Power Outages and Other Shorts

The images above are of the thunder storm last night (top), an airliner approaching the airport with a full moon (middle), both taken from our balcony, and Randi talking with sister-in-law Val on Skype (bottom). 

It was announced at school yesterday that we can expect a greater number of power outages in the coming days with the return of the expat community to Dakar, back for the start of school.  All those air conditioners being fired up anew are apparently enough of a drain to tax the municipal power grid.  

Each ISD school computer is accompanied by a bread loaf-sized black box, called a UPS, a universal power supply, which ensures a steady stream of power in the event that there is an outage.  Perhaps a half dozen times this afternoon, while working in the computer lab, the overhead lights went out, and the two-dozen UPS boxes beeped in synchrony, charging, off-setting the power loss, with no interruption in internet connection.  

In a similar way, businesses and even whole apartment buildings are each tied to diesel-powered generators which, theoretically, fire up automatically when there's interruption of service.  We witnessed this yesterday while grocery shopping at the so-called big Casino (no connection to gambling).  While in the check-out line, the lights went out, but the operation of the electronic registers were unaffected.

Dave, our new Athletic Director, who is married with two young children, explained that the power went out in his building for hours last night.  There is a generator, he said, but it wasn't wired-up properly, and when it was finally repaired, all of the building regained power except for his flat.  Dave ended up biking to the market to buy a flashlight, and transferred refrigerated food from home to school.

We had our first full-blown thunder and lightening downpour last night.  After all, it is the rainy season.  I was up with the camera, shooting long exposures, braced on the door frame.  We just haven't seen much in the way of Florida-caliber summer thunderstorms in the past ten days.  

We have concluded the first week of orientation for the newbies at ISD.  The full staff returns on Monday for another week of trainings, meetings, and set-up.  The school is modernizing it's technology infrastructure, adopting new programs for curriculum planning (Atlas Rubicon), intranet, and electronic grading, guided by our new network guru, Santha.

On the home front, Randi and I have settled-in nicely, establishing new routines, new patterns, from figuring out meals and grocery shopping, working with a gas stove, rinsing veges and fruits in a bleach bath prior to storing/eating, drinking bottled water, spending evenings with BBC and KGO San Francisco radio (via the internet), etc.

I walked home from school this afternoon reflecting on the sights and sounds of the milieu, and being comfortable with it.  The Call to Prayers was broadcast from a nearby mosque.  A young man was praying on his prayer mat behind the fruit/produce vendors next to the closed grocery.  I exchanged a bon jour, ca va? with several groups of guards along our street.  Each acknowledged the greeting, and returned a genuinely warm ca va in exchange.  

It takes no material wealth to be a good person.

I just spoke with ISD parent and Dive Master, Bruce, with whom I had exchanged emails regarding diving around Dakar.  I had planned to go out snorkeling at the plage de Ouakam tomorrow, though the runoff from the rain may spoil the visibility.  Bruce cautioned me about the presence of sea urchins, currents, and electric eels.  I need to experience all this for myself, weather permitting.