Monday, August 10, 2009

No cold water yet

Food continues to be an arena for hilarity, charades, practicing Chinese, patience and sometimes even a shower. One thing that has compounded the food issue is our lack of a refrigerator. We purchased one on Wednesday (after a lot of pointing, saying “yes yes” and “no no” along with over exaggerated nodding and shaking of our heads to ensure that when the woman was saying yes, she did actually mean yes) and were told it would be here Friday. We anxiously awaited its arrival. Then on Thursday the typhoon started to roll in. Typhoons mean wind, rain, businesses don’t open and that deliveries are delayed. No worries, a phone call by a staff member that speaks Chinese and we learned the fridge would come Sunday instead, plenty of time for the typhoon to run its course. So today we made sure we stayed home to greet the delivery people. Two o’clock came and left and after 3 long hours of feeling trapped in our apartment we decided it wasn’t coming. Now it’s hard enough to call and track down a delivery when you speak the language, think about trying to do this when your primary means of communication is by acting things out. Our trusty staff member made a call for us and reported back that they couldn’t find our order. Great. We just want cold water. We waited for someone from the store to call us, with all sorts of worse case scenarios running through my mind (granted, it wasn’t a rational mind) and when they finally did a long 10 minutes later they told us it will be here Monday at 3. Whew. I’m not holding my breath, but at least they found it!

Not having a fridge means we have to go out for every meal, eat dry goods, or buy small portions of refrigerated items from the store and eat them all. Not that this is a bad thing, just something to be considered before you get to the “I’m-so-starving-I’m-getting-cranky-and-have-to-eat-right-now” stage. I can get to this stage quickly (just ask Jeremiah who often will ask me at the slightest hint of cranky behavior if I would like a snack). I think Jeremiah loves not having a fridge because it forces us to go out, eat and interact with people – 3 things he loves and 3 things I don’t often jump up and down about. I admit though, I have loved the places we have gone and look forward to going back to. I also love that Jeremiah will go out and get me things when I don’t feel like leaving. He did learn though that rain can come quickly in Taiwan and can come down hard.


We did make a meal at home, ensuring we didn't get too much food that would go to waste. It turned out pretty great.(click to enlarge)

Tomorrow I start work with some meetings so we actually have to set the alarm clock. I'll leave you with a picture of where we write to you from:

3 comments:

  1. I love the pictures of where you are typing from and wet jeremiah! Can't wait to skype with you both. Love you

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  2. Thanks for the pics! I hope you have cold water by the time you read this comment!

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  3. When my son, Chris Pexton was in Africa, he was with out a fridge for almost a year. I think he lived on pancakes, and canned veges.

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