Carpet Washing and Gas Shortages

If you happen to be from the United States and have lived in pretty much any other country you can’t help but appreciate how well American’s have it.  I lived for years in Japan and used kerosene heaters for warmth in the winter in drafty houses.  I lived for years in Italy and put up with summer water rationing and poor electrical systems.  Now I live in Pakistan and put up with “load shedding” (pre-scheduled brown-outs).  Luckily we also have a backup generator.  Lately the new issue is gas pressure, or the lack thereof.   A few days ago our cook had to shut off the houses two heating systems in order to use the oven.  For the past several days only one of the heating systems has been operating since the pressure is not high enough to support both systems. 

 It doesn’t make much sense to complain about these inconveniences as they are the norm here in Pakistan.  I am one of the lucky ones.  When my time is done here I’ll travel back to California where a two hour electrical outage is national news.  I think it is a shame more of my countrymen don’t spend time in foreign lands.  Living abroad lends perspective.  Perhaps this is why new immigrants to America have always done so well.  They have perspective on just how blessed they are in America and don’t take the opportunity for granted.

 Now, I don’t quite know how to explain why I like living abroad so much.  I greatly appreciate all America has to offer, but at the same time, I appreciate how well the rest of the planet gets on with what they have to work with.  Recently I went to the workshop of one of the carpet merchants I frequent.  It was somewhere south of Lake Rawal in a small village.  The building is just a concrete slab on pillars.  Not the best work, too much aggregate and probably no re-bar at all, open to the elements with only one small room actually enclosed.  I went there to see how carpets are washed and stretched.  Wool carpets can be cleaned quite effectively by beating them.  But when they get quite old and have been used in dirty conditions they occasionally need a more in depth cleaning.  Wool shrinks when it gets wet so when carpets are cleaned they also have to be stretched back into shape.  Carpets have been used for well over 2,700 years.  I imagine the way I saw them being cleaned and stretched is as old.  The process is simple: soak the carpet and scrub it with stiff brushes and soap, rinse, repeat.  When it is clean, nail it to boards and begin stretching it by lengthening the distance between the boards with large rocks.  Keep wetting the carpet as you stretch it until it is the size desired.  Then just leave it to dry.  The impressive thing to see is just how much abuse these pieces can take.  The brushed used look like they should tear the carpet apart but no damage is done.  Watching this process and knowing these pieces can withstand high traffic areas for over 100 years really lets you appreciate the craftsmanship involved in their manufacture.  I suppose this is just one aspect of my carpet addiction.  :0               

A Sailor's Christmas In Islamabad 2013

Christmas thousands of miles from home can be a lonely affair.  In 27 years of naval service I imagine I’ve been deployed 5 or 6 years, counting schools, underway time and mobilizations.  That’s time away from immediate family.  I’ve been far from my mother, father and sister for over 15 of those 27 years.  That’s a lot of birthdays, Christmas’, anniversaries, Thanksgivings, etc. away from family.  It’s my job.  It’s the job of all of us in uniform. 

Today, Christmas 2013, I planned to do some rock climbing.  That was my gift to myself.  The Margalla Hills have been off limits to us for nearly 6 months.  Now they are open again.  I invited a group of guys from work who have an interest in climbing.  Unfortunately none of them made it.  So I figured I’d just go check out the crag I was planning to climb and perhaps scout some other areas as well.  I drove up to the trail head, grabbed my pack and set off to have a look.  As I was standing at the wall, looking at the bolted routes, checking the first few moves, wondering what to check out next, I heard voices.  I ignored them at first figuring some locals were on the main trail.  I don’t speak Pashto or Urdu so I had no idea what was being said.  As I was playing around I realized the voices were getting steadily louder.  I looked down the trail and two local guys were approaching.  Mind you the trail to the crag only leads to the crag, nowhere else.  As it turns out two Pakistani rock climbers were planning to climb at the same spot.  One of them is fluent in English so we spoke for a bit about local climbing, this climb, other small talk.  The one who is fluent is a Fulbright Scholar and mountaineer.  The other works at a local amusement park running at 60 ft high climbing wall and is a very good rock climber.  They invited me to join them, so I did.  I am not the best climber as I’ve very out of practice.  They were fantastic climbing partners.  We made several runs up different lines on the crag.  I ended up bruised with bloody fingers, as usual.  Nothing serious, just good fun.  So, what began as a bit of a disappointing day ended up being a fantastic time.  I now have local friends who climb most weekends.  I have a much better idea what at least one of the local crags has to offer.  It was a very nice Christmas for me. 

