Feb 7, 2006 12:34 PM
Newsletter 19Well, in this newsletter, the curtain saga continues. I hope you enjoy
it.
I recently took a movie of my flat with my digital camera but when I
played it back I realized that by making the movie while holding the
camera sideways (taller than wide), you have to view the thing
sideways. At least I did. If anyone knows how to turn a Quick Time
movie viewer on it's side, please let me know. So, I won't be sending
it, or trying to send it, with this email. Hopefully in the future I
can attach some photos.
Well it’s the weekend again and this morning I got up a lot earlier than I wanted to – 6 AM – in order to be ready to leave the flat at 8:00. When I walked outside my front door the humidity struck! It’s been very humid ever since the big rain storm the other day. I went down the stairs and out the building door and my glasses immediately fogged up. I couldn’t see a thing with them on so I had to take them off to let the moisture dissipate, which it did eventually. As I walked to the main road I wondered how long I’d have to wait for a taxi but as I rounded the corner of the sidewalk I saw a taxi backing up to where I stood. These guys are alert to possible passengers! I went first to Etisilat to pay my phone and dial-up Internet bills then took another taxi to the bank to withdraw funds to pay my electricity and water bills then caught a third taxi to the Abu Dhabi Distribution Company, ADDC. The taxi delivered me to the gate that led to the building where I was going. That spot was divided from the main roadway by a very large parking lot and as the driver headed the taxi through the nearly-empty lot I started thinking how far I’d have to walk to get back to the street to catch a taxi and wondered how many taxis might go past this early on a Thursday morning. As I walked through the gate and toward the building I noticed the taxi hadn’t moved. It was still there after I’d mounted the steps and approached the open door to the building.
I went inside where only one cashier window was open, operated by a National lady wearing an abaya, shayla and complete face veil so only her eyes showed. She was waiting on a male customer and two other males were waiting in line. I went up beside, but not close to, the first man in line, an Emirati, who stepped up to the cashier the moment the customer stepped aside (in spite of the ladies first rule). Anyway, when it was my turn I handed the cashier my bill and forked over a 500 dh bill to cover the 456 charge. I forgot that the 50 dh water bill was in a separate section of the bill and that the total was 506! So she credited my account and gave me a receipt, in Arabic, for the amount. I was expecting change and when she didn’t give it, I asked. She reminded me of the water bill charge and said the unpaid dh would go on the next bill. I asked if that were okay and she said yes. I apologized and she was gracious. When I went outside the building I noticed the taxi was gone but as I started down the steps, I noticed a taxi treading its way through the parking lot. I’m sure it was the same one that had brought me but the driver gave no sign of recognition. I just told him, “Jahily” which is the area I live in and he took off. I actually paid 10 dh (each way) for the ride which added to the electricity bill, so to speak. I won’t do that again. Either I’ll stop by on my way from work, since it’s fairly close, pay at a machine in one of the malls or pay online.
***
Right now I’m waiting for the curtain man and his crew to show up. We had arranged for 10:00 AM today and it’s now about quarter after with no sign of their arrival and no phone call. They were supposed to come Tuesday night with the vague agreement that one of us would call the other around six-ish but he did say he had a big job in Dubai that day so I figured it was unlikely they would be able to come. After hearing nothing from him and a couple of vain attempts to reach him on his mobile that night (the first time I got a recording saying the phone was either turned off or out of range), I finally got through to him. He sounded exhausted and said he was still in Dubai and then something (I think) about having to move his cousins but he would be returning and would come. When I tried to verify, he said he would come, might come. I decided that was the way an Arab talks when he doesn’t want to verbalize anything that would disappoint the hearer even though it was unlikely to happen. Sure enough, by the time I was ready to turn in, no one had come or called.
I waited until after work yesterday (Wednesday) to call him since I still hadn’t heard from him. Tonight I am going to watch B&B’s children while they go out for their anniversary. He actually answered the phone and said he would come, he would come, and said the table was ready, he had seen it himself in the morning and he would bring it. He just kept going on and I kept trying to wait for a pause and a chance to talk. Finally I had to say, “No, no, no.” He was startled and stopped talking. I said I would not be home. “Where are you now?” “I’m at home but I’m leaving.” “When are you leaving?” “In ten minutes. Can you come tomorrow morning?” “Tomorrow? 10:00?” “Yes, 10:00 tomorrow is good.” “Okay, but if you get home early tonight, call me and I will come.” “Okay. Shukren. Massalema.”
