The Bible talks about the power and neccesity of brokeness throughout the whole book. It seems like Becca and I have had our share of brokeness of a different sort lately...
Last night Rebecca notified me that "Sean, we have a small leak from the bathroom sink." OK, no problem, big, smart, Mr. Knowitall to the rescue. When I went and saw the leak, sure enough, it was just as Becca described. Just a few drops every once in a while. Nothing to write home about for sure. Well, as I fiddled a little more with the hose, off came the whole thing and water began spraying everywhere. Rather than put nice little shutoff valves on sinks and toilets like they do in the States, everything is just directly plumbed here. So, having never shut off my water main before, I didn't know exactly where it was. Several gallons of water and a hysterical daughter later, I found the shut off valve outside the house near where I park the truck. Well, world disater narrowly averted, we cleaned up the water and went to bed. I was going to get a new hose in the morning.
After getting things going this morning at the hangar, I found a chance to get away about 10:00 to try and fix the hose that blew off. I found what I needed at the local hardware store for .85 cents and tried it out. Because of the design on my sink, I couldn't tighten the hose as well as I needed to, so I went to the hangar to get a special basin wrench. This seemed to work fine, until the heavily corroded sink fixture decided to twist off, thus making another tsunami in my bathroon until I got the water main shut off. It didn't take as long this time. So, another trip to the hardware store and I bought a whole new faucet, a union, and another hose just for grins. As of yet, there are no leaks, but I never did make it back to the hangar today. This little plumbing project took my whole day!
For those of you who read this blog, you already know about the pathetic state of my "new" car, a Ford Bronco. Last night I stayed after work and gutted the alarm system. The motor turned over after I was done, but it still did not start. After further inspection I found that I have a burned fuse in part of my ignition/fuel system. I later found some fuses today, although they are not of the right amperage, but should work in the meantime. So, progress definetly made, but still no Bronco. As of this writing it still remains "La Bronca."
On to other broken things, our stupid printer. When we opened up our shippment from the States a few months ago, we were very suprised by the excelent condition of everything. Nothing was damaged, except...our printer. A few months ago I had it totally torn apart, and I think I found the problem. There is a little piece that was damaged probably from being dropped, but you could put it on manualy, and the printer worked fine. Afterwards, I put the printer back together, and it worked for a while. Presumably, the little part has fallen off again, thus our printer doesn't work. Therefore, in my next batch of free time (haa haa haa) I will dismantle my printer and see if I can get it working. Did I mention that the printer/scanner/copier that is part of this house no longer works as well ever since we have used it.
Despite my whining about a sink leak, my Bronco, and various technological "helps," life is still good. The thing that we have grown to learn here in the third world is that these 3 "problems" are solved in a totally different way than if we were in the states. Nothing happens fast here, there are no Wal-Mart's, and it can easily frustrate you when things continue to go south. I have been learning first hand that being a "Jack of all trades" isn't all it is cracked up to be. I never thought I would be a pilot, airplane mechanic, auto mechanic, plumber, computer repairman, and dog whisperer (that's another story) all in one day. I cancelled my English classes tonite just because I needed a bit of downtime not thinking very much in order to maintain my sanity. Becca and I are tired, and it's not even Wednesday. Who knows what tommorow will bring, but surely life will keep on keepin' on whether it asks us or not.
1 comment:
What Sean doesn't tell you is how awesome he is at fixing things. No, it doesn't go as smoothly as it might if things here were a bit more "accessible" like we are used to back in the States, but I gotta brag on my husband. It isn't like I would be able to do any of these repairs and knowing that I have a man who can fix these things really saves me some stress!! I know he'd "rather be flying" than fixing leaky sinks and tearing apart a car but I'm glad to have a handy man around....otherwise I'd still be standing in the bathroom stuffing a towel over the water shooting out of the wall!
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