In the past 18 hours, I've had the chance to get in touch with my Ukrainian identity. The electricity suddenly went off in my apartment and we haven't been able to resolve this problem in spite of numerous efforts.
As a post-Soviet Ukrainian, I can't say I'm all that unaccastomed to living with no electricity (which means no air conditioning and no refrigerator in this sweltering heat). However, I'm not enjoying it any more than I did in my country.
To make the nostalgic experience complete, we should also have our water disconnected. Then, it would definitely feel like home.
P.S. For those who don't know, the title of this post comes from a famous quote by Lenin.
P.P.S. The electricity mysteriously went back on. This experience taught me two important things. First, overconsumption is the devil. Second, I don't miss Ukraine. I miss my real homeland, Canada, though. And not because there are no power outages there (sometimes, there are) but because it's an amazing place.
4 comments:
The parallel between electricity shortage in your apartment and your Ukranian identity is amusing. The difference is maybe that electricity went out in your mid-Atlantic apartment because people overconsume electricity. In North America, we run ACs like we are some sort of penguins who can't tolerate warm weather. Maybe.
Your Lenin quote made me think of a famous quote from a French-Canadian primer minister, Maurice Duplessis. He became hugely popular with his promise of bringing electricity to remote rural regions: "Électeurs, électrices, électricité!"
Regardless, the distance between Duplessis and Lenin is vast. Vast.
I never heard of this amazing quote by Duplessis. Thank you so much for telling me. I'm loving it.
You are right about overconsumption, though. I think it went off because I turned on the microwave on top of everything else that was on.
Yep. You learned a lot about oversonsumption!
Duplessis has amazing quotes. Among others: "The best health care coverage is health." Priceless.
Correction: "The best health coverage is to stay in good shape." There it is! Thanks Duplessis!
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