you've got mail. from a crazed person.

what follows is a series of emails i sent to various people on the morning of this past wednesday.

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6:30am

THERE IS WATER COMING OUT OF MY CEILING IN TWO ROOMS
I AM HANDLING THIS IN SPANISH
SUPER IS NOT HERE YET, AND IS NOT ANSWERING HIS PHONE
SECURITY GUARD DOESN'T HAVE ANY KEYS ANYWHERE
TALKED TO ANOTHER PERSON IN CHARGE (somewhat), SHE IS ON HER WAY

WATER WATER EVERYWHERE

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7am

i ran upstairs first to see if neighbors knew there was flooding. no one answered the door but i heard TONS Of water.
it's really coming down here. i'm just going around emptying buckets and wringing out towels. the ceiling looks like it could go any second (so why am i emailing?) i grabbed my passport, cash stash and electronics.

there is a good inch of water already on the floor. bed is soaked. it's coming in though the light fixtures, and the electricity is still running.

should i try to turn off the electricity?

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7:05am

i feel like i'm on baby watch. one medium-sized bucket fills up in like 4 minutes.

i’ve already emptied it a few times.

push!

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8:30am

the super finally came but i fell on my ass (on HARD marble tile floors!!!) running to get the door… the one time i did not tread lightly. i screamed out a hearty “youch.” yes i did. ok not really. it still hurts. the super: he came, he saw, he left. i was so happy to see him that i almost kissed him, but then i remembered that i had been waiting for help for nearly 2 hours.

now there's water in my roommate's room, too but i haven't a clue as to where it's coming from. it's like it came up from the floor. but now i see some on her balcony so maybe the upstairs apto has totally flooded now and is spilling into ours. i just took her computer out of the room

the school is sending some people over to help me. i never want to see water again.

‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’
8:40am
—unsent email: stream of consciousness to no one b/c the electricity is out. not sure if it's on purpose or a fortunate coincidence!

ass still hurts but wrist OK

don paco (super) comes from antigua cada dia, which is more than an hour each way

hay bastante agua!!! (i say this to everyone who comes in….)

i wonder what the guatemalans are thinking, cleaning our huge apto in our posh building and seeing our things….

well, at least the floors are SUPER clean

algo que necesita hacer—the cleaning guys keep asking me if it’s ok to put this there, to put that there. i’m like dude, anything you need to do!

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11:30am

just got to school; an update from the rest of the morning...

finally got the water turned off upstairs, when the super got here. there was no one living there, but all their stuff was there, and the pipe under the sink had burst, probably a few hours before it came to me. funny thing: when i woke up, i heard a repetitive sound, like a treadmill. then i heard water gushing and thought, oh it must be a washing machine, but why would someone put a washing machine in the bedroom? and why is water so loud? i jumped in the shower and when i was getting ready for school, putting on a bracelet, that's when i felt water fall on me.

anyway, the brigade came (like 15 people), cleaned up and mopped all the water up and i finally got a break for a little bit. not the way i wanted to make guatemalan friends :) my roommate and the school people came but by then it was all cleaned up. (oh, my roommate's room flooded too but it looked like it just appeared out of nowhere!!) they went back to school and i stayed behind b/c they said an engineer was coming to check some things out.

the power was turned off at one point, so i was cut off from email. but then i realized that the water was on during part of the cleaning time! so dangerous! and also when i was running around doing the buckets/towels, the power was very much on as well.

some important people came later, including insurance company and some big wigs with the condo complex. took pictures and asked questions. my landlord came, helped me get some stuff together and brought me to school, but i think i should have stayed home.

we have to move out of our place. the guy said that they have to take out the entire ceiling and fix it, and probably my floors as well. the apartment next door is available so we're going to move in there, but not until tomorrow. we have to find a place to stay tonight.

now that it's over, i'm kinda losing it. arghghg!

the end