Lull

Morale is a bit low here these days. Sometimes you are starved for a routine, on other days the very routineness of such a routine has you ready to hop on the next plane out of here. We've had over two weeks of nearly the exact same individuals in one place, and despite a quick overnight trip to Kqin last week, I'm desparate for those off on R & R to come back to Iraq.

Such a dearth of excitement leads to an incredible desire to shake things up a bit. However, like a cruel twist of ironic fate, the same incidents keep happening over and over and over again. Case in point - our toilet situation. After I think about 15 tries to fix the upstairs toilet by a various assortment of local "plumbers," success is yet to be achieved in making it function properly for longer than about 6 hours. Every single time we are assured of the sustainability of the repairs, and yet the ability to install an operational flushing mechanism proves elusive. There is some humor in it, it must be said, but out of the 7 toilets available in our 3 houses/offices, NONE of them could be considered the "good" toilet - the toilet you can always count on.

It's really been a wonderful introduction to plumbing though - and I've learned how to flush the toilet by using everything from the shower head, to a bucket, to deftly maneouvering the parts into a position that will actually create a flow of water. How we can get a functioning toilet in the dusty outpost of Kqin, yet suffer from 3 months of toilet-induced drama in the bustling "metropolis" of Suli, I do not know.