My neighbour has been out of warm water for a couple of weeks since he moved in the building. It is apparently not easy for him to get this problem fixed. I shivered everytime I imagined living only with cold water in a freezing winter.
When was the last time you had a cold shower? For me it was in March last year when I visited my parents in my hometown in Indonesia. They don’t have a water heater at home. In fact, they don’t have a shower. They use a traditional tub (bak mandi) instead, that stores the water for bath (mandi) and we will need a water dipper (gayung) to scoop the water. Even though the town has a relatively warm temperature all year long, sometimes in rainy season it could be quite chilly and the water flowing from the nearby spring is freshly cold.
I grew up with that lifestyle. I can’t remember a time when I complained about cold water. It was natural. But now, I often ponder the idea of having cold shower in daily basis. Especially when I conveniently stand under the sprinkles of warm water on my head. Obviously, I’m not interested in going back to that old habit. So, it really pains me to see those migrants in Lipa camp in Bosnia, who hope to get an asylum in the EU by crossing into Croatia. They basically live in freezing camps with minimum sanitation facility (in case you wanna contribute a little something, here is one of the aid agency organising help for refugees: wir packen’s an).
I realised how I sometimes take for granted so many “little things” just because they’re just right there and I need no effort to get them. Just open the taps, and warm water is almost instantly pouring down from the shower head. Just scrolling and clicking on my phone, and a stream of stuff is delivered to my door. Just open my eyes, and I see shapes and colours and I can do all the things I need to do with my eyes open.
Some random thoughts 