Adventure In Utility Bills

Now, with a trip to Hong Kong in the works, we hear that the schools there have been closed for two weeks because of a flu that has been the cause of 3 children’s deaths. This is not what we were expecting to hear. Hopefully there will be no problems. We will probably have to make a similar trip at the end of May if we haven’t received our work visa by that time.
Last night we went to Pizza Hut for the first time. Although we enjoyed it, we’ll probably not return. The pizza was good but twice the price we’d pay at most other restaurants in our area. Interestingly enough they were having an Arabian food promotion. The waitresses were wearing accessories with an Arabian motif and there were several Arabian style items on a featured menu. So here we are in China, in a USA chain restaurant, being served by Chinese waitresses in a sort of Arabian costume, eating a food that originated in Italy but has been changed to meet the Asian taste. To cap it off we went to the Swedish furniture store, IKEA, for a 15 cent ice cream cone. Of course, this morning we shopped at Carrefour, a French store similar to Walmart.
This morning we also went through the adventure of paying our monthly utility and apartment fees, an adventure because no one in the office speaks English and we weren’t sure what to expect. We went to the office prepared with the readings from our gas and water meters, (the electrical meter’s location is a mystery). We also brought along our trusty Chinese/English dictionary, a calculator and what we hoped would be the proper attitude. Both the secretary and the maintenance man were behind the desk when we arrived. After a few minutes of trying to figure things out the secretary finally wrote some numbers on a couple of receipts and showed us the total. We were expecting something in the range of $100US and were pleasantly surprised that the total was about $27US. Since we had used our electric space heater a lot during the past month we’re feeling pretty good about what the cost of living is going to be for us. Also were able to arrange getting a key to access our mailbox. We weren’t expecting any mail but could see that the box was full and felt we should empty it out. The secretary called our friend Charley and explained the problem. Charley called the landlord and called back to the secretary. An hour later the guard at the entrance to our complex waved us over as we walked by and gave us the key. As I’m writing this Kathy is going through the mail and finding that life here isn’t much different than back in the states. Advertisement after advertisement and it even looks like there might be a credit card offer.
It’s raining today but it’s warm enough for us to enjoy walking. We’re planning on walking to Sabrina’s, an import shop, and look for something easier to spread on bread than the butter we’ve been buying, (a New Zealand product). We’ll also head for the university book store looking for a guide to the bus routes of the city. If it keeps raining we’ll probably go to a coffee shop somewhere with a good book to read.