Kvetching

*Insert blood-curdling scream here*

Okay, there's a problem in the house.

Today was the second day in a row where I was in the shower and halfway through the shower, in mid-frothy sud, the water in the shower stopped coming out. I don't mean drops of water still sputtering out of the spigot - I'm talking no water coming out at all. First the water is there, then it thins out rather dramatically, then....nothing. Had you been there for my mysterious, unfortunate turn of bathing events, you would have heard a colorful array of words and grunts coming from the bathroom. I was pissed.

At first I thought that it was a potential poaching problem. Someone is tapping our water pipes and taking out our hard-earned water reserves!

Then I thought, oh my goddess we're in a drought! That's it! The water is gone! We don't have any more water! I can't live like this! I have to evacuate this place ASAP!

But, after further research, and noticing the water working at night and having a second phenomenon in the shower, I figured it is probably something else. Like too many people taking showers at the same time.

Apparently the two connecting houses are, indeed, connected - in fact, the water pipes are probably connected between the buildings. And since everyone likes showering in the morning (anyone who doesn't is a fool), the water is not enough or strong enough to be taken in too many directions. So, with three of us in our house showering in our place and goodness knows what they're doing in the house next door with 5 children, the water probably (I'm guessing here) just couldn't do it anymore. Hence, my most unfortunate attempts at cleanliness.

With that and the series of unfortunate technological events that have gone on since a boat in Kenya dropped their anchor (oops!), I am definitely looking forward to going back to the developed world with easier accessibility and less troubles with services, like water and internet.

I'm not saying that I'm one of those drones who complains that they couldn't bear to live without the internet. I don't enjoy the television, and I can go for weeks without reading my emails. I don't use my phone very much, either. It's just that I feel like it's difficult to not be able to have constant service, to which I've grown accustomed. Let's just hope that the water tables don't drop in the US, and that the internet keeps kicking!

Anyways.

I got a Kindle in the mail! My dear friend Felicity (for whom I think some popular religious entity  should coin a sainthood) happened to have an old Kindle lying around her apartment in NYC, and decided to be the angel she is and mail it to me post-robbery. It took 5 weeks for it to get here, but it came! And I danced. lots of dancing. I'm going to be downloading on it a bunch of books - including the one I started reading on my Nook pre-robbery! I'm so excited about this, I could just squeal! Bookworming, here I come.

Tuesday after my evening class I went to a goodbye party for Ariel. It was at a bowling alley called Mamba Club; I believe this is the only bowling alley in Rwanda. It's a pretty amusing place. There's only 3 walls to the building. Also, the pins on the other end of the lane are not managed by mechanical robots lifting and ordering them in neat rows, but by men standing behind the pins,  picking and replacing them in an orderly fashion.

Otherwise, my life has been about packing up for the return home (in 14 days!) and school. Finals begin on Monday, and that means lots of grading frantically of other papers have to happen now, as well as creating and preparing exams for 100 students. I have a totally new-found appreciation and respect for all of my past teachers - this is hard, long work!