I arrived back in Vientiane the end of January and had a little less than a week to prepare for LaoTESOL. It was a 2 day conference for English teachers in the country. It was a lot of fun. English teachers from all over the country came to the city for the U.S. Embassy sponsored event. I was able to present and had a very full room. I had a chance to meet many teachers and it was interesting exchanging stories.
My sister was set to arrive the following Tuesday. I was really looking forward to spending the weekend mostly relaxing with a little bit of housework to make the place presentable. Instead, I work up Saturday morning very sick. I think it must have been the flu. I managed to make it ok, but had a little mishap on Sunday evening-which is the point of this post.
I met my friend Julia for dinner Sunday evening, came home, was feeling particularly weak and ready for bed. I decided to take a shower before calling it a night. I had done some laundry throughout the day and mopped a little, so my water use was unusually high for one person. I was in the shower when I heard the water pump making some weird noise(it is normally noisy, but it was different this time). I thought, "I wonder what is wrong. Maybe I should make sure the soap is all off." Well, it was a short time later that the pump came on, stayed on, and the water went out. YIKES. It was about 8pm on Sunday night. I went out to look in the tank. I stood on my tip toes and used my little flashlight to see what was going on. Sure enough, no water. I had to call my landlady.
Calling my landlady is always kind of fun. She speaks about as much English and I do Lao. I tried explaining and soon found myself talking to a younger woman(her daughter?) in English. I explained the pump made some strange noises and that I didn't have water. She told me to wait. A few minutes later my landlady and her husband (who speaks a great deal of English) showed up. We investigated the problem, discussed the possibility that the water company had shut off the water, dismissed that, talked to the neighbors, made some phone calls, did some yelling across fences and determined that nobody had water. They saved my night by putting a hose over the fence and partially filling the tank. I went to bed wondering how many days I would need to be careful with my water consumption. I went out the next morning to a full tank. I still go out and check every once in awhile before doing laundry or taking a shower. I don't want to take that water for granted anymore. Enjoy the little things. Love, M.
