Toilet Update.. Long Overdue

So for all of you who are still in suspense about the toilet mystery....

A few days after the failed attempts to plunge, two more workers came with a wrench and a long metal thing that looked something like a jumbo metal nail file.  I watched as they unscrewed the toilet from the floor and ran as quickly as I could to get some old towels as they lifted the toilet up and all the water poured out the bottom.  As they tipped the entire toilet on its side, I anxiously dreaded to see what was stuck in the base of the toilet.  Turns out it was three q-tips that had grid-locked themselves together.  One of the workers started to inform me in Chinese that these 'things' cannot be flushed... VERY BAD... VERY BAD, he tells me.  Of course, I couldn't let him think I didn't know that..  

The next day, I had to do a quick teaching lesson to our aiye, Jen.  (Ok, secret's out.. we have a lady who comes and cleans the floors, toilets, plates - hopefully not in that order with the same cloth - - we've gone over that one already!!  She was seeking work and it's almost expected that as an expat you'll hire an aiye.)  Apparently, Jen was wanting to save on trash bags and rather than emptying the bathroom trash, decided it would be more cost and time efficient to flush all the contents of the trash down the toilet.  Ah!  I'm glad there wasn't anything more substantial than a few q-tips in the trash that day!  

Exciting Morning

What an exciting morning!  Woke up to realize that the toilet isn’t working properly - the water fills the bowl and ssssslllllllooooooowwwwwlllllyyyyyy drains.  We’ve resolved to quit trying to figure out ‘who did it’ and get it fixed.  Plumbing is quite and issue in China.  (Has everyone heard my story about trying to use the dishwasher?  To make a long story short - the open ended pipe that’s under the kitchen cabinets shoots out dirt and leaves as the dishwasher drains!  Needless to say, we wash dishes by hand.) 

I do have a plunger!  After spending twenty minutes splashing around I thought Justin might like a turn..  His solution was to call the service center!  Calling and trying to explain a problem in half English/half Chinese is usually as frustrating as trying to fix the problem myself!  As he left to go play basketball, I decided to give it one more try.  There is something about plunging a toilet, even when it’s just water you’re dealing with, that is SO disgusting!   I won’t be going into the plumbing business anytime soon.  I gave up and called the front desk.  

About ten minutes later, a nice little man showed up at the front door with a plunger.  He wasn’t quite as concerned with keeping the water in the toilet as I had been.  Actually, he didn’t even mind sticking his hands down the toilet drain!  As he plunged and splashed away, I realized that the drain in the shower was making a terrible noise.  I can’t imagine what kind of pipe maze hides under the bathroom floor!  Using hand motions, I asked if he wanted me to turn the shower water on to fill the pipe.  Great idea!  Didn’t help!  

When I came back to check on him, he was taking my trash can to the shower, filling it with water and dumping it with full force into the toilet.  Over.. and over.. again.  My bathroom is quickly becoming a miniature water theme park!  I suppose the water in theme parks here might not be much cleaner!  

He appears to have tried everything he can think of, starts to get a bit frustrated, calling on his radio for help.  The few words I can understand are:  not good, two meters, something, house, her, water, i don’t know.  Then, he looks at me and talks so fast in Chinese I have no clue what he’s saying.  I respond with, “I hear you, but don’t understand you.”  He smiles, and then just leaves the apartment.  I’m assuming he’ll be back with something that’s two meters long to stick down the pipe??  Who knows!

