Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Turn Up the Heat

When I am traveling I hate the question “how did you sleep last night?”. I very rarely sleep well when I am in a strange location, but this weekend while I was staying up in a hotel in Washington state it was exceptionally bad, and totally unnecessary.


I guess Seattle area is known for its rain this time of year, and many people expressed that April had been colder than normal. All of this culminated in a rather chilling hotel room. It was one of those nights that I would lay in my bed, with toes like icicles, dreaming a beach on the equator, just hoping my dreams would be enough to keep me warm. I was scared to move or roll over in the middle of the night since I knew the sheets themselves were cold I and would have to spend half an hour warming up and new location.


This restless frozen state continued until 6 in the morning. Just as I was preparing to give up and go have a hot shower I noticed the radiator located under the window. Suddenly the reality that was us back in North America flooded back to me. I jumped up quickly, grapping the blanket off the bed to wrap around me as I went to check it out. Sure enough there were controls on the side and within seconds I could feel hot air being blown out with force into the room. Between the happy hum of the heater and the gradual increase in temperature and dozed off for an hour or so of actual sleep that night.


Where I live in central Asia the heat in a building is regulated by the government. The heaters are turned on and off at a set date in the year, no matter what the weather is outside. Some of you may have heard me share recently about the struggles of being willing to give up my rights in order to better acclimatize myself to life overseas, that includes the right to warm and toasty on a cold wet day.



Many people at the conference got a good laugh from my 'how I slept last night story', especially since many of them have lived in the same part of the world and knew what it was like to try to overcome years of thinking one way in order to fit in at home.


161) Personal controls on the heater


162) a much better, and warmer night’s sleep my second night in the hotel

2 comments:

Beth said...

oh dear....were I you, I'd be tempted to bring back a portable space heater with me :)

J said...

"How was your sleep?"

K: "Well, I love my sleep."

J: "Yes, there's nothing like a good sleep."