There we were, bright and early on Monday morning running around like maniacs trying to get ready for the school day. So typically us. Kids were (barely) up and (sort of) dressed, plugged in to their vests and well into their treatment session as I was elbows deep into a dirty diaper and Joe was juggling the breakfast order alongside the school snack order. Not bad for a quarter after 7 on a school day, I thought.
Then the power went out.
We fumbled a bit, then scrambled, and finally recovered managing to get out the door in time for the walk in to school. Not the best start to a Monday but we pulled it together.
Tuesday was better, the week taunting us to pick up the pace somewhat.
And then the power went out.
Wednesday came and we joked about what time we'd lose light. Joe chuckled as he buttered the toast. I managed a laugh as I doled out the breathing treatments.
Then the power went out.
Okay, so maybe not so funny any more. We were quick to notice that it wasn't just our house, not just our block, hell, not even just our neighborhood. It was indeed the whole damned pueblo!
Thursday the same.
Friday too.
And don't forget Saturday or Sunday.
What the hell?
Every single day for the past eight days there has been a power outage for the entire pueblo. It's short lived, ten minutes tops. And it is reliable, always at 7:24AM. But what gives? What's the issue? I wouldn't have ever dared to call the pueblo third world but come on how, this was getting a little ridiculous.
So, as I imagined a good Spanish wife would do, I sent the husband out to get to the bottom of it at the neighborhood bar. Seriously, where else? Nothing gets answers faster than a bar full of soccer fans and a few rounds of San Miguel (beer). Now, just so you know, going out to get some answers is not an in-and-out kinda deal least of all on a soccer night. This would likely be an all nighter for me, which was fine. I had a lighter and candles at arm's reach and my glass of wine within the other arm's reach so I was prepared. And just as I had surmised, some four hours later he came home with the full scoop; as it turns out, the one and only thing for which I was not prepared.
Rather than bore you with the four hour version, I'll just cut to the chase. First off, no one in the whole freakin' bar even flinched when he brought up the pueblo's power 'issue'.
What 'issue'?
What are you talking about?
Huh?
They just stared at him blankly, silently willing him to shut the hell up so they could concentrate on the game.
The electricity.
Dude, what are you talking about? What about the electricity?
The fact that every day we have none for a ten minute spell. What's the deal?
Ohhhh...THAT. Suddenly, the game was of no consequence and they took some pity on the new guy. You'll get used to it. In fact, you can pretty much set your watch to it. Wait til winter when it's out for a couple of days.
Come again?
Oh yeah, last winter it went out for two whole days. Juan Carlos lost a week's worth of business because his freezer stock went bad and he had to dump it all.
Pardon me, but are you fucking kidding me?
You guys are living up in the new part of town, right? Well, it's not gonna be so bad for you guys. Just the ten minutes or so every morning when the pueblo wakes up. It's the unlucky saps in the old part of town that really have it bad, going for a few days at a time like that. Don't worry though, you'll get used to it.
We'll get used to it. Uhm, no. I'm thinking this is something that I probably won't get used to. I can get used to wearing shoes that pinch my toes. Or I can get used to drinking luke warm coffee when I so prefer it scalding hot. Hell, I might even be able to get used to everybody shouting at me as if I'm deaf becasue they think that if they speak louder I'll somehow understand all those colloquial phrases and inside jokes. But no, living without a reliable energy source is not something I plan on getting used to. I mean come on, we're well past the millenium folks. Shit, my Nepalese student, the ones who's cousin was a Sherpa, had more reliable power than this. I mean don't get me wrong, I think it's really cool and even a bit convenient that it happens to go out at the same time every day but there's a lot of shit that goes down regularly that I don't think we should tolerate just because no one has the wherewithall to fix the situation.
So now added to my to-do list of
1. informing the universe about cystic fibrosis
2. writing and getting a grant to get computers (notice I said get computers not get new computers) for the pueblo's elementary school and
3. running a marathon
is
4. stirring the shit up enough to get a revolution brewing so we can get the mayor/taxi driver to push for an update to the power grid which means at least two though preferably three to four new power transformers to replace the current ones which as we speak are about 40 years out of date.
And they say that Stay at Home Moms don't work.
Our power used to go out every day just when I was trying to make lunch. The answer was, "Just make lunch at a different time, like maybe at breakfast." Welcome to Spain!
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