First, this really isn't meant as whining so I hope it doesn't come across that way. I had a friend who said my blog reminded her of the randomness of life in Africa. It makes me realize how much we take little things for granted back home; but mainly, I hope it just shows the uncertainty of life here and why I learn such lessons about trusting in God alone here, especially as nothing else can be counted on!
As I mentioned in my last blog, I had really enjoyed my water aerobics class and hoped to go back on Saturday. Sarah had things to do in town, so she said she'd go in with me and I could drop her off in town. I made the ultimate sacrifice in getting up before 8 on a Saturday (!), and we were ready to leave shortly after that. We have to open a gate to get in and out of the compound, and it's usually a passenger's job to do that, so Sarah got out. When she got back in, she said, "Your front tire is as flat as a pancake!" Providentially, there were guys working in the garage on base on a Saturday morning, so I turned around and drove straight there.Tzaiko (have no idea if that's how you spell it, but it's close to phonetic!) was already wheeling out the little jack as he saw me coming. He changed my tire,;thankfully, I had a functioning spare, and several other guys told me where to go to get it patched. It was a service station on the way to town, so we called in there (which is how my New Zealand friends would say we stopped there!), and a couple of random-looking guys fixed it and put it back on my spare rack. Cost about $2!
Oh, almost forgot the battery issues! I put my car in thre base garage for a couple of days last week (more shocks and springs!), and when they were done, they apparently left a door open because my battery was dead when I went to pick up the car! They jumped it off and told me it should recharge. Unfortunately, I didn't drive it enough to recharge, so it just went dead again. Friday night one of the teachers, Celina, had an emergency and needed me to drive her, her sister-in-law, her housegirl, her son, and eventually her husband, to her mother-in-law's house about 45 minutes out of town. By the time we left it was getting dark, and sure, enough, my car wouldn't start. Before I left the base, we'd had to get jumped off twice! I had a couple of places to stop and decided to stop with all of them so I'd have Swahili-speaking help if I needed it! At both places I stopped, I left the car running, but the security alarm went off, my car knowing something was wrong! When we turned off the alarm, it also turned off the car, and it died! The second man who helped determined that it wasn't so much the battery as the terminal, so I showed Celina how to hold the terminal while I started the car, saying, "Celina, we are women, we can do this!" Finally got them all home to "Mama" in the dark and rain and made it safely back to EnGedi!
Back to Saturday morning! Where we had to go through the whole terminal-holding thing a couple more times! I told Sarah it was too late to go to water aerobics, so I'd drop her off anyway, then go to plan B, which was the Impala Hotel. I was meeting a friend for lunch, so I wanted to stay close. Had a great swim, then had to figure out how to get in the car since the door locks are attached to the battery-power system! I realized I could open my back hatch, crawl through and unlock the driver's door from the inside, pop the hood, then look for someone to hold the terminal while I started the car! That accomplished, I went to lunch.
Carly, who I was having lunch with, invited me to a movie they were taking some kids to that afternoon, and after a haircut at Aly's (more terminal-holding, etc) I joined them. Eventually made it home after a full day! One night later this week Don came over (Aussie handy man living here), and I got him to replace the terminal clasp. So, now my car starts every time! Moral of the story: you can not take anything for granted!
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