So, you may remember the last time I wrote about a power surge: In Kazakhstan: power surges = glass showers. Today, we had a new experience where a power surge didn't create a glass shower. Instead, we turned on the bathroom light and got a very loud bang, a bright flash from the fuse box.... and then lost all power in the apartment. I guess this means that, in Kazakhstan, when one light goes out, they all go out (I am remembering the Christmases my youth, where this chant of frustration was uttered almost every year until the invention of LED).
We called the housing director at our school, who then rang the superintendent of our apartment, who then called the electrician for our housing complex. Two hours later, the electrician showed up to fix the offending light (apparently, the light fixture in the bathroom had faulty wiring and created something of an explosion -- which would explain the loud "bang" that occurred before the power went off). We already knew that he was better than most electricians, since he showed up with a small bag of tools and knew where the fuse box was. (One handyman, or "master", as they're called, showed up in open-toed shoes, without any tools, and proceeded to ruin one of my towels and a butter knife while he 'fixed' our shower. Awesome). He disconnected the fixture from the ceiling and tried to unscrew the light that went out (but did not explode, thankfully). He couldn't get the light out of the socket -- did it fuse in there? Who knows. So, he tried to break the light on purpose... standing high above our tiny trashcan. Michael, biting his nails while watching, managed to convince the guy to get as close the bin as possible to avoid getting glass all over the floor... but it turned out to be unnecessarily as the bulb would not break. Instead, it just fell out of the fixture after being whacked four or five times. ("Well, there's your problem!")
Does Kazakhstan even have codes for this stuff? Who checks it all? Who does the wiring? Does everyone just let their brother-in-law do the wiring in exchange for a few bottles of vodka? It seems like it... We have more than ten light sockets in the house that don't work. Something's not being done right! (We often laugh thinking what Mike Holmes would say about our house: "do it right the first time!")
As you may have guessed, the power is back on, our light has been repaired, and we can get on with the weekend. Isn't it amazing how many of the things we do in life are tied to electricity? I couldn't work (no internet), couldn't really clean (laundry, vacuum, ironing) and couldn't listen to music or watch the news. So, we passed the time waiting for the electrician by dusting, mopping and wiping off the copious amount of dust that accrues each week. I hope it helps reduce the amount of sneezing that started today... I guess spring is on the way?!
We called the housing director at our school, who then rang the superintendent of our apartment, who then called the electrician for our housing complex. Two hours later, the electrician showed up to fix the offending light (apparently, the light fixture in the bathroom had faulty wiring and created something of an explosion -- which would explain the loud "bang" that occurred before the power went off). We already knew that he was better than most electricians, since he showed up with a small bag of tools and knew where the fuse box was. (One handyman, or "master", as they're called, showed up in open-toed shoes, without any tools, and proceeded to ruin one of my towels and a butter knife while he 'fixed' our shower. Awesome). He disconnected the fixture from the ceiling and tried to unscrew the light that went out (but did not explode, thankfully). He couldn't get the light out of the socket -- did it fuse in there? Who knows. So, he tried to break the light on purpose... standing high above our tiny trashcan. Michael, biting his nails while watching, managed to convince the guy to get as close the bin as possible to avoid getting glass all over the floor... but it turned out to be unnecessarily as the bulb would not break. Instead, it just fell out of the fixture after being whacked four or five times. ("Well, there's your problem!")
Does Kazakhstan even have codes for this stuff? Who checks it all? Who does the wiring? Does everyone just let their brother-in-law do the wiring in exchange for a few bottles of vodka? It seems like it... We have more than ten light sockets in the house that don't work. Something's not being done right! (We often laugh thinking what Mike Holmes would say about our house: "do it right the first time!")
As you may have guessed, the power is back on, our light has been repaired, and we can get on with the weekend. Isn't it amazing how many of the things we do in life are tied to electricity? I couldn't work (no internet), couldn't really clean (laundry, vacuum, ironing) and couldn't listen to music or watch the news. So, we passed the time waiting for the electrician by dusting, mopping and wiping off the copious amount of dust that accrues each week. I hope it helps reduce the amount of sneezing that started today... I guess spring is on the way?!
