The Iraqi sun is hot and Hawleri residents range in suntan color from as pale as a parasol-toting Korean girl to as dark as some in the South of India. And although half my blood is Indian, I have stayed a 'nice' yellowish colour since my arrival here. Generally staying well covered up to avoid a shameful exposure of skin doesn't really lead to summer comfort or a good tan. Today I decided to brave the heat... and the shame of being seen in a swimsuit during daylight hours. At about noon, Tf and I went for a swim. We have noted that from about 11:30am until about 2pm, all the residents of Hawler seem to be home (or somewhere hidden)indulging in a little siesta... hence Tf and I were free to splash about in relative peace... that is after a couple on a balcony got tired of watching.
After drying off etc, we taxied off to the bazaar. After several weekends of unsuccessfuly trying to find someone to fix his watch strap, Tf found a shoe repair man (not one of those guys sitting on a crate on the sidewalk with a shoe form and some superglue, but a real one with a sewing machine and bags of various types of shoe 'materials') in a side alley off of Bata Bazaar. Tf's watch was stitched back together, two pairs of my shoes has the lifts on the heels replaced and a final shoe had the strap glued and nailed back in place... the total - less than $2.00 US for the lot! Then I made my most expensive purchase in months... $35.00 for a DVD player - a skinny silver and black deal with the SAMSUNG logo glued on slightly askew! Logo - Korean, product - made in China like all the other fake products on the market here.
Anyway, now I am at home doing laundry, watching a DVD and admiring my suntan lines. Can't wait for my next weekend off. Tf says there is a bowling alley - even the days or events that would have been most ordinary back home seem fantastically exciting here.
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