The Bear Necessities

There are some things we're completely accostomed to having 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the US. Things like electricity, water, most likely internet, and air conditioning or fans if we're lucky. Well, things are different here, and I'm wondering exactly what we need, and how much of it we need.


My landlord never told me this, but I learned it the hard way: the water shuts off at night in Kosova. My first night here, after returning from dinner, I relaxed a bit, watched a DVD, then decided to brush my teeth. It was midnight. I went to try to turn on the water, and nearly nothing came out. I went to sleep that night confused, and with very bad breath. Sunday, I asked Shpresa about it, and she told me that in most buildings, the water turns off at night, and comes back on at around 5 AM. At work today, I was talking to one of my co-workers, (yes! one that can speak english really well!) and she said that at her house, sometimes her water turns off all day, or in the afternoon, and is really sporadic. She said I was really lucky to have it turn off only at midnight, and so far for it to be pretty consistant. I mean, I don't need water at 4 AM, and I don't usually need to take showers in the middle of the night, but it is just one of those differences that reminds me of how different of a place I live now.


Still on the topic of water, I've realized that showers don't really have to be hot.. or warm.. or even luke warm. The first two times I showered here I was blessed with warm water. Usually, I like to take long, relaxing showers, in hot hot water. I knew though that water is expensive here and a limited resource, so I've grown accustomed to turning off the water while I'm shampooing my hair, and I didn't complain when the water wasn't hot. However, the third attempt at a shower, I waited and waited for the water to heat up, but to no avail: I stood there for ten minutes, and it stayed freezing cold. I was pretty annoyed, and I tried to shower, I really did, but I just couldn't take how cold it was. I hopped out and gave up. Yesterday, I hoped that maybe it was just a fluke; I got ready for my shower and thought to myself, "BE WARM!" But still, it was cold. This time I really had to shower, and so I did. I figure, two cold showers down, I'll get used to it. Hot, or warm even, is not really a necessity, but showering definitely is.


Yesterday, at work, I crossed a milestone: I experienced my first Kosovar power-outage! So far my few friends (okay, okay, my two co-workers that speak english) have praised the electricity in Pristina, saying how even a year ago there could be a whole day with out it, and how now there are hardly ever black-outs, and if so, they only last several hours. Well today at work, while I was browsing the internet and catching up with my correspondance (well, it was lunch break), everything suddenly shut off. I sat here sort of confused for a moment, and then I got up and walked to a couple other rooms where people were still online. So I went back to my desk and sat down and took out Iris Murdoch's The Black Prince, which I bought yesterday at an English bookstore. Someone eventually came by my desk and asked me if I was bored, and I just said, "not really," because there wasn't much I could do anyways. It turns out that the other rooms all have back-up generators. Well this must be how I got this room. Another one of my co-workers then walked by and said, "no power?" and I shook my head no, then he replied, "well, that's Kosova!" Well two hours later, the power came back on, and I got right back to my internet perusal.

Internet. Today, it took me 18 minutes precisely to sign online once I got to the office. Whether it was the computer, or the internet, I don't know. It was probably a bad combination of the two. Internet Explorer kept on freezing, then I would have to restart it, over and over again. It reminded me of the good old days of dial up. To add to this, most of you know I don't have internet in my apartment, unless I sit in the corner of my living room, and steal someone else's connection. My landlord said that I could get it if I wanted, and I said yes, and he said the man would come by soon, but it's been 4 days and no such luck. There were two choices I had about internet: I could either get 5 hours of internet a day for 10 Euro a month, or 24 hours a day for 15 Euro. I thought, "why would anyone choose 10 Euro a month, when you get unlimited for only 5 Euro more?" But then I realized, the average salary here for those employed (and unemployment is upwards of 40% in the city,) is 150 Euro a month. That 150 Euro has to stretch a long way - especially because everyone here has so many kids. Anyways, 5 Euro is a lot to some people here. I read in my guidebook that most only live on 3 Euro a day or less. Seeing as one of my cucumbers cost 4 cents, that is very possible, but is still really tough.

Anyways, I just wanted to write about my first power-outage, I consider it kind of like inducting me into Pristina, and I expect a lot more of them to happen!

ps. the title is not a typo! It is just me expressing my love for The Jungle Book.