Of Mountains & Mold

Mold.

I was told I had mold in my apartment. Two weeks before Christmas I was told to move out for "two, maybe three, days depending on the pollution and being able to air it out." Nearly one month later I am still living in suitcases in an apartment below mine. 

One of the people who helped move me noted it was good I didn't decorate for Christmas! Thankfully, I have a classroom filled with decor for that. Even so, at first it was disappointing. I was finally feeling moved in, settled, doing some painting, and decorating the walls. Now, however, I just feel this is normal China living. Don't get comfortable. Because...watch out!

Tonight, I came home from a mountainous China-style getaway feeling refreshed. By China-style I mean, we hiked up thousands of stone steps surrounded by thousands of people, then we slept in a 5-star hotel where we kept our coats and hats on during breakfast because it seemed colder inside than it was outside - truly, it's all about the comfort here folks.

On the metro ride home I was squished between two men on a bench. One had fallen asleep on me and, I quickly noted, if I moved he'd tumble over. While the other was trying awkwardly to not touch me. 

It's a train in Shanghai just after rush hour. Dude. Come on. If only I could have spoken with him and have asked if he'd prefer to let the gentleman to my left lean on his shoulder and sleep instead..

My stop came and I momentarily pondered the satisfaction of messing with the poor sleeping fella and JUMPING up! I decided tall foreign gal probably should try to blend in a little better. 

Me and my gazillion bags slowly got up and...............that sleepy man's body just toppled right down where I'd been sitting! 

Thankfully he woke up before his head collided with the seat. The sorry soul seemed to nearly have another heart attack as he put two and two together and realized he'd fallen asleep on me!

I think the moral of this story is evident: ALWAYS go with my first instinct  Next time JUMP up!!

I chuckled about that entertaining scene the entire walk home. It gave me the extra boost in my step to go check on my apartment! I've been checking on it every now and again. They've painted over the mold. Twice. The second time because I took pictures to prove they just painted over it.

Before I left for the weekend I went and opened the door to my balcony to air out the paint and musty smell. Determined this week to get management to clean it, ask my ayi to clean it, and then I'd clean it and tackle the mold problem with tea tree oil, tea tree oil, and more tea tree oil. Essential oils folks, they're amazing.

I went upstairs, opened the door, (this calls for another, but far more dramatic) annnnnnddddddd.....

I won't share the first words out of my mouth.

After the initial shock, I ran back upstairs, grabbed my phone, and took pictures. Laughing the entire time. Because what else are you going to do?

Do you see the metal sharp objects sticking through the ceiling? There are a lot of them. I'm not sure what they are. Maybe cameras? Kidding, kidding, kidding. Those are in the hallways and everywhere else.

I was also super thankful we'd taken the mattress and everything out because, at the rate things are going, there may not be a room 1730 very much longer!

Thus, I snapped some pics, laughed a bunch and realized I may need to bite the bullet and move the rest of my stuff to this smoke and urine smelling apartment I've been living in. Once again, thank goodness for essential oils, but I'll save that for another post.

For now, I'm going to keep pretending it was a ghost town on that mountain this weekend with just me and the Lord. I hope these pictures have fooled you guys as well!