Propane Space Heaters
Over the weekend I begrudgingly made my annual pilgrimage to a local gas station to get "toyuu" for the space heaters in my apartment (which are gas-burning electric space heaters....fun fun). I don't know if "toyuu" is propane or kerosene because I never bothered to look it up in English, something I'm sure I'll be doing first thing tomorrow....
Anyway, so I went to get the toyuu, which was put into the two 18L red, plastic gas canisters I have for the occassion (standard, don't worry- they were given to me by my supervising office). After they were filled, I had them put in the trunk of "my" car (in quotes cuz the car is shared, and was given to the foreign English teachers in my town by my supervising office). Of course, one of them tips over on the way home, and of course, for some reason the screw-on lid on one side of the canister that tipped over cracked (I don't remember if it was like that before or if it happened during this incident).
Yeah, so luckily not TOO much toyuu spilled out, but it wasn't just a little either. And fun for me, the carpet in the trunk is bolted to the car frame with some sort of industrial strength plastic pins, so I couldn't remove the carpet in order to clean it (trust me, I tried, and almost lost the fingertips on one hand attempting to do it!). Funny thing was, I had to go to my supervising office after school today, and I mentioned what happened, thinking that maybe they could recommend someplace professional to take it to be cleaned, and they were completely unsurprised and actually quite nonchalant about the situation. They ended up talking more amongst themselves about the clean-up process than they seemed to be talking to me, like neighbors sharing brownie recipes or something. I get the feeling this happens quite often. "Oh yeah,.....well, soak it up with some tissues or newspapers, then open the trunk and let it evaporate naturally with the sun and air. Then use dish soap to break up the oil, and open the trunk and let it evaporate naturally with the sun and air. Then take citrus peels and put them in the trunk of the car and that will help get rid of the smell." Something like this could just as easily happen to me in the U.S., but it's just exponentially more ridiculous having it happen in a foreign country. :-)
So,...you'll be happy to hear that after doing some more cleaning and 'fresh air release,' that the car only smells like turpentine now, not like an entire gas station is being kept in the trunk. Well, on the bright side, I guess it can be said that the car won't smell like cat pee anymore (don't ask).
Anyway, so I went to get the toyuu, which was put into the two 18L red, plastic gas canisters I have for the occassion (standard, don't worry- they were given to me by my supervising office). After they were filled, I had them put in the trunk of "my" car (in quotes cuz the car is shared, and was given to the foreign English teachers in my town by my supervising office). Of course, one of them tips over on the way home, and of course, for some reason the screw-on lid on one side of the canister that tipped over cracked (I don't remember if it was like that before or if it happened during this incident).
Yeah, so luckily not TOO much toyuu spilled out, but it wasn't just a little either. And fun for me, the carpet in the trunk is bolted to the car frame with some sort of industrial strength plastic pins, so I couldn't remove the carpet in order to clean it (trust me, I tried, and almost lost the fingertips on one hand attempting to do it!). Funny thing was, I had to go to my supervising office after school today, and I mentioned what happened, thinking that maybe they could recommend someplace professional to take it to be cleaned, and they were completely unsurprised and actually quite nonchalant about the situation. They ended up talking more amongst themselves about the clean-up process than they seemed to be talking to me, like neighbors sharing brownie recipes or something. I get the feeling this happens quite often. "Oh yeah,.....well, soak it up with some tissues or newspapers, then open the trunk and let it evaporate naturally with the sun and air. Then use dish soap to break up the oil, and open the trunk and let it evaporate naturally with the sun and air. Then take citrus peels and put them in the trunk of the car and that will help get rid of the smell." Something like this could just as easily happen to me in the U.S., but it's just exponentially more ridiculous having it happen in a foreign country. :-)
So,...you'll be happy to hear that after doing some more cleaning and 'fresh air release,' that the car only smells like turpentine now, not like an entire gas station is being kept in the trunk. Well, on the bright side, I guess it can be said that the car won't smell like cat pee anymore (don't ask).
posted by Mandy | 10:11 PM
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