Lear/Newtrend's New Year's Party

The Rui'an plant had their annual New Year's party and it was considerably more low-key than the Huainan plant's party last year.  They held it at a restaurant and the room was small but packed with tables:

It was short and sweet, actually.  There were no karaoke performances, which means we didn't have to sing anything, thank god.  There was just one speech.  There were a few raffle drawings, and Adam pulled the winner of the second place prize but we can't remember what it was.  And there was considerably less alcohol consumption, which probably led to it being short.  It was pretty nice to just enjoy a meal and not have to hang around for an extra hour because the men keep drinking.  There were a couple of notable dishes that I took a picture of.  First, there was this dessert:

The white things were squishy.  I think they were made of glutinous rice flour.  And the brown stuff on top was brown sugar.  It was pretty yummy but also strange.  And then, check this out!

Bugles!  What are Bugles doing in a Chinese meal?  I was like, "That's an American snack!" and Vivian said it was a Chinese snack too.

Right after we left, I wished I had gotten a picture of myself with a bugle on each finger.  But I'm sure that would have offended some people.  It's kind of a no-no to play with your food.

Here's Smudgie laying on my leg:

And being hoisted by Adam:  

 

Not So In Love With China Right Now

So remember what happened with the septic tank flowing back up through our sink and belching all over our kitchen and living room?  And how the property management promised that it would never happen again?  Remember how mad I was at China about that?  My mom wrote me a reply and said, “I don't think you should blame China, though. Remember the three feet of sewage we had to clean out of our basement? And all the stuff we lost?”

And I thought, yeah, but that was because of a flood.  It was no one’s fault.  Our problem had nothing to do with rain and everything to do with a septic tank not out flowing properly.  And who ever heard of using a septic tank for a 26 story apartment building?  That's another aggravating thing.  And now I have proof that I have every right to be mad at China.  Because it happened again!  At about 4:00pm on Saturday I walked into the kitchen to do something and noticed a puddle of water on the floor and it was coming from under the sink.  

I cleaned it up and thought that might be the end of it.  But then as I was cutting up potatoes for dinner, it started coming out again, this time more!  It would gush for a while and then stop.  I’d sop it up with paper towels as it came out.  But it was becoming clear that, it being dinnertime, everyone in the apartment building was making dinner and using their sinks and bathrooms.  And so the poop-water flowed and flowed.  I almost didn’t have enough time between gushes to sop it up and make dinner.  We ran out of paper towels and I had to run to the store.  I bought paper towels, regular towels, and car wash sponges hoping we could put them under the sink overnight and they would magically soak up the water while we slept.  We were pretty sure no one was going to come to our rescue that night because it was Saturday.  As I was coming back from the store, Adam called to say that the water had gotten so bad that he couldn’t keep it in the kitchen anymore.  So now it was a major issue, and not something we could just leave overnight.  It needed to be fixed ASAP!

We called Gary several times, who is the only person who knows our landlord’s number.  And here’s where China sucks.  The property management is responsible for fixing this problem.  And they’re actually the only people who CAN fix the problem because it cannot be fixed from inside our apartment.  Our landlord doesn’t have the phone number for the property management.  She only has the number for a “logisitics” company who would then call property management.  This logistics company only works regular weekday hours and companies like this often turn off their phones on nights and weekends so they can’t be reached.  Vivian told me this is how China is; I’m not making this up.  So we were only able to call in a plumber, which we knew would do us no good.  The plumber came, and used this mechanized pipe snake which I now know is called a drain rooter:

We told him it wouldn’t work because the problem was not a clog, but he tried it anyways.  It didn’t work, so he went and got an even bigger one.  Go figure!  That didn’t work either.  Also, the second time around there was water on the floor, so that pipe snake rapidly wiggling around on the floor splashed the nasty water everywhere.  His next plan of attack was to just plug the hole with a towel.  We told him the towel would just fill up and then start leaking eventually.  But we let him do it.  It stopped up the water for a while, and just as the landlord had gotten the floor wiped up, the plumber noticed that the towel was leaking.  And for some reason, he decided to pull the towel out.  And when he did that, black water came pouring out and covered the kitchen floor:

About that time, the logistics guy showed up.  The landlord had finally gotten a hold of him, and it took him a long time to get here because at the time she called, he was out drinking in a restaurant across the river and had to take a taxi here.  He spent most of his time on the phone, presumably talking to the property management.  Many other people showed up just to spectate, including two security guards, our neighbors, and the plumber's wife.  I love that our apartment was a complete mess too, so everyone in China got to see how sloppy Americans live.  I don't care, it's not like we had time to clean up.

