In the Heat of the Night

I'm so angry right now and I only have the heat of my bedroom fueling my rage. My air conditioning quit on me two nights ago and I'm stuck with another hot night in Bangkok. It wouldn't be so bad if my bedroom weren't on the top floor and it wasn't facing the sun everyday. I probably wouldn't be so angry if I weren't dealing with the laid back "get it done later" attitude of my school.

Mai pen rai.

I'm so past the point of "no worries" right now, I don't know what to do.

The technician that works for the school, came to my house to look at it and the conclusion was that I would need a whole new unit. There's no telling how long that will take. "Maybe tomorrow." Both of us, sweating, stare at the broken air conditioner. Him thinking that he needed to get out here, it was far too hot. Me thinking that I'm going to pull the thing out of my wall and cast it over my balcony. I might toss him right behind it.

After he broke the news to me, I calmly walked him out of my house, saying thank you as I did it, because I'm not that rude. I shut the door behind him, calmly walked back upstairs, closing the bedroom door behind me. . . and let out a blood curling scream about three times before I collapsed to the bed sobbing for relief and mercy.

Okay, so maybe I'm over reacting. But this is one those things that I'm still having a hard time with. The language barrier, yeah, of course, but there's also a conflict of attitude here. I have an attitude of "get it done YESTERDAY!" that clashes with the Thai. In the end, I always leave the table unsatisfied and frustrated. At school, the British teacher, Roger, jokes, "Did you fill out a request form for a request form yet?" Yes, it's almost that redundant.

The issue I have is that this shouldn't have happened in the first place. The air con was old as hell and everyone on the block knew it. It literally was the loudest machine on the street! Every time I turned it on, people knew I was home. It should have been replaced long ago. In fact, a technician did come out my first week here to look at it before I realized there was a problem, before I realized that it shouldn't sound like a lawn mower every time I turn it on. Why wasn't it replaced then? The same thing happened to Andy, the last American resident of this house. Only he had it worst, it was his water that got cut off and the school didn't get around to fixing until three or four days later!

Sigh. Mai pen rai.
mai pen rai
mai pen rai
mai pen. . . rai.

I think I'm okay now. I think I'll be okay. I will wait for tomorrow and see what comes. Thank you for listening to that rant. Sorry I've tainted the blog with such negativity, but I think this counts for one of those Thai experiences to remember, eh?

Before I go, I shouldn't let another moment pass without giving a shot out to my husband, newly doctored and all. I know I told him a million times that I'm super proud of him, but I don't really think it can be said quite enough. "I'm proud of you, Dr. Babe."