So, those of you who’ve been around my little world for a while know of all the drama I had in the spring, trying to get my bathroom fixed (which has a major leak). Finally returning home after a summer away, of course, I was very curious what had happened to all the mold, the water in the bathroom floor, the fixing that had been promised. And lo, and behold, when coming home, the first thing I noticed was that things had been “fixed.” Of course, that fixing that took place was not the kind of fixing that I was hoping for … because it looks like all new and pretty on the outside, but the problems on the inside still persist. So, the story continues …

You’ve been following along the drama of the leaky hole in my bathroom as I’ve been keeping you updated on all that’s going on there. The bad news is that still nothing’s been fixed. So, I need to find someone who’ll stay in my apartment for while I’m gone, so they can keep the A/C running (yep, I agree that it sounds like quite the waste of energy, but if no A/C is running, my apartment will be covered in a layer of mold in no time; I know for sure, because I’ve seen it happen with someone else’s place). This means that today I’ve been running around, talking to our housing manager, talking to friends, introducing the housing manager to my friends, giving instructions, etc. etc. – all of that to make sure that someone will take care of my leaky hole for while I’m gone. Fortunately, I’m not friendless, and now everything is solved to such a degree that I can look forward to a summer at home with family, while on this …

Guess who I had coming to my place today. You actually may not believe me, but yes, some workers came. Two, to be precise. And not only did they look at my bathroom floor/water leak problem, they actually brought tools and the willingness to do something about it with them, too. Well, maybe calling it “willingness” is not quite the right way to describe it. Because, yes, they did see that there’s a problem with the floor (as they always do). And yes, they actually began hammering and taking out two or so tiles. Except that the problem is that taking out two or so tiles just doesn’t fix the problem, and I spent about 2 hours this afternoon, trying to convince them that what they’re doing isn’t actually going to fix anything. “No, no,” they said, ignoring my pleas, and wanted to pour something in the hole they’d just dug in my bathroom floor that would “make things dry.” Yeah, right! I sent them away. Because as much as they tried to convince me …

I have a problem. A wet, moldy, leak problem. In my bathroom. You may remember. Well, for about two months now I’m trying to have my problem fixed. But the problem is that no one cares about my problem. At least not enough to actually do anything about it, even though I’m trying almost weekly to get someone to take care of this. And so it happened that last week, before the May holiday, I had yet another group of workers inspect the problem. And they promised me that after the May holiday, that would be on May 2nd, they’d come back to fix things. Like they always promise. And like they never fix it. And so it happened that May 2nd has come. As well as May 3rd, and May 4th, and still there’s no fixing in sight. My poor poor little bathroom!

We used to have butter, packaged nicely and ready to go. Used to. Now, things are different. Now our butter is served in a bowl so as to make sure no one takes more butter than you’re supposed to (as in: as much butter as is supposed to go on your toast). Having butter served in a bowl, however, usually turns into some sort of mess, because other users usually don’t care about making sure their butter knives are clean etc., though quite honestly, I find that yuck! Today, however, was a good day. Because I actually found the butter bowl clean and untampered with. I was so delighted, that I promptly had to take a photo of a beautifully clean butter bowl.

Isn’t it amazing? Here I am, waiting for months for the workers to come and fix the leak in my floor (see my post “The Wait” for a first hint at some problems in my apartment), and yet nothing ever happens. Workers come and go (examining the damage, of course), but nothing ever happens. And then there is this fire. Which cracks my windows. And I’m preparing myself already that for the next couple of weeks or months I’ll have to live with a blackened and broken window. But guess what happened! Right. The very next day workers come. And they don’t just come to inspect. They actually come ready for action, bringing with them a new pane and highly motivated to get things fixed right then and there! So things can move fast here. If it’s the right kind of damage. I guess, soaking wet floors don’t count as as dramatic as fire damaged windows do!