Back from a different kind of dead

About a week ago the weather cooled down to the mid 30s (low 90s F) but the humidity soared. I didn’t handle it very well. As most of you know, like many Turkish households we don’t have an air conditioner, so we’re pretty much at the mercy of the fan and the weather. I got excited when I saw forecasts for temperatures I thought sounded reasonable, but my hopes were destroyed when the moisture in the air combined with the warm weather kept everything (including me) sticky and uncomfortable all the time. Add to this the fact that I was nursing a head cold, and the result wasn’t pretty.

When the temperature went back up to 50° (122°F) three days ago, I noted that I was actually a lot more comfortable, simply because the humidity had burned off. Sure, 50° is hot, but at least when the weather is dry the sweat evaporates quickly and you stay feeling somewhat clean, or as clean as can be expected considering your life has become a sauna.

Yesterday was an ugly combination of 43° and humid, which made last night nearly unbearable. Sauna turned quickly to steam room. I couldn’t get to sleep until almost 7:00 this morning.

And then at 9:00, the unthinkable happened— the electricity went out. This is something you just have to deal with when you make the decision to live in Turkey (I understand it’s much the same situation in India). The power grid isn’t up to handling the increasing numbers of air conditioners being installed in homes, and when the load gets to a certain point, the whole system just shuts down. Sometimes it’s only out for a few minutes; one time during my first summer here the power got knocked out for four days. You just never know. I tried to continue sleeping, knowing the best situation would be if I could wake up after the power was already back on and the fan was working again. That plan lasted about half an hour before I finally gave up and peeled myself off the damp bed. There’s no way I could ever sleep in this weather without the fan.

So there we were— no fan, no refrigerator, no freezer, not even any television or music or internet to distract us from the rapidly increasing humidity and heat. As temperatures soared up into the high 40s, I sat down at the balcony table and read a story in the newspaper about the several hundred heat-related deaths in eastern Europe this week. Great. I put the paper down and wandered around the house looking for the window with the best breeze coming through it. Nothing.

Noon came and went. Still no electricity. Missing my fan desperately and trying to take my mind off my pining, I read a magazine that a friend had given me two weeks ago and that had been sitting on my desk ever since. I slowly worked straight through from the first page all the way to the back cover. I pretended to be interested in the latest fashion trends, and marveled at the models on the pages, these miraculously sweat-free people who somehow managed to walk through a summer day without melting, smiles on their faces as if hot weather were something one could be remotely pleased about in some twisted alternate universe. I closed my eyes and dreamed of autumn, mentally working out how many days left until November.

At one point in the late afternoon my face was so red from the heat and sweat was running down my cheeks so quickly that my housemate asked if I was crying. Ha, as if I could muster the strength for a reaction that strong. I mumbled something indistinct and went back into my daze. It suddenly dawned on me that countries that observe siesta time don’t do so voluntarily— they simply slip into a heat coma during the hottest part of the day.

In the early evening, having exhausted our supply of newspapers and magazines, I found myself wandering around the house looking for something, anything to take my mind off the heat. Then, a miracle— I heard the alarm from the refrigerator, the beeping noise it makes when the temperature is too high inside. Electricity! I hurried into the kitchen, switched off the alarm, and dashed into the bedroom where my lovely fan was waiting for me. Sweet, sweet fan, how I missed you!

I noted the time— 19:03. We’d been without electricity for ten hours.

At least we’ll have the fan for sleeping tonight, with any luck…