On the 1st post storm clean-up day Irene gave to me: an almost category 1 hurricane
On the 2nd post storm clean-up day Irene gave to me: 2 gas stations without gas
On the 3rd post storm clean-up day Irene gave to me: 3 big meals each day
On the 4th post storm clean-up day Irene gave to me: 4 electric company trucks
On the 5th post storm clean-up day Irene gave to me: 5 refrigerators filled with spoiled food
On the 6th post storm clean-up day Irene gave to me: 6 toilets without water
On the 7th post storm clean-up day Irene gave to me: 7 board games to play
On the 8th post storm clean-up day Irene gave to me: 8 dillegant workers
On the 9th post storm clean-up day Irene gave to me: 9 fire ant mounds
On the 10th post storm clean-up day Irene gave to me: 10 fallen trees
On the 11th post storm clean-up day Irene gave to me: 11 acuaductos workers
On the 12th post storm clean-up day Irene gave to me: 12 new candles
The poor birds couldn't fly against the pre-storm wind.
So, just as with every other serious event, you have to have some humor, or else it would be misserable. So, here an update on my EXCITING/AWESOME experience!!!!! (and a translation of my song)
an almost category 1 hurricane: Last Sunday night, tropical storm Irene went right over Puerto Rico. At the time it passed us, the sustained winds were 70mph, in order to be a hurricane the winds need to be 74mph or stronger, so I ALMOST experienced a hurricane:(
Just as all good and intelligent citizens should do, I prepared dilligently for this storm. Sunday morning started out with a visit to the deaf church in San Juan. The service was canceled because the storm was coming, so we watched a DVD of a sermon in Sign Language- I was surprised that I actullay understood the main ideas:) Then we decided to spend the day at the mall in San Juan and then come home and go to the beach to watch the storm come in. We didn't put up any storm shutters or get any gas, because the hardware stores did not have storm shutter clips and the gas stations did not have gas, so there really wasn't anything we could do except enjoy ourselves (and the electricity).
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| At the mall with a life-sized Build-A-Bear:) |
Sunday evening/night the electricity went off (and we didn't see it again for 100 hours!). We sat around playing games and talking by candle light. Then around 11 we all went to bed. I woke up about every hour and went outside to watch the storm. IT WAS AMAZING! There was soooooooooooo much wind and it was blowing CONSTANTLY- It was one of the coolest things l have ever seen:)
The storm passed over night, so you can't see anything on the video you can only the wind (and a little bit of rain). So, just imagine the trees all bending to one side and blowing in the wind:)
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| I took these pictures in the morning around 6:00. Throughout the night, the wind was sooooo much STRONGER than this! |
2 gas stations without gas: We tried to get gas both before the storm and after the storm. Before the storm we gave up, but after the storm we had to find gas in order to run the generator. So, once we finally got to a gas station that was selling gas, we waited in line to fill up the car and the extra tanks.
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| We finally found a gas station with gas- and it was BUSY! |
3 big meals each day: During the post-hurricane days, we ate really well!!!!!! We tried to eat up all our perishable food before it spoiled, so this meant a lot of yummy hamburgers and chicken on the grill- yummmmm:)
4 electric company trucks: FINALLY, on Thursday night at 10:30, 4 electric company trucks pulled up outside the deaf school. We were so overjoyed to see them that we went outside and cheered them on as the fixed our electricity. We even took all our candles out to the front porch and gave them a candle show. After 100 hours without any electricity, we were all EXTREMELY HAPPY to see the electric company workers- they were the highlight of my week:)
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| ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡Yay for electricity trucks!!!!!!!!! |
5 refrigerators full of spoiled food: Well, when there is not any electricity, that means that there is no refrigeration in the refrigerator. In the hot and humid climate of Puerto Rico, this means spoiled, smelly food! Wednesday morning was clean the refrigerator morning. Everyone took a refrigerator from around the school and cleaned it out. It was the grossest thing I have ever done- (even trying to find a dead rat inside my kitchen was easier than this).
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| Me with my professional odor reducing mask-jajaja |
6 toilets with out water: I work at a private school, where I am the 4-K teacher. We returned to school on Thursday and Friday for half days because there was not any water at the school, so we could not feed the kids lunch. This meant that the 300 kids in this school were all using the same 5 non-flushable toilets both days. Gross- yes! Legal- I guess so?
7 board games to play: There wasn't much to do around here once it got dark, so we all sat around a played games by candle light. My new favorite games are Othello and the Ball/Pyramid Game- they are both really cool and involve strategy!
8 dillegant workers: Betsy, Jenn, Judy, Elizabeth, Chris, Leo, WADE (yes, my brother Wade was visiting), and I all live at the deaf school together, so we all pitched in and helped with the clean-up and maintenance of the school/ apartments here. We were all working: outside, inside, cleaning the kitchen, cooking meals for everyone, and keeping the dorms from flooding.
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| Betsy giving Wade instructions on how to clean up the tree in Sign Language:) |
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| Chris with the chain saw! |
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| Siblings cleaning up |
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| Leo and Wade working. Leo is a deaf 19 year old who is currently living at the deaf school. He is from Canada, but his dad lives in PR so he is here visiting for a while. Wade and I leaned A TON of Sign Language from him! |
9 fire ant mounds: While I was mowing the grass, getting rid of fallen trees, talking with the electric company workers, taking out the garbage, etc. I stepped in a gazillion fire ant mounds! So, my feet were really itchy one night and it was hot without any fans or electricity, so I barely slept- but, now all the bites are gone and everything is back to normal.
10 fallen trees: Thankfully, the storm did not do that much damage. The worst were some fallen trees. So, we chainsawed the branches off and threw them over the fence into the field
11 acuaductos workers: Acuaductos workers is the Spanish name for water company workers. The electricity came on Thursday night, and Friday, the water went off. Something broke, so all afternoon/ evening/ night the acuaductos people were trying to fix a pipe down the road. THEY DID!!!!! The water came back on around midnight (only 8 hours without water @ my house)!
12 new candles: I am sure we have bought a lot more than 12 candles to replace all the ones we used. So now we are ready for the next storm- Katia?????
Tropical storm Katia (soon to be a hurricane, and predicted to be a major hurricane by Sunday) is currently in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It is predicted to go north of Puerto Rico, but I am not convinced quite yet. So, we are all prepared in case she decides to come visit us- hahaha
While watching the storm come in, we all made a video in sign language about our excitement for the upcoming storm!!!!!
(p.s. by the end of this year, I would like to be tri-lingual- we will see how this works out! English, Spanish, and Sign Language:)
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