The Kitchen

Our kitchen flooded a few of days ago. One day it was a nice, reliable, dry kitchen and the next day it was a grimy pond. After a couple of days of serious and dedicated denial, I finally decided that, like most other problems, it wasn't going to vanish no matter how tightly I shut my eyes.

We got some guy to come over yesterday morning. He clanked around for a few minutes, said something to me in Chinese that I understood just enough of to start getting angry, and then he left. He came back 20 minutes later brandishing some kind of curled tube. He seemed pleased with himself, but I was dubious. A few more minutes of clanking and humming; then he said, "好了". This basically means, "It's okay now". To demonstrate this he pulled at the faucet rapidly. The basin began to shake. I did not know what I was watching. He turned to me beaming. I gave him some money and told him I was keeping his mobile number. I have a feeling I'll be seeing this guy again.