The Low Point

Every volunteer, at some point in their service time, will have a low point. I don't want to be presumptuous, but I think I may be right in the middle of mine. This is not to say that things can't get worse - they certainly can. However, the events of the last few days have been difficult...

So, frankly, I'm in the midst of my low point in service. Work is slow and difficult - a problem I've had throughout my service, but exacerbated by the weather.

It has been cold. Really cold. For example, today was -22 as I walked to work at 9:30. As a result of it being very cold for long periods of time and the Georgian disinclination to shovel sidewalks, there are 2 inch thick sheets of ice covering all the pedestrian walk-ways in our city, and most of the roads. The ice is the result of snow being slowly compacted over about a 2 week period, and is pretty much here to stay until April.

Because of the ice, I've managed to fall now 8 times, twice this morning. My hips and knees are a nice color - you could have a decent color wheel from the shades of green, brown, and red on them... I also discovered that my eyes will water when exposed to cold. I then learned that in -22 with wind chill (only 10mph, but still) my eyelashes can freeze together. Raise your hand if you've had that experience...
In addition to my outdoor falls, I've now officially had an indoor fall - of course, while I was carrying my laptop and brand new hard drive (also in front of all of my coworkers). Fortunately, my laptop survived. Unfortunately, the external drive did not. Of course, we've only had the drive 3 days, so it didn't have any important data on it (thankfully!) but still... and we managed to already have thrown away the box and warranty info. Note to self: Keep box and warranty info for next drive. Should you all be interested, I recommend you hit the desk with your head FIRST and then chair with your knee, rather than the reverse.

I also managed to "loose" a friend's flashlight - if you would like a small red maglight, I can tell you right where to look. Actually, you can see it from above - it's about 4 feet down. Should you want it, I recommend a good soak in a nice high quality bleach before you use it. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

And then to top things off, we haven't had water for more than 3 hours a day since we got back from Istanbul (oddly enough, the hostel in Istanbul didn't have water either for the last 2 days - felt like home!). So, today was going to be a great day, because I got up early to get a shower. It was great - the bathroom had a roaring fire in the hot water heater (don't hear that phrase much in America...). The tile, of course, was frigid, but no mind because soon, magically soon I would be clean... and then right as I attempted to turn the shower on, the water shut off. So, no shower.

In sum, it's cold to the point of being ridiculous, work is not going well, I've managed to destroy a brand new hard drive, I'm covered in bruises and cuts, and I haven't showered in 15 days.

Bleep.

A quick post-word... the main reason life is bearable is the fantastic hospitality from our host family. Life would be absolute hell without them - rather than just disappointing and frustrating. Things will get better, but darn, it's tough to see it now.

[I wrote this post about 5 days ago, and still haven't had water... the water situation has actually gotten worse, as water hasn't come into the house for the week because the pipes are frozen solid....today is the first day internet is working again at my office, so I'm finally able to post it. Tomorrow I am going to go to the abano and I will buy a shower... it will be glorious to be clean again.]