Mamma Said There'd Be Days Like This

When you're in training in PC, they tell you that there will be good
days and bad days, that you'll feel as though you're making progress
toward cultural adaptation and then something will slam you backwards
as if you were a beginner just stepping off the plane. Today was
such a day for me. And that's OK. I'm supposed to have days like
this. I just wanted you to know that just because I usually write
funny anecdotes or success stories, there are rare times when I'm
just fed up with cultural adaptation and want to watch some baseball
and eat apple pie!

Probably one reason that this day was the one that broke the camel's
back is for the last 4 days I have been without any heat. As there
has never been any running water, our heat comes from some sort of
closed system with a gas heating unit in the kitchen which is
connected by pipes to three radiators - one in my host mother
Valentina's room, one in the living room, and one in my room. These
radiators have never been particularly hot - they're warm at best -
and recently they stopped working altogether. So, after several days
the repair guy shows up today and "uncorks" the radiators to drain
them of (very dirty, black) water and finds that the switches are
completely blocked with gunk. I don't exactly understand why he
could not immediately put on new switches and we could get the heat
going again, but he couldn't so he'll be back tomorrow to finish the
job.

After lunch work was OK, but toward the end of the day I was getting
frustrated with my Excel lessons - it just wasn't clicking as I had
hoped. The masterpiece of a file I had created to train the
accountants was apparently to dissimilar from the one they normally
used, so it was just no good. I even stayed a little late at the
office to figure it out, but eventually gave up.

Then when I got home I was greeted not by "Hi, Brad, how was your
day?" but "Where were you?! Why weren't you at home today for the
repairman?" My mother had asked me to be at home or at the office to
wait for the repairman, and I was only in those two places today.
But for some reason the repair man went to her school when he
couldn't get into our apartment and Valentine wound up sending her
key with one of her students to unlock our door (when it was already
unlocked because I was at home). She also asked, "Why was your room
dirty and why did people from PC visit our apartment today when you
said they were going to be at your office?" [I had a routine visit
from PC today, as all PCVs get, just to make sure everything is OK.]

WHOA! First of all I was only at the office or at home, just as I
said I would be. Secondly, my room was clean before the repair man
showed up and I had to move everything around so he could work.
Third, I told you the PC people would be coming to the apartment and
NEXT visit they'd be coming to the office. And fourth, how about a
little "Как дила?" (how are you?) before these rude questions?

So I go in my room and workout and then watch the amazing "Alone in
the Wilderness" that my brother sent me (Thanks, Bud - it was
awesome!), so I'm feeling pretty chipper when I go out for a late
dinner of fried potatoes, bread, and cheese. I start to tell
Valentina about this incredible documentary of one man's 30 years
spent alone in the Alaskan wilderness from age 51 to 82 - the log
cabin he built by himself with no power tools, the food he grew or
hunted, and just being content with nature, self, and God. And do
you know what she said? "How could anyone live such a selfish
life?" Selfish?! Is a monk selfish for devoting himself only to
prayer? What about testing oneself and independence and living alone
in the wilderness?!

Well, that was the end of it. I suppose every now and then a PCV -
or maybe just me - has a day when we're ready to have our own
cultural values (independence, creativity, progressiveness) and our
own cultural norms (indoor heating, running water, large and well-
balanced meals) accepted as standard practices. Sorry to use this
entry to vent, but today I needed it. I've no doubt that after a
good night's sleep tomorrow will be just fine.