Well, I didn’t get home until about 11:00 so I got up early this morning to do my running around and be back home before 10:00. Now it’s almost 10:30 and nothing has happened so far. I’m sure they are running on Arab time, if they haven’t forgotten and if they actually mean to come, but I’m wondering how long I should wait before I call them to check. Either 1/2-hour or 45 minutes after 10:00, tops, is all I can manage. So that’s either in 5 minutes or 20 minutes.
They need to hang the vertical blind slats in the side bedroom, fix the rail for the green curtains – I’m going to push for a “box” over the top to block out light from the top if lowering doesn’t keep out enough light - and iron all the curtains. I’m not very happy about the overlapping curtains in the majlis which hang straight down and flip back to show the white blackout. If they put in “handles and ropes,” which will require accordion folding the curtains so the rope can encircle them, that would take care of it, I think, because it would bend the outer edges inward and hopefully mold them so that when I unhook the ropes and the curtains hang straight down, the overlapping edges will hang straight instead of flipping out.
Okay, I couldn’t wait any longer so I called the curtain man at 10:30. He is somewhere, I didn’t catch where, and he said, “They not come?” I said no one had come. “My crew not come?” No. “I told my brother 10:00, 10:30. Call him at this number [he gave it] and ask why not come.” I had to go into another room to ferret out a pen and something to write on, took down the number, then asked, “What is his name?” “Mohammed.” [Sounds like, “muh-HAM-Mud.”] I restrained myself from asking if Mohammed is the oldest boy – I seems to be almost to be a given that first boys are given that name. “Okay, I’ll call Mohammed. Does he speak English?” “Yes, yes, he speak English. I come later when I finish.”
I called the brother and nearly cracked up when we began talking. Mohammed sounds exactly like the curtain man! Voices, intonation, sentence structure, vocabulary, etc. It was almost like talking to the curtain man – eerie! He said everything is here – the ropes the handles, the “chair,” everything except the vertical slats, which are supposed to arrive from Sharjah in one hour. He will come at 12:30 “in the morning” or he will come now but with no verticals. Whatever I want. He will come now. He will come at 12:30. He will come after the verticals arrive. To slow him down, I tried to verify when he would come and finally we settled on 12:30 in the afternoon. “In an hour and a half?” I wanted to be sure. “One hour, you want me come in one hour?” “Twelve-thirty is fine.” “Okay, 12:30 I come.” I tried to explain about the rail in the master bedroom needing to be moved but he didn’t seem to understand what I meant. For form’s sake, I said, “Bring someone who can move the rail,” but am quite sure it wasn’t understood. I managed to get through the conversation without bursting into laughter. I am now waiting to see when/if they arrive and what they will bring and be prepared to do. Supposedly the curtain man will come at some point and I am sure that if I have not managed to communicate my wishes to Mohammed I can get the curtain man to understand. I just remembered that he said nothing about bringing the iron. I wonder what I should do about that …
Okay, I went ahead and called the brother about the iron. He didn’t understand. He said he would call [someone, maybe the curtain man] and would call me back in two minutes only. Well, soon the phone just rang one time and then cut off. According to my mobile, it had been a call from the curtain man. Okay, now it’s ringing again…
It was the curtain man. He started talking a mile a minute, repeating everything his brother had said to help me understand. I finally had to say his name three times, which suddenly made him stop talking and he said, “Yes? What?” I explained that I understood each thing his brother had told me – I named each of them. I said his brother sounded just like him. He laughed delightedly. Then I tried to tell him I wanted to know if they would bring the iron. It took several attempts to communicate about this (he, like his brother, seemed to think I was referring to ironing the new vertical curtains which would not be wrinkled). Finally he said he had talked to the workshop about the iron and they knew to bring it but his brother didn’t. He would call his brother and explain and would also tell him that I understood everything he (the brother) had said. When we hung up, he was still laughing about my saying the two sounded alike. I think the main difference between the two is that the curtain man is used to communicating with me and for his brother it is a new experience. We’ll see what happens.
I think I’m just going to wait to see when/if they come. It’s now 12:45 with no word and no sign of them. I personally doubt that the verticals will arrive from Sharjah on time and I also doubt that the people here are going to forego their lunch break. But also, everything usually closes down about 1:00 on Thursdays so maybe they won’t come at all. I’ll try to be patient and see if I can wait it out.
At 1:03 my mobile gave a beep. Curious, I looked at the display and saw that I had missed one call. Since the phone hadn’t rung, I pressed a key to see the details and saw that the curtain man’s brother had just called. I returned the call and he said he was sorry, very sorry but he would come in ten minutes. I said okay. He repeated the explanation and apology a couple of times (maybe to be sure I understood?) and I kept saying okay. Now it is 1:22 and no one has come. We’ll see.
