Loadshedding. I had no clue what that word meant prior to my trip but it became a phrase that was a source of anger for the natives and visitors alike.
Squeeze me?
Loadshedding: when the electricity shuts down to conserve energy in the city
Does not help to be behind a main market - the worst consumers of electricity. Hence, ours went out three times a day, two hours at a time. That also meant that the water stopped because the motor carrying water to the bathrooms was run by electricity. So we bathed in our own sweat most of the day. Our cousins were very generous so they implemented three back up generators to compensate for the loadshedding. But this only turned on ceiling fans and back up lights. I would sit immbolized under a ceiling fan, cooled only by the beads of sweat on my forehead. And the humidity did not help - I swore I had African hair the whole trip. Even my relatives were asking if I had permed my hair prior to coming.
I warned the girls that many backhanded compliments would fly their way and they needed to ignore them. They discovered the meaning of blunt: I was told that I was too dark and my daughter had gained too much weight. I said that tans were the latest fad in Canada and my daughter only smiled and shifted unconsciously in her chair while throwing me 'that' look. The twins were crying that there was no internet and that their iPod charger adapter fell out of the socket. So much for that!
Day 3 and we were stuck to the chairs with blood, sweat and tears.
No wait! The blood story comes Day 4.
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