No water, electricity or phone

2/19
It has been several weeks of nothing to do.  Two weeks before the kids had their exams I stopped the clubs.  I wanted them to have the time to study, but, I also wanted a break.  About the same time bee keeping season ended.  So with my projects on hold I have had a lot of time on my hands.  Pretty much the only thing I have done since then is go to a wedding.  It was actually not bad, they had a lot of T'ej there (honey whine) so I was able to stay entertained.  That was the second wedding I have been to in Ethiopia (not including the one I crashed), so far I have gone to an Orthodox wedding, and a Catholic wedding.  I need to go to a Muslim wedding, and I will have seen the gambit. 
Last week the power was out for about four days, coming on for only about ten minutes a day, if at all.  Also the phone lines were cut, I am not sure how or why, so there was no cell, land line, or internet access for about three days.  Finally there has been no water for going on three weeks now.  I keep eighty liters of water at my house, but I ran out early into the second week, my landlord keeps a fifty-five gallon drum of water, along with I don't know how many jerry cans, even she ran out.  It has come down to sending jerry cans on a donkey or horse cart in the afternoon, and the next day they return them.  Since I only have one jerry can it means I have to be very careful with water consumption.  Still, people ask me how Gassera is, and I still tell them it is fine, I don't find it difficult to live here.  They always look at me like I am crazy and say: "there is a lack of power, and water, and network, it is not good."  I just tell them it isn't a problem, and that I still like living here.  I would think that after living here your whole life that it would be something you hardly even notice anymore. 
So I have had a lot of time to think these last few weeks.  I felt like sharing some of my thoughts.  I apologize in advance!
With just the money I make as a "resettlement allowance" coming home at the end of my service, I could live in this town for approximately 5.5years.
In Amharic and Oromifa they have only one word for both "need", and "want".  Is that because in these languages infancy, needs were the same as wants?  Or is it because, these cultures consider wants and needs as equal.  Sometimes I wonder about this.
I am the first white person ever to live in this area of Ethiopia.  I guess that kinda makes since that the women point me out to their children and tell them to look at the forenji.
I have a post already to go, but I forgot to post it last time I was in Robe.  It describes my visit to Harar, but I want to be able to add some pictures to it, so it will have to wait till the next time I have a computer with internet