For the past few months, I've been all but begging to get my air conditioner fixed. At least three of my Chinese co-workers had talked to the agent I worked with until finally I enlisted the help of Wu, another co-worker. I'm still not exactly sure how she did it, but she managed to make my life easier when it came to getting the A/C fixed.
Before today, two men were sent, at different times, to see what was wrong. Both had said the problem was the A/C was too old to fix. I also learned that five years of Chinese doesn't pay off when trying to talk to your agent about broken appliances. Especially when there's a chance of talking mechanics. So when Wu stepped in, it was like a miracle.
Fast forward to today. After three hours of waiting around my over-heated apartment, a third repairman stepped in to check out what was wrong. It took him a little bit, but somehow he managed to get the air conditioning working again, despite its age.
As the repairman, or shifu as he's called in China, was working on the A/C, my agent came in. Both men stepped outside so they could talk about the air conditioner a little bit. And by stepping outside, I mean stepping out into my enclosed balcony. Shifu could point out issues with the A/C.
Going back in time a bit! Last week, I had a massive laundry day. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, was washed. Unfortunately, due to both laziness and forgetfulness, I didn't put my clothes away after they'd been dried. So when Shifu and my agent went out to my balcony, the first thing they saw was underwear looking at them. I'd never felt so awkward in my life.
Moral of the story: Put your damn laundry away. Especially if the first thing you see when you walk out are bras and panties.
