What is so exciting about these two items? Many of you might not even know what the one on the left is. It’s a rice cooker. I know many people who love to camp. Do you use one of those camping toasters? The ones that go right over the flame of your Coleman stove? Well that is all we have used for toast for the 3 years we have lived in our village. I’m really thankful for those camping enthusiasts that come up with ideas like this. But to be honest, it’s not very good toast. It really dries your bread out.
Last December when the electric company came in to put everybody’s meters in, we were 1 of the 9 in our village that didn’t get a meter. Seems there was a mix up in paperwork. Those of us that paid our hook up fee the first day they took applications didn’t get written in the record book, thus we didn’t get a meter. We were disappointed especially when we were told it would be March before they would be back with the rest of the meters.
To our surprise when we returned home in mid-January, our meter was installed and we had electricity!!! Chuck had flown into the village first and told me this via text. I asked him if I could run to the store and buy a rice cooker. (We already had a toaster in the village waiting for our hook up!) Chuck said sure and buy an electric water pump. I chuckled as it was something we had talked about doing as our DC water pump gave us trouble off and on but I didn’t think he was serious. Next thing I knew he was calling me, our DC water pump wasn’t working. It wouldn’t turn on. Thankfully our supply buyer was able to go to a shop and buy a water pump for us. I had no clue what to get.
So now we are able to enjoy rice cooked in a rice cooker. Pressurized water for showers was something we always had but not something I wanted to go without. And then there is the toast. Yummy soft in the middle toast. What a treat! We even have a 4 slice toaster. Then to top it off Chuck put an outlet in by the kitchen table so we can toast as we need it without standing in the kitchen. He’s pretty sweet, eh!
Things are changing here in the village as people realize all they can have with electricity. One house has already purchased a satellite tv system. They get Filipino channels and ones from around the world. There are a few houses with a fridge now. And we saw a twin tub washing machine come in on the truck the other day.
We still have days without electricity. They call them brown out days here in the Philippines. Generally they turn off the power to certain areas of a city or municipality 1 day a week to conserve power. They just don’t make enough to meet the needs of everyone. We are thankful even with these brown out days.