The week of lent is oftentimes regarded as the warmest time of the year in the Philippines (at least according to traditional wisdom). Sure enough, temperatures in Iloilo has been getting as high as 36 degrees C in the afternoon for the past few days (and for the rest of the week according to forecasts). I have been vacationing in Iloilo since early last week and on a whim, I have decided to bring my portable room thermometer/hygrometer to Iloilo. Perhaps it is my obsessive nature that makes me want to know the inside and outside temperature and humidity levels of the house, or maybe it is my process control engineer background that delights in looking at instrumentation readings. Whatever the case may be, I think it is driving the people in the house nuts. Telling people nonchalantly the temperature and relative humidity in casual conversation gets old very fast and it doesn't help that it is oftentimes followed by complaining that the air conditioning unit needs to be fixed. Or repeatedly pointing out that the temperature won't be as bad if only the house has proper ventilation since I have observed that the inside temperature is around 2 degrees warmer than it is outside. You can imagine things has gotten much worse when the only electric fan in the bedroom suddenly decided to give up (probably from being used day and night continuously).
 |
| Temperatures at home can be unbearably hot! |
I have started hanging out in coffee shops in the nearby malls (I try to go to a different mall each day for a change in scenery) but sad to say I won't be able to go anywhere on Thursday and Friday (Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are sacrosanct in most of the country given the predominantly Christian population and so most establishments including malls and restaurants will be closed for those 2 days - something that is not even done on Christmas). So here I am trying to make the most of the cool mall air conditioning and I'm also going to pick up a new desk fan for the bedroom while I'm here.
 |
| Making the most of cooling at the mall |
 |
| Visiting a different coffee shop almost every day is a good way to cool off. |
Comments