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Published: March 2nd 2007
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I woke up Friday morning in my new apartment with a goal. My tiny but functional bathroom would be spotless.
* The shower is actually just a showerhead in a cramped space with the toilet and sink. Therefore, water runs around the toilet and sink and sits, and, of course, builds mold.
Today, I would get rid of the mold growing up the toilet, and the long black hair at different corners of the bathroom. (I think I should mention that the girl that moved out before I moved in was Chinese.) The brown rust discoloration would be gone from the sink and toilet. My bathroom would no longer smell of old, stale perfumed soap and instead smell like "Walex" with a tint of my shampoo, after I was brave enough to shower in it.
The toilet had what Ben said a "minor problem" and he would be by later that day to fix it; "it" being a cracked toilet seat.
I went to work on the bathroom. I spent hours scrubbing the toilet, behind the toilet, scrubbing the floor, scrubbing the corners, scrubbing the sink, scrubbing the tile walls. Like an Orbit commercial, eventually my bathroom was smiling
clean. :D
I showered. Ben and Mr. Wu came by later to have a look at the toilet. While they were arguing back and forth about the toilet, I had Ben show me how to work my gas stove and washing machine. (The labels are in Chinese.) As he looked at my gas stove, he seemed to have trouble figuring it out too. He turned it on "click click click"....nothing. He looked under the cabinet, pulled some knobs, turned on the stove again, "click click click...poof" Smoke gathered..."Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!" The fire alarm started going off. Ben waves his hands around, bends back from the smoke, opens the window and tries to wave the smoke out. I don't think Ben can see me laughing as he tries to unplug the fire alarm. He plugs it back in and starts the gas stove again. More smoke, "Beep! Beep! Beep!" He unplugs the alarm and yells back and forth with Mr. Wu as he is fixing my toilet. I don't know what they were yelling at each other but it made it twice as funny trying to imagine. Mr. Wu finally has enough and comes in and fixes it, then shows
me how to work it while Ben translates for him.
Then Ben tries to show me how to work my washing machine. He tries to open it and couldn't get it open. I told him I couldn't open it either so I had left it, came back, and it opened easily with one pull. He thought it must have been because it locked itself until the water drained. So he crouched down and put his head on this fist, watching the machine. I followed him and did the same. We crouched with our head on our fists, eyes on that machine. Mr. Wu came in later from my bathroom and helped us watch the machine. A few minutes later they started arguing about the knobs and things.... Then Ben gets it open and after more arguing with Mr. Wu finally gives me directions on how to wash my clothes. Apparantely, the washing machine will wash and dry my clothes without me having to hang the clothes on a line...I just have to leave the clothes in the washing machine for a day or two. I laughed because I thought he was joking, but I think he may have been serious
about it "self-drying" the clothes.
Mr. Wu had unscrewed the toilet lid, but he needed to go get another lid to replace it. They left and would come back later. I used my gas stove to cook, checked on the clothes and then went into the bathroom. The water from my shower was still on the bathroom floor and there were mud footprints from Ben and Mr. Wu. I got out the Walex, some paper towels and cleaned it up. I then looked around for an electric plug and found that it was near the ceiling. I stood on the edge of the toilet and reached up for it. I was reaching, reaching.....then I felt a wave as gravity pulled my stability out from underneath me and I followed the toilet as it CRaSHEd onto my clean tile floor and shattered into thousands and thousands of pieces. I looked at the toilet from the door, where I had escaped to somehow, and looked on in a daze as water pumped from the toilet and flowed into the drain in the floor.
I quickly called Ben "emergency!" "What? I'll be right over!" Ten minutes later, Ben and Mr. Wu were at
my door with a brand new toilet seat. With a look of guilt, I showed them the toilet. They quickly went to pick up the large pieces and told me the important thing was that I didn't get hurt. *Sweet* Ben made a phone call and said they would get me a new toilet. Until then, Ben showed me how to sit on the toilet in case I needed to use it. hahaha Then Mr. Wu told me to wear slippers around that area so I don't hurt my feet on the shatters.
They were back about an hour later with a brand new, moldless toilet. Ben told me to be careful until the glue dried. And that is my toilet story. Pictures, anyone?
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Mom
non-member comment
Relief, you didn't get seriously hurt
What a tiny bathroom. Do you have hot water at the sink? It just looks strange with the water supply coming into the faucet like it does. OH MY GOSH!! you could have been so badly hurt!! What a day, what a mess !! LOVE you !!