So, I break doors and locks in this country. I don't actually break them with force, they just seem to break in my presence. While staff and other volunteers have pointed out that people often take shortcuts with construction here, I feel like I've had waaaay more door and lock incidents than other volunteers.
- My first night in the country, at a lodge in Gabs, the key to the door of the room I was staying in didn't work, and it took 3 staff to convince them I wasn't lying/inept and they finally moved us to another room.
- My first week at site the hinge to my bedroom door broke (and it opened to the outside), nearly causing the whole door to fall off, and I had to call PC to call someone in my village to come make a fake wire hinge so I could close and lock my door.
- My bathroom door swelled so I couldn't close it because of the rain.
- My living room door lock would randomly not work, so at various times Rose (another PCV) and a random guy in the village had to break into my living room for me.
- The handle broke off the kitchen door because it required so much force to open and close it.
- All 4 of the doors and locks in that house had issues at some point, which is one of the reasons I wound up moving to a new house.
-I dropped the lock to the gate in my yard in the sand, and then it wouldn't open, which required me to climb the gate in and out of my yard for 2 weeks until a friend could come and jimmy it open with cooking oil.
- At the new house, the bathroom door decided it wouldn't lock after living here 6 months. Waiting on landlord to fix it.
- At another PC conference in Gabs, Barbara and I could -barely- lock and unlock the door. On day 3 of the conference Barbara couldn't even get the key in the lock, so she went to the front desk for help. They responded, Oh! Try this key! And gave her a completely different one, which worked beautifully. They had REKEYED the door while we were out of the room, and it never occurred to them to tell us or give us the new key.
- My current living room door is swollen with the rain again so I have to yank or push really hard to open or close it.
- A few weeks ago the key to my kitchen door broke, so I was locked out of my kitchen for 36 hours while I sent a friend to hardware stores in Gabs to find me a new key.
All this to say, doors/locks are not my friend in this country. But it makes for some pretty hilarious text messaging between me and Aileen.
Mary: I’ve managed to break the key to my kitchen door and
am locked out of my kitchen.
Aileen: Hah, omg, just read your text. How on earth do you
manage these things?
M: Teacher friend looking for key at hardware store in
Gabs and can’t find it. Facepalm.
A: Urrrrm… not good. Maybe that model is out of stock.
M: He found the key! Now to see if it’s actually the
right one… and if I didn’t break the lock too.
A: The fascinating saga of one woman/s search for the
key… to open her kitchen door.
M: Houston, we have entered the kitchen. I repeat, we
have entered the kitchen.
A: You break doors, I break sim
cards.
M: Speaking of which, my living room door has swelled
with the rain and it now requires a karate move to get it open.
A: At this point in your career its to be expected.
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