If all goes well, Kabob will be signing the contract for our new home in about two hours.  I’m here at the hotel letting Chickpea nap.  I don’t need to be at the signing, because the contract will only be in his name.  Our friend here, a single American girl, had to call up a male friend to sign her contract because her signature didn’t qualify.  Even in the most proggessively modern country in this part of the world, it’s still painfully male-dominated.

Chickpea and I went to the store today to buy cleaning supplies (previous tenants have no obligation to clean a place before they move; it’s up to the new tenants to have it cleaned to their standards).  For the first time since we’ve been here, I felt overwhelmed – there were so many products, and I had no idea what they were.  I went with the neon blue stuff in a spray bottle, assuming that’s a Windex equivalent, and a white bottle with the Mr. Clean guy on the front (his name here is “Mr. Pronto”).  I hope it’s all-purpose cleaner.  We shall see.  I also bought what I think is laundry detergent – if not, I bought a large bag of some white powdery substance with blue flakes sprinkled in.

The center of our family’s attention, far and away, has been Chickpea.  She’s the one who gets stared at, cheek-pinched, kissed by total strangers, and generally poked and prodded in a cultural unfamiliar way.  Sometimes she’s friendly and says hello; other times, especially if they get too close, she burrows her head into my shoulder and pouts.  I’m not pushing her now, as I can’t really blame her.  And in the store, my body heated up in frustration as with every pass of another customer, I could understand them asking each other, “German or American?”  Her white-blond hair and bright blue eyes are her advertisement for being a foreigner.  Everyone wants to stare at her, and many times come up and squeeze her cheeks or tousle her hair.  Here, children are loved almost to the point of idolatry.

I hope to pass on some good news here in the next few hours – hopefully our hotel living days are drawing nigh!

posted: 07 March 7
under: culture