How many Chinese does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

This is one of those entries where I vent a little bit.  It doesn’t mean we love our lives here, it just means that in all aspects of life communication is key…which is a problem for us!  When we moved in we had 4 requests, that someone fix the lights in the bathroom and in the kitchen, that they fix the call box, that we get the better cable with English channels along with an extra cable box for the bedroom, and that someone install internet.  Well we obviously have internet (it only took a month but we have it now).  I guess 1 out of 4 ain’t bad.

Since we can’t talk to anyone who can fix any of these things we depend on the realtor (who dropped off the face of the earth, hasn’t been to the office and is phone has been powered off) and the person in charge of helping us who is based in Shanghai (about a 4 hour plane ride away) and knows nothing about business in Huizhou or the Guangdong providence (apparently different providences have different rules).  So our “helper” depends on the secretaries at Adam’s work…who really have their own job to do. 

The Lights:  Not having a light in the kitchen makes it that much harder to fix dinner and wash dishes.  I know it’s ironic that Adam works for a lighting company and we don’t have working lights.  We did try to fox it ourselves but the light “bulb” is wired into the fixture and screwed into the ceiling.  It isn’t something we wanted to mess with.  Two days ago (a month and a half after moving in) two men came to look at the light, they were not prepared to fix it and from the Chinese I could understand they were going to come the next day to fix it.  The next day they came and took the lights, then explained that they would come back Monday to bring the new ones.  (I wonder if they will actually install the light or if they will need another day for that.)  So now we have holes in the ceiling of the kitchen and bathroom.

The Cable:  The day after we moved in they came to install the cable…YAY!  However the guy showed up without a cable box.  It has taken until this morning for someone to come back.  The issue isn’t with the Chinese workers it is with all the middle men who didn’t communicate what we actually needed.  Today the cable company came with 1 new cable box.  I showed them the cable box that didn’t work and they immediately used the new cable box as a replacement, I in broken Chinese and a little Chingligsh and a whole lot of motioning I explained that we needed the new cable box installed in the bedroom and with a call to Adam at work we had someone translate that we were supposed to have the package with English channels and the cable box in 2 rooms.  They will come back another time.  This is very close to my experience with Time Warner…except I can’t yell at anyone to get us free movie channels. 

The Call Box: Well the camera works, but the button to let people in does not.  This is difficult when you can’t speak the language to tell the guards to let someone in, and when you live on the 24^th floor of the 15^th building.  In order to let people in we have to take the lift down and walk to the gate (which usually takes about 10 min…counting the time needed to wait for the lift to reach the 24^th floor).  On the plus side security here is great, on the downside because the camera works the last time someone came to fix it they thought it wasn’t broken.  So this morning when the cable men came while I was sleeping I had to quick throw on clothes and run out to the gate, hoping that they wouldn’t leave.