Apologies for the delayed post, the internet has been a bit wonky the last few nights when I’ve been trying to write. That’s Africa, I guess. Speaking of Africa, we’re coming to the end of our second week here. Crazy, huh?
We’ve been at some fabulous posts with incredible customer service, but this place takes the cake. They come and fix things that I didn’t even consider an issue (like this big pile of brush in our yard). All of a sudden a truck arrives one afternoon and they tell me they’re here to take away the brush pile in the back corner.
Another day a crew shows up and tells me that the Embassy provides AFN Satellite TV in our houses and they’re here to install the dish. So remember where the tower stood? That’s now home of our giant new satellite dish.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that our air freight arrived in one week (it usually takes at least 3 weeks). That’s unheard of. So yeah, it was a good week.  :)
One of the things that was in our air freight was our fancy-pants new $250 Blendtec blender (like a Vitamix). I was cautioned against using the Blender in Africa because 1.) It uses 1500 Watts, which is at the upper end of what converters can handle and 2.) it might short out if the power doesn’t convert right and 3.) there are also crazy power surges in Africa, which could also blow out it’s electrical wiring.
Let’s pause here and talk about electricity for a moment. I mentioned in a previous post that only around 10% of the population has electricity. Even though it’s such a small percent of people, there is still not enough, so they cycle the power across the grid throughout the day. We lose power anywhere from 5-10 times a day (but luckily our generator kicks in).
Power surges also happen daily. We know it’s happening when the lights start to flicker (but don’t go out) and we hear a strange buzzing sound all around us. It’s a tad bit freaky, but we’re getting used to it now. But no way, no how was I going to let a power surge destroy my beautiful blender. I knew I needed a surge protector and was advised not to use a U.S. one because our voltage is different, so I went to a local Target-equivalent and got one made in Africa.
I hooked the surge protector to the wall (not pictured), plugged the converter into the surge protector and then plugged the blender into the converter. I flipped all the appropriate switches, held my breath and NOTHING. The blender wasn’t getting power.
As luck would have it, an IT guy from the Embassy was there checking on how the AFN installation was going. I asked him if he could look at the blender situation in my kitchen and he determined that the surge protector was inadequate. He then offered to go out shopping with me the next day to get the right one. I was once again floored by the remarkable service here and accepted his offer on the spot.
We went out the next afternoon and had to go to 4 stores before we found one that he deemed acceptable. Never in a million years would I have been able to find the random electronic stores that stock these types of things, nor would I have known what to look for. Let’s just say I was sooooo grateful that I found him.
I am pleased to report that this morning I successfully made my first African smoothie without blowing up the machine. WAHOO! Funny how these small wins feel like such a huge deal.
So there you have it. Glad to have the blender debacle behind me and curious what bizarre challenges I’ll face next week with school starting and my first time driving (eek!). More to come…
