"You win, Heather. I've been thinking you've been having it rough but things still aren't super bad, as far as China is concerned at least, but after this? You win." I asked for a hug then told her I didn't know it was a competition and this is one I'd rather be losing!
Yesterday I moved back into my apartment. My mold-free apartment!
Hold your applause and cheers.
Wednesday night I went to check the condition of things, knowing the mold was gone but wondering if plaster and paint were still splattered everywhere. I walked into my place and.....IT WAS CLEAN!!!!! I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT!!!!
Ahhhh, but still....hold your hoorays.
About ten seconds later I started to have this sick feeling things were maybe a bit too clean.
Indeed, I opened my closet doors, my "kitchen" cupboards, went into the bathroom....every single item of mine was gone.
Vanished.
Disappeared.
The apartment I was in at that moment, MY APARTMENT, was ready for someone other than myself to occupy it! It was as if I had never lived there.
"Lost" as they liked to say.
"Stolen" is my word of choice.
Rock climbing gear - GONE. Supplements I'd had shipped from the states - GONE. Shoes - GONE. Kitchen stuff - GONE. Bathroom stuff - GONE. Books, journals, and games - GONE. WiFi router - GONE. Painting supplies - GONE. A year's supply of various toiletries and a year's supply of contacts - GONE. Anything I had not moved to the place I was to have been for four days was gone.
Irate voice texts to my building manager, Sky, and housing lady at my school quickly ensued. Then confusion began.
"WHERE'S MY STUFF!?!?"
Sky: "Sorry, sorry, sorry. Oh gosh, oh gosh. I can't believe this happened. The cleaners misunderstood."
Long, sketchy story short: my stuff was thrown away, or so they claim. After a mighty battle of wills and threats with some personal reinforcements in the form of friends, I am getting reimbursed for my losses.
The sketchy part is just too good to leave out though! For those who don't care, stop reading. For those who want to pretend you're in some CIA crime movie based in China, keep reading.
The rest of the story....
Sky told me Wednesday night after briefly explaining the misunderstanding, my stuff was in his office. It seemed a little too good to be true. He mentioned something about rock climbing gear and vitamins that concerned me, but said he would show me in the morning.
He arrived with the flare of being my tiny knight in shining armor only to be left standing at the door moments later as I all but slammed it trying to keep myself from bawling as next to nothing was in the one measly bag he brought me.
Two pairs of shoes, two forks, a knife, a hair dryer, and a small pot. Oh, and the pricey water filtration system that was in my apartment when I moved in! Why it was taken out is beyond me. We learned today, after coercing him to bring in the cleaning lady, apparently the two pairs of shoes they brought to the office were the only shoes "in good condition". Nothing, of course, was said about anything else. Right....so they REALLY expected us to believe they just threw my stuff away? Try selling it on the street or taking it for themselves.
My amazing bosses let me have a day and a half off work with pay to deal with this. I was thankful that wasn't to be another fight. The end of last week was spent moving into my empty apartment, figuring out WiFi, getting new locks, and getting my water system put back in. Three out of four successes weren't bad I suppose.
My coworkers suggested I go straight to the head honchos at work on Friday. After our morning devo meeting, I sent an email and copied six people on it. Things were going to get solved and they were going to get solved fast whether I had any friends left in administration or not. Don't mess with a Dutch gal and her money.
Four of us went to chat with Sky. Three out of the four of us were ready for a fight. Three out of the four of us didn't want to fight.
One of the ayis was brought in. I sure hope she doesn't lose her job over this, but I have a feeling things won't be looking good for her. Saving face, heard of it? It's China. I've mentioned it before. I'll chat about it more sometime. She said they only gave Sky what looked like it could be used. This made no sense of course. It was also not surprising.
But when she talked about my shoes and said only the two pair they returned were in good condition, something in me snapped. I stretched out my legs and gestured to my outfit while looking at my housing lady and said, "LOOK at me! Does it LOOK like I wear bad clothes!?" Meanwhile, my friends were silently chuckling and thankful it wasn't a day I chose to wear yoga pants to work! Live and learn....then never EVER talk about a woman's shoes negatively.
But when she talked about my shoes and said only the two pair they returned were in good condition, something in me snapped. I stretched out my legs and gestured to my outfit while looking at my housing lady and said, "LOOK at me! Does it LOOK like I wear bad clothes!?" Meanwhile, my friends were silently chuckling and thankful it wasn't a day I chose to wear yoga pants to work! Live and learn....then never EVER talk about a woman's shoes negatively.
My friend's fiance requested we look at surveillance footage. Again, it's China. There's probably cameras in my bathroom - I just try not to think about that. I'm kidding, but I do wonder about the fire alarm sometimes. We went to my floor to locate the cameras because it's not like they're completely visible and you can see you're on camera the entire time or anything. My friend's fiance, was nominated by me to go with the men to check out the footage. I had a whopper of a headache and was thankful to no longer be in this on my own.
He came back with quite the story and pictures to prove it!
I live in a complex of multiple buildings with 17 floors each. Of ALL the monitors with multiple cameras on them, the ONE monitor not working today........
Ding ding ding ding ding! Building C, floor 17. Just so happens to be my floor.
Coincidences are just the damnedest thing ya know?
There we stand with Sky and my housing lady looking at me about what to do next. I looked at Sky and said, "It's time to start talking money."
The housing lady said, "Okay! It's time to negotiate. Let's make a deal."
