Hello there!
Tragically, I have no pictures of the events that took place since my last post untill now.
You see, I have this friend, let's call him A. -I've mentioned him before, he's Dutch- who comes over quite often. One day, we were playing card games with some other friends and he decided that the best possible idea was to use the fire extinguisher to scare one of my other friends. To use it inside the house of course. I don't know what kind of extinguisher it was/is, but I gotta tell you, I now know more about that kind of extinguisher than I would have wanted to. Although it looked harmless enough the first minute (it seemed smoke-ish in density and looked like it was going to disappear quickly) it soon filled the room with a toxic-tasting smog that lasted for ten minutes. As we rushed to open all the windows in the apartment so we could breathe, the smog turned into dust- and soon, there was a centimetre of dust on every single surface of the house. Now that sounds kind of funny and it almost was, until we had to clean it: without A.'s help of course, because he reeeeally had to leave with his (girl)friend. And then the rest too, leaving only me and my old german friend from when I first started school here to clean the mess. It took us four full hours to clean the kitchen-anex-living room. First we took all the important stuff out of the room, put them into the only clean room of the house (my absent-roommates' room) and cleaned them- my computer, phones and camera's, the TV, every wire, etc. Then we took out all the other, larger things that were less important but small enough to be carried out- we put these into a little corridor I have which is never used and which was already completely dirty anyway. Next we moved all the furniture left in the room to one side and started cleaning the other side, after which we cleaned the furniture and put it back. It was horrible work, because it meant we were constantly breathing in the toxic-y fumes from that nasty extinguisher. Not only that, but we were also working in lower-than-0-degrees temperature because it was better than keeping the windows closed, wearing only T-shirts because all the coats were filled with dust and/or already in the washing machine. If I need to remind anyone, the temperatures here at night are around -15, but I must say I'm so used to my fingers, ears, nose and lips almost freezing off that I wasn't all too impressed. Have you ever tried to clean a lot of dust in an enclosed area? You clean and clean, but the dust just goes from one place to the other, so you have to start over and over again.
And this dust didn't even mix properly with water. Anyway, a frustrating 4 hours later I finally could sleep in a completely bare but dust-empty room, whilst the toilet, my room and the corridor were still a soul-clenching mess. The kitchen I tackled the next day, throwing away everything left open (sugar, salt, spices...) and doing all the dishes. The toilet came a few days after. My room took a bit longer, a bit longer than a week even, because it has so many little nooks and crannies that can get so dirty. As for the corridor, well... To be honest I left that to clean together with the cleaning man (!) that is hired by the U. school. I've never been so happy to see a person suddenly appear in my apartment. Poor guy. I would have given him a tip, but in China that is considered an offence- even in restaurants the waiters will not accept money left behind as a tip in any way. Which leads to complicated little issues- who gets the change if it can't be split into 14?
But why no pics, you might ask. Well, the only thing damaged by the incident turned out to be my trustworthy little camera, with pictures of the new year park fairs and our trip to KTV. I was very put off. You see, in China in the week after new year there are temple fairs. Certain parks (with temples in them) are filled to the brim with people, classic fair-games, vendors, food, drinks, little kitsch items (Chinese love those!) and other things. I had my fun- I am proud to say I am now the owner of a panda-head-carpet (not REAL, of course, come on guys), a teddy-bear head hat, weird mugs and some pretty feathers. Yes, I am pathetic, but it's fun and oh well, my house needed some decorating.
I'm sorry for the late and incomplete update, but this little alien's health is not doing very well and she should get some sleep. Remind me to tell you of my fun trip to KTV next time! And I'll try to make some pictures of my now-kindof-decorated room, somehow!
Love,
Soof
