Peace Corps experiences are filled with many extremes. There are so many moments where you just know you are making a positive difference. Then, there are moments where you just want to teleport back to America. Quite frankly, the happy moments are the ones that fuel many of us to keep going. We need to remember those high moments, because there are hardships coming right around the corner. Peace Corps is such a roller coaster ride with so many ups and downs. And they aren’t the Disneyland roller coasters where the stratification is not so extreme between the high and lows. I’m talking about Six Flags roller coasters here, baby.
Low moments of hardships come in all shapes and sizes. One stressor for many Peace Corps Volunteers in Georgia are showers. You read that correctly, showering/bathing can be an actual hardship. Long gone are the days where you can say, “I’ll be ready in 10 minutes, I’m just going to hop in the shower.” There is no such thing as “hopping” in the shower. For one, there is probably no shower place to hop to. Second, it is not a quick process in which the word “hopping” implies. This is one of the many reasons why we shower once, twice, or three times a week.
In my first few days at my apartment, I was looking forward to showering. I went to the gym for the first time in 8 months, so my hair was greasy and I was in the mood to feel nice and clean. But God had a different plan in mind. Scratch that, the universe, fate, the stars, and God himself all colluded together to make my cleanliness nearly impossible.
My bathroom is outside as I mentioned in my earlier post. One of the walls are shared with the house, but you still must step outside to enter the bathroom. There is a toilet, a 30-year-old washing machine, a sink, and a shower head. In Georgia, having a shower head without shower curtains is very typical. Consequently, everything can get wet.
Since winters are harsh in Georgia, my landlord gave us a tiny electric heater for the bathroom. Justin and I skillfully hold the shower hose and make sure it does not spray the electric heater. This new skill is non-negotiable; otherwise, we can electrocute ourselves and die. Also, getting dressed in the bathroom after the shower is also difficult. To avoid getting all my dry clothes wet while getting dressed, I’ve decided to buy a robe. I’ll go into the bathroom wearing only my bathrobe and carrying my towel. It much easier only hanging one item of clothing on the rack. It is also much easier to put on a robe than a pair of pants.
Furthermore, there are so many knobs and pipes to even get the thing going. I’ve yet to master all the knobs and pipes for the apartment. Since it was one of my first showers in the apartment, I asked Justin to get the water running. So, I’m standing there wearing only a bathrobe and I’m cold. We turn on the shower and the water is ice-cold. The ice-cold water is splashing everywhere. The water heater is not turning on (pictured below). Eventually the hot water starts to work, but the water heater is bipolar. It goes to practically boiling in a matter of seconds. There is literally no middle ground with this thing. If I turn the cold-water knob ever so slightly, the heater turns off.
So, for the next forty minutes, Justin and I are trying to maneuver the water to a normal warm temperature with no luck. Either the water heater is boiling the water or just not working. Since we kept the water running during our experimentation, we both started to get concerned if we are going to run out of water. Like most city dwellers, we get our water from a tank. The city water does not run 24 hours a day like it does in mainland America.
So, Justin’s aerobic workout included running to the water heater in the kitchen, to the bathroom, to the “basement” to check the water tank. My challenge was keep my feet from getting frostbite (I’m over exaggerating here) as the ice-cold water is splashing on my bare feet. After 40 minutes of trying to get the shower to work, I gave up. We discovered that bathroom sink had the capability to have lukewarm water. I stripped my bathrobe and started washing myself with the sink water. I took my washcloth and splashed my body little by little. Mind you, I was shivering at this point. I didn’t care water was getting everywhere, that would have happened regardless. I washed everything but my face and hair by splashing that sink water.
Justin, however, was determined he can fix this. He has more patience than I do or because he wanted to shower more than I did. He finally got the water to be lukewarm from the shower head. I jumped at the opportunity and shampooed my hair quickly. Conditioner was not happening; I couldn’t risk the water to have a tantrum again. As I was doing that, Justin started getting ready for his shower. Instead of turning off the shower water, I left the hose in the sink. Neither of us wanted to re-experience getting it to the right temperature again. I put on my robe and handed him the shower hose for his turn.
Luckily, the shower water stayed in a good mood. Thankfully, it did not change its mind on Justin. Once we were done with showering, I ate some Nutella with bananas and all was right with the world again.
And since then, our luck has been good. This could be due to the fact we officially understand our water system. In essence, once we arrived at the perfect water temperature, we have not changed the temperature knobs. We are lucky that turning off and turning on the water is its own knob. Also, showering when the city water is running is so much better than the tank water. The water pressure is much stronger when the city water runs in the morning. So our shower schedule is highly dependent when the water is running from the city. If this sounds at all complicated, don’t worry…it is. If this sounds like something you don’t want to deal with, then consider yourself privileged.