Whooo!
*that* shook the windows
In the words of a very wise man: “Outside Bad”
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July 23, 2006
How hot was it?
It was so hot that a dozen servicemen were hospitalized! Rim-shot!
Our roof was re-tarred before the ‘rainy season’. We’d call it the ‘drizzley season’ but these things are all relative. It was good in the winter because it kept the rain from getting in. It’s not that I object to a little moisture. It’s that it’s so dusty here that for the first week the rain doesn’t puddle, it creates sheets of mud on every surface, which then seep in the windows and through cracks in the roof. It looks like a scene out of ‘Dark Water’.
But it’s not the rainy season now and the tar that was on the roof has become completely fluid in the relentless heat. It runs across the roof and down the stairs. If you have to make a phone call - you have to go up on the roof. I’ve laid down a trail of newspaper and a little card-board platform so that I stay off the tarry bits. But it took a few tries to figure that out. Consequently all my shoes and the hems of my pants look like brer Rabbit before he got chucked in the briar patch.
The tar is that runny ‘cause it’s hot. It’s really really fucking hot.
It’s one hundred twenty Fahrenheit, fifty Celsius, or 323 Kelvin. Anything electronic left outside is toast. Anything electronic left in the car is melted into the upholstery. The city power has completely crapped out. The brown/black outs are constant and are seriously messing up the equipment. I don’t mind replacing the electronics or the lights. But when the AC clenches up at high noon and the house goes from meat locker to convection oven I reserve the right to burst into tears.
I got a sunburn watching “Weekend at Bernies” this place could keep me tan through three feet of cement.
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http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/40650.html
And check out the humidity here! I come from a place where 70% humidity is the mid-winter low. I’ve seen fish wandering down the street back home. Here? Your coffee cup, if left half full, is *bone dry* in the morning. Just a layer of crystal hard sugar and brown coffee goodness at the bottom. The whole country is like God’s dehumidifier. ..
July 21, 2006
Oops
Boo! here lizard lizard
I've been chasing geckoes for twenty minutes. Up and down the front yard and under the sandbags. I even chased them behind the generator where I got stuck because my body armor makes me all bulky.
But I forgot that security has to babysit me whenever I'm outside the house.
So six huge dudes who can kill with a swizzle stick and face death on a regualr basis watched me run up and down the street giggling "here lizard lizard, I'ma git you!"
This wouldn't have been so bad but one of the guys came up and said: " Would you be willing to chase them inside the house so we can go off duty, sir?"
ah shit. I'll never live this down. Thankfully, if I drink more I might forget it...
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ps: I promise I'll write something about the heat tomorrow.
pps.: you wimps.
ppps: yeah, I said it. Come and get me!
July 03, 2006
Tomorrow's already here!
My right now is your a little bit later!
Well, for me it's your tomorrow. Or possibly it's just time for me to get my BAC below 2 and catch a little shut eye.
For me it's already July 4. Back home I'd celebrate by getting a little crazy, blowing a chunk out of the sidewalk, and burning some meat. But out here they're already a little crazy, chunks get blow out of pretty much everything on regular basis, and the burning meat thing? Not funny.
So instead I'll spend the day working. But it's ok because when I get to go home I'll being going back to a functioning democracy. Where I’m allowed to argue and make trouble for the ruling party. And I don't have to live in mortal fear of fundamentalists or look under the car before going to work. And I'm being paid to help other people get there. Which is unbelievably cool.
July 01, 2006
Ridden hard and put up wet
Ten days, four countries, surprisingly few pictures
Sunrise in Amman.
Worst Idea, no consequences (Tequila, Amman)
Hours, lost to layovers (Nine, CDG)
Favorite welcome, homecoming (“I bought your beer, do you like this skirt?”, SO)
Best culture shock (tap water is delicious!, arriving home)
Best Meal, most relaxing (L’Enfant, 18th and U)
Best Meal, heretofore unknown (Creme, 13th and U)
Best Drink, heretofore unknown (Prima Pils, Pizza Paradiso - Gtown branch)
Best Idea, cunningly planned (Tripe, Pho 75 - Arlington Branch)
Best Artifact, poorly presented (Astrolabes, Institute du Arbe Monde)
Best Artifact, well presented (The lady and the unicorn, Musee du Moyen Age)
Hours, unaccounted for (Six?, Mont Parnasse?)
Worst Idea, with consequences (Pastis, Mont Parnasse?)
Best Idea, unexpectedly (fully refundable/exchangeable tickets, Paris)
Worst use of a day (Recovery, Air France)
Cruelest Instruments of Torture (A330, Air France)
Most Mexican World Cup team (2006, Charles De Gaulle International Airport)
Worst culture shock (forgetting that tap water is poison, returning)
Favorite welcome, returning (“Your armor is in the car”, PSD)