Perseverance Pays Off

Well, as an update to last week's post, I wanted to let you know that I now have a 4-cup coffeepot, and that I am currently drinking some delicious coffee as I type this. My quest for a coffeepot proved to be an adventure with a few bumps in the road, but in the end was a success! A few days after going to Lotus to find one I decided to look at the German store called Metro where I found one and purchased it, only to find out when I got it home with it that all the water drained out the base of the unit instead of into the coffeepot. So, a few days later with the help of a friend we took it back to Metro where they saw the problem and offered to test out another one before I took it home, and this one works great. Sometimes it is the simple things in life that bring such joy and remind me that there is Someone who likes to provide even in the littlest of things.

I have also had a few other adventures in the past few days as well. From November 15 - March 15, China releases the gas throughout the country that allows you to run the radiators in the home for heat, and mine did not work for the first two days. I knew that I would need to find a maintenance person to help me fix it, considering I knew it was not smart for me to try to figure out how to turn on the gas / water combination for fear I would turn on the gas full blast. Well, to my surprise a maintenance man was in my hallway as I was leaving one day, so I motioned him to my apartment to play a game of charades to tell him my heat did not work. Of course I could not understand anything he was saying and none of my friends were able to understand either (translation on this matter is still somewhat difficult for those that know the language) so I was left to wait for another day to try again. And well, that day came yesterday when I blew a fuse in my apartment losing all power, which could not be turned back on by just flipping the breaker (which I did try). So, the maintenance department immediately sent someone out to fix the power and the guy was able to get the heat turned on for me as well. The maintenance man was so sweet in that he talked really slow so that I would have time to understand and when I did not understand he would motion to something he needed, and if it was still something I did not understand, he was kind enough to talk to my friend on the phone who would then translate for me. I am kind of glad that things happened the way they did because I ran into the maintenance guy again today on the elevator and he was so excited to talk to me and just smiled and tried again when he asked something I did not understand how to answer.

Well, speaking of weather, it did snow last week and again this weekend. I took a few pictures and have added them to an album that you can find by clicking on the collage of photos on the right side of the page.

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is next week. Typically, you cannot find turkey meat here (other than the sandwich meat at Subway), but Metro and a few western restaurants will order them around Thanksgiving and Christmas time for the foreigners living in the area. So, this week my friends and I all decided on what we will each be making for our Thanksgiving meal together. Our day of celebration will include turkey, ham, dressing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, veggie tray, fresh fruit, bread, cheesecake, and another dessert. It may not be all the typical things you would find at Thanksgiving, but it is the closest we can get based on what you can find here, and I am looking forward to it.

Also, just for fun I have put together a 4 minute video of what laundry day looks like for me here in case you are interested in watching. The video is below and all you have to do is click the play button. Enjoy.