Finally the roving cold water has come to my house like the plagues of Egypt, except I don't have any lamb's blood to put above my door to protect my household (though it probably wouldn't be too hard to get lamb's blood here, I just don't think it would do any good).
For a couple of weeks I've been hearing from my co-workers and friends about how their hot water has been turned off for a few weeks. I even had a friend come to my house just to use the shower because she had no hot water. I've been very content listening to everyone else's comments confident in the fact that my house had plenty of hot water (too much actually but it's better than the reverse). Until last night that is.
When I got home there was NO water in my apartment, so that was fun. After my roommate made some phone calls she found out the the water would be turned back on around 3am (thank goodness I had a large bottle of drinking water to use for brushing my teeth, etc) and that our HOT water would be back on June 11. I've lived without hot water before and heaven knows I shouldn't be complaining when some of my global classmates lived for months without it, but that was generally in hot and/or humid climates, not when it's still below freezing every morning when I leave my apartment.
Apparently this happens every summer in Mongolia (I'm using the loosest definition possible with 'summer' here). Pipes have to be fixed, so throughout Ulaanbaatar the hot water gets turned off for a few weeks throughout all the different neighborhoods.
So basically Mongolians spend all summer preparing for winter.
I still do not understand why people have chosen to live in this climate. I'm talking about the people who were here hundreds and thousands of years ago, why on earth would anyone in their right minds choose to live in the frozen tundra? Granted it is very beautiful and supposedly a pleasant climate for a few months during the actual summer (I'm still waiting to see if this is real), but is that really worth it?
Sorry to all of my Mongolian friends, I'm just not built for this kind of weather. The literally frozen winter was bad enough, but the wind whipping through the city these days is getting unbearable.
I wondered the same thing about why anyone settled in the northeast US (and chose to stay there, but that's a cultural discussion) with those winters. But then in some parts of the world, it's never been a choice. I'm sorry though, it must be so frustrating to not have the relief we come to expect from spring/summer.
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