We finally broke down and got a small air conditioner for
our bedroom. I don’t even like air
conditioning and have never had it before.
But last night was the first night in three months that I felt comfortable
in my own home!
For three months, we tried living as our Sri Lankan friends
do—without AC. Sleepless nights and colorful
language ensued. Is it any wonder,
considering the 90-degree room in which we slept? If we were lucky, it was only 85 degrees when
we woke up in the morning, the year-round high temps and humidity rarely
dropping at night. Now I understand why novelist
Michael Ondaatje, Sri-Lankan born author of The
English Patient, wrote in The
Cat’s Tablet that he didn’t know what a blanket was till he went to London
as an adolescent.
Living in the tropics is exotic, but it is downright
difficult. It feels like the most
difficult thing we’ve ever done—and we lived in a war zone in Palestine for
five years! For a number of reasons,
including the heat, we contemplated leaving as soon as we arrived. When we decided to try sticking it out, taking the “one
day at a time" approach, we worried that we would actually go mad! The hardest part is that there is no relief—not
at work, not at home, our skin constantly glistening with sweat and our
freshly-ironed clothes wrinkled. Frequent
cold showers—after work, at bedtime, in the middle of the night—give only
temporary relief.
But now, that is all a thing of the past. Last night I actually covered up with the bed
sheet that mostly goes unused! (Like
Michael Ondaatje, we have no blankets on our bed.) Bob is currently in France and Spain, walking
the Camino de Santiago. When he returns,
it will be to a Sri Lanka that he no longer recognizes. That is a very good thing.
