On Monday there was a hurricane warning in Shanghai and I saw two men walking the streets of the former French concession ringing and hand bell and advising people to go indoors and close the windows. The hurricane didn’t materialise – only a bit of a wind – nothing serious. The next day I was greeted at the school gate by Norm who told me that there was no power in the school. Never mind it would be fixed soon. But it wasn’t fixed and the day’s lessons became more difficult as the light dimmed. At least one class was using their mobile phones to illuminate their work.
No internet, no water for hand washing or drinking and no projectors. We were all suffering. But when the rain stopped the workmen said they would fix the power.
Wednesday came and there was still no power, no water, no internet and no hope – the workmen said that they were afraid the hurricane would come as they fixed it so they were unwilling to do it. The worse part of the power cut was that the water in the toilets had now run out resulting in a nauseating stench emanating from that area.
Then I got thinking – yes it is pretty nasty and we are all suffering from the lack of air-conditioning, light and water but there are people in other parts of the world and even in other parts of China who do not have the home comforts we have become used to. Maybe we should consider how lucky we are to have these things and it’s only at these times that we realise how lucky we really are and not take for granted all these facilities.