My goal for the day was to finish the grant proposal to the US government, Office of Federal Disaster Assistance (OFDA). It is currently 2am here and I am still working on it. I had submitted it to our International Headquarters office for review a few hours ago and received a call about an hour ago asking for clarification on some items. One of their questions required me to go downstairs in my pajamas and a bathrobe to ask the front deck guys working the night shift something only a local would know.
Most nights since I've been here I haven't slept more than 4-6 hours. I start work early, I work late. The challenge for the proposal is my reliance on a computer and the city is experiencing brown outs because one of the power stations was affected by the storm. Today's brown out lasted most of the day, which made computer access a bit of a challenge. My computer only has enough battery power for about 40 minutes - totally impractical in a brown out. I had to search for an area of the hotel with generator power (I can tell you my room was not one of them). I parked myself there for hours. The power came back on and I did some internet stuff (wireless doesn't work without electricity). I sent the draft to be reviewed by colleagues who've done this kind of thing before. Then I incorporated their comments.
About 9pm our time there was our daily bridge call, which is our opportunity to update headquarters about the days events. It's 9am morning time for them. While I was on the call, describing the proposal to them, the power went out. I lost cell service immediately, I assume because the cell tower must have also lost power. I still needed to send the final draft of the proposal to them. Once again, I found an area with generator power and, luckily, the internet was working. Success in sending the proposal to the US office! And now I am up still working, at least there is electricity.
At lunch I noticed a few people carrying flashlights with them. One girl had it in her back pocket, ready for the inevitable. It is quite a list of things to have to remember when leaving the house - umbrella for the rain? check. keys, purse, wallet? flashlight?...I just don't think I would have thought to bring my flashlight with me while shopping for groceries.
I did, however, remember to pack a light source in my carry-on bag. I was coming to a disaster, I didn't want to assume electricity would be available. On our trip to Lesotho earlier this year I found a handheld flashlight frustrating when trying to get anything done - reading a book before bed, eating dinner in the dark, going to the outhouse. Hands free was the way to go. I had borrowed a head lamp and fell in love. So, I bought my own and now that is what I pack. I was so happy to have my headlamp last night as I tried to find my way around my hotel room in the pitch black.
I had planned to write a post about the day earlier, but I fell asleep, dead tired earlier...but now that I'm up I thought I'd take advantage of the time.
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