Birrrrr It's Cold

Hey didn't I move to a warm place so I could get out of the cold?  I mean come on im freezing my tushie off here and its not even morning.  I woke up early well not for me I guess seeing as most mornings i'm up with the roosters and hoped to get online while we still have it.  Internet is a commodity not easily acquired here. I quickly decided to go make a pot of tea and went and checked the thermometer I brought with me, It's 61 in my kitchen and 51 outside.  I think I will go buy a few more heaters today. No such thing as central heat or a furnace or a fireplace here. I'm so darn cold. I am thankful I bought the few blankets I did but we surely need more or how about a shipment of long johns?? Anyone heading to Libya soon?

I finally got into my blog account so the last four posts were made since I arrived and was unable to post or have internet access.  I need to go in and change all my passwords now that the war is over I need something I can remember. Maybe like "Carolyn misses her buddy" or "Grandma misses her babies" yeah no one would ever get those passwords :)

Thanks to a new friend we have internet. We set as-side the money and waited for the store to open the next day only to find out that for some reason the darn place is closed and has been now over a week.  Another dear lady Ameenah loaned me her usb account and I gave it to my nephew to add more money to it but its over a week now and I haven;t heard a word from him so I will have Suhayb call him so we can return it to its owner now.

Things are settling in and yes we have our days here. The other day I wanted to just sit and cry but I was at my sister in laws house and a sad face is met with "What is wrong" looks and how do you explain your bone tired, cold, weary from walking everywhere and waiting for people to get things done?
I could go in the kitchen and do my dishes from last night, nope for some reason the water is down to a trickle again. And my brother in law comes home this morning.  Happened once before the day Taher left for the states and by the time he got around to fixing it we had been two days with no water and could not shower or use the toilet or wash dishes in our apartment. The rest of the house was fine but try running down five flights of stairs to go pee at 3 am. So me and the kids went to various family members houses to stay until he got it fixed.

My poor house needs an overhaul.  Windows are cracked or shutters will not close due to broken parts and its hard to keep the cold out.  As I said we came with very little and even though we have been given a few items its not enough to keep the cold at bay.  Yesterday I tried to use a ladder to replace some light bulbs that had gone out in the girls room and got a big scare. Three were out and I had taken the covers off to wash the dust off of them and one bulb just didn't want to come out of the socket.  I grabbed a light towel just in case it wanted to break in my hands and was finally able to twist it out but it took part of the socket with it. I am somewhat handy folks so don't be alarmed.  Voltages here run 210-240 and very few sockets are grounded and most homes are death traps electricity wise. I am fortunate my father in law knew about fuse boxes and trying to ground the house when he built it long ago thanks to working with the US Airbase here he learned better ways.  I can't say that for some of the family here.  Anyways I replaced the socket and the bulb and climbed down to switch it on. I flipped the switch to hear a loud pop followed by a exploding bulb and a pop at the fuse box followed by black acrid smoke. Bits flew to the ground and scorched the blanket on the bed below. I ran into the room to see if any of it was on fire not like we have any fire extinguishers here. The bulb lay on the ground blackened and had flown directly towards the place I had been moments ago on the ladder thankful that I had no one to assist me and I had gone to turn on the light. I can only imagine my face covered in bits of glass.  I went into the living room where the fuse box is and saw a triggered fuse so I left it that way until my brother in law can look at it. Maybe a week.... If I knew how to shut off the whole house I would take all the outlets and fixtures and redo them myself. I notice at night when we turn off the bulbs that hover over my bed they glow for a bit, residual power.

I had gotten cold enough and said to my son we will go and buy a heater today.  I had seen some electrical units but my buddy who speaks english said the oil radiators were better and Suhayb suggested we go to his friend who sold us the washer to get one. That was at the end of the city on the main road that goes to Tunisia as they call it the Tunisia road. I live just below the coastal road and this is a road farther inland that runs across the country as well. Needless to say it was a walk. My son suggested he try and call one of the young men to see if we could get a lift and he said come back im 15 minutes away. Well we were already a distance from the house and told him no can he find us along the street. The line cut out and we had no answer. We got a bit further down and he told us meet him at the mosque but we where way past that by then. We lost signal again and proceeded to walk the rest of the way to the store. When we arrived we asked the man there to tell our friend where he was located since there is no such thing as addresses its by local info if they can find your store.  Otherwise stand out on the street and wave to them and hope they can find you.  We looked around the store while he helped a customer and eyed a deep freeze that should be next on our list of needs. Since it will be up five flights of stairs Suhayb steered me to smaller units. I didn't like any of the units I saw but he finally got the idea that I needed small and smart. I hate to jam stuff in and not be able to see where that package of burritos is at (not like they have those here but you get the idea).  He showed me a upright unit that had drawers in it and I was great one drawer for each type of item.  We then proceeded to the heater units and he showed us the various models he had. Turkey and Italian seem to be the new "best to own" and China made well leave that to another blog story.  We ended up getting one due to cost more than anything else but I went with the brand they feel is the best of the worst.  I got it home and we hooked it up and it ran for three days yet I felt little heat from it.  Yesterday was Friday and I swore that if I didn't have some heat I was going to take it back and ask for another unit. Not something you can easily do here, no receipts and unless you know the person I doubt you can take things back. I kept seeing the light was off yet the room was cold and I checked and the unit was cold yet was on. I moved it to another plug and lo and behold it worked better at least. Its the second to the largest unit he carried yet in the main living area we are barely warm now. Think I will go and get a few of those 15 dinar electric units for the rooms today if I can find a store open. Another long walk and heavy load. Can;t wait til my car arrives.