Trials of moving in

As most of us 'appartment junkies' know, moving in has its own trials and tribulations even for the more seasoned of us. I have moved many an appartment, even though after every one I swear that I will not do it again, I always seem to do so. This time in a new country, city, culture... need I say more.

Morning came and the house was as warm as toast due to the central heating system that furnishes all the building, but to my surprise there was no electricity. As the grey light of the China sky sheds very little as by way of light, this proved to be a state of emergency. I vaguely remembered that my landlord had told me that I had to fill up the meter, that now seemed to be more hungry than a stray cat, but for those of us who are accustomed to receiving our bills on the doormat every two months, it came as quite a shock.

Rummaging around amongst my papers, I found a card that looked somewhat like a credit card, with the word electricity written on it in english. Armed with this in hand I remembered being told that the only bank that I could top the card up at was the Agricultural Bank which lucklily, one of their branches was a short walking distance from my house.

Upon entering the Bank I was greeted by a low murmer; people were seated in rows patiently awaiting their turn, talking in hushed voices, and watching the banners above the tellers work station flicker and change as their numbers were called.

A touch screen was located to the right of the entrance and with the use of sign language, mimicry and facial expressions, one of the buttons was pressed and a ticket with a number placed in my hand. (For all would be travellers, a short crash course in theatre is highly recommended, to enable you to lose all inhibitions and make a complete fool of yourself whilst trying to get the other party to understand what you need!!) Taking a seat, I now hoped that I would be able to understand when
my number was being called.

Unfortunately at this particular location, there is no loud speaker in english, all instructions are transfered in Chinese, but due to the changing numbers above the counters, I was able to determine when it was my turn.

Transaction completed, I returned home fully expecting to find my house restored to light. Upon discovering this was not so, I turned over the card and found an emergency number, not stopping to think if I would be able to communicate or not, I rang. To my luck there was an english answerphone that told me to replace the receiver and they would return my call. Not even being able to count to ten, as good as their word they did.

Following the careful instructions of the young lady patiently explaining what to do, I armed with chair over my arm, climed the flight of stairs outside my appartment and found my own personal meter.
You have to understand that there are some things in life I just dont do - such as running after buses or climbing chairs! But there seemed to be no choice for it, but to do so. Holding tightly onto the
window (irrelevant that I could have fallen out of it) I climbed up and inserted the card in the correct slot. Entering my appartment, still with the young lady on the line, I fully expected to find electricity, but no, I was recquired to do the whole procedure all over again, this time remembering to switch back to the upright positiion the emergency switch and low and behold as they say 'there was light!'.

I guarantee that from now on, I shall be topping up the offending box, monthly!