February 7, 2012

Another day with no running water. I puttered around all day with little direction and even less motivation to get to the tasks I’m supposed to be working on. Despite having the wall unit on all day to heat up the living room and the space heater to boot, I was still cold. I got under one of the korpachas (thick, long cushions) and took a nap.

Corrie called to inquire if I had been in touch with Ruth after she left her hotel. I hadn’t and felt bad about not calling to find out where the embassy had taken her. Caroline emailed to confirm she’d be back early on Thursday morning and wanted to move more of her personal belongings to my apartment on the same day.

Elbek came for his class and confirmed his apartment had running water and offered to bring me some containers until the pipes defrost. Takhmina, from Caritas, called to invite me to lunch with the group on Wednesday. My landlady showed up to collect the rent, not much to talk about with our language barrier in the middle. I showed her the fact that no water was coming out of the tap and she called Jamshed only to be told I needed to keep the faucets open 24/7 so water would start to come in as the pipes defrosted.

I almost finished reading “The $64 Tomato” by Michael Alexander about extreme gardening by a yuppie guy intent on producing the best organic produce possible in Upstate New York. It’s a hilarious account of his travails and a wake-up call to those like me who’d like to garden without all the inconveniences that come with the territory.