Chinese Name

Nothing too exciting to report over these past few weeks.  I did however get a new “Chinese name” from my friend at Head to Toe.  (Head to Toe is a massage place not to far from our apartment - great pedicures, massages, and even hair cuts!  You can get a hair cut and one hour massage for less than $20!!  I have learned that I prefer getting my hair cut twice a year while in the US, but that’s another story.)  Anyway - the friend I referred to earlier gives a great massage, and she even speaks decent English.  Her English name is Dani, taken from her Chinese name of Dan Dan.  Last week, she asked me if I had a Chinese name.  I’ve actually tried several, but am always up for being given a new one - mainly due to the fact that Emily, in Chinese, translates to Mae Li (which means beautiful.)  Quite awkward when people ask what my name is, and I’m supposed to respond with, “beautiful.”  Yes, call me beautiful!  Weird!  Ok, so Heidi and I are getting a massage and joking with the girls about Chinese names.  (Side note - they normally tell Heidi that her name doesn’t need to change because in China, they can just call her Hei Di!)  I always get the, “you are SO tall” comments, so Heidi jokes that my name should be Gao Mei - meaning Tall Beautiful... ha ha ha.. After several attempts, Dani says she has the perfect name for me - “Shuang Shuang.”  Our first question, “What does that mean??”

Dan Dan has a pondering expression on her face.  “How to explain  this?”  She says that it is a VERY good name and has a good meaning.. but can’t quite explain what the meaning is!  She starts by saying that Dan Dan means number 1 and says that Shuang Shuang is number 2.  After about ten minutes of trying to understand what she’s saying I conclude that it must have something to do with birth order?  Maybe this isn’t the best new name for me.  After all, I’m the oldest! 

The next day, we took Heidi’s driver, Annie, out to lunch.  She speaks a bit of English but we mostly communicate with her in Chinese.  We told her about this new name I had been given and she laughed and laughed and said, “Oh no.. this name not too good for you Mae Li.”  Turns out that in Chinese, odd numbers are called Dan Dan.. and even numbers are referred to as Shuang Shuang!  Go figure :)

Back in Shanghai

I arrived back in Shanghai on Saturday after spending the month of July in "The States."  It seems appropriate to call 'them' 'that' now that I live eight ba-zillion miles away!  SO thankful to have the opportunity to travel back and forth and stay in close touch with family and friends.. I've had so many comments regarding my lack of writing on this blog, that I'm going to make an effort to keep everyone updated more regularly - so here goes!

Jet Lag .. oh how wonderful!  Heidi and I arrived in Shanghai at 2pm and were met by my wonderful driver, Steven.  He's a very nice man so he quickly grabbed some of our luggage (between the 2 of us we had 6 bags and a backpack!) and we headed for the van.  Justin was excited to see all the goodies I brought back - even excited to have new deodrant and hair gel from "The States."

This first week back hasn’t been too eventful - most of the women here travel back to the US for the entire months of July and August - so it’s a quiet neighborhood here in Jinqiao!  The weather is HOT HOT HOT and HUMID!

The four of us (me, Justin, Heidi and Josh) purchased tickets to the USA vs Australia Olympic Exhibition game on August 5th.  After finding out that both Justin and Josh needed to be out of town on business, Heidi and I invited a Chinese friend, Willie (her chosen English name).  She was super excited at the opportunity to see her first basketball game!  Since we still had one extra ticket, we let Willie know she could bring a friend.  Heidi was on the telephone with Willie, as I overheard Heidi’s half of the conversation.. It went something like this..  “Willie, you know - basketball. .. and you can bring any friend you want.”  “Oh Sure!”  “What, your friend is a boxer??”  laughing..  “He works where??”  “At a hostel?”  (This shows how interesting a simple telephone call can become with someone who’s native language is foreign to ours.  Willie speaks good English, but on the telephone understanding it can be challenging!)  We later found out that her friend is a doctor who works at a hospital!

The game was really fun!  I was able to get some good use out of my new camera taking shots of Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Jason Kidd, etc...  Also quite entertaining listening to the game being announced in Chinese.  Oh the joys!

Plants!!

Yesterday, Heidi and I visited the "Plant Market!"   I purchased three wonderful new additions to my apartment!  In Shanghai, there is a "market" for everything...  Fabric market, wet (seafood) market, fruit market, copy market - all those knock off items have to come from somewhere!  etc..etc..

