>Lights Out (2)

>Last week, they cut the power to check on something. I am not sure exactly, but for most of the day, the power was out.

Luckily (hmmm…) I was on the New Campus standing before the students and speaking while my Bit Torrent downloads and newly received Facebook messages hung in a dry limbo. I got back to working electricity, and more importantly, working heat, and most importantly, working internet.

Most foreign teachers didn’t know because the tiny sign posted at only one of the apartment complex’s gates was in Chinese characters, and since Chinese language education was not part of our orientation, none of us could read it.

I only knew because I was with my girlfriend and she translated for me.

Yesterday, I saw a different sign in the same place. Chinese characters. Times and dates in Arabic numerals. Today and tomorrow during certain times, it seemed the power would be out.

I got up this morning and urinated. I tried to flush the toilet. No go. Then I turned the knobs on the sink. No luck there either.

As it turned out, the water was out today, not the power.

Good thing the heat is not central. At least they can’t cut that.