Shower Power

I love our new place.  The Rowes, who are in charge of the compound we’re staying in, did an excellent job of decorating and furnishing our little home.  The living room features some Ugandan-made wicker furniture, a few pieces of African artwork, a large map of Uganda, and some non-threatening looking tribal masks.  Mine and Amy’s room is pretty spacious, with two twin beds with accompanying mosquito nets and nightstands, as well as a large wardrobe.  The boys complain a little about their room, as it is significantly smaller, with two twin beds squeezed in leaving them with a walkway of about a yard by half a yard.  They’ll be fine though.  The kitchen is small, but is equipped with a few pots and pans, dishes, and a great assortment of cooking utensils.  The last room in our small house is the bathroom which possesses the greatest feature of all:  the shower with a water heater. 

Our first few weeks at the Maria Flo, showers were kept very short, because the water temperature was never high enough to convince me to stand under the water for any extended period of time.  Showering is a great part of the day because I get so grimy my Chaco tan lines look five times darker than they are, and the combination of sweat and dirt on my face is clearly visible.  Even in the heat, a freezing cold shower is not the most pleasant experience. 

We were all very excited to find out that our new home had a water heater, because hot showers were something we all missed greatly.  During the grand tour of the house, the Rowes told us the water heater and kitchen appliances wouldn’t work when the power was out, but the generator would pick up on everything else (the power here goes out all the time, temporary loss of power from ten seconds to an hour occurs daily).  We quickly learned that hot showers come at a price. 

Whenever anyone flipped the switch to turn on the water heater and got in the shower, we would lose power.  So with these circumstances, you must choose between heat and light.  We’ve found some strategies to provide us with the best chances for a pleasant shower, because there are some tradeoffs involved. 

Option 1:  Flip on the hot water switch, and turn on the shower, nice and hot.  Don’t go crazy with it, leaving the water at a slight drizzle gives you a better chance of keeping the power running.  The obvious benefit of this option is that if all goes well, you get a nice and hot shower in the light.  This goes particularly well if it is daytime and you are able to turn off all other lights in the house, because there is a window that lights up the bathroom well enough to see.  However, if this option is taken at night, you could plunge the entire house into darkness, and you are left to finish your now freezing cold shower in the dark. 

Option 2:  Turn the bathroom light on and take a cold shower.  The benefit of this option is that most likely the power will not go out, you will be able to see through the duration of your shower and everyone else in the house will be able to go about life normally.  The downside of this option is that your shower will, without a doubt, be freezing cold. 

The good news from all of this is that it is not how things are supposed to be.  Brian and Angela (our landlords) are going to look into this issue, so maybe one day soon we will always be able to take showers that are both hot and lit. 

The good news from all of this is that it is not how things are supposed to be.  Brian and Angela (our landlords) are going to look into this issue, so maybe one day soon we will always be able to take showers that are both hot and lit. 

I will certainly be grateful for every hot shower I take here, but what I’m discovering is that cold showers really aren’t that terrible. When I’m at home and the water doesn’t get as hot as I would like, it’s like the worst day ever.  Here, I’m not enjoying them by any means, but at the end of each day, I am just so grateful to finally be clean that it doesn’t really matter if the water is hot enough to scald me or if it’s so cold that I only touch it when I need to rinse off.  Heated water is a luxury, being able to shower is what is most important.