Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,

So what bad stuffs been happening lately?
I can’t believe you actually asked that question!

I spent last weekend in Xian finally purchasing my new computer and on Sunday after a freezing nearly two hours in the snow waiting for a taxi to collect my computer and then waiting another hour or more for a taxi back to the city I then (due to the heating system packing it in not long after we left) caught a freezing cold bus home to find my apartment not only flooded but my bathroom was almost completely black. The government gave the city the go ahead to turn on the coal/water building heaters Sunday afternoon and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to find out that they had a few leaks in their heating units. My small bathroom water heater had a small rusty patch last year but this year the water pressure forced a small hole in it and it had sprayed a year’s worth of built up rust and muck (from the building pipes) not only all over my bathroom walls, floor and ceiling but also my freshly washed clothes I had hung Friday afternoon.

Needless to say I was rather pissed!

The schools heating guy noticed I had returned and came to see if my heating was ok and didn’t even batter an eye lid at what he saw in not only my bathroom but also the water all over my apartment so I can only guess there were several others in the same situation but my guess is also that they were home to stop such a horrid outcome. Thankfully he had turned half the heating off and we both patched it with some very 'large and sticky’ sticky tape. After I had finished mopping (I left the bathroom for the following day) I checked my email and then went to bed hoping the tape would hold

I knew it wouldn’t but I wasn’t exactly ready for the outcome.

The next morning the bad half of the heating was still turned off and as I had no classes I not only scrubbed and cleaned for many hours but I also waited for someone to come and either fix or replace the bathroom heater. No one came and the following morning (Tuesday) I woke to what sounded like a fire hose going off in my bathroom along with 100% humidity in my apartment. It was so humid and hot that it felt like I was in a sauna and could hardly breathe and my walls and ceilings were actually dripping water.

I jumped out of bed and began walking in hot water.
The entire place was flooded….AGAIN!

Of course the tape had come off and the pressure inside the heater had made the rusted hole twice as big and it was blasting hot water into the door as it was opposite (thankfully I had remembered to close it the night before…..just in case!). This made it impossible to even open the door to try and plug the hole as the water was freaking boiling. I rang my assistant and asked her to ring the school and tell them to turn off the water…like NOW. My guess is that the water guy didn’t think he needed to as he had helped me tape it a few nights prior so for the next two hours I had to do my best to stop and push the water back under the door which is easier said than done when you have half a fire hose on the other side of the door spraying boiling hot water at you. The heating went off at nine and I spent the next few hours moping the water from all of my rooms, no need to tell you that I had no classes that morning nor did I that afternoon as after inspecting the rest of my heaters and finding rusty patches in them all the school sent someone to replace all of my water heaters.

Alisa and I got to spend the afternoon and evening watching the first two movies in the Narnia Series cuddled up on the couch trying our best to keep warm as it gently snowed out side. It was freezing as my windows were all open because both ‘Mr Fix Its’ not only chain smoked but they smoked the chain in the phrase Chain Smoke!

After I walked Alisa home later that night I returned to what I was hoping to be a relaxing hour or so playing with my new computer to find…you guessed it half my apartment was flooded again. After asking the workman to screw my shower head holder back into the wall and having been given the answer ‘I don’t have the tools’ (a simple screw driver) I should have known to check the smaller screws but by that time the heating had been turned off for the night and having no idea where the water came from I didn’t think to race around with my screw driver.

Seriously, what type of Mr Fixit has a huge case full of industrial drills etc and doesn’t carry a simple hand screw driver…..a Chinese Mr Fixit that’s who!

You guessed it, I then spent another hour or so mopping up all the water that covered my floors.
You guessed it, the following morning I woke to another few rooms covered in water.
All caused by two tiny screws that the workman had tightened by hand.
This time the heating was still on so I found the culprits.
You guessed it, another hour or so of mopping!
AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!

If you haven’t guessed by now my entire place was filthy, I had spent not only endless hours mopping but Monday afternoon I had spent many hours scrubbing all of the dried rust and grime from my bathroom walls, ceiling and floor and after Monday mornings flooding adventure and Monday afternoons replacement of water heaters that spilt everywhere there was rust and filth everywhere and to top all of that off was Monday nights and Tuesday mornings floods that spread it further.

Poor Alisa had even spent an hour or so cleaning before I walked her home (yes I did help).
Now I was back to an apartment that looked more like a cave than an apartment.
Since then I have spent endless hours scrubbing floors, walls and ceilings.
Have you ever tried scrubbing dried rust and grime from a ceiling!

So to end the blog on a more happy note, all my classes for the week were a total blast and even though outside it freezing and snowing, inside the heaters were keeping us warm and full of good cheer. We sang, we danced, I used several students hoods and hats as my own and we all learned a heap about food and nobody won the 20 Yuan I put up for pronouncing the word Quiche correctly. Yeah I know that it was cruel and they all tried so hard too. I then had to try to explain to them that it wasn’t actually English and that it was French and they all threw things at me for teaching them French and not English. I then had to explain that it is kind of English as we use it in English but that it is actually French…kind of thing.

They then threw more things at me for teaching them stupid words!
Hahahaha it really was the greatest time.

As you can tell in the photos, last weekend the skies cleared, the city threw off its ten layers of clothes and I spent both days out in the partially snow covered hills enjoying the sunshine. All the villagers were found gathered outside in group’s playing cards and mahjong over a few beers and rice wines. It really does go to show that the sun is full of Smile Vitamins and how much happiness it brings to us mere earthlings that are bound by its yearly rotations.

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The soundtrack to this rusty & grimy entry was by the one and only BOSS HOGG!
If you love the John Spencer Blues Explosion you will love Boss Hogg!
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