Imagine for a moment my head of curly hair blowing in the breeze and the dust for several days. An image of Meryl Streep and her tangled masses when she travelled cross country to deliver provisions to Bror may come to mind. If so, you are fairly accurate in your imaginings.
So when I got up this morning my mission was to get this hair washed. I turned on the tap in the tub and barely a trickle came out. Several minutes of turning and twisting and I was resolved to the fact that this was the best that I was going to get. So I crawled in the tub, stuck my head under the faucet and wet my tresses down. I applied the shampoo while squatting unceremoniously in the small tub and after sufficient minutes I stuck my head back down to rinse. Much to my surprise, during the lathering phase the water had gone from warm to scalding hot. I could not hold my head under without burning. More twisting and turning lead me to determine that there was no cold water to be found. Then, to make matters worse, the hot water stopped too.
With my floppy mop full of suds I walked across the room to call for service. "I am sorry Madam, we will send someone up right away!" Twenty minutes later, and no serviceperson in sight, I called again. "He is working on it Madam, so sorry!" Finally, I heard a knock on the door. I let him in. He walked to the bathroom tried all the faucets, looked puzzled and said, "There is no water Madam!" "Yes", I replied, "and I have a head full of shampoo!" "I'll be back." he replied.
Glancing at my watch I realized that I was never going to make my 9:00 rendezvous with my driver so I called him to explain. He had been struggling to understand my English so finally I said, "I will be late, let's meet at 9:30".
I proceeded to get ready, back my bag and such in the hopes that a small miracle might prevail. I had time to reflect on the irony that I was stuck in a hotel without water when just the day before I had been visiting entire communities who had been struggling with water shortage. Definitely put things into perspective. By the time 9:00 o'clock came and I was pondering my options I suddenly heard a small sound.... the sound of water running. Not a lot of water, mind you, but a sufficiently small stream which allowed me to get the soap out. Do I dare apply conditioner? Not a chance!
Ahhhhhh, but what a wonderful feeling it was to rinse!
Motto of the story: Never take water for granted. Appreciate what you have. You are more fortunate than most.
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