We knew there would be more ups and downs on this adventure. Last night was a down. Over the past week or so we've been noticing a burning smell (like rubber/electrical burning) in our living room. Not great. We unplugged our power strip and kept looking around for the source of the smell... it would go away, and then come back, usually in the evenings. Last night after dinner it came back very strong. Ephrem came in to investigate and found the issue: a faulty electrical box up in the corner of the room. (Note the singed wires on the bottom.)
We shut it off, which cut the power to the whole house. It was about 8:30 pm. Mazie was mid-way through blow-drying her hair and pleaded with us to turn the power back on for 20 more minutes so she could finish. We didn't do that. Lexi finished her homework by flashlight and then we all went to bad. Except the problem was we were back to night one: no fans + no plug-in mosquito repellent = hot and lots of mosquitoes. Lexi wound up back in our room so Caleb moved to hers. Then Athena came in (covered in mosquito bites) so I covered her in bug spray and moved to her room, where I slept on and off all night swatting the mosquitoes buzzing in my ears and willing our anti-malarial meds to do their job.
The electrician showed up at 8 this morning. Took a look at it and then Ephrem used the Kinyarwanda-English translation app on my phone to tell me this:
We took that to mean that he's getting the right parts and will fix it... soon? Caleb and I decided to walk up to Question Coffee, where we're sitting and working now. Hoping it will be fixed when we get back. Not sure how patient we need to be.
Before this issue, we had decided early last week that we're going to move houses. I started looking for other places after our first rough night, but then we worked out the main kinks and have been pretty happy where we are. But the owner of one of the places I was looking at reached out and invited us to come look at her place, and Caleb and I went over there last Monday. It's got a couple of key advantages over where we are now. The house itself is a little bigger (bigger kitchen, a little more separated living space), it's got desks in two bedrooms that Caleb and I will be able to use for evening meetings, and it's got a really nice outdoor yard with more space for the kids to play, fruit trees, vegetable gardens.... Overall just a little nicer. Location-wise, it's a similar distance to the kids' school, but the route is mostly along a paved sidewalk (vs our current route along dirt roads), which will be especially nice as it gets rainier. The neighborhood itself is also more lively, with people out & about along the street and a main road with lots of shops very close by. (This is a pro and a con... the quiet of our current neighborhood has its advantages.) It was a tough decision and the kids had mixed feelings about moving (we've been putting them through a lot of transitions), but we ultimately decided to do it at the end of the month. So that's coming up this weekend. The owner has been really friendly and responsive and says we can move earlier if we want, so if this electrical issue doesn't get sorted we may jump ship early... Caleb and I both have busy work weeks so it would not be convenient to throw moving into the mix, but it also won't work to have another night like last one. Ergh. Stay tuned.
Update: old box has been replaced with this more confidence-inspiring one. Some iffy looking wires remain. Power & internet are back, fans are running, mosquito repellent is fired up. Things are looking up again! Barring other setbacks, we'll wait and move over the weekend.
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