At the plant market, we came to a quick realization that we needed to purchase from someone who spoke English!  (Picture a Lowes-type green room, except there are 50 different shopkeepers all competing for your business.)  I wasn't about to pay for a big plant that was going to die because I didn't know how often to water it or even whether to put in indoors or out!  Of course, we did try to use our Chinese speaking skills... but I haven't learned how to say inside/outside or "is this an annual/perennial?"   One of the shopkeepers looked at me with a blank stare as I told her (in Chinese) that "I did not want a plant with many flowers" because (with hand motions) the bees and wasps... (in Chinese) "I do not like!"  Ok, moving on to the next stall..  we enter and a girl walks up asking, "Do you want to buy an outdoor plant?"  YES, yes I do!

After much deliberation, I ended up purchasing three tree/plants (the pics are above in the new slide show).. and they were delivered today!  The two delivery guys weren't so happy when I asked them to carry two of them to the back porch, but they look great out there!  Now I just need to find a small table and chairs.. and a mosquito tent!!

Top Ten List

... Favorite Things about Shanghai in June...

10.  Hot Muggy Weather - makes for wonderful hair-do's!

9.  Beautiful flowers and well maintained shrubs ...  in the city you learn to notice these things!

8.  The aromas that grow stronger and stronger with the higher temperatures..

7.  Hoping that the smell is  'stinky tofu' rather than 'stinky poopoo'

6.  Mosquitos - no lie, at this moment, I have 28 bites between my toes and knees!!!

5.  Pedicures!  I even have a flower design on my big toe!!  (Had to have some distraction from all the mosquito bites!!)

4.   Beautiful evenings and dinners on outdoor patios!

3.  I've been here 3 months and a few days ago at dinner (at an American restaurant) I thought "chopsticks would be much easier" as I was digging onions out of a burrito with a fork!!

2.  Looking forward to a trip home to see family and friends in July!

1.  Being involved in a non-profit orphan care organization!! 

SCC in China 2008

I find myself hesitant to believe most 'famous' people when they share with the world the things they believe in.  So many people out there will say anything ... anything for money.. for a fan club.. for fame..  And we become numb to allowing ourselves to think there might be depth in words from anyone, much less a famous individual that we don't even know!  OK OK.. where am I going with this?!  I had the opportunity last week to spend three days with SCC (can't share details via blog), his wife, and the team that travelled with them to China.  He came to share his heart through music - he visited three small cities around Shanghai where students and local people flocked through the doors eager to hear his message (and for free!)  He has a passion for helping orphans and has founded an organization that aides people in the adoption process.  Not only that, he has three adopted little girls of his own.

SCC has a personal friendship with a lady here in Shanghai that Heidi has become friends with.  She asked if we could help hand out information and sell t-shirts at the concerts in Hangzhou and Nanjing on Thursday and Friday!  What a fabulous time!  We met some amazing people.   The people are thirsty for hope and truth to believe in.  Amazing to speak to them... half in Chinese and half in English (I'm learning .. slowly).  These events were truly touching people's hearts... many of them haven't EVER heard this message... as the concert ended they raced to our little table to grab the information packets.  (We struggled to avoid being smashed unintentionally into the wall behind the table as 300 people shoved toward us!!)

On Friday, we all rode a bus for five hours to Nanjing.  When we FINALLY reached the destination for lunch, Heidi and I were the second and third people off the bus.  Tons of people greeted us with cameras, video cameras, banners, signs, hugs.. Oh yeah, we are with a famous person!?  By this point, we had forgotten he was famous!  That morning he came over and personally thanked us for volunteering our time and then sat around and chatted with us for a half hour.  This really all was no big deal, but it made my heart happy to know that there are people out there who really are who they say they are... with real, genuine hearts to serve and help and be a light in the darkness to people in need.  So many hurting people..  It inspired me to use my hands, my time, and my heart to help precious little orphan babies.. I can't think of anything more important.  More to come..