So this genius plumber, he then decides that they only way to stop it now is…. tape.  That’s right tape.  And I’m not talking about plumber’s tape, I’m talking about clear packing tape.  These are all temporary solutions, of course.  Because by this time, it’s been decided that the property management company is going to take care of the problem once and for all the next day at noon. 

About a half hour after they left, we checked on the tape, which was supplemented by a trash bag tied around the pipe to catch any leakage.  But there was more than just a little leakage going on.  A small hole in the pipe had broken out, which is what happens when you try and “stop” water from flowing.  Frankly, I’m surprised the tape held fast enough to break the pipe.  But now we’ve got a situation where we have to change the trash bag out whenever it gets too full.  Thankfully, it was about midnight at that point, so most people were in bed and weren't using water.  I made myself get up at 5:00am, though, and every subsequent hour to check on it.  I had dreams about going to check on it.  They were the stupidest dreams ever.

By the way, this reminds me of something else I've been meaning to rant about.  Another thing I really miss about America is quality trash bags.  I have yet to find a quality trash bag here.  Most of them are see-through, thinner than paper, and it’s so easy to poke holes in them.  God forbid you throw away anything with corners.
  

They also don’t come with ties.  I miss Glad ForceFlex so much!  The trash bags we’ve been using to catch the water are the thickest gauge I’ve been able to find, but you still have to tie a knot in the bottom before using them otherwise they leak. 

So to my delight, the bag was empty all of the times I woke up Sunday morning and it stayed dry all day.  They must have started working on the tank early in the morning.  So the only thing that was left to do was to replace the pipe under our sink, which someone came to do this morning.  I'm hesitant to say that this is all over now... but I will.  Because I'm tired of this.  I think it's time for a nap.

One last tidbit.  We found out we were the only apartment in the building experiencing this problem.  The last time this happened they told us other people had the same problem and I assumed they meant other people in our building.  But it turns out this happened in more than one building.  (Our complex is made up of 8 buildings)  The reason it only happened to us within our building is because our apartment has the shortest pipeline to the septic tank.  So when the poop-water built up, it took the shortest route to freedom: Our kitchen and no one else's.  Isn't that lovely?  

The "Cleaning"

A guy came by yesterday to clean up the mess under the sink.  Actually three guys came by, but two of them were “supervising”.  It was pretty much a joke.  The guy had no actual cleaning agents.  He came with two buckets, a scraper thingy, and a towel.  He scooped up the gunk with the scraper and dumped it in the smaller bucket, and then he wiped up the excess with the towel.  The second bucket he filled with water to rinse off the scraper.  He also dunked the towel in that same water and used it to wipe up the floor.  So the floor is now dirtier than it was before.  The one thing he did do that I liked was he cleaned under and behind the fridge.  So there are no more dead cockroach bodies lingering back there.

