So one of the things eveyone asks about life here is, 'Is it safe?' It is a difficult question to answer. I mean, despite my writing words like menacing, machine guns, security, etc. in my blog, I haven't really felt unsafe... until early this week. The picture above is of the socket outside my apartment where the washing machine plugs in. Apparently something (water on the plug? Who knows...) caused the socket to blow and started an electrical fire which was stopped by the breaker box in my room. We gave the adaptor to the owner who looked at it scornfully and muttered, 'China!'
Later in the week, S was cooking and the plastic bit covering the lightbulb in the fan over the burners melted during normal cooking activity and came off. When she raised her hand to show me, I realized that I had a matching bit of plastic in my room that I hadn't recognized for what it was. I just threw it under the kitchen sink... close to where the gas tank for the burners is located. Incidentally, all of our gas tanks seem to leak slightly since all of the rooms smell like gas when we first arrive home from work. I wonder when insurance companies will open in Hawler and be ready to start insuring homes and lives in Kurdistan. I am thinking about buying a home in Turkey and insuring my life while I am at it.
1 comment:
Hi, where on earth did you learn such good English? If it's ok, I would like to stop by from time to time. You are the first person I have encountered who lives in Iraq (or almost in Iraq, considering that the Kurds would prefer to have their own country.) Is Iraq really about to fall apart, as our newspapers make us believe? If you could throw in a few tidbits from time to time, what every day life in Iraq is like, I would very much appreciate it.
Karl
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