The first thing I need to talk about is the team. I
am one of four American teachers assigned to teach in Langfang, China, under
the organization known as IECS (International English and Cultural
Studies). We're here in China to teach English. It's a great
organization and I'd recommend you check out the website if you want to know
more: internationalecs.org
The other members of my team are Jaime, Luke, and Luke's wife Shannon. You’ll hear more about them
later.
The team arrived in Beijing almost two weeks ago after an
exhausting fourteen hour flight from the US.
We traveled from the Beijing airport by van to the city of Langfang and the driver dropped
us off at our apartment complex. Each of
us then proceeded to choose for ourselves an apartment out of the available
three. Little did I know at the time but I was picking the unlucky
one.
It all started late on the first
night when I discovered that the toilet was broken. The overflow pipe had
snapped apart in the tank and water was continually being pumped down the drain
without ceasing. I quickly looked for the shutoff valve and I found that
there was only one. The dilemma was that this single solitary shutoff
valve would shut off the water to the whole apartment. Still, I can live
with that. It just meant the water to the apartment would have to be
turned off and on each time I wanted to use the sink or shower. However,
another problem soon emerged the following morning. The water stopped
flowing altogether regardless of whether the valve was on or off. This
was not good. It turned out that my water meter had run out and I was now
without water on a Saturday. The accounting department is open on
weekends so there was no way to get the water back on until Monday. This
was a rather nasty predicament. Thankfully, the water card that came with
the apartment just happened to have a meager 1.4 units of water left (1.4
square meters) on the card that hadn't been registered on the meter. I
was able to use the card to get just enough water to get me through the
weekend.
Bearing that, I also found that my internet didn’t work,
there was a two year collection of dust on everything, my refrigerator was
covered in black mold, my electricity was running low, I had no dishes, my door
lock was sticking, and my washing machine leaked. Talk about getting the lemon out of the
bunch! But I honestly can’t
complain. Each of these items was easily
fixable and within a matter of two weeks I had the place clean and
functional. Some people might see the
task as daunting but I saw it as a challenge.
As the old adage goes, “When life hands you lemon, you make lemonade.” I saw this as an opportunity to put my
handyman skills to the test and to really make the place my own. In a way, I’m proud that things weren’t working
because it meant I got to fix it myself.
Now a little bit of me is a part of this place. After all, this is my home away from home for
the next nine months.
"Count the garden by the flowers, never by the
leaves that fall. Count your life with smiles and not the tears that
roll." –Author Unknown
"Home! Sweet Home!"
