Place Your Bets

Well folks it's time to play test your knowledge of China. My water heater broke, the water heater that is solely responsible for me being able to take hot showers. And I mean really broke. The plug and the wall socket are both partially blackened by what looks like a really intense electrical short. At least my apartment didn't burn down, which around here with the quality of the building materials is not an insignificant concern. But now I'm taking bets on how long until they fix it, unlikely, or replace it. I already called David, my foreign affairs guy, and he said he'd call a repair man on Monday, notice he didn't promise the repair man would actually show up on Monday. So for the indefinite future it looks like cold showers for me. If this was August, or really even May around here, it would at least be hot enough out to make that somewhat bearable, but it's still cool and rainy around here. As it stands now, if any of the neighbors are listening they are going to get a chance to learn some choice English curse words with each new cold shower I have to take. So here's your challenge to test your knowledge of how things work in China, how long until I can take a hot shower in my apartment again? I'd like to believe that it will get done this week, I had a dream last night to that effect, but I doubt it. I'm putting the line at 5 1/2 weeks before I can take a real shower again. It's going to be a long cold spring.