No power, No water, No problem?

I woke up as usual, brushed my teeth and followed the morning routine. When I went to fill the water pot, because 90% of our AirBnBs in Europe have a water pot rather than a coffee maker, I tried the faucet and no water.

Hmm, it was working when I brushed my teeth. OK, no problem. Probably just a short outage. I go to plug in the strand of Christmas lights that we still carry with us since December in Tirana (don't judge), and nothing. No soothing twinkle lights.

So now I'm thinking minor apocalypse situations that would take out power and water, wishing I wasn't so creative. Just last month, we felt a pretty good earthquake in Durres, Albania. “Woke me up” good.

But looking out the window, all was calm. No crazed people running through the streets. No bullhorn explaining in Albanian where to go for shelter. I paused, considered options, and got my shoes on to head downstairs. It was still early, and Rachel was not awake.

Down on the street, the only thing I noticed that felt a little bit different was a few people here and there, congregating, talking outside the buildings, as if that was all they could do.

I asked the lady in the building office how long and could tell communication was tenuous. After some gesturing, I got “2 or 3 hours".”

Coffee was not yet flowing in my system, so of course I had to rectify that. I grab a seat in the first one by the building, the waiter comes up, and I request that heavenly nectar, cappuccino.

“Sorry, no”

I only twitched a little bit but had to follow up with some broken English exchange to understand that their power was also out. Only water or bottled drinks.

As I walked down the boardwalk, my body began to understand that the coffee was not on the way. And I laughed to myself, wondering how far I would be walking.

Next stop, same thing.

Next stop, they are closing, no power or water.

Grocery store, limited power on generator just for the register.

After walking almost 10 minutes, I struck gold. Comfortable, cushioned couch seating, facing the sea, and the sweet hum of power.

After ordering, I have to ask if power and water outage is common. He says it happens sometimes. I text Rachel where I am.

We enjoyed a cappuccino, and then another cappuccino with some water. Talked and enjoyed the beauty of Vlorë. It was relaxing.

We finally went back home after the 3-hour threshold. No power. No water.

I message the AirBnB host.

“Hi 16:00 there is a general service”

Interpretation, we're out until 4pm.

So, we made applesauce out of the dropped apples.

Went out and wandered the waterfront, climbed the Vlorë Park Pyramid, and took in the view in every direction. Beautiful, peaceful, and not a cloud in the sky.

The restaurant down by the waterfront has a nice, spacious patio so we decided to grab a couch and chair, we setup our gear, ordered Korça (our favorite Albania beer), but they were out so we took whatever they had.

We had chicken Caeser salads, got some stuff done, and enjoyed some conversation.

Around eight hours after it started, the power and water were restored, we went back to what we would normally do.

Two lessons I learned.

One, “normal” is as local as the city you are currently in. Expect the unexpected and it will never impact your blood pressure. This “happens sometimes” in Vlorë and now we know that firsthand.

Two, every curveball is an opportunity. Choose now, and you will be ready to turn the unexpected into a great memory, rather than a bad mood that turns into arguments.

At least that's what I took from it.