Here are a few questions that would have come in handy to ask before we moved into our apartment.
1. How many stairs will we have to walk up to reach our flat? (Answer: 96)
2. How many stairs will we have to walk down to reach the fuse box? (Answer: 96)
3. How many times a day will the fuse switch blow? (Answer: at least three times)
4. When was the last time the place had a thorough cleaning? (Answer: uncertain)
5. Why did you leave the big bottle of bug spray under the kitchen sink? (Answer: still uncertain)
6. How do you say ‘de-greaser’ in Chinese? (Still learning)
7. When you say the heater works a little, how little? (Answer: VERY little)
8. Why is it that cars ignore the big ‘No Honking’ sign at street level outside? (Answer: Who ever pays attention to signs, anyway?)
9. Do you really expect us to wait a week and a half for the new hot water heater? (Answer: Of course.)
Seriously, we are thrilled with finding this apartment, with all of its quirks. It’s by far the best for us out of the 5 we saw, and the landlord speaks English to boot! We’re looking forward to spending the rest of 2008 right here.
And at least we have hot water to look forward to- the students at the university have neither hot water nor heat. One student remarked that the cold showers keep him in tune with the seasons. Having 20 seconds of hot water doesn’t seem so bad to us after all.