Measure of success

Posted by Rebecca on September 24, 2013 · 6 mins read

Just down the street - between home and school Just down the street - between home and school

My lifestyle has taken on a structure very different from structures in my more recent past (read any post from the last year, for example). Currently that lifestyle is a tight orbit around home, school, and work. A very, very small orbit indeed when those three activities take place within one quarter kilometer of each other. The last weekend was marked by not wandering too far from these place, a Super Typhoon blew past Luzon (the large island that contains Manila) on its way to Hong Kong and brought local flood waters to knee and waist deep in large parts of the city.

When the winds and rain first hit, Aaron and I were plunged into darkness, immediately realizing how we didn't prepare all too well for that possibility. A few hairy motorbike rides for candles and top ramen, a trip to the school to get board games played by candlelight, and one pizza delivery later, Aaron and I were about to roll our first game of Yahtzee and the lights came back on. Kudos to Manila for getting power back up to our neighborhood within a couple of hours, even if it did leave our efforts looking overpriced, overly stressed in motivation, and ultimately a bit silly.

The rest of the weekend was spent discovering just exactly how many places our house leaks water. For example, the new leak in the kitchen pantry that warped cabinets and has made us redistribute large quantities of stored items. Or the steady drip through the wall plug in the master bedroom. My sleep was interrupted several times by mopping efforts, checking windows, thunder, and when the storm raged the most, by the spray of drops raining down close enough to our bed to dampen my feet.

Aaron's school was cancelled this morning and we were both home when Terry finally came by. I had given up on having our maid clean, assuming she was treading water at home, but she showed up just as I finished washing the mountain of dishes we'd left her from the weekend. She was visibly upset and when she tried to explain what was troubling her in her halting English, enormous tears started to roll down her face as she stammered the word "problem" over and over. After a few questions and listening, we gathered that somehow through some weird neighborhood game of telephone, Terry had heard we were displeased with her services and no longer wanted to hire her. She had been up all night worrying about what had gone wrong and how losing this source of income would impact her family. Bizarre to say the least.

We reassured her and she promised to come the next day for work. The rest of our morning was spent discovering new things that have molded. As soon as I put something down, it seems, a thin, fuzzy layer begins to grow. I washed five pairs of shoes, books, umbrellas, a fanny pack, and one Chinese silk fan with a vinegar and water solution. Aaron is taking the books to school to store in the drier air of air conditioning, and we're debating how to prevent the molding of our shoes again. It's insanely wet here and even the newly purchased de-humidifier boxes are showing a good 3/8 inch of water already collected in them.

To make matter more challenging, our landlord has shown that he will attempt lying to us every time we bring up an issue and will stick to the falsehood as long as possible to avoid responsibility or activity. He has refused to put any of his work crew on preventing leaks and finally admitted to that once Aaron penned him in with logic and truth. When Aaron and I mop up over 4 cups of rainwater in our bedroom, it makes the strategizing to prevent molding all the more difficult.

Work, on the other hand, is busy. I have several projects all peaking at the same time and over half of my waking hours this weekend was spent muttering at my delightful and still-dry Macbook Air. Every other minute was spent hanging out with Aaron as he made mix after mix of music, with over five hours solid of music mixing today. It's a happy activity for him and I love his work, win-win. It is strange to spend so little time outside of these immediate spaces. Strange how my life has changed yet again and no longer is focused on the scene that once dominated my attention and resources.

Well, it's 4am now and I'm up at 9am to help out with a project in Aaron's classroom. I'll try not to let so much time go by without blogging, goodness knows I spend enough time mentally blogging, I might as well type it out.