"Remember, the night after I moved in, I rushed to add money to the electricity
card (see photo) b/c the landlord had warned me that it was about to run out? But I didn'thave time to go to the electric room in my building to actually update the
electricity? Well, the landlord wasn't kidding. At a certain point Saturday
morning, I realized that it was getting warm. I checked the thermostat and it
showed NOTHING. No lights were working, nothing. Brilliant Bernard figures out
that the electricy in truth really did run out.
Easy. I have my electric card. Right here. No? It must be HERE. I tore the
place apart trying to find the card that I had already put money on. All this
while, I know I need to get to the bank to withdraw the remainder of the upfront
money I will owe to the landlord later that morning at 10 (b/c I had maxed out
the previous day). Which to do first? Electricity is important, but the
landlord will be VERY upset if I don't have all my money and may kick me out,
then the electricity won't matter. But I think of one more thing before I head
to the bank: check the pocket of the pants I was wearing yesterday. Voila!"
"I start to head out the door to the breaker room, which is just down the hall.
But thank goodness I realize that my apartment door lock is electronic also, so
if I close the door and the electric card doesn't work properly, I can't get
back in the apt. So I leave the door open a crack and hope no one tries to be a
good neighbor and close my door for me while I'm gone.
I find the meter next to my apartment number and sure enough, it's showing
'00000' while every else's has numbers on theirs. I insert the card and,
magically, numbers appear: 00654. But after a few seconds, the numbers go away.
I try several times, but no matter what I do the numbers go back to zero. I
head back to my apt to see if the electricity is on; it is not. But at least
no one tried to be a good neighbor by closing my door.
What to do? I head down to the building management, who have not been helpful
previously because none of them spoke any English, but what are my options? On
the way down on the elevator, a woman boards at one floor. She looks very
un-Asian: blond hair, blue eyes, and even I noticed that she was gorgeous (with
no makeup). Jason had told me that some famous actresses live in my building,
but I figured he meant some local weather girls. I have, however, noticed
several extremely attractive women in the building, so maybe he's right. Any
way I ask her if she speaks English. She smiles and says 'Of course'. Hallelujah! I tell her my problem and she answers in broken English. Eventually I realize what I need to do and thank her, then ask her where she's from. Russia. (Here in Beijing, we are quite close to Russia.)"
"Armed with this new information, I return to the electric room and see the breakers she referred to. Just like in your breaker box at home, my breaker was going the opposite direction of all the other, so I turned it back on and inserted my card, then ran to the apt to see if it worked. Indeed, it did. Now I can go to the bank and hope I get back in time for the meeting with the landlord.
My China bank is a short walk, and I head down there. I insert the card for my American account. I maxed out yesterday, but it's the next day so I should be able to get more money, right? Wrong. It gives me the same message I had yesterday about maxing out. I try several times and always get the same result. (Computers are funny that way. They don't care how persistent you are; if it does not compute, they won't change their minds just because you're upset). I realize that my employer should by now have put money in my China account, so I try that. Bingo! I make 3 withdrawals from that account and NOW I have the money I need. And electricity to boot. If I
do nothing else today, I've accomplished a lot."
"Don't get the impression of the typically mind-boggling bureaucracy associated
with communism. My experience here is that things are generally run very
efficiently. The problems I've described here are difficult because (a) it's a
different system than I know, and (b) I don't speak the native language. The
subway system is fantastic, the banks in the US could learn from the way they do
some things here, the streets are very logical (especially when you learn what
the words mean), and every where you go people are cleaning or sweeping.
After I paid the landlords and we signed the contract, we had to go to the
police station to register my change in address. THAT was not very efficient,
but still it was only about 30 minutes. Jason called the cable company for me
so I could get internet at home, and they were there within an hour. Take that,
US cable companies! Unfortunately, the building management had no one to escort
them to the phone room, so I made an appointment for 9 am Monday morning. And
the guy arrived at EXACTLY 9 am. Take that again, US cable!"
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