This whole thing brought to light a couple of cultural differences that I thought were interesting.  First of all, cleaning with no soap or disinfectant or any kind!  Our housekeeper at the old apartment also used to wash our dishes without using soap.  Very strange.  Also, when the various people entered our apartment, they all took off their shoes.  If we were a normal Chinese family, we would have slippers for them to wear inside.  But the only slippers we have, we keep in the kitchen because the first time we sprayed the cockroaches, Adam sprayed all over the floor and I was afraid of tracking the insecticide all over the apartment and poisoning Smudgie.  Anyways, the first guy was the cleaning guy, and at first he came armed with only a mop.  So when he saw what he needed to do, he left and came back with different supplies and he brought his own slippers.  The second guy was supervisor #1.  When he came, he took his shoes off outside the door and left the door open.  He then tipped toed across the living room in his socks until he came to the slippers we had in the kitchen.  At first he just stood on top of them, and then he put them on.  I had to bring his shoes inside and close the door because the warm air was getting out.  Then supervisor #1 wore the slippers back to the door and put his shoes on.  Supervisor #2 came at that same moment and he took his shoes off outside the door, left the door open, and put the slippers on.  Again I had to bring his shoes in and close the door.  I just thought it was funny that they thought it was rude to walk inside our apartment without slippers, but leaving the door open was not rude at all.  The landlord did the same thing when she came to investigate the hot water situation.  She left the door open like it was no big deal.

Completely unrelated to that...

We went to Do & Me for dinner and they had a whale-shaped sign advertising their new seafood items:

Here’s a close-up of this fish sandwich with shrimp inside of it:

Hilarious.

Welcome Back to China, You American F***s

We went home for Christmas and had a fabulous time.  We got back yesterday and Vivian brought Smudgie to the train station to greet us.  He was so cute and it was the perfect way to fall back into our “real lives”.  However, when we got to our apartment, we were greeted by a less than perfect scenario.  Adam walked into the apartment before me and he said, “There’s sh*t all over the floor.”  At first I thought he meant that cockroaches had overrun the place and had left their droppings all over the apartment.  We did have a colony living under our fridge that we’d bombed before we left.  But then I walked in and saw this stuff covering most of our living room floor:

 Then, the kitchen floor was much worse:

 And under the sink was so gross we could barely stand to look at it:

SOMETHING had happened with the sink and it leaked all over the kitchen floor and spilled over into the living room.  OF COURSE, this would happen to us.  More crap has happened to our two Chinese apartments than has happened to all the previous American apartments we’ve ever lived in combined.  This is China.  This is what we’ve come back to.  After much swearing, and Adam coining the phrase "Welcome back to China, you American F***s", we decided to just clean it up and get someone to figure it out the next day.  So poor Smudgie had to go in his crate while we cleaned.  It was caked on pretty good, so I had to use a scrubber brush:

But the living room wasn’t as bad so Adam did that with a mop.  So today, a repairman came to look at it, said the sink was fine, and left.  We were afraid that maybe the pipes had frozen while we were gone because we turned the heat off.  I didn't want to turn the heat completely off, but when we lived in our old apartment, we were told to turn everything off, including flipping all the breakers whenever we were going to be gone for even a few days because something (namely the water heater) might spontaneously combust.  But apparently the pipes had not frozen.  I took a nap at noon and when I woke up, there was an e-mail from Gary (our relocation representative) telling us what happened.  He said that a few days ago, the sewage storage tank under the building filled up, but didn’t flow out smoothly and instead backed up into several apartments.  Well that’s just great.  So when Adam said there’s sh*t all over the floor, he was telling the truth!  And they promised it wouldn’t happen again.  I’m just glad it happened to other people too.  Another repairman came in the afternoon and he asked me with several hand gestures if the mess was only in the kitchen or in the living room also.  I told him it was all over the living room, but I cleaned it up.  And he had a look on his face like, oh my dear god…  Some cleaning people are coming tomorrow to deal with the mess under the sink since we didn’t dare touch it.  I hope they do a good enough job.     

Here are some long overdue pictures of Smudgie to lighten the mood:

Playing with a stick

Sleeping under a fleece sweatshirt

Wrapped up in a towel

The Stray Dog

A couple of updates before I get into it.

1. We finally got our residence visas squared away.  This time, we had to stay at a different hotel because the other one wouldn’t allow us to cheat our way into getting a TRRF.  A Temporary Residence Registration Form can only be issued if you have a “residence” in Shanghai for at least one month.  So we book a hotel for a month, get the TRRF, take care of business, and then check out early.  Since the new hotel didn’t allow pets, we had to find a dog sitter for Smudgie.  Luckily, Vivian was happy to do it.  So hopefully he wasn’t too annoying for her and she’ll be willing to do it again for us at Christmastime. 

