Okay I went to college and I understand about the infinite relativity of cultural differences and I respect these differences and I get that they're one more part of our beautiful human brotherhood and whatever. And I've bathed using buckets in Pakistan and drank bad water in China and I respect that there's no moral significance attached to a particular region's level of technological development.
But since this is my little corner of the internet, I need to be real for one second: There are certain things that some cultures are just really bad at.
America for example, with cumbersome plans and punitive cancellation fees, is really bad at cell phones. In a bunch of third world countries, you can get phones that're easy to figure out, up and running in minutes, and allow you to swap SIM cards as you travel.
So, Morocco. It turns out Morocco sucks at stoves. The device you can see Solana lighting up there looks like the normal gas stove you'd hope to have in your NY apartment. But it doesn't use natural gas. Its fuel comes from a rubber hose snaking across our kitchen floor to a beat-up, high-pressure liquid butane canister lurking in the corner. Butane is the same stuff they put in Bic lighters. The stove isn't much more than a giant one of those, and it's not terribly safe.
See this section on page 121 of one of our guidebooks: "Failure to be heedful of the dangers claims many lives in Morocco each year, and foreigners' lives are probably claimed in disproportionate numbers because they are unfamiliar with using bottled gas."
Which this foreigner can attest is true. Missing an apparently crucial little pressure-regulating valve -- not mentioned by the stove seller, the instruction booklet or the guy helping with the installation -- this foreigner attached the hose, lit the gas and created a momentary, high-pressure kitchen blowtorch. The gas blasted from the burner with such force that it blew out its own flame and began rapidly filling the kitchen with stinky, explosive fumes.
Since then, we've pretty much sorted out how not to burn down the kitchen or blow ourselves up. We've even made a couple of very nice meals, albeit gingerly. Morocco's latest terrorism scare came earlier this year when a cafe exploded in Casablanca, killing several people, and it turned out to be a butane stove mishap. This is a possibility folks here apparently just put up with. Having a bomb in the kitchen. Call me sometime and I'll tell you all about it. I have an awesome cell phone plan.
But since this is my little corner of the internet, I need to be real for one second: There are certain things that some cultures are just really bad at.
America for example, with cumbersome plans and punitive cancellation fees, is really bad at cell phones. In a bunch of third world countries, you can get phones that're easy to figure out, up and running in minutes, and allow you to swap SIM cards as you travel.
So, Morocco. It turns out Morocco sucks at stoves. The device you can see Solana lighting up there looks like the normal gas stove you'd hope to have in your NY apartment. But it doesn't use natural gas. Its fuel comes from a rubber hose snaking across our kitchen floor to a beat-up, high-pressure liquid butane canister lurking in the corner. Butane is the same stuff they put in Bic lighters. The stove isn't much more than a giant one of those, and it's not terribly safe.
See this section on page 121 of one of our guidebooks: "Failure to be heedful of the dangers claims many lives in Morocco each year, and foreigners' lives are probably claimed in disproportionate numbers because they are unfamiliar with using bottled gas."
Which this foreigner can attest is true. Missing an apparently crucial little pressure-regulating valve -- not mentioned by the stove seller, the instruction booklet or the guy helping with the installation -- this foreigner attached the hose, lit the gas and created a momentary, high-pressure kitchen blowtorch. The gas blasted from the burner with such force that it blew out its own flame and began rapidly filling the kitchen with stinky, explosive fumes.
Since then, we've pretty much sorted out how not to burn down the kitchen or blow ourselves up. We've even made a couple of very nice meals, albeit gingerly. Morocco's latest terrorism scare came earlier this year when a cafe exploded in Casablanca, killing several people, and it turned out to be a butane stove mishap. This is a possibility folks here apparently just put up with. Having a bomb in the kitchen. Call me sometime and I'll tell you all about it. I have an awesome cell phone plan.
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