When I was raving on and on about how wonderful spring is in one of my previous entries, I forgot 1 very unpleasant thing that spring brings along - the annual hot water pipes cleaning. Yes, it is a good thing that they clean the pipes and make sure it doesn't get rusty bla bla bla...but then, cleaning up the pipes also means stopping the hot water supply to the surrounding apartments.
During my first two years in Moscow, I never felt the effect of this cleaning up process 'cos I was staying in a different hostel back then, and in that region of Moscow (where the hostel was), the pipe cleaning takes place in August when I am back home in Malaysia. But now, in Kahovs region (where my new hostel is) the process takes place around May or June for about 2 weeks (although it can take up to a month). That means no hot water for 2-4 weeks!
Are you thinking that we are too pampered? Why not just bathe with cold water? So many people in Malaysia bathe with cold water. So, why can't we? It's because the cold water is not like water back home. It is ice cold water. Like water in a water fall, maybe colder. Like water that has been just taken out of a fridge. Can you imagine bathing with that kind of water, especially when the weather itself is not exactly hot? (One thing I don't understand, how come the water never gets warmer, even when the weather is super hot..do they have a cooling system or something like that?)
Our solution to this problem is yes, to boil water. But then, imagine this- you want to bathe. You have a kettle which boils 2L of water at a time. How many litres of hot water do you think you will need? How many times are you going to boil water? I boil 2 kettles of water if I don't wash hair, and 4 kettles if it is my washing hair day. This is, for me, the minimum amount of hot water that I need. Even then, when I am done bathing, I don't feel like I've taken a proper bath.
And then there are those who are too lazy to boil water and opt to just bathe in the cold water. Usually it's the guys who do this. I sometimes bathe in cold water too, usually on non-hair-washing day. This is how it goes : have a nice sleep under a thick blanket, wake up feeling hot > grab towel, run to bathroom > switch on the pipe, watch it for some time while summoning up courage > brace myself, take a deep breath, go under the running water > step away from water, soap > step back into water, make sure soap washed off > wipe and dress up as fast as possible > exithell bathroom. The whole process takes less than 5 minutes.
I tried washing my hair with the cold water once. I thought, "the guys do it all the time, why not I give it a try?" It was a really, really hot day, and I was really, really lazy. The first few seconds of my shower was OK, but in about a minute, the cold water gave its effect. My brain froze. Trust me, that is what it felt like. My whole head was like..frozen; there is just no other way to put it. Frozen and after a while started to be slightly painful. After the bath, I could feel blood moving towards my head. A headache later in the day made me never do this 'stunt' again.
The notice is out. There will be no hot water from the 14th onwards, yes, in 2 days. I did not bother to see the date when the hot water will be starting back again because it is always delayed. ALWAYS. All I'm hoping is, the weather gets warmer real soon and there is hot water when my parents are here. Imagine how many kettles of water I would need to boil each day if it doesn't.
A couple of tips on how to bathe in cold water (if you ever get stuck in such a situation) :
- express bathing :- just bathe as fast as you can (as mentioned above)
- jump while you bathe :- I have not tried this, but some of my friends do it to warm themselves up, you can give it a try. Warning : you may slip and fall.
During my first two years in Moscow, I never felt the effect of this cleaning up process 'cos I was staying in a different hostel back then, and in that region of Moscow (where the hostel was), the pipe cleaning takes place in August when I am back home in Malaysia. But now, in Kahovs region (where my new hostel is) the process takes place around May or June for about 2 weeks (although it can take up to a month). That means no hot water for 2-4 weeks!
Are you thinking that we are too pampered? Why not just bathe with cold water? So many people in Malaysia bathe with cold water. So, why can't we? It's because the cold water is not like water back home. It is ice cold water. Like water in a water fall, maybe colder. Like water that has been just taken out of a fridge. Can you imagine bathing with that kind of water, especially when the weather itself is not exactly hot? (One thing I don't understand, how come the water never gets warmer, even when the weather is super hot..do they have a cooling system or something like that?)
Our solution to this problem is yes, to boil water. But then, imagine this- you want to bathe. You have a kettle which boils 2L of water at a time. How many litres of hot water do you think you will need? How many times are you going to boil water? I boil 2 kettles of water if I don't wash hair, and 4 kettles if it is my washing hair day. This is, for me, the minimum amount of hot water that I need. Even then, when I am done bathing, I don't feel like I've taken a proper bath.
And then there are those who are too lazy to boil water and opt to just bathe in the cold water. Usually it's the guys who do this. I sometimes bathe in cold water too, usually on non-hair-washing day. This is how it goes : have a nice sleep under a thick blanket, wake up feeling hot > grab towel, run to bathroom > switch on the pipe, watch it for some time while summoning up courage > brace myself, take a deep breath, go under the running water > step away from water, soap > step back into water, make sure soap washed off > wipe and dress up as fast as possible > exit
I tried washing my hair with the cold water once. I thought, "the guys do it all the time, why not I give it a try?" It was a really, really hot day, and I was really, really lazy. The first few seconds of my shower was OK, but in about a minute, the cold water gave its effect. My brain froze. Trust me, that is what it felt like. My whole head was like..frozen; there is just no other way to put it. Frozen and after a while started to be slightly painful. After the bath, I could feel blood moving towards my head. A headache later in the day made me never do this 'stunt' again.
The notice is out. There will be no hot water from the 14th onwards, yes, in 2 days. I did not bother to see the date when the hot water will be starting back again because it is always delayed. ALWAYS. All I'm hoping is, the weather gets warmer real soon and there is hot water when my parents are here. Imagine how many kettles of water I would need to boil each day if it doesn't.
A couple of tips on how to bathe in cold water (if you ever get stuck in such a situation) :
- express bathing :- just bathe as fast as you can (as mentioned above)
- jump while you bathe :- I have not tried this, but some of my friends do it to warm themselves up, you can give it a try. Warning : you may slip and fall.
5 comments:
i'm not kidding, but jumping really works..
the trick is to only wet one part of your body at a time, so that the other parts have time to defrost. :)
i bathe in cold water everytime they turn off the warm water.
only wussies boil their bathing water.. hahahahahaha..
ck, be nice..vy is NOT a wussie..:P
oh yeah she gives people black eyes..
sorry vy:P
i meant all the OTHER people who boil their bathing water :) :)
oi... why my name appearing here huh...i din even say a thg.. ish...
mayb we shud jz say PPL r jz toooo lazy to boil water... tats why jumping in the bathroom (hopefully not followed by slip n fall pt..haha)
thought you're famous for being lazy, vy..
anything besides studies, that is..
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