Scary Electricity: Take 2

Just so you don't miss it - be sure to check out my post from yesterday just below this one - The Grand Tour of our new home!

For all our "regulars" out there, you may remember this pic from a post last year. The state of confusion of the electric wires is unbelievable to us. It is also very common to see multiple wires draped all over people's roofs or propped up to allow cars through. The electrical infrastructure here in Bicol is even more exciting, and we are not at all surprised by the 6 brownouts a day (on average). Often they only last a few minutes but many last several hours or longer. We very quickly realized the futility of trying to keep the electrical clocks on the microwave, etc. set to the correct time. Here a few stories about our scary electricity:

1) Last week I reached up to turn on a lamp, and got a terrible shock. Apparently it had been plugged in "backwards" (don't ask me - something about the lack of a grounding wire). The shock was bad enough that it actually left 2 red, sore spots on my hand where my thumb and finger had touched the lamp. It was sore for more than a week!

2) Steve heard some commotion going on out front yesterday. When he checked it out, he was surprised to see our neighbor smacking the electrical wires along the street with a long bamboo pole. After several smacks, the power to his house kicked back on!

3) Mikayla came in the house crying yesterday saying she had been up in the tree when something jolted her body - like she had been shocked real bad. Now, you have the advantage of knowing the topic of this post so you are inclined to believe her. I did not have the same advantage and found it a little hard to believe that she had been shocked while up in a tree. I suggested to her that maybe the wind had blown the branch and startled her and she jumped. But she stood by her guns so Steve went out to check it out. He discovered that, sure enough, she had been shocked by full 220 current. Apparently, there was some wiring inside the wall next to the tree that had never been used. When Steve had mounted a "Welcome" sign to that wall a few weeks ago, he had accidentally put a screw threw the wires inside the wall, making all the bars on top of the wall (and the metal sign) "live" with electricity! Mikayla had bumped one of the bars and gotten the shock of her life. Poor kid.