The Little Can & The Big Wind

There are lots of things that are different from Canada, but the bathroom alone is a totally different experience. The morning shower here really gets you going. The reason for this is that you get a shock every time you adjust the water. You see, there are no water heaters here so every shower has an electric water heater wired right in that tries to heat the water as it comes out. It never gets more than warm, and the temperature is regulated by the flow of water. The more water, the colder it is. So the attempt is to find a happy medium between a small warm trickle and an ice cold torrent. You really want to get it right the first time because successive shocks are not my idea of a good time. As you can see from the picture, its all expertly wired and really safe.

The next item that is different is the quality of plumbing. Upon our arrival, we were immediately informed that the sewage lines here are not up to North American standards and that toilet paper cannot be flushed down the toilets. This is where the little can next to the toilet comes in. Used toilet paper is placed in the bin and emptied daily for obvious reasons.

All of this sounds quite terrible, but its not so bad. For one thing, the showers are HUGE. They are all at least 6 feet long by 3 feet wide with a drain in the floor. There are no tubs so hence no baths.

Last night was both thrilling and scary at the same time. At night, we open all the windows to try and cool everything off, but at 3am, we were awakened by very loud rain and very strong wind. If you have seen Forest Gump, you have heard about the big ol fat rain, and the rain that comes straight up, but this was the first time I had ever seen rain go sideways. The overhangs above the windows stretch out a good 4 to 5 feet, but the wind and rain was so strong last night that it was coming straight in through the windows. We ran around and closed all the windows to stop the rain coming in, but then we were a little worried that the glass in the windows was going to break due to the wind. It all stopped about an hour later and we mopped up water that came in under the door in the morning. We checked the weather report this morning, and it reported the winds got up to near hurricane force during that hour.

Today we spent the morning with the kids working on the homework that they need to get done for school and we are expecting to be picked up right away for another preparation meeting and supper with a friend. As long as the internet stays up, I will post some more pictures later tonight.