It's Been a Tianjin 48 Hours!

My girlfriend Karen texted me the other day saying that she overslept and took her girls 1 hour late to school, her breadmaker broke, and she was still suffering jet lag - it was a Tianjin morning!! She has taught me that those days that just don't go as planned can simply be chalked up as a "Tianjin day". Well, I have now had a "Tianjin 48 Hours"!!! I'm hoping that as I type, some of the stress will fade away and I might just find some humor in the last 48 hours!!

It all started off with the piano. I thought for sure that when you make a large purchase, you should be able to use a credit card. Nope - cash or Chinese bank debit card only!! Okay, I knew we had about half of the amount of cash I needed in our safe, I would just need to take out the remaining from the ATM. No big deal, we have a daily limit of the amount of cash we can take out, but it is fairly high and I knew I would still have a teeny bit left over!! WRONG - when they sent me my new ATM card (after my wallet was stolen in November) they must not have increased the limit on the amount of cash I could take out in a day. No problem though, Danny will go and use his card and we will solve the problem. Well, apparently I can no longer add because when he came home with the max, I was still 300RMB short. Up to El's room I went to find her purse - yes, I took money out of my daughter's purse to help pay for the piano - she is the one taking lessons!!!! I found the amount I needed and told myself that it was no problem because the next day I would be able to take out more cash and all would be fine. Nope again - while in Beijing I went to 3 different banks/ATMs and all said that I had reached my daily limit of 0 RMB - well duh!!!! I kept my positive attitude and reminded myself that I could simply call the bank that night and have them fix the problem.

I have to add in here that before the dentist, we had dropped Danny off at the headquarters in Beijing and he was not coming home until Saturday. I must also remind you that all of these transactions and interactions with sales and service people have to be done in Chinese - which only adds to the frustration!!!!

Back in Tianjin, I tried one more time unsuccessfully to obtain money. All I needed was 10 measley RMB to pay for Coop's art supplies at Gymboree the next morning. I kept reminding myself I could call the bank at 9:30pm. I got home, continued to think positively, blogged, read, and at 9:30 I tried to log into Skype - no connection. Yes, my internet connection was down. Here I am, alone, in China, no money, no internet - I really wanted to cry!!! I never realized, until the internet was down for almost 24 hours, what a clutch it is for me. I can always look online and read the headlines, facebook, blog, e-mail, look at People.com, anything to make me feel a little closer to home - but I couldn't and I have to say I was a bit lost!! Thankfully, we sort of fixed the problem with the internet - no wireless at the moment, but that's not a big deal!!

Finally yesterday, I was able to obtain 1,000RMB (about $140) which is more than enough to sustain me until Danny gets home! What a hassle though!! Maybe we should just open a bank account here, but I really don't want to - lack of trust!!

It's funny how the internet and money can really mess up a day - I guess I can say having no money and no connection to the world (okay - I'm exagerating a bit) was a lesson in humility for me!

Also, in this time period, my toilet got clogged, there is now a hole in one of my walls, and my cell phone ran out of minutes so it is now dead - all this in 48 hours!! I'm ready to go to sleep and wake up to a wonderful day!! Oh, wait a minute - I have to take the kids to get shots at 9:00 in the morning! We may have to extend this to a Tainjin 72 hours!!

Miss you all greatly!! And truly we do have so much to be thankful for - we are together, safe and healthy, and we do have a new piano!!!