So when you have to be far away for holidays, or anniversaries, or birthdays there is no reason to mope about feeling lonely.  It simply doesn’t serve any useful purpose.  It’s much more fun to go out and do something you’ve wanted to accomplish.  For me that was rock climbing and it turned out to be a fantastic experience!  Merry Christmas!!!                

Recycled Houses Make Great Furniture!

Sunday’s are our one day off, so they are generally good days.  A short while back I spent all day with a friend who has made himself something of an expert on tribal rugs.  We went to the outskirts of the city to look at furniture workshops.  Here, when a house is torn down, they don’t just crush everything and toss it in a dumpster.  They dismantle all the carved wooden doors and window pieces and save what can be reused.  These are then turned into furniture: cabinets, shelving, tables. All very cool stuff.  So we went to the outskirts of Islamabad to where they take these pieces and reuse them.  Some of the items in these workshops are antiques in their own right and will be sold as is.  Old children’s beds, spinning wheels, chests.  The most amazing pieces are the very large door frames.  These can easily be 13 ft high and 10 ft wide and intricately carved.  I’d love to pick one of these up but shipping it to the states would be something of a challenge.  I like that these everyday, very artistic pieces are being reused.  In America we tend to tear down buildings and scrap it all.  I remember when they did that to the Beacon Street Hotel in my hometown, marble and hardwood floors were just destroyed in the interest of tearing the building down quickly, so that the lot could remain vacant for 30+ years.  Some of the workshops we saw had pieces obviously not old, but made to look older by weathering them.  The rest of that day was spent in various carpet shops.  There is one piece that I really like.  It is not cheap though.  It’s a 3’ by 10’ runner they are asking $1800 for.  It’s Turkmen, quite old, very nice.  I’ll probably get it.  Damn.  Addiction is such an ugly word… I prefer fondness.  I am fond of rugs.  One of my room mates commented today on my traveling out to the fringes of the city to look at old shit.  He mentioned that I seem to still have the very young sense of curiosity/adventure.  Yup.  I hope I never out grow that.  When I stop being curious, it’s time to lie down and die.

And with that in mind the Turkmen we went to look at furniture workshops with that day sees no reason I shouldn’t travel anywhere I like.  He said even Afghanistan was much safer now than it was last time I was there in 2009.  He thinks I should definitely see the northern areas of Pakistan as well as Lahore.  It’s interesting to me that most of the carpet and furniture vendors here are Turkmen and not Pashtun or Punjabi.  They all think I should visit Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.  I think I need to visit all of them in the not too distant future.  Turkmen are pretty easy to spot here.  They typically have light skin, almond eyes and often grey eye color.  The ones born up north are also generally well educated.  I find I like them though they can be opinionated and a bit bigoted toward Pashtuns and Punjabis.  Funny, I find myself drawn to a part of the world that was never taught to us in schools.  These are the lands that were big blank spots in the history books we read in high school.  We were taught that Marco Polo left Venice, traveled through Anatolia and was then transported miraculously to the court of the Kublai Khan.  The majority of his journey is completely ignored even though he was traveling through cities vastly older than Venice. 

 

So anyway, I think I’ll be purchasing some furniture while I am here.  I don’t yet know how I’ll ship it but having furniture made from much older furnishings has a draw I can’t ignore.