So last week when I got back from Xi'An I found my house...well not like I like it when I'm coming home from a trip. I came home to a bad smell. It was the food in my refrigerator and freezer. Apparently on Friday (I returned on Monday) I ran out of electricity. So the fridge turned off and of course, none of my lights worked, including my hot-water heater. So I also couldn't take a shower after being on a stuffy train for 16 hours. I also realized that I had run out of drinking water in my tong. So nothing to drink. I had also run out of gas for my stove and toilet paper. So no food, no water, no gas, no toilet paper. The picture above is of my tong. And the cup that's there is on purpose. It leaks so that's there so I don't get water everywhere and so that I don't waste that precious water!
I tried to remedy the electricity immediately. I went down by the gate of my complex to buy electricity. The way they do it in China is that you pay up front. They put the units on a card and you insert the card into the slot that's in the hallway and then you have electricity. You know when it's going to run out because it tells you, but you can't put more money on until you've run out completely. So that's why I had to wait. I did the whole thing. Bought the electricity and put the card, but it wouldn't work. So I had to call an electrician to come down. He didn't know what was wrong with it either. Two hours later he comes back to my house and tells me to come with him. I follow him back to the place where I buy electricity and they talked and laughed about how I don't understand what they're saying (little do they know, but I DO understand! :) ). Then it was fixed! Voila! (Pictures are of the box where I put the card and the card itself. This is the box that I broke the first week I was here and it made my neighbor mad. Whoops!)
Learning all the new processes here does make for the experience! Most things you do have to buy upfront. China doesn't operate on credit like the US. No bills. It's kind of nice! You don't get into debt or behind on payments that way. Of course, when you run out of gas and water and electricity all in the same day, it's kind of annoying.
