Who's laughing NOW!?

Let me give you a few updates!

Car windows:
Several days ago, before last weekend, I had mentioned to you that we had a meeting with our car/driver company, asking them to put tinted windows on the van. They assured us "no problem" and they said it would be done over the weekend. We had an interpreter with us even though the woman from the company spoke decent English. We made sure she knew exactly what we meant. We didn't want shades, we wanted a darker film on the windows. She absolutely assured us she knew what we were talking about and, again, it would be done over the weekend. On Monday morning, the van pulls up with about 20 little square shades all over the windows. Um...not quite what I expected to see. When I called the lady, she explained that the van already had some light tint and the factory people couldn't put two tints on the windows. Uh, yeah, well, duh. So I suggested that they take the first film off and replace it with another, darker film. I mentioned our agreement and that they told us "no problem". Now I'm not really sure what "no problem" means in Chinese, but I'm beginning to suspect it may not mean quite the same thing as in English. So, I ask about possibly getting another van and remind her (again!) the reasons we want darker tint. We had mentioned we want to save money on gas and we want some privacy! The driver drives an hour each way from his house to ours and we are paying for that! And trucks tailgate us all the time and they are within arm's reach of our back seats (their truck noses are flat), and they able to see everything we do! After these explanations, yet AGAIN, we are doubly reassured that she will go back and get a darker tint on the windows. She told me it would be done that night. Ok. So, this morning, the van pulls up with beautiful darker tint on all the passenger (back) windows. Or so I thought. I get in and move to the very back of the van to strap in the kids and LO and BEHOLD the entire [large] back window is not tinted! Am I in the twilight zone? Am I in a strange episode where the people around me intentionally keep doing the same things over and over again to piss me off just to see how long I can keep my "cool"?! Are they taking bets somewhere in their offices?? Aaggh! I have a feeling that the "drawing board" and I will be attached to each other by the time I leave here! Again, it's like doing business honorably...without much honor. UGH!!! After the THIRD go around, I have to defer to Allen to take care of things from now on. I'm so mad and frustrated! I'm an open book and even the driver is staying away from me today. He's [uncharacteristically] hanging out in the garage and outside.

Water:
Ahhhhh... The smell that permeated the room every time we turned on a faucet...is GONE!! Thus, assuring us our water is much cleaner than before! It's so nice to be able to turn on the water without fear of contracting some vile sickness. Using water bottles for everything was so cumbersome and completely inconvenient! However, we still have that LARGE cable running through our kitchen. We are trying to get the landlord's approval to drill a hole either in the wall next the socket or through the countertop just below the socket. However, the lady landlord is in Switzerland right now and won't be back until the end of the summer. Her husband is here, but isn't authorized to make any decisions regarding the house we are living in and he doesn't seem to speak with her very often. UGH!

Refrigerator:
Our refrigerator is still on the fritz and we have no idea when "they" will come and repair the THIRD part that needed to be replaced. First, they came out, worked on it and eventually told us it would take two days to get the part. The same guy came out again, worked on it for over an hour and decided he needed another part. Another guy came out and got it partially working for us and told us it would take a week to get the next part to make the frig work completely. We are still waiting. Nobody will come until the part arrives and nobody seems to know when that will be exactly.

Washing machine:
We were told at the store that we would be getting our washing machine in a couple of days. We got a call verifying the delivery for the next day. Late in the afternoon the next day, we got a call informing us the washer won't arrive until August 1st. As I mentioned before, that is quite a time discrepancy. We will have to see what happens on August 1st.

Our stuff:
We won't be getting our [Tucson] stuff until around August 15th. The specific day is determined by how long our stuff stays in customs which is normally about 2 weeks. But, since the Olympics are in China, it may take a little while longer since they are being very careful about what and who comes in and out of the country right now. I just hope we get all of our stuff. We are living out of suitcases and now I'm not really sure WHAT I told the movers to pack up and bring over here, ie, kid dressers, tables, etc. Oh well...I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I know there was about 1/2 a moving van worth of household items, but I honestly can't remember what they were.

Summer school:
The boys started summer school yesterday. Brandon, as expected, LOVES it! He is so happy to have some friends to play with, even if they are Chinese and he can't understand them. I think it's a little longer of a day for Ryan. But, it's an all or nothing kind of thing...they didn't have half day options for summer school and it's only 3 weeks. Then they have about a two week break and go to their "real" school starting September 1st. The boys are doing all kinds of fun things in summer school, like art, dance, music, language lessons and field trips for Brandon's age.

Well, that's the gist (and updates) as to what's been going on over here so far. I can't believe we haven't even been here for even two weeks yet! It's seems like much more time has gone by already. In fact, the first week over here is like "initiation". After the first week, I feel I can now help other new moms to adjust. Absurd, but true! The first week is everyone's crash course into a different kind of life over here. hahaha