Waiting

It is really no surprise that our shipment of clothes and household items from Shanghai is not arriving in Beijing on Friday. This is China.

I had explicit agreement with the sales person that Friday was the day since I am leaving the country ‘the following week.’ On Tuesday, someone from the moving company, Santa Fe, called me asking my preference of dates for delivery. That was the first clear sign that something was amiss. According to the ‘move schedule’ a representative from the movers’ Beijing office was to call on Wednesday to schedule a delivery time on Friday. Late Thursday afternoon, I took maters into my own hands and called my sales person in Shanghai asking for a status so I could plan my schedule.

About 45 minutes later, a representative from Beijing did indeed call and acknowledge that my shipment from Shanghai had arrived that afternoon but their Friday schedule was too busy to fit me in. In theory, my stuff will be delivered around 9:30 AM on Saturday. We will see.

We planned ahead and have a four day buffer – on Wednesday, August 31 I fly to the UK to attend a wedding, so I wanted our stuff at least delivered by Tuesday. Stupidly, I had initially proposed a schedule with a one day buffer, but my landlord / co-worker kindly noted that it ‘was probably best’ to allow for more time – this is China. As usual, good advice.

The New Neighborhood

Another co-worker took me out to dinner Wednesday with his wife. They live in the complex next door. Our new apartment is about a 15-20 minute walk from the BearingPoint office. There are four large complexes next to each other, plus one across the street (aka major highway with 8 lanes). There is a ‘back way’ that I was not aware of. It was a very nice, wide, tree-lined street with restaurants and shops – very unlike the highway 200 meters on the other side of our complex. They showed me the grocery, dry cleaners and a pair of gyms. Apparently, they are building the 2nd Wal-Mart in Beijing on the corner next to our apartment – it is just a big hole in the ground so I doubt it will be finished before I return to the US next year.

Linda is coming to visit in October so I need to find the good restaurants both in Beijing and in the neighborhood + figure out how to get around smoothly. Otherwise, she will think I am lazy and boring. The streets in Beijing all have long names and Beijinger’s use some different words than in Shanghai – kind of inimidating, especially since I was comfortable getting around Shanghai. Since the streets tend to be wider here, you specify where you want to go not only by stating the intersection but also by adding what side of the street (NW corner or SE corner). The custom is also to use the word jiao instead of lukou for corner (NW jiao) – I think jiao (corner) must be more precise than lukou (probably more like intersection) – I will ask my new tutor on Tuesday.

I successfully ventured to Ikea to buy plates and glasses for the apartment. We did not ship any of the kitchen stuff that was breakable. Daringly, I then instructed the cab driver ‘qu da wang qiao xi bei jiao.’ When we got close, I added ‘zai jia you zhan you zhuan.’ The driver understood (at the gas station turn right), though the custom in Beijing is to use guai instead of zhuan for turn – he repeated my instructions back using guai. The final 100 meters required only ‘xia yi ge you guai; je li zuo guai; qu da lou B’ (next right, turn left here, go to building B). I was to the apartment safely and without embarrassment. We will try it again today to see if it really works or if I was just lucky.

The New Apartment
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The apartment is quite nice – very similar to Shanghai. Technically, it is about 20-30 square meters bigger. I don’t really need all the space, but it was a very convenient arrangement since the landlord is also a co-worker – we trust each other and she will help out in the event of a real crisis. I think I turned on the AC in the main room (anticipating a next day delivery of 33 assorted size boxes) it was kind of complicated – it could be hot or frigid when I swing by next. I then tested the dishwasher, stovetop (gas) and stove (electric). None worked.

I poked around – the stovetop problem was easy – no gas card. Unlike the US where you have a meter and get a bill every month, it is typical in China to buy a prepaid card that you insert into the meter (both gas and electric) – kind of like a copy card or prepaid gift card. A relative of the landlord is droping off the card, which you can charge up at the local equivalent of a 7-Eleven.

The oven stumped me.

The dishwasher still had the packing / accessory materials inside, which I removed. Everything seemed to be installed ok. The machine would come on briefly but then shut off. It seemed there was no water but it didn’t look like there was anywhere to turn the water supply on or off.

I went to the reception desk in the building. I did not know the Chinese word for dishwasher and she did not know what a ‘dishwasher’ was, but we agreed that something in my apartment was hui le (broken). There are 4-5 highrises in the complex, and the management office is in a different building. I walked to the management office, explained my problem, and immediately someone came to the apartment with me to sort things out.

An engineer joined us at my building. My original analysis was correct. The water supply to the dishwasher was not turned on. The knob to turn on the water is hard to find. The joint under the sink immediately starting leaking but then stopped. I know the engineer saw it but elected to ignore the potential flood. I will keep an eye on that.

The problem with the oven was equivalent – it was not plugged in. We plugged it in, turned it on and then turned it off. There was an exchange in Chinese and then I was instructed not to use oven because of the possibility of fire. I began to pay closer attention to the conversation. On Sunday morning it seems, they will come and replace some type of fuse that should remove the possibility of highrise catastrophe. I did not suggest the appropriate course of action might be to just replace the dangerous fuse in every apartment now.

I now know the Chinese for dishwasher is shi wan ji – wan is the word for bowl and ji is kind of like appliance. I taught them the English word for stovetop – seperate and distinct from oven. Quid pro quo.