2. We figured out the hot water situation.  There’s a separate water heater for each bathroom and there isn’t one in the kitchen so we just have to wash our dishes in cold water.  Also, the water heaters are able to be turned on and off by a switch in the bathroom that’s right next to and looks exactly like the light switches. 

So we apparently accidentally switched the water heater off when we were trying to figure out what the switches do and we thought that one just did nothing.  Nobody told us about this feature.  Our old apartment was different too so we had no idea.

Anyways, the story of the day is about the stray dog that lives in our apartment complex.  When we first saw her, it was obvious she had recently had a litter of puppies because her teats were bloated.  So Adam nicknamed her Saggytits.  I don’t like that name, but there really is no better way to describe her.  Anyways, she wears a collar made out of a piece of belt so I don’t know if she used to have an owner and they kicked her out when she had puppies, or if she’s always been stray and somebody made a crappy collar for her.  But she has a friendly demeanor so I think she must have had some human contact.  By the way, someone took the puppies away and sold them.  I only got to see them once before they disappeared.  I was walking home from the grocery store when I heard whimpering in the bushes so I went to investigate.  Someone had put a cardboard box back there and the puppies were clambering around all over each other.  They were about one month old.  I pet them for a little while, and then a lady came over and started counting them.  I think she thought I was going to take one.  How do you say “I don’t want your stupid mutts, I already have a dog.” in Chinese?

Anyways, since she seems like a nice dog, I’ve been taking Smudgie up to her whenever we see her outside.  She seemed pretty aloof the first few times and Smudgie didn’t care either way which is amazing because usually when we see someone else’s pet dog outside, he growls and barks at them.  But to be fair, the other pet dogs are also male.  Well, I guess Saggytits has really warmed up to Smudgie because now whenever she sees us, she comes running up and tries to play with Smudgie.  She zooms around like a greyhound and sometimes she bops Smudgie on the head with her paw.  At first, Smudgie was just like, "Hey, why you do dat?" But now I can tell he wishes I'd take the leash off him so he can go running around with her.  It's great that he has a friend, but it’s very distracting when I’m trying to get him to poop.

So what I’ve been doing now, is taking an extra leash with me when we go out.  If we see her, I put the leash on her and tie her to a tree while Smudgie does his business.  Then we have a little play time.  She’s amazingly patient

 

 

And here are a couple of Smudgie shots.  I’m letting him grow his big boy coat out for the winter: 

 

 

 

Eating Out in China

On the 10th, we had our third wedding anniversary.  Adam asked his translator, Vivian, for her opinion on a good restaurant to go to.  So Mr. Liu drove us there, and then a waitress took us to our table.  After that, we didn’t really know what to do.  We established with the waitress that we didn’t know very much Chinese when she asked us “Ji wei ren?”  And I had totally forgotten that “wei” is the polite counting word for people so I stared at her blankly until it came back to me.  She was just asking how many people there would be.  After I told her two, she served us tea and then never came back.  I think she didn’t know what to do with us.  We wondered why no one was bringing us a menu so we called Vivian and had her talk to the waitress.  It turns out it’s one of those places with a 3-D menu, where they have all the dishes on display in one corner of the restaurant.  We prefer that to a normal menu anyway.  So we picked our dishes and they were all freakin’ fantastic.

Tortilla-like things

Lamb and asparagus

Not sure what to call this but every time we’ve had it, it’s been amazing

Then this week, Kevin (Adam’s boss) came to Rui’an, so Mr. Yu (the general manager) took him, us, and a couple other people out to a seafood restaurant.  Being right by a river and the ocean, seafood is big in Rui’an.  Next to the bathrooms with no stall doors that we encountered in Xi Shuang Ban Na, this restaurant was probably the most “foreign” place we’ve been to yet.  It was out in the ghetto, so that was kind of scary.  But I knew Mr. Yu wasn’t going to take us somewhere sketchy so I wasn’t too worried.  This restaurant also had a 3-D menu, but about half of it was still alive.  The other half was laid out on ice. 

