Life on a water schedule..

The water depot in my bathroom.

Sunday, I wake up and am ready to make something for brunch. I realize my water depot (this big silver tank, connected to the ceiling of my bathroom) is empty from the weekend. Guess I'll go get some pilaf from Grandma's since I don't have any water to cook with expect the bottles I have in the bathroom to flush my non-flushing toilet. We're supposed to get water around lunch time, so as long as I'm back by 12:00, I should be fine. 3:00pm rolls around, still no water. I can't mop, I can't cook, I can't even wash my face. The next time we're supposed to have water is around 8:00-9:00pm. I break the monotony and go play basketball and walk around town for a bit, oh, and grab a pizza since I can't cook.  I return home a little before dark and wait, bathroom spigot open just praying for the sound of water pushing air through the pipes to begin a full stream of water. 11:00pm comes around and still nothing. Looks like no shower tonight.

Maybe tomorrow, we're supposed to get water at 5:30-6:00am, I'll just wake up early for work and wait for it. Monday morning comes around, I reluctantly wake up but know I won't be able to do anything unless I get water and I'm running day 4 with no shower. I patiently wait.. and wait.. and wait.. and then I finish the rest of my book and then have to go on to work around 9:00am, still with no water, still with no shower. Now, I have heard from locals, the reason that there is not as much water is because it's summer.. I know this makes no since what so ever, but it's Albania and sometimes things aren't meant to make since to me.

My toilet flushing bottles.

I can't sit at work because I can't quit thinking about how I might be missing the water, but I know I'm not because you can always tell when the water comes if you're not at home if it's during the day; everyone starts to water the streets. Yep, they're watering the streets and I'm hankering for a shower on my 5th day ska dush. I deceide, since the normal 3 times a day water schedule isn't in place right now that I'm just going to stake it out and wait all day for it to come. I turn my faucet on, and wait, trying to pass the time by getting some work done.

Finally, around 4:30 I hear the spatter of air and water from my bathroom. Oh Zot i madhe! I quickly turn on my depot so it can begin filling with fresh, cold mountain water. Things on my to-do list start piling up. I should take a shower last, even though I need it the worst, just because I'm going to be mopping and cleaning. I'm filling up all my empty flushing bottles, mop buckets and drinking bottles. I start mopping the floor, running the washing machine! Things are looking up!

Suddenly I hear what sounds like a waterfall. O Zot i madh. The water tank is overflowing! I have to jump through the stream line waterfall coming down in front of the door of my bathroom to turn off the water. I finally get water and now it's everywhere! That tank filled up faster than I expected. Well, looks like I'll mop, flush the toliet and take a shower at the same time.

Life on a water schedule.