01 July 2008

Daily Routine

It's hot here.

Damn hot.

Have I mentioned how much I hate hot weather?

It is not just that I dislike hot weather. My body is simply unable to deal with it. When I get too hot, I cease to be able to function. Literally. When I lived in Georgia I was hospitalized twice for heat stroke.

So when it is hot, I feel as if I am being held hostage.

Every night we wait until it cools off to about 70 F (21 C) and then open wide all the windows and place fans in them to bring in as much cool air as possible. The fans are set up to create an extremely windy cross breeze through the entire apartment. We sleep that way all night. (Oh, the danger of it!)

Very early in the morning we get up, before the temperature has gone above 70 F, and close all the windows. This helps to lock the cool air into our apartment and keeps some of the hot air outside. Our shutters are permanently closed, open just a crack to let in a bit of light. Our Klimate Luftung (house fan which brings cool air from the basement into the apartment) is permanently at the highest setting. And we turn on the window air conditioning unit in the living room.

This keeps our apartment bearable. Not cool enough to be comfortable for me, mind you. But cool enough that I don't feel as if I am about to collapse from heat exhaustion. Which means until it cools off again outside there will be no cleaning inside. Cleaning would make me too hot with no good way to cool off. We have clumps of cat fur on the rugs, but they will just have to stay there. Vacuuming is sweaty work.

And the oven and stove will remain off. They create too much heat. Cereal and sandwiches for us until the weather turns.

So our apartment is tolerable. But NO PLACE ELSE IS!

The thought of going out into a world where there is no air conditioning, people are afraid to open windows (because obviously a cross breeze can kill you), showers are not daily activities and deodorant is considered unnecessary is insufferable.

And so I sit in our marginally cooler apartment, waiting for the weather to change.

Yesterday I had my fingers crossed. There was a 40% chance of rain.

But I was disappointed. It remained sunny all day.

The next chance of a cool down is Friday, when a storm front may come through with severe thunderstorms and temperatures in the 60's (18 C or cooler).

Please God, make it so.

If it doesn't happen I may have to leave GLH and go stay with my parents in the "aggressively air conditioned" United States.

I'm joking. Mostly.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You do realize, after reading the last statement, your mother is preparing your room right?? I suppose I better get going on getting the new bed.

AnnieG said...

I feel your pain. I don't think I could stand no A/C.

So here is a random question. We're moving to Jordan in 4 (yikes!) weeks and my mother-in-law keeps saying, "you won't have screens. no one else in the world has screens." So, do you have screens on these open windows?

Global Librarian said...

Well, screens are a rarity in most of Europe. Although you do occasionally see them.

Haven't a clue how it is in Jordan. But I imagine you will have air conditioning. Most of the expats in the Middle East do.

GL'sD said...

Just a note, room is ready!!

The Big Finn said...

I do miss good old U.S. air conditioning, but I think I've finally adjusted (it took about five summers) to not having it. While it does get hot here, the humidity is nowhere near the level it is in Chicago during the summer. So for me, AC-less summers in the CH are tolerable.

That being said, I'm still looking forward to sitting in beautiful AC comfort in the U.S. in a couple of weeks.

Susan May said...

Hey, it just finished raining here, and the temps came down beautifully. Enjoy the coolness!

Zurich Mama Geek said...

It's time to get a Roomba! I've seen them at MediaMarkt.

Twelfthknit said...

We're lucky- the design of our house means that the sun is kept out, but we also have shutters if we need them. I was astonished today to find that when I was quickly potting up my petunias the sweat was dripping off my eyelashes. I guess that must be a bit too much information, but bear with me- I'm from Scotland. I can't get over not being cold ;0)



India

Anonymous said...

"showers are not daily activities and deodorant is considered unnecessary is insufferable."

This made me laugh out loud... only because I'm currently sitting in fabulous US air conditioning. There really is nothing like it. You might want to look and see if there's a spa nearby. There was one in Stuttgart that actually had a cold room complete with Ice. I would hang out in there for several minutes in a t-shirt and the locals would look at me like I'd lost my mind.

When I was in DE I used to share a small office with another person (a german) who didn't use deodrant. I spent most of the summer in the Kaffeeraum just to get away from the overpowering stench. It was a very caffeinated summer :)