The Turd World

Well, this year the "turd world" (as my Irish principal calls it) has become much more apparent to me. While I remain well fed throughout this drought, and therefore won't complain TOO much, we're dealing with major electricity shortages here. The story is that there is not enough water running through the hydro generators, and therefore they aren't producing enough electricity (which they struggle with at the best of times). The area where I lived last year almost always had electricity, but not the case for my new place. The longest stretch I have been without power was 72 hours. I think I had about 30 hours of electricity in 7 days, most of that during the middle of the night. Needless to say I can't keep anything cold, and so my meat intake has dropped dramatically. I am craving steak something fierce. In the meantime, the government has decided to try to regulate fuel prices, and the companies have responded by refusing to sell diesel, gasoline, or kerosene. A bad combination with the lack of electricity as it then became difficult to get diesel for generators. Anyway, it seems the fuel situation has eased for the time being, but it is hard to imagine how the country can progress with such energy crises. And it is hard to imagine how I (or my students) will make it through when I (a) don't have enough coffee in the morning before school, (b) don't have cold beer for after school, and (c) have bad hair pretty much all the time. Oh well, so it goes. I love my new house anyway, and my guests, especially the cute little one who can't pronounce f's and therefore keeps telling me I am "hunny".