I’ve had comments from people, surprised that we have electricity and, more so, internet.
We have electricity, we have phones most of the time even (although they’ve been frequently overloaded over the last few days, so it’s been difficult to get through), we have cellular, television shows are still on. Seriously, for the most part, it’s business as usual where I am.
Electricity is generated through damns, and as long as we have rain or sufficient water left over from previous rains, we have electricity. It’s monsoon season. It’s not a problem.
We went grocery shopping today. The store was much much busier than normal – as in, at least twice, probably closer to 3 times as many people in it. We usually go around 4 in the afternoon, and it was packed.
The good news is that there were no shortages, except for the usual ones. By that, I mean that this week, the red onions will be really small and so will the potatoes, but the carrots were extremely fresh, as was the cilantro, which is usually difficult to get. Next week, there might be no bran cereal or oranges. The week after, we’ll have really fresh onions, but the bananas will look bruised. It’s a rotating thing.
But there was no problem getting enough food. The grocery store was stocked as per usual. No empty shelves or sections of shelves. It looked as stocked as it always does.
It’s also possible that at least some of these people are buying food to donate, whether through an aid agency or by donating directly to homeless people staying at a Buddhist temple, for example. A lot of people have taken it upon themselves to buy food or gather clothing or other household items and donate to whoever. That’s been happening here A LOT. Quite a few people I talked to from church have done that, some through our church, others privately.