An assortment of fish and snails

No idea what these are

Scary fish heads and stingrays

We could not figure out what the bottom two were or what the stuff in the pink basket was.  The upper right bowl was full of chopped up fish and the upper left tray had eels.

Crabs

A fish head cross section next to some cuttlefish

The chopping block

 

Luckily, Mr. Yu didn’t order anything too weird, and the dinner was pretty good.  I also got to try yangmei jiu, which is wine made from that fruit I was raving about back in July.  It tasted a lot like red wine.

And then of course, there’s Do & Me, my favorite KFC knockoff chain.  Here’s the logo:

We eat there more than we should.

'Merica, I Miss You

About 7 months ago I did a blog about things I miss and things I don’t miss about good old ‘Merica.  Now, there’s not really anything new that I don’t miss.  I’m still happy without religion, snow, and not talking to people.  J  But here are a few more things I thought of that I can’t believe I’ve gone almost a whole year without now:

 

1. Reliable, high speed internet.  First of all, it seems like the only option over here is broadband, which is bad enough.  Top it off with the fact that you need a VPN in order to get to any decent websites.  Even if I didn’t use Facebook, Youtube, or Blogger, the Chinese government blocks the strangest things.  I’d be searching for design inspiration via Google Images and many of the images would be blocked.  WHY?  They’re not porn or anything.  Anyways, you need a VPN and we have two different ones because they are spotty and sometimes they just don’t work.  So yeah, I’m excited for when I don’t need to use one anymore.

 

2. Lean ground turkey.  It used to be a staple in our house!  Now our only option is between fatty ground pork, and even fattier ground pork.  We buy it anyways, though, because it’s one of the few meats that comes without bones in it.

 

3. Being able to blend in.  Ever get that feeling that someone is watching you?  Well you’re being paranoid.  Come to China and then you’ll know what being watched is like.  I can really turn some heads, if you know what I mean *raises eyebrows*.  But seriously, almost every time I pass a group of two or more people, I hear the word “laowai” being softly spoken amongst them.  That means “foreigner”.  And when I go to the grocery store, I feel like everyone is looking at the contents of my cart.  Oooooo what’s the foreigner buying?

 

Side note:  You know what’s crazy?  There’s a little convenience store right outside our apartment complex.  We drink a lot of Coke Zero so when we run out, sometimes we’ll go there instead of going to the grocery store.  The price was 3 RMB per bottle when we first got here but they’ve since raised it to 3.50 because they know we’re buying it!  Sneaky sneaky!!

 

4. Knitting, sewing, and other crafty hobbies.  I’m not sure these things even EXIST here.  Maybe sewing (I mean as a hobby, not a profession).  But knitting?  Scrapbooking?  I guarantee you scrapbooking doesn’t exist.  And if knitting does, I sure would like someone to point me in the direction of a yarn store!  I do miss my little projects.  I have a great idea for a scarf and I can’t do anything about it.

 

5. Dishwashers.  Our housekeeper used to wash our dishes.  Now she’s gone and I am so sick of hand washing everything.  We’ve also been going strong without a microwave. I just make sure to only make enough food for one meal so I don’t have to deal with reheating it.  But having to use a wok or pan (or both) every day does make for more dishes to wash.

 

6. Dill pickles and soft pretzels.  Just two of my favorite foods and they simply don’t exist in China.  Wah….

 

7. Not being woken up by roosters… ever.  Did you know…. roosters don’t crow at the break of dawn.  They start crowing before dawn, and they keep crowing well after the sun has risen.  They are dumb and deserve to be eaten.

 

I wrote that last one because someone in our building got married and the day of the wedding I woke up to a rooster, which is not a common occurrence.  When I took Smudgie outside, there were two decorative cages with six roosters in them sitting right outside the door.  They must have been for the wedding dinner.  Sorry, no interesting pictures.  Here is Smudgie being a cute snugglemuffin.