light fixture

To look at the photos you would think this is a very nice apartment, and you would be right, relative to other apartments in Cambodia. But it is not built nor furnished to any kind of western minimum standard. The electrical system is just one example. My bedroom has two wall sconces, the living room has four, the kitchen has a flourecent tube on the cieling and the bathroom has a bare bulb attached to loose wires jutting out of the wall. The switches for these lights is some kind of memory game. The bathroom was inadequately lighted, especially during any attempt to shave. But there were two extra wires jutting out of the wall over the sink. So I asked Sam, my landlord, to put a fixture in. We met at his restaurant. He bought me a couple of espressos and told me he would send some people that afternoon. I was playing badminton with a nine year old and her sisters in the alley when the two arrived. Let me digress for a moment; the alley is a narrow dark passage that opens up to a small courtyard about 12' x 12' as the cockroach crawls. It is not uniform in shape, size, paving, or cleanliness. It is a throughfare for motos and carts and kids on bycicles. So when I say I was playing badminton in the alley with the kids from the shack across the way, I mean the four of us stood at each corner of the courtyard and batted two birdies back and forth. Sometimes the birdie would land on an outgoing moto and be carried off down the alley. Sometimes a birdie would land on the roof of the wooden shack, or on a balcony. Always the birdie was recovered, and play would resume. When the electricians arrived I was able to finally stop, and everyone, including the five or so spectators were visibly sad to see me go. I lead the two workers up the stairs to the apartment. They didn't speak any english so I showed them the wires in the bathroom. They wanted to look over the whole apartment and turned on and off all the lights, they didn't seem to note that the switches were all counter intuitive. One of the bulbs in my bedroom was burned out and they promptly replaced it. They were all smiles and spent some time on the balcony gesturing to each other various points of interest. Finally I called Nith and told him that the electricians were here and could he please tell them to put a new light fixture in the bathroom. he did and they went back into the bathroom. 'What kind of fixture?', they gestured,' flourecent like the kitchen or a bulb like this?' I pointed to the bulb. One of them goes off to get the equipment. the other stays and continues to case the joint. I offer him some water and a cigarette. He starts talking to me in Khmer. As best I could tell he was asking if I wanted to meet his sister, special price. He wrote down his phone number. Eventually the other guy returns and they get to work. they attach a fixture to the loose wire and screw a bulb into it and, tada! they switch it on. Not exactly what I was expecting, and nothing that I couldn't have done myself quicker, but something I could shave with. The postbox would have to wait. And I think I'll do that myself.