Party girl (of the carpet variety)

Ever been to a carpet party? I had the opportunity a few days ago. I went thinking "Why am I going? Why would I want to make a serious purchase like this in my first few days here?" So I figured that I would just go and watch. A carpet merchant (in this case, "Mr. Khan") comes with his sidekicks, guys who look like they had a genetic malfunction that resulted in an overdeveloped upper body, and he brings a couple hundred carpets of various sizes (which the sidekicks carry - no mechanical assistance, as labor is so cheap here that people are paid tiny amounts to do very hard labor). Then everyone gathers round (circle time) while he lays them out in a pile. Lots of oohs and aahs. Then the big moment comes. As he reverses the process, you tell him whether you are "interested" in each carpet. This actually is like an engagement ring - almost all carpets in that category get taken home and purchased - usually, that is.
He holds each one up for a few seconds, like an auctioneer, while everyone watches.

This whole thing was like a combination of choosing a team (of rugs) and fighting over one piece of cake. It could get ugly. As soon as certain carpets were uncovered, several people would say "I'm interested," and then Mr. Khan got to decide which person he had heard first. There were comments like, "If you touch it, that helps. Don't just point." Then there were many rugs that met silence when they were held up. I actually found myself FEELING SORRY FOR RUGS! Probably I've watched too many Christmas specials about misfit toys.

The rugs were amazingly cheap compared to prices in the States. Nonetheless, those teachers who have taught in the Middle East (about 2/3 of this crowd) were telling me that these prices weren't cheap compared to what they had paid in blah, blah, blah. Probably my mouth was hanging open.

The result of all of this was:
Yes, I have a carpet problem. It's probably like the child getting her first taste of chocolate cake and smearing it all over her face. The nice (or dangerous) thing about Mr. Khan is that he lets you take home multiple carpets to try them out in your home for weeks or longer. Secondly, he gives you a fixed price - no haggling - and the prices are consistent. He will also take back a carpet after a year or two and exchange it for something else. No risks, right? Not. You risk liking the carpet too much. You risk getting used to it. The good think in this case was that I ended up bonding with only one carpet, luckily one of the cheaper ones.
Here's the one I want to buy - $250.
Ha, ha, jk. That's a picture from our CPR training, when one of my colleagues was NOT respecting the mannequins we were using. They were no relatives of "Resussiannie" and remained nameless - is this symbolic of the anomie of a population of over 1 billion? The mannequin I practiced on had a missing "lung" and would only puff up on one side - sad.
OK, here's the "real" rug.
It's about 3' by 5' and now makes the rest of the linoleum tile floors look pathetic.



Here's the $1000 silk carpet that I thought was amazingly beautiful at the "party" but then looked boring to me at home (is there some kind of metaphor here for relationships?)
It even looks boring in this picture.








So the good news is that this materialistic extravaganza cost me only $250. The bad news is that I have already become used to walking on lovely silk and soft wool carpets and I will have to return them this week (I don't want to make this any harder emotionally than it already is).