Tianjin Tuesday!

Oh goodness it was definitely a Tianjin day today. Really I should clarify that and say it was a Tianjin morning, most of the things that happened today occurred before 12:00.

The day started like any normal school day with me pestering the kids to get their shoes on and not to forget their backpacks. We made it safely to the bus where I got both Eens and Coop buckled in and about 2 minutes later they unbuckled and proceeded to come crying off the bus because Ellie had decided to sit with her friends instead of them. Back on the bus they went, not at all happy, but Danny was standing there, so they knew better than to make more of a fuss!

I went back home ready to enjoy a quick breakfast and a chat or two on skype and then I was planning on going to the gym. I ended up skipping the gym at that point for several good causes - dear friends on the other end of the telephone line!

At 10:00 I had scheduled a PROFESSIONAL ( I must capitalize this because our compound considers their engineers to be professionals at fixing everything - I have said before, I really don't think being able to tape anything and everything back together qualifies!) to come and give me an estimate on cleaning all of the air ducts in our house! One of the secretaries in the office had helped me make the arrangements. She accompanied the gentleman to my house and helped to translate. It started out fine, but quickly took a turn for the worst. I am explaining to her that I want them to clean, and specifically look for mold. She looks at me odd and then tells me that it should be quite easy to find the MOLE!!! After several attempts at spelling and explaining what MOLD would look like, I think she got the picture!!

I was not having good luck, but I decided that there would be no better time to ask for her to hire another PROFESSIONAL to look at my clothes dryer which lately is only allowing one piece of clothing at a time. I had the "engineers" look at it three times in the past week and of course they found nothing wrong!! Somewhere along the way we miscommunicated. She assumed because I had said I would pay for the duct cleaning (which really should be included in our maintenance, but is not) that I would pay for the dryer man also. I have never in my time here in China had anything fixed so fast and correctly. After she had left with the duct guy I quickly ran to the gym and by the time I returned home their was another man in my laundry room fixing my dryer. It turned out to be one small piece that needed to be replaced for 75 RMB (a little over $10). I refused to pay it and ended up with the "head engineer" in my house arguing with the man that the piece only cost about 35 RMB. The dryer man basically said that is true, but you weren't smart enough to figure it out, so now you must pay me for my time. I'm giggling because I can understand the conversation and also because I realize at that moment that there is no way the compound will make me pay, the "head engineer" was too embarrased about "losing face" in front of me!

While all this was happening my ayi noticed that the neighbor's dry cleaning that she had collected for them was mysteriously gone. I didn't think much about it until I realized that it wasn't gone, it was in Danny's luggage for his business trip to Shanghai!! I called him quickly just to make sure that he had packed more than that pair of pants because the neighbor and him are not the same size. I assumed he would be fine because who takes only 1 pair of pants for 5 days worth of meetings?? Apparently my husband does!! Now we had to get our driver involved...he had to bring Danny's suitcase back home where we unpacked the clothes that weren't his and repacked it with proper clothing!!

After spending my morning putting out fires, my ayi started questioning me about new pans I bought at IKEA on Monday. I couldn't figure out what she was getting at until she asked where the old pans were, then I knew she thought I should give them to her. I had put them near the rubbish for housecleaning to pick up, so they were already gone. She was horrified that I had not given them to her. I tried explaining to her that the pans were scratched on the bottom and they were not good to cook in, they could make her sick. She wanted none of my explanation, she just kept telling me that she wants everything that I buy in America!!

After a long morning, my neighbor and I walked to a coffee shop and I enjoyed a mocha, which was really just coffee with perhaps a bit of Hershey's syrup in it!! I'm happy today is almost over, but thankful for all of the friends I got to spend time with in person and on the phone, and that my dryer is finally fixed!!