Baby, It's Cold Inside

So I cut the shower curtain. And it looks fine; it's a cheap plastic one so you can't even tell it's been cut. (No duct tape or Elvis pictures yet, but I'll keep them in mind.) The shower curtain is the least of my shower problems right now, though, because I haven't had hot water for two days. Bathing without hot water hurts--no wonder people didn't do it much in the olden days.

The reason I don't have hot water is that I ran out of gas. My apartment has what is apparently called a tankless hot water heater. It's this contraption on the wall that has a large gas can attached to it and a little flame constantly burning. When you turn on the water it makes a loud "whoosh!" sound and the flame gets big. Kinda scary.

I vaguely remember my landlord saying something about buying cans of gas from guys on the street. But apparently I tuned out most of what she told me about that very important aspect of my life here. So I don't know if I'm supposed to get the gas from the guys on the street, or if she does that, how much it costs, how long the tanks last, how to tell when they're running out, how to light the thing.... And it's a little embarrassing to ask now, because we talked about it so I should know. Argh--how have I stayed alive this long with such bad life management skills? The landlord's son is bringing a new gas can over tonight. Hopefully he'll just keep doing that, preferably before the gas runs out again. Cold showers suck.

...I was doing this example in class today comparing the fuel efficiencies of Japanese and American cars, and a student raised her hand and asked what a gallon is. Damn America and our stupid English system that not even the English use anymore!