I realized the other day that so many things that were once "weird" to me now seem commonplace. Many of those things can be found in a room I frequent everyday, the kitchen. So here we go with the kitchen tour and the myriad of strange things that make it work:
Here is an overall view from the doorway. Yes, it is very pink. Not much can be done about this.
Starting on the left side we have the deep freezer and the water cooler. The deep freezer is mostly for convenience, but the water cooler is a necessity. The water here is clean - as in, no parasites or bacteria in it - but it is de-salinated water from nearby oceans, so it lacks fluoride and is considered a poor long-term choice as drinking water. These coolers are in every home, school, and office building and you can even get the 5 gallon tubs delivered to the house!
All of the bathrooms and kitchen have these small fans in the top of one window. Not sure what the functionality is, but we leave it running to keep as much sand out as possible.
This is the tank that heats the water for the sink. It is activated by a switch on the other side of the room, then it heats the water inside it to a near boiling temperature (we have the same heater in both bathrooms, so this is how we get hot showers).
This is the A/C unit. It has trouble keeping up with 100 degree weather and a gas stove, but it tries really hard! I was in an apartment today with central A/C and I was shocked! These split units have become my norm. They need cleaned, serviced, and fixed for some reason all the time it seems, but they really are refreshing when it is over 100 degrees in April!
This is my gas oven/stovetop. We have it connected to a cylindrical gas can outside which the locals call "slinder gas," (for some reason that cracks us up every time). After 8 months of consistent use, we finally had to re-fill just this weekend. While the initial purchase of the "slinder" is around $75, a re-fill is only about $8! It was a little sad when it finally quit because I heard the gas stop while we had cinnamon rolls in the oven! I just left them in while the stove slowly cooled down and we deemed them edible :)
This model has buttons that indicate the flame can be lit by pressing the button, but the shopkeepers who sold it to me told us (in their limited Arab-ish language) to light it manually. That means that for every use of the oven, I turn on the gas and then light the bottom pilot light and the grill at the top (I discovered that this heats it quickly and evenly), then I turn off the grill before I put anything in to bake. If I forget though - you can get a charred-on-the-outside-not-at-all-cooked-on-the-inside coffee cake. Sad day.
This is the electrical plug where my gas oven plugs in. Since the shopkeepers told me to do it manually, I have been scared to ever try otherwise! So this is a virtually useless switch. Like all of our electrical outlets, you can see the switch on the right that turns the outlet itself on and off. I have it switched "off" here. And yes, on top of the switch is a layer of desert dust.
gross huh? yes, I wipe this off almost every day. The window above apparently isn't sealed well. Adding that to the "honey do" checklist.
You can also see in these pictures below how electrial wiring is done. Basically, they run cables around the room on the outside of the wall. Good news is, if there is an electrial fire, you'll see it quickly!
And finally, these lovely pieces of furniture function as our pantry/spice cabinent.
That is my lovely, local, pink kitchen! thanks for checking it out :)
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