Burning outhouses

My woes with fire continue. However, this time it wasn't my fault.

 

…The reason why I couldn't talk on Sunday was because we were putting out a fire. My host sister burned down the outhouse. She didn't do it on purpose. Luckily, everyone thought it was hilarious, except my host sister, who was very embarrassed. Nobody was hurt, everyone was fine, although we got soaked carrying buckets of water.

 

My host family has a plot of land that I didn't even know existed where they grow lots of vegetables. It's hidden behind the back yard by a grove of trees, and the gate is impossible to find unless you know what you are looking for. I didn't know that it existed until we cleared it out for planting.

 

Anyway, we were clearing the land by lighting fires to burn off the brush. Smokie the Bear would not approve and neither did I because it was so windy. Nevertheless we piled brush and sticks, and burned them. We raked and burned leaves. We burned the trash from the winter. This is a normal thing here, because there is no trash service in Karabulak.

 

We burned the old toilet paper last. (in Kazakhstan, never throw toilet paper down the toilet or in an outhouse! It can clog the drain and doesn't decompose well...and that can lead to really awkward situations.) My host sister lit the paper in a tin can next to the outhouse, and then left. She probably should have stayed and watched it. Nobody else was outside: I was in the house reading a book, my host brother was watching a movie, and my host mom was lighting the petchka. Because it was so windy, the flames jumped to the wooden outhouse and it went up like a Christmas tree. It hasn't rained in days, so it burned pretty fast.

 

I think our neighbors said that we could use their outhouse until we build a new one, but I'm not sure. That will be a funny conversation I will have with them later...but such is life here…