"Hello, I Love You, Won't You" Turn on Again

I slept naked last night.  It's not what you think.  There have been several power outages all week, for hours at a time.  Yesterday, I had just turned on my electric stove to make spaghetti when the electricity went off.  This was 4 pm.  All I had eaten that day was a mango, and I was really looking forward to some pasta. 

My apartment quickly became an oven.  I looked for the bus driver, but he was off campus.  I called Laum - repeatedly - every half hour, but he didn't answer.  The minutes ticked by.  The sweat poured off me.  At 5:30, I opened the windows I the hopes that the non-existent breeze would drift in.  The only result was that a dozen flies swooped in and took up residence in my bathroom.

I tried reading and writing by candlelight like some peasant in the 1700's.  I finally gave up and lay motionless on in bed for a couple hours, hungry, sweating, an feeling quite sorry for myself.  When I finally couldn't stand it anymore, I took a sleeping pill and nodded off.  My phone woke me at 9 pm.  It was Laum.  After giving me some excuse about why he didn't answer before, I said, "Laum, the power is off, and it's really hot!"  (The high was 98 that day).  He told me to go outside to the electrical box and press a knob.  I did.  The power was immediately restored.

Are you kidding me?  I just sweltered in a sauna for five hours when all I had to do was flip a switch?  Why am I even surprised?  Of course, no one would bother to tell me about this magical button.  This is not their problem.  Cambodians don't have A.C.  They don't even sweat.  Some of the kids still wear sweaters all day long.  They run around for an hour after lunch in the wretched heat while I slink off to my apartment, insert ear plugs, and take a nap in a climate controlled environment.