April Fools

I heard his feet stomping up the marble stairs just moments before Micah burst into my room, "Daddy get up…mommy said you have to come downstairs, the water spilled on the floor." Looking at the clock, 6:45am, and knowing my wife wouldn't send our rambunctious three-year-old messenger over a spilled glass of water, I knew exactly what to expect as I threw on shoes and headed downstairs. I also knew that my morning schedule for the next 3 hours was just decided for me. Let me back up…

We have been in Addis Ababa now for almost 6 weeks, that’s about 4 weeks longer than we would have liked, but I suppose Addis has some perks (Mmmm…cheeseburgers!). One of those perks certainly is not the public water works. I don't know all the causes and didn't keep close records, but it feels like we've had water fewer days than not.  In addition, just having water in our tank isn't enough for our posh lifestyle, you see, our shower's water heater works only by pressure, and so if our water levels are low, we don’t get any heat. No heat means no showers. This has led us into a routine where we drop everything and shower whenever we get enough water pressure to do so - some weeks we’ve been so blessed twice! Woohoo!

How do you live without water? Well we manage by having jerry cans and buckets scattered around the house. This makes for some very fun and often repeated "off limits" discussions with our little 17-month mermaid.

Anyway, back to this morning. The story is actually quite simple. When there is no water, faucets can be turned on, and nothing happens. Rocket science, I know. But wait, nothing happens only until the great Poseidon of the Addis Ababa water works decides to switch our water back on. Then, guess what? Water comes out! Are you tracking with me? Ok, another thing you need to know. Our kitchen sink does not drain. It hasn't for more than a year. And so, like most things, we have a manual system for working around it. One last thing: our water often comes back in the middle of the night! Need I state the obvious? When you put together the information puzzle I just gave you, what do you get: that’s right, a flooded house.

You know what's really sad? Why wasn't it hard for me to piece together Micah's statement of water spilling on the floor? Because today wasn't the first time it had happened. April 1^st had come, and I guess it was our year to play the fools.