Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Weather, water, power, houses

So now that I am back in Canada I get all sorts of questions and I would like to answer some now.

So this month in Alberta it has been hot 30+ C hot (86F). That much warmth is not common here, so over the past few days I have had comments of "boy it's hot, but you must to be used to it as you have lived in Africa". The truth is while I have been in parts of Kenya and other parts of Africa that have been quite warm. The area I call home, Tenwek, is quite comfortable. It a high altitude, about 6000 ft, and therefore is quite temperate. The days are lovely in the mid to low 20s. At nights it cools down to the teens. During the rainy season it's a little cooler, with clouds and rain. But it does not rain all day during the rains, just a few hours in the afternoon and then again in the evening and rains on and off overnight. So really its great weather all the time.

I have had other people concerned about my water situation. Honestly, the water situation was fairly normal. I had flush toilets and a hot water heater. Some of it was different. I filtered my water in a big filter before I drank it. The hot water heater was part solar and part electric. I would flip it on 30-40min before hopping in the shower, and the water would be hot. The water was hard and sometimes brown but really it was all fairly easy and OK.

Power. We had power most of the time. There were periods of time when we would have no power for more days than we would but it was ok - I got used to it. The stove was gas so it still worked, I would read books or play games by candlelight and battery powered lights. Recently I have moved close to downtown and have learned to think of rush hour timing when going somewhere. However, still I am occasionally stuck in traffic. You get used to it fairly quick. You learn what works and what doesn't and sometimes you just sit and wait. Having no power is like that. You quickly get used to it and complain at times but really it is just part of life you roll with.

So lastly people are curious about what my house is like. It's really quite normal. I lived in a two bedroom place that was part of a three-plex . It was a 5 minute walk to the hospital and my neighbors were other missionaries and hospital staff. It was a decent size house and for bible studies or pizza nights 15+ people would fit in there.

So there you have a little about my life. Feel free to ask more questions in the comments and I will work them into my next post