The not so exciting conclusion

At the end of my last blog I was awaiting Sam's arrival and listening to the water flow from the not so small leak in our shower.  Just a few minutes after posting that blog Sam came home and found a way to turn off the water.  The only problem was that he had to turn off all of the water in our apartment.  So there we were again without water and not really knowing when things would get fixed.  This morning I asked Sam to give our landlady a call and let her know that we wanted it fixed today, not just "looked at".  I think he had a good effect on her because she said that she would come by after work.  Not long after she came her husband and a plumber arrived to survey the situation.  A few hours later and one trip to the store (they went, not me) everything was back to normal.  After cleaning up the mess left from the plumber I took a shower. It was fabulous.  It wasn't as if I had gone very long without a shower but just the thought that I couldn't take one made me feel dirtier.  

And that is the not so exciting conclusion.  Hope you've been mildly entertained. At the very least perhaps you'll think of me next time you turn on your faucet. 

Water blogged

Perhaps you have read in the news about China's current water crisis.  It is interesting that they planned on diverting water from the south to the north because of the long drought.  Of course in the past few weeks there has been plenty of rain.  So much in fact, that it temporarily stopped transportation in some areas.  I also am experiencing my own water crisis of sorts.  About a week or so ago I went to wash my hands and nothing came out.  It looked like our water had been turned off.  I asked Sam: "Did you see any notice about someone coming to check our water meter?"  After some discussion we just figured we must have had an unknown bill that needed to be paid.  That kind of thing happens here.  (Some friends of ours had their water turned off with no warning and no bill.  They apparently had to pre-pay for their water.)  It was my turn to deal with any new bill or crisis so I went down stairs to ask what happened.  It turned out we were not the only ones without water.  The whole building had no water, no warning, no reason as to why, and no good estimate as to when it would turn back on.  *sigh* Typical.  The water company sent a big truck with water spouts on it for people to fill up as many buckets as they could.  It was disconcerting to say the least.  But later that night the water was miraculously back on!  I was so happy to take my shower.

Today I am experiencing the opposite water affliction.  When we woke up this morning we heard a drip from the shower.  At first we thought maybe I didn't properly turn the water spout off from the night before.  I really believed it too because I thought I heard Sam fix it.  But, when we got home from school there was a small puddle in the bathroom.  Sam worked on it again and it seemed to go down to a small drip.  I thought to myself: "one of us should probably call our landlord but Sam doesn't seem too worried so maybe its not a big deal"  I was wrong.  After Sam left for work I decided to take a shower before starting my two hour telephone tutoring.  That was a big mistake.  When I turned the water off it went from a small trickle to a small dripping stream.  I thought: "this isn't good.  I'll call Sam"  He told me to call the landlord and he also instructed me to turn some knobs on our water heater.  That did not stop the water so... I looked at my phone and thought: "just one more try"- bad idea. This time I actually heard the little piece inside the faucet snap completely.  It went from a small dripping stream to a full on steady one.  Lots of water.   This time I called our landlord.  Fortunately she speaks english but she failed to realize how bad my situation was.  She said to me : "My husband is out of town. Maybe we can come by this weekend to take a look?"  I said "uh no.  It needs to be sooner. Much sooner.  There is a lot of water"  Then she said "okay we can come tomorrow night"   That really wasn't good enough.  I said to her "okay but the water needs to be turned off and I don't know how."  She then proceeded to give me directions on how to turn the water off....except it was in chinese.  I don't know if I could figure out how to turn off the water with english instructions but in chinese it is a definite NO.  I told her I didn't understand but that I would see if Sam could turn it off when got home.  That was almost three hours ago and I'm still waiting for Sam to come home.  I feel really guilty about it too because here we are in a water crisis and I'm wasting it by the second.  So now I'm sitting in the living room listening to the not very calming stream in my bathroom.......

....to be continued..... 

Adventures in teaching small children

Right now Sam has a cold.  A chinese friend of ours says its because we run the air conditioner at night.  She also says that her aunt's face got deformed from running a fan all night close to her face.  Hmmm.  I believe its because we work with small children who have never been taught to wash their hands or wipe their runny nose on a tissue and not on someone else.  Last Saturday one of the children he taught had a cold and I'm positive that is the source of his current illness.  Children can be cute but they can also be disgusting.  Last week a kid of mine had a bloody nose and it dripped quite a few places.  Good for me I already know the word for blood in chinese so I was able to ask an aid for help in cleaning it up.  Sam had a more disturbing experience than me.  In the middle of one of his classes one of the children asked to go to the bathroom because he "had to go poopy".  Sam said ok and the child disappeared for about 10 or 15 minutes.  When the boy returned his pants were replaced with a very small towel.  He was escorted by one of the teachers aids who speaks very little english.  Sam is unsure of the exact circumstances but I think we can all safely assume the pants got (at least a little)....poopy.  Sam said it was awkard to for him to have the boy the rest of the class with such a small towel covering him.  He decided to excuse him from doing the hokey pokey with the others.  The boy actually seemed okay after pooping his pants and having only a towel to cover him below the waist.  In case you are wondering he is 5 years old.  I think that's old enough to know how to use the toilet but accidents do happen.  Ahh the joys of teaching small children.

 

 

 

 

你忙吗？

你忙吗？(Ni mang ma? pronounced: knee mahng ma?) It means: are you busy?  And yes I am.  Between work, school, house stuff, and all kinds of studying we're pretty busy.  Its good because I can't ever say I'm bored here.  It seems like I never have enough time.  Our bikes have helped out a lot.  We can get places in 10 minutes where it used to take 20 to 25 minutes.  I'm still leary about riding at night. Just yesterday I was riding my bike and one of the pedals came off.  How cheap is that?  I haven't even had it three weeks!  Fortunately I wasn't too far from home and there is a little man outside our building who fixes bikes.  He put the pedal back on for one kuai.  I told a friend about it and she said she knew a guy who would do it for free.  That's always the way it is here.  You may think you got a good deal on something but there will always be a chinese person who will ask how much you paid and then quickly tell you how you paid way too much. 

In other news, I got my first fat comment.  A friend said to me: "When you first came you were a little fat".  I think she was trying to compliment me by saying now I was skinnier but I quickly let her know that I had not lost any weight.  So... in essence I'm still a little fat. (In case you are wondering, my clothes fit the same and yes I did weigh myself.)  But here when they say things like "you went home and ate yourself fat" its meant to be cute and not an insult.  I however, will never feel comfortable with those kinds of comments.  Granted, it is funny to see them say it to someone else but not me.