They got out my itemized list. It was all very rushed and frustrating. I was encouraged to wait and think through all the items I hadn't been able to think about yet, but the housing lady was leaving for a week and she gets back the day after I leave for three and a half weeks! I may still be pretty new here, but I had an overwhelming hunch if it didn't get settled that day, it never would. My friends and I calculated the costs included what we were estimating for shipping and some extra items I hadn't thought about and decided on:
Me: "$5,000".
Sky: We will deduct it from your rent.
Me: I don't pay rent my school does. How is this helping ME?!
Housing lady: I think he is talking about utility bills.
My friends: WHAT!?!? That will take years!!
Me: I don't trust you to not raise my bills. No. Deposit directly into my bank account because I don't want a bad check and I don't want fake money.
Sky: I'll give you half that.
Me: Ha! No.
Sky: 19,000RMB They were thinking that was $3,000 but we have more up to date currency converters and it's under $3000.
Me: No.
Enter in....lots of Chinese back and forth between Sky and the lady.
Sky: $3000.
Me: No. Give me what I'm asking or I go to the police and fill out a report that I was robbed. THEN, I will go to your supervisor. I may not be from here and don't know how to speak the language, but I have friends that do and I will figure out who your boss is and who your boss's boss is. I can also have my friends put negative reviews on every site regarding this apartment complex. Do you want me to do that? After all that flew out of my mouth, I gave myself a silent cheer. It's good to cheer yourself on, ya know!
Sky: What do you want!?!?
Me: My belongings back.
Sky: $3500.
Me: No.
Sky: 20,000RMB
My friend: Umm, that's LESS than what he just offered in USD!
The housing lady said, "Okay! It's time to negotiate. Let's make a deal."
They got out my itemized list. It was all very rushed and frustrating. I was encouraged to wait and think through all the items I hadn't been able to think about yet, but the housing lady was leaving for a week and she gets back the day after I leave for three and a half weeks! I may still be pretty new here, but I had an overwhelming hunch if it didn't get settled that day, it never would. My friends and I calculated the costs included what we were estimating for shipping and some extra items I hadn't thought about and decided on:
Me: "$5,000".
Sky: We will deduct it from your rent.
Me: I don't pay rent my school does. How is this helping ME?!
Housing lady: I think he is talking about utility bills.
My friends: WHAT!?!? That will take years!!
Me: I don't trust you to not raise my bills. No. Deposit directly into my bank account because I don't want a bad check and I don't want fake money.
Sky: I'll give you half that.
Me: Ha! No.
Sky: 19,000RMB They were thinking that was $3,000 but we have more up to date currency converters and it's under $3000.
Me: No.
Enter in....lots of Chinese back and forth between Sky and the lady.
Sky: $3000.
Me: No. Give me what I'm asking or I go to the police and fill out a report that I was robbed. THEN, I will go to your supervisor. I may not be from here and don't know how to speak the language, but I have friends that do and I will figure out who your boss is and who your boss's boss is. I can also have my friends put negative reviews on every site regarding this apartment complex. Do you want me to do that? After all that flew out of my mouth, I gave myself a silent cheer. It's good to cheer yourself on, ya know!
Sky: What do you want!?!?
Me: My belongings back.
Sky: $3500.
Me: No.
Sky: 20,000RMB
My friend: Umm, that's LESS than what he just offered in USD!
My friend's fiance: We're giving you a deal! We're saying we won't go to the police and you can keep your job if you pay what we are asking.
More Chinese back and forth. At this point my housing lady was getting fed-up with my friends and I for not backing down. She felt bad this man was paying out of his own pocket. I did too. But that's not my problem nor my responsibility. Gosh I sound mean.
Me: $4000 and you pay my utilities for the past five months.
Sky: OK.
Housing lady: Do we have a deal?
We both mutually and regrettably said yes. Then Sky all but ran out of the office mad and in tears.
Aside from not getting entirely what I was owed, that put a damper on things. We were in a time crunch and didn't have time to keep wheeling and dealing. The man crying certainly didn't make me feel better about the situation. Not in the least.
Thankfully, people reminded of the shadiness as well as the Chinese culture. A friend and coworker sent me a voice text reminding me how it's dog eat dog here. No one trusts anyone. Everyone lies to save face. It's true. We saw that with Sky blaming the ayis and the ayis blaming me. We also saw that with the security monitors.
I keep reminding myself of that because I found out what Sky is paying me tomorrow is most likely 3-4 months worth of his salary. Ouch. There is no part of me that likes that. We all make mistakes, you know?
I'm right in that it's not my responsibility or my problem, but it doesn't bode good. Nothing about this feels good. Every time I leave my apartment now I wonder. I don't need to. God's got me. But it's still new and it's just...icky.
Meanwhile, the Lord keeps reminding me of His grace and provision. I am so thankful for friends here and in the states that are offering to help! Last night's sermon was timely. It was on Matthew 6:25-34 regarding not worrying about what we will eat, drink, or the cares of tomorrow for today has enough problems of its own. Amen to that!
I think sometimes, it's in the high-stress insanity where He shows Himself the most - if we let Him. In His peace and in His moment by moment presence. This past week He's been doing that with me by putting songs on my heart and giving me powerful times of prayer while walking or on my scooter - don't worry, I keep my eyes open!
Tomorrow I go to the bank with Sky and an admin lady from work. The next day I leave for a three and a half week winter break. To be honest, I just want to sleep and not deal with flights and traveling. It will be amazing though. I know it!!!
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