Not Again

So we get up this morning only to find out there was neither water nor electricity. Talk about an American in the rough. Now I’ve gone camping, and I’m fast to tell folks, “Oh that’s no problem, I was a Boy Scout.” Yeah right. There’s nothing like the modern convenience of guaranteed running water, and being able to turn your lights on at will.

My speculation is that the community enjoyed themselves so much last night that they used all the available electrical resources for two days! What else could it be? I mean they were out there until like four in the morning, right?

Despite that, Akilah still intended on fixing pancakes for breakfast. Mind you when she mentioned the brilliant idea, she purposefully held back the fact that I needed to go across to the “Bon Prix” (a store across the street) and pick up a few more of the ingredients.

She gives me this list which includes: un pkt. de levure chimque, un pkt. vanille, et un kilo de farine (baking powder, vanilla, and flour), oh, and a bar of soap.

Once again I follow my “Ritual of Stalling” before finally getting up enough nerve to head across the street and shop. This time, I decide it’s not necessary to try and stand in front of the building before proceeding. So I go over – feeling as though everyone is looking at me at this particular moment – walk into the store, pull out my list, and begin asking for the items with the limited french that was just given to me.

It all went pretty smoothly. He did ask something that I didn’t understand, and I just kind of smiled and hunched my shoulders. Must have been a universal signal, because he totally understood my lack of understanding. I paid, received my change, and walked back across the street without incident.

Now through all of this, we notice that there is no electricity or running water. Cooking ‘breakfast without it was not much of a problem since there is some drinking water in a filter. However, taking a shower? That’s another issue.

I’m wondering, “So how are we going to clean up?” Of course Akilah is happy to inform me that I will now learn how to do a bucket bath. “Bucket bath? You mean standing in a bucket and washing?”

Though it’s not quite like that the concept is the same. You boil some water (hopefully you’ve got bottles of it stashed somewhere in the house), pour it into a bucket along with some water from more bottles, and proceed to washing. It wasn’t too bad, and this was definitely reminiscent of the times when I’d gone camping with (that’s right) the Boy Scouts and had to wash without showers.

So for the day we relaxed a little more, talked, and had a pretty eventless day. We did go out to find some material for me (there’s supposedly this fantastic tailor in Bamenda that can make anything you show ’em) and select a few items for dinner. We made dinner (yep, without lights and water), and ate by candlelight.

Afterwards, just sat and kind of chilled on the couch talking and laughing. The lights? Well somewhere about 9pm they came back on. The water? Ha! Wishful thinking.