Thursday, May 5, 2011

Roughing It

*Caution – Long Winded Story Ahead*
At the Easter brunch a few weeks ago, several of us were in a conversation with a woman who had been here 10 years with her husband.  Another new arrival asked her why she would be here that long.  The woman referenced the job market and a few other reasons, but finally said “It’s not a rough life really, now is it?”
Last week I had the pleasure of hosting a group from work, in town for business planning.  In the evenings we went to a few different restaurants and of course I convinced them to get foot massages, all the while saying “It’s not a rough life.”  We all shared a chuckle over how much cheaper some of the services were here.
Well, it all came crashing down on the McLain’s today.  Here’s the sequence of unfortunate events:
January - When we first moved into the house, we paid a deposit for gas and water to our real estate agent who handles your accounts for you (not being able to speak Chinese being a small barrier).  Things are paid for up front here, so the real estate agent was to tell us when we were close to running out.
Last Month – Our real estate agent left her company, which is not uncommon.  There was no notification from them.
Last Week – After not hearing anything from the real estate company, I get a cryptic call asking if we still want them to manage our utilities.  I replied “yes.”  Since the agent is out of Shanghai and wouldn’t be in town until next week, we agreed to settle up then.  At the time I thought maybe there was something wrong because I’m finding that they aren’t really proactive.  I should have gone with my gut.
This morning – no water.  Maybe it’s a rough life sometimes…

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