after_alex

I don’t know how they do it. Live without running water, that is.

The other day we were out of water for about 6 hours. It was a serious pain in the ass, not particularly because I needed the water all that much. I could reasonably manage without running water. It was more because since we have a running water system, it should fucking work. Sigh. Maybe my hopes of living in Afghanistan are still too high.

Any house that has running water in Afghanistan probably has the blue plastic tanks on the roof — just like in many other developing countries. However, here, the water pumps just seem to give out all the time. Actually this time it was the valve. But WTF. When I want some running water from the faucet, I should be able to get some. I know, I know. I tell myself that I can get by with some temporary solutions. Shower using hot water from the kettle. Or use the bottled water to wash some dishes. But no, I refuse. I am clearly not over this yet.

Once again, I have come to appreciate — and demand — that proper life conveniences be protected. And no matter how polluted or how inconvenient, it’s just water, damn it. Make it happen!

Every now and then, I’m reminded first-hand of how life was civilization, especially in terms of electricity and water. I’m sitting here now in my compound in the dark…because all of our generators have gone bust. And of course city electricity is not running in this part of town.

So, I’m typing this blog post by candlelight, and using my good creativity to keep myself occupied while the team arrives to repair the electrical infrastructure. Just now, I had dinner (spaghetti and green beans) lit by flashlight. How did I cook it? Of course, microwave doesn’t work, but gas still does. Just need to light it with a match instead of electric spark.

I also just finished rounding up the guys in the house to report the situation to them. As “House Warden” I have some sort of responsibility when it comes to this kind of thing. One point of concern is that we’d run out of water eventually because our water is supplied by tanks filled by our own electric pump underground. If too many people in the house start flushing their toilets we’ll be out of water soon.

Sigh. That’s life in the fast lane here. Managing day-to-day emergencies with the simplest of conveniences. Slowly the circumstances are getting better, but when you’re on the ground the new upgrades to civilization don’t come fast enough.

What would you do if you lost power indefinitely?? How would you take care of your essential needs? What if your whole city or county lost power? How would you do your cooking, and all that? Even if you’re in the most advanced civilizations right now, one day that disaster is going to hit, and quite possibly you’ll be there when it happens. Probably would be a good idea to have a game plan. At least there’s some upside to the life here — if it’s anything it’s survival training. Back to camping!!

I’m sick again. It’s really easy to get sick here. For the most part, you better not get sick because access to good healthcare isn’t exactly stellar, to say the least. So now sitting here in my residential compound, I’m wondering what it was that got me this time. Chills, fever, fatique. It seems like the flu, but I’m not coughing or sneezing at all. That was last [last] week.

Now I’m sorta scared that it’s one of those crazy diseases like malaria that you only pick up in fucked up places like Afghanistan. Typhoid maybe? Ugh. There’s a whole list of things that could have gotten me, most notably LEGIONNAIRES DISEASE, which was found at the Westin Mina Seyahi hotel in Dubai. I didn’t stay at the Westin myself, but I did stay next door at Le Meridien …both hotels are run by the same hotels group. According to the health statements, people who get LEGIONNAIRES DISEASE develop symptoms after 2-3 weeks. That’d be just about right for me, since I stayed there right about 2 weeks ago. Ugh.

Right now my remedy is to take some Theraflu–which is a mix of a bunch of different stuff. I think Tylenol, dextromethorphan, pseudoephedrin, and a whole hostload of other shit. Only problem is that the package expired back in 2002. According to my mom, the know-all pharmacist who will force me to take all sorts expired drugs…the worst that could happen is that the stuff doesn’t work…and it won’t kill me or anything. Iono man. Last time, I took this stuff, and I just about hallucinated. Well. Here’s to a party tonight…Bottoms up!

I like to do weird experiments. Like making pancakes with a microwave. Or like writing down my thoughts when I’m drunk. Here’s a nice piece from last night, when I was just so pissed off. I think it was a combination that pushed me over the edge.

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sometimes you’re just sooo drunk. i don’t know where to begin. perhaps the canadian embassy [the bar so-called "the wreck center"]. regardlesss, it is snowing and i’m not able to update this blog in real time. snow is covering the whole satellite dish. that’s strange. specifically strange because just across the persian gulf, one of my friends-of-friends is managing a project in dubai. weird because I could be in beach-weather right now, on the beach. But instead I’m in snow in one of the most fucked up places on earth. I suppose this is not one of the posts that I’m allowed to release to the public. That was resolved quite a while ago. Maybe one day I’ll get paid for all these memories that I’m gathering in this war-torn land. *sigh*,.;l;

Perhaps I’ve been inured by the consistent threats here lately. The bombs inside Kabul are now more frequent and perhaps more consistent.

Despite the overhanging suspicions of terrorists fomenting in the city we’ve continued our daily lives. Last week a bomb hit the German Embassy a few miles away from my office, but luckily I was way out on the other end of town…so I didn’t even realize what had happened until after waay after the fact.

Sometimes I need to go out to government offices early. This morning we sorta knew that terrorists would try an attack, to “celebrate” the inauguration of President Obama..and send a little message to the world. Nevertheless, I did the foolish thing of attempting to get out to the ministry office…assuming i could beat the any morning bombs (which is when they usually happen). For better or for worse, the bombs actually were earlier than I hoped…and now I’ll forego my meetings with government counterparts out there.

Hmm. Time to step back and look at big picture… talk about “work-life balance”.