First there was Khmer New Year, with relatives coming and going with no notice. Being part of an Asian family is really hard for a Western introvert, and most felt at times of the year when extended families get together. Unhappily coincides with the most hot humid weather.
We were exhausted by the end of it, happy to have our space back when a storm struck and the whole town was plunged into heat and darkness. A flurry of communication surrounded the
5 day power cut as everyone struggled to cope with the heat, cancelled events and not knowing if the power would come back on today or not. (At this time of year we struggle to sleep even with 2 fans in our room so when there are no fans...)
Two years ago we often lost power for the whole day, so I'd worked out my fridge/freezer strategy for that, but 5 days is a lot longer than 8 hours! So I gave up on my usual shopping/cooking habits, we just had to go one meal at a time. And we didn't know how long the water in our tank would last so we tried not to use to much water, which meant we also gave up washing up, esp at night when it was dark.
The last night of no power the
toddler had a high temp, it had started that morning. We were giving him ibuprofen but his temp was still high. For the next 7 days he didn't eat much or sleep for long blocks of time, it was like looking after a newborn, a few hours of sleep , a few hours of screaming, felt like he needed constant attention. (So even tho New Year was over and the power cut was over we still didn't get a chance to restock the fridge)
After the first few days we were both exhausted and didn't know how long it was going to go on for and if it would turn out to be a normal childhood fever thing or something like dengue. So then we started taking turns at night so at least one of us got a block of 5 hours sleep.
(took him to the doc on day 3 and 5, had a hospital in mind we would go to if any other symptoms happened ).
(Did I mention the weather is hot and humid at this time of year?)
Then thankfully he got better. I thought we were just going to collapse and breath a sigh of relief but after all that it was
hard to change gears and go back to normal eating and sleeping...plus our house was chaos. We have 2 bedrooms and a living/kitchen area. We and others had been sleeping in them over the past few weeks, swapping around depending on the heat, where the sick toddler was and who was looking after him. We don't really have a bedroom as such anymore. (Plus still hot humid and haven't really been proper meat and veg shopping...)
We had lost a few weeks in which we were planning to get ready for a trip we were supposed to be taking. I thought we had
3 weeks after New Year and the trip to psych ourselves up for it but all of a sudden it was almost time to go.
So then it was a 4th week of living from day to day, trying to decide if we should change our plans or not, and if yes which of the options we should choose.
Anyway, I think things are are bit more settled now. The last few days we have cooked meat and veg at home and eaten dinner together!
