More on "Pelumbing"

Not taking my own advice....I decided that we would once and for all handle our plumbing. We began marathon negotiations with the landlord, requiring tricky strategies and counter strategies as to who would pay what. We engaged "our" plumber who came highly recommended. And we started. Two days later, our carpet which has been liberally soaked in water during the renovation of our plumbing is ruined....Our weekend was spent in companionship with the plumber and his tools, dogs and cats stealing his plumbers "hair" that he wraps pipes with-Gulam Ali who is in charge of all jobs to do with fixing things, proudly showed us how the upstairs bathroom worked spraying the sprayer and turning all of the knobs. It was an electricity night and I went to bed with the notion that I would be able to hop in the shower and wash for the first time since I can remember-instead of heating my water by wood, pouring it into the bathtub-adding cold and sitting in two inches of tepid water-a 1/2 hour operation.

The next morning-the lever broke on the shower handle-no cold water and the toilet seat was hanging by a thread. That day Mahbouba cautiously asked if any bathroom was operational-tentatively ventured in and came out laughing so hard that tears ran down her cheeks-as 4 days into it the bathroom light gave her a shock, the toilet seat came apart and when she went to wash her hands the water just funneled onto the floor. This display apparently hurt their feelings so they redoubled their efforts to please and Norm says the bathroom looks like the inside of a submarine.

The staff are very sensitive to our mood and by noon, when I couldn't wash my hands or find a bathroom to use- and lunch was late for some unknown reason-I was having a "get me on any plane-even to Moscow but just get me out of here!" day...The staff started to feel insecure and want to make sure we are happy. And they began rearranging our stuff with new heights of creativity, effort and resourcefulness. Both Gulam Ali and our housekeeper, Aisha competed for the honor of pleasing my eye refreshing our house with little arrangements-Making me crazy...The plumbers of Afghanistan are a secret weapon...I am convinced.