No Electricity, No Outside, No Fun?

Last night I escaped work right before a torrential downpour. I am indebted to Co Bay and her offhanded remark that it looked like it's going to rain for my dry ride home. Recently, I have learned the hard way that when the rain starts it doesn't mess around; this is no Oregon rain, it's the start in 30-seconds, soaked all the way through before you even have time to seek out shelter kind. So Co Bay's remark kicked me into gear: I quickly gathered my things, shut down my computer and took off for home. Luckily, I live close by because in the ten minute ride the sky's ominous shade of gray crept closer to the city. Seriously, when I turned on to my street it was still sunny. By the time I had the bike in the house, the wind had picked up and the road was speckled from a few drops. By the time I got up one flight of stairs, the downpour had began.

I always expect rain like that to last for only a short while, but so far my experience has been that it is quite unpredictable. Sometimes it comes and goes, sometimes it lasts all night. Last night was the later. Now, a little (or a big) rain doesn't really hurt anyone, so the rain itself was fine. That is, until the power went out. My host siblings reported that it had already been out at my house for most of the day, came back for a little, then went out again.

Imagine with me for a moment. The kids are on summer vacation. It is too hot (well, that point could--and should---be argued, but we'll just go with according to them) to play outside and there has been no electricity all day--no computer, no tv. Fortunately they just purchased a bunch of new books, so I can only imagine they spent a lot of the day reading. But now they don't have electric options or enough light to read by, or even the option to go outside because of the rain (another point that could be argued, but I just kind of go with it).They were going crazy!

I tried everything I could to find something to entertain myself and them. I don't know why, but I was in a need to be active kind of mood. They wouldn't play games with me, so I went for a walk in the rain, which was boring. Then I decided I would play the piano for a bit, which turned into all three of us playing different things at once. I HATE competing noises, so that didn't last long. By this time they were bickering over any little thing and before I knew it, Vang was crying in the corner.

Now in the US, if a 7 year old was crying, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. After assessing that she isn't injured, you say an encouraging word or two and then distract her with something new to do. But here, for whatever cultural reason, crying is not okay, so when she does cry it is a major break down, in a silent, inaccessible kind of way. She hid in the chair for the next hour, refusing to talk to anyone or be consoled in any way. I tried everything I could think of to engage her, meanwhile, Co Hue, while not consoling Vang, kept repeating what a horrible brother Minh is for making his sister cry (fights are never one-sided...), Chu Hung played on his phone and ignored the entire situation and Minh sat and stared at the wall, refusing to engage in any activity either. Eventually I remembered that someone had recently given me a bag of balloons, so I brought those down along with a sharpie so we could make balloon faces--just call me the family cruise director.

Minh and I entertained ourselves for a bit, while Vang continued to cry. Not even balloon people could get her attention! We then moved onto a rousing game of balloon badminton, which was picking up right as the power returned.

And just like that, the house returned to its normal routine: Chinese soap-operas, fans, second dinner and all.

The evening, while being entertaining in a very odd kind of way, made me think: why is it that I couldn't find anything to do? Without being able to read, watch tv, or go for a walk, I was completely boggled as how to amuse myself. That seems like a lesson I would've learned in moving to a developing country. And yet, I felt even more stuck here than I would have at home.

I guess that is why you can't predict the things you are going to learn in different periods of life. For now, I'll just accept it as a fact that I lead a very silly life here. And tonight I will be grateful for the electricity :)