Waterman

Most places outside of the United States it is not wise to drink water from the tap. In our country it is not wise to even cook with it. Apparently there are all types of nasty metals in our water, and boiling does nothing to get rid of those. We have to buy our water. Coming from a society (from the US) that just uses and uses water to our hearts content, drinking water and cooking with water that comes from a bottle that we have to order somehow made me anxious in the beginning. I did everything I could to conserve it, even drinking sodas instead of water because I feared we would run out of water. This fear partly stemmed from the fact that the first 8 months of our time here we could not manage to say the name of our apartment and that really hindered ordering water over the phone. After a while we learned that no one, not even the locals can correctly say the name of our apartment (isn't it cruel to put the foreigners trying to learn the language in this apartment?) and the water company just came to an understanding that the people calling with an American accent were at such and such apartment. We are the only foreigners they deliver water to, so it confounds us when a new person answers their phone and asks us for a detailed description of where we live. Eventually they put the manager on the phone who asks, "you the foreigners?" and we say yes.

I should go ahead and say, delivering water is not an easy job. They deliver water at all hours of they day and in all sorts of weather. Usually they drive a motorcycle that is rigged up with a contraption that holds about 6 bottles of water. One bottle of water costs us about 75 cents, so you can imagine how little they get paid. Not an easy job indeed.

For the first two years we lived here the same skinny little man with massively toned legs carried our two 5 gallon bottles of water up to our 5th floor apartment in one trip, but recently they have been getting some new guys to help out. When we order water it usually takes 30 minutes to 2 hours to get our water. However, we think one of the new guys was especially eager to deliver water to the foreigners yesterday, as he arrived just 10 minutes after we called, and apparently he had an agenda. Usually these guys are in a hurry and only drop off the water, pickup the empty bottles, take the money, and maybe say hello. Amazingly they are usually not out of breath. It makes me feel out of shape when I am hauling just myself up the stairs and need to take a break.

So when our new water guy arrived I was not surprise when he did not say hello, but I was taken by surprise when the guy instead asked me, "how much does it cost to fly to the US?" I said, "one way about $1,000 USD." Then he asked me if I watch basketball, and I immediately deferred to KB who tends to know sports vocabulary better than I do. Essentially he got to the point. He loves Michael Jordan and wanted to know if was possible to meet him. He thought maybe he could get a job in the US, like delivering water, and deliver it to MJ's house. KB had to break it to him that most people do not get their water delivered in the US. He asked if he waited outside his home, maybe he could meet him when he leaves to go somewhere. KB warned him this is considered very impolite in the US and they may not understand his intentions. He also told him MJ probably has a security guard with him to keep people away from him. Then the guy asked if it was going to be a problem that he did not speak or read English. KB had to tell him that outside of certain sections in large cities, most average Americans do not speak his language. He thought we already knew how to speak the language before we came here and was shocked the rest of the world does not commonly speak it. It was a hard blow for him. This conversation continued for about 15 minutes. This guy's dream is to meet MJ and he saw us as a way to get information how to accomplish it. You have got to love a guy who has a dream!

Our fellow American friend said he was recently asked by his water guy if he could purchase him an iphone in the US and bring it back to him. He too was taken back since his water guy has been delivering his water for 2 years and has never said even hello to him.