At 1:45 my doorbell rang and there stood a young man who turned out to be from the curtain shop and soon another, slightly older and very tall man who speaks English came up the stairs. The older man apologized, holding the bag with the vertical slats in, and said they had only just come from Sharjah. They brought in their items and started to get things underway. The younger man carried the obviously very heavy “table” into the kitchen and set it down. It is very nicely made and is painted almost exactly the color of the wall tiles. But it is too short; only 49 cm even after I’d told them it had to be 62 cm high. It is just painted wood. This is a matter for the curtain man, the tall man said after I’d tried to explain. They started to hang the vertical slats – and they were too long! The tall man asked if I wanted them to cut them or to hang the rail higher. I said move the rail. Then I showed them the curtains in the master bedroom and he immediately realized that the rail will have to be lowered. Now they are both in the majlis installing the “hundles” (handles) for the curtains.
Friday, 12 August 2005
It’s now the day after the last major curtain things took place. The two workers ended up staying two hours and did get the vertical blind installed in the side bedroom, lower the rail and rehang the curtains in the master bedroom and install handles and ropes for all the curtains. They didn’t want to iron the curtains, though. They said they would talk to the owner about it when he gets back from Sharjah. I asked them to show me how to use the handles and ropes and the tall man kindly demonstrated and then did all the majlis curtains. They look very nice and I am reluctant to release the ropes and let the curtains hang down so they will be completely closed. I’m hoping that by letting the curtains stay that way, the overlapping ends will not flop out into the room anymore. While this was going on, the three of us were in the majlis and we engaged in some small talk. They asked if I worked at the hospital; I said, no, the university. “Jama,” said the tall man. “Yes, Jama,” I agreed, Jama being Arabic for university. Where was I from? “Amrika.” Then the younger said something to the tall one in Arabic. I heard the phrase, “Al masrah.” Then the tall one said, “Do you know where we are from?” He had his back to me, folding one of the curtains. I glanced at the younger one, thought briefly and decided to go for broke. “Al masrah,” I said, smiling. There was a pause and then they both laughed. I had remembered from the language tapes I had listened to in the states that “Al Masrah” is the name for Egypt but is also used to refer to Cairo. I had assumed that they were Egyptian since the curtain man is and in shops like his, the workers all tend to be from one country.
When they were ready to leave, I asked about the cooker table again. Actually, it’s a cabinet, very nicely done, with a cupboard below and an inset lower edge where I could put my feet. I explained that not only is it too short but also it is supposed to have a tile or marble top (I tapped the tile wall when I said “tile” and touched the countertop, which is marble, when I said, “marble,” hoping to reinforce my point. I told them, “[The curtain man] knows this.” -that the top was to be that way – indeed, I’ve had several conversations with him about it, I insisting on tile and he trying to persuade me to use marble. The tall man asked what color I wanted and I told him the same as the table and the tile wall (which I tapped again). “White!” He exclaimed. “No,” I said, pointing to the refrigerator, “this is white.” “Ah, and this,” he said, pointing to my cooker. “Yes, and this and this,” I added, touching the microwave and the washer. Then I pointed to the tile wall and said, “This is off-white.” “Off-white,” he repeated, and nodded his head, “off-white.” I asked what would be done with the table. “We will take it,” said the tall man and picked up the thing. The younger man picked up the tools and other things they’d brought and they both headed for the door.
“You will have [the curtain man] call me?” I asked. “I will ask him to call you when he comes from Sharjah,” the tall man affirmed. Then they left. It wasn’t until later in the evening that I realized that probably the curtain man is not working in Sharjah and would be retuning later that day, but had gone to Sharjah for the weekend – he’d told me once before that he had spent a weekend in Sharjah about a month ago, where he had gone swimming. That means he won’t be in touch until after the weekend. I’ll be very surprised if he contacts me first but I will call him sometime after work on Saturday if he hasn’t. If by then the table is fixed or whatever, maybe it can be delivered on Saturday after the cleaner leaves. Then the whole curtain episode will be over. I believe the curtain man wants to inspect the curtains to be sure the work meets with his approval – it is his business, after all. I also need to remember to ask him about my tape measure. While the workers were here I brought it out to show the tall man how high the cooker table was supposed to be and he held on to it, using it for measuring how high to place the handles, etc., and I never got it back. If he left it somewhere in the flat, I haven’t seen it. But I do want it back.
So, the curtain saga continues.
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