“TIC” – a common saying…This is China. It is used when something is difficult that should not be hard. Over the summer, our old washer died. Jim called Woody, our property manager, to get a new one. We have a brand, new Siemens. It is very nice…it even weighs the clothes to determine how much water is needed. Soon after I arrived back from the summer, our dyer died. It might have something to do with the fact my ayi puts too much in the dryer and it takes forever to dry!
Now, the fun begins to get a new dryer – it shouldn’t be that hard. After two week of no dryer, Woody finally delivers a dryer that he sits on the old dryer…not sure what I am suppose to do with the old dryer. Jim comes home, takes one look at it to tell me it is the wrong kind. Our dryer sits out on the covered back deck. The space available for a washer in the kitchen is only big enough for a washer. There are cabinets built above the washer and the owner does not want to take them out.
We hide the “laundry area” in the kitchen behind a Ikea cabinet. It works great to hide the mess and separate the two areas.
The dryer sits out on the deck. It has since we moved into this apartment and it isn’t a problem. Woody delivered a dryer that needs to be stacked on a washer and not a free standing one. After another week, Jim calls Woody to tell him he is going to go buy the dryer. Woody gives Jim a budget of 3, 000rmb ($490). On a Saturday afternoon, Eleri, Jim and I walk over to the appliance store. We go to the 3rd floor to find rows and rows of washers and washer/dryer combinations. I guess the Chinese do not dry their clothes in a dryer. The washer/dryer combination is the most popular. We find TWO stand alone dryers. We had a choice of dryer A or dryer B. Choice A was on sale for 1, 900rmb while choice B was 3, 200rmb. We go with Choice A, the floor model. They pack it up and delivered it to our apartment – we had to walk home fast so it didn’t beat us home. Jim even got them to take the old one away. Now, I have a new dryer with Chinese buttons and no instructions…TIC. I can guess the timer dry button as I have a choice of 30 or 60 or 90 minutes of drying time…not sure what KIND of drying options are available.
