them, but we don’t even have a bookshelf right now! But it’s for the future, when we have a bigger place with more space and tons of bookshelves for our endless supply of books. See this is how I rationalized that purchase.

Anyhow, we are heading home now and the sun is setting. I must say, I LOVE sunsets. Peter is always teasing me about my love for sunsets. Watching the sunset is truly a beautiful event for me, and I find it so very satisfying! Well lets just say the sunsets here are nothing short of spectacular…EVERY single night without faith the sun sets and the colors that shoot across the sky are simply magnificent! It was a beautiful way to end such a beautiful day.