Locked Out!

September 30, 2012

First, let me apologize for the lack of pictures in my recent posts!  I’ve been having camera issues, but I’ll have pics in the next few posts I promise!

Friday I had my first official day of work at Disney English.  Actually, I just did more observation at one of the centers but I did get the privilege of wearing my incredibly unflattering uniform for the first time.  I haven’t looked this good since I wore that box-pleat, plaid skirt at Xavier.

I got off work at 7:30pm and headed back to the hotel.  At 10pm Chelsea knocked on my door and asked if I wanted to go with her to get a massage.  I’ve never had a massage in my life so I said “Yes!”  I was nervous because my friend went for a traditional Chinese massage last week and they effectively beat her up.  She said, “I kept saying stop!  But then they just brought in this little 14 year old girl who started beating me with bamboo sticks!”

Our massage was fine, in fact I quite liked it, but mostly I liked that Chelsea and I were in the same room so we could chat while they worked.  The only bad part was that at one point the masseuse folded in my ear and flicked it really hard.  I jumped up from that table so fast that I actually scared the poor woman.  She didn’t speak English but she figured out from my horrified face that I didn’t want her to do THAT anymore.  The massage cost $12 for an hour so, really, how could I complain?

After looking at 10 places and much negotiating with landlords, dear Chelsea has found an apartment in Shanghai!  On Saturday she asked Stacy and I if we would help her move her luggage to the flat and then go with her to IKEA.  Well…best laid plans…we took three metro lines to her flat and hauled her things up five flights of stairs only to find that she was locked out.  Her door lock is tricky, there’s a latch on the inside that if you push it you can never get into your flat again from the outside!   

This developed into a long process where Chelsea called her  English speaking realtor to send help.  He sent a ‘locksmith’ who came, broke the key off in the lock, and left.  Then the realtor sent another guy who came and worked on just taking the entire handle and lock out.  During this time several of Chelsea’s neighbors and even the front gate security guards came by to stand around and watch.  They did a lot of conferring with the locksmith about the best way to remove the lock and held his flashlight for him as he worked.  I finally went across the street and bought us some beer and we sat in that stairwell for five hours drinking and eating Pringles while we watched the scene uncomprehendingly.   

The locksmith had to leave several times to get parts/tools and since none of us speak Chinese we never knew where he was going or if he was coming back.  Chelsea was ecstatic when he finally finished removing and replacing the lock.  We pulled our money together to pay him his $65 fee and decided to head home.  IKEA will have to wait for another day.