The China Chronicles

The good thing about China is that life is entertaining ALL the time. Let's begin with yesterday's trip to the market. I went with Liz. Kris was sick, so we navigated Anshun by ourselves, which actually went pretty well. When we were walking through the Wonka (the grocery store), I brushed against a pot that was sitting precariously on the shelf. It fell off and the glass lid shattered. We decided we should get out of that department ASAP. Our brilliant plan was foiled when a little Chinese lady chased us down and grabbed me. She started jabbering in Chinese, so I told her I don't understand. So she kept talking. And I kept saying I didn't understand. The end of the story is that I bought a pot now with no lid, but whatever. Pots are good. They kindly gave me the rim and the knob that were all that remained of the broken lid. I was like well thank you, this will be very helpful.

Anyway, the electricity went out yesterday. It was only out for a few hours, and it came back on while Liz and I were eating dinner at her house. This morning, it went out again while I was in the shower. I had to leave to teach, and then I came back and took a nap. By 5:00, the electricity was still off, so I called Liz and discovered that their electricity had never gone out.

So I called Charlie, the Foreign Affairs Officer. I call him when I need gas, when my pipes are leaking, when there are Chinese people at my door and I can't understand them, when I need the heater hung in my shower, when I need Caller ID put on my phone, and when the electricity goes out. He's kind of a one-stop solution to everything. I had three questions for Charlie: why my electricity was out, when I could get gas for my stove, and when the heater could be mounted on my bathroom wall. I was expecting the conversation to be relatively easy. Well...it could've been worse. It went something like this:

-"Hi Charlie, this is Sara. I have a few questions. My electricity is out."
-"When did it go out?"
-"8:30 this morning."
-"Oh okay, I will talk to the manager of general affairs. What is your next question?"
-"I need gas for my stove."
-"Ok, I will call staff as soon as possible. The cell phone connection is bad. Let me call you back in a few minutes. No wait, not a few minutes, a few seconds."
(Phone rings six seconds later)
-"Hello Sara, this is Charlie. What are your other questions?"
-"I need the heater hung up in my bathroom."
-"You have no electricity."
-"Yes I know, but I need the heater to be hung up."
-"The heater will not work with no electricity."
-"Yes I know, but the heater has to hang on my bathroom wall."
-"I will call the staff to see about your electricity and the gas will come tomorrow."
-"Okay Charlie, thank you. Bye."
(Phone rings 2 minutes later)
-"Sara this is Charlie. When will you be in your flat?"
-"Well I am going to Liz's house for dinner in 15 minutes. Then I will be back at 7."
-"Ok wait there because the staff is coming to check your electricity."
-"The staff is coming right now? Before dinner?"
-"Yes, if they are fast it will be 10 minutes. Maybe not longer than 20 minutes. This is very serious. You have no electricity."
-"Yes, it is serious. I will wait here."
-"Okay it is serious problem. At night it gets dark."
-"Yes it does. I will wait here. Thank you."
-"Don't you think it is a serious problem?"
-"Yes Charlie. I will wait here for the staff."

Anyway, the staff came and jabbered at me in Chinese. The end of the story is that my electricity works and they are coming tomorrow to hook up a gas tank for my stove. More later on trying to explain to my class what a postcard is.

After spraying around all the baseboards and windows and drains in my house, I have not seen a (live) cockroach for almost a week!

posted by Sara @ 5:25 AM