Sunday, August 24, 2008

A Thousand Hot Pokers, or Ten Minutes Late?

My friend Frances posted a link about how she thought this personality test employed spies as her results were so accurate. I wondered, if they did have spies, were they active in Pakistan? So I clicked on the following link and took the normal looking personality test:

http://www.youjustgetme.com


This is an excerpt from my description....

"About that "Disciplined" bubble... If someone called you "anal" you would correct them and say, "You mean anal retentive, not to be confused with anal expulsive, which Freud also wrote about." But see, you're like that. You are both meticulous and thorough with everything that you do. If there was ever a person who ironed their jeans or kept a color-coded closet, it would be you. Life as a perfectionist is not so bad. Despite the teasing that you get from your not-as-perfect friends and family, you always know where that CD you're looking for is because of your alphabetized collection. And, you can have a holier-than-thou attitude towards others because you know that you got it going on. People can always depend on you because you would rather be poked by a thousand hot-pointed needles then have someone think that you're a slacker. You are so punctual that you even show up on time for your root canal and wonder in frustration why it is that everyone always seems to be late, including your dentist. Never fear, with your personality, you will always have a career in professions that require extreme discipline, such as Buddhist monk, drill sergeant, or high-wire act."

Ahem....so anyone who knows me well can see that they have hit the nail on the head! I do have my jeans ironed and although my closet is not color coded, it is organized by type of material. Before marriage my CDs and books were all alphabatized, but well when two become one it doesn't always stay that way. And yes, I would of course arrive early for a root canal and wonder why the dentist was late. This is ALL totally me. I'll pass on the Buddhist monk thing but the high-wire act sounds more like it. Wonder how those spies know what it looks like inside my closet.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Pakistani Rupee Falls Lower

Yikes! I read on BBC that the rupee is currently at 76.9 to a dollar. Last year it was about 60 rupees to a dollar.

That means, if you make 60,000 rupees, your equivalent in dollars is drastically different from last year.

Last year: 60,000 PKR = $1000
Current: 60,0000 PKR = $779
Difference: $221

Man, that's a pay cut without even being punished!

If you make around 30,000 PKR, that means

Last year: 30,000 PKR = $500
Current: 30,000 PKR = $389
Difference: $111

We need to find a way to earn in dollars and spend in rupees, instead of vice versa.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Are you proud to be a fundamentalist?









I've created a short survey to look at how Pakistanis think about God, religion and life in general.

Take the Online Survey

Notice how the mosque's graffiti says, "Proud to be an Islamic Fundamentalist." This photo was taken along the Karakoram Highway in North West Frontier Province.

Monday, August 04, 2008

The Car Saga Continues

We received some bad news today regarding our car's theft in June. In order to clear the court case and be able to drive the car, we had to have someone put a $5000 deposit in the court's bank account. As I suspected, the court has their ways to prevent you from retrieving that money. The bond that was signed said that the money would be given back after one month's time. Well we waited two months and on Saturday started trying to get it back.

Our landlord's son spent 10 hours on Saturday and 8 more hours on Monday going back and forth between the court and the police station. It takes about an hour and a half to drive between them. When it all came down to it today, the court refused to give the $5000 back. They said that it was a "known" rule that we were not allowed to transfer the ownership of the car for two entire years after it was stolen and recovered. We did transfer the name from our friend's name to our landlord's name, as our friend plans to immigrate to another country and was not available to handle the court case. This "known rule" about not selling the car or transferring ownership was not written on the surety bond. It was told to us AFTER we tried to get the money back.

Now we have something quite bad, a letter which tells us that the penalty for transferring the car's registered owner is $5000. Yes, five thousand dollars as a penalty! Then it also says that we can not sell the car or transfer the ownership for two years. If we do, they can take legal action against my landlord.

This is how I feel right now: Pakistan's justice system is sold out.

The whole system is a harlot, a brazen prostitute.
She laughs in the face of justice,
a slave to her masters desires.

You step gingerly into her chambers,
where she lounges on exquisite velvet cushions.
Her long, black hair dances flirtatiously over her shoulders.
As you take your seat,
she knows why you have come.

"Justice? Ha! Law?"
she reclines and bats her furled eyelashes.

Read the entire poem here