Jim has a saying about China and it is so true…”Anything is possible, nothing is easy and everything is a little bit broken”!!!  A few bit broken experiences in China. 
 
IKEA.  For those who know Ikea, add about double the people and children to the maze.  The Chinese go to Ikea as an