3,000 Watts

My (hopefully humorous) true story of living overseas and some of the struggles I faced.

3000 Watts

Picture it. Sicily. 1922.

Okay, just kidding. It was actually La Maddalena. 2003.

La Maddalena is a tiny, Italian island off the northeast coast of Sardegna, which itself is an island about 120 miles west of mainland Italy. When I arrived there in the summer of 2003, I was 6 months pregnant with my first daughter. I was finally getting to join my husband who was stationed on the USS Emory S. Land, a submarine repair ship. I would be stationed at the legal office of the small Naval Support Activity on the island.

I had visited for two weeks over Christmas but really had no idea what I was getting myself into. Boy, was I in for a surprise.

There was base housing available, but it was on the other side of the island and not very convenient. Working at base legal, I also didn't really want to live in base housing because everyone always pesters you with their "one quick question" scenarios. The questions were always quick, but the answers? Not so much. So instead, we went through the housing office and found a local rental.

Because Italian homes are often not "furnished" with kitchen items, the housing office would provide anything extra that was needed. That included a full-sized refrigerator and transformers that we could use to convert the outlets so we could use our own American electronic devices.

What I was not prepared for was the unexpected education I was about to receive on electricity.

Growing up in the U.S., I suppose I had always taken electricity for granted. I honestly never gave it a moment's thought. That all changed in La Maddalena.

3,000 watts.

That is all the power that any home on the island had. 3,000 watts.

To put that into perspective, a hairdryer typically used at least 1,500 watts. And remember those commercials about "energy hogs" when you leave electronic devices plugged in? All true. Every single watt mattered.

A gentle fart in the breeze was enough to trip the breaker when you only had 3,000 watts.

I thought I was going to lose my mind. How am I supposed to iron my uniform, sanitize baby bottles, and dry my hair on 3,000 watts of electricity? It was an electrical battle for the ages.

So you might be wondering, what about the oven and dryer? Gas. Propane, actually. But not plumbed into the house like Americans are used to in our homes. We used bombolas, as they were called there. Propane tanks. There was one attached to the oven, one for the dryer, and we even had one in a propane heater to warm up the house on the coldest winter days. And not a carbon monoxide detector in sight.

What the hell were we thinking?

Oh. And we couldn't drink the water either. It wasn't because of gastrointestinal reasons. There were significant concerns of long-term disease. We even cooked and brushed our teeth with bottled water. Fortunately, the bottled water was very cheap. And as a bonus, there was a local wine shop where you could take an empty 1.5 liter bottle and fill it with local wine for only 2 Euro. Score!

Somehow, we all survived. Not only did we survive, we thrived. Especially once we got the news that the electrical grid was being upgraded, and all houses would now have 6,000 watts of power!

La Maddalena was beautiful, especially once I got past the issues with the electricity. Sadly, they shut the base down in 2008 just a few years after I left. Future Sailors wouldn't get the opportunity to experience this little Mediterranean gem. I'm thankful for my time there and the life lessons the experience provided. I'm even thankful for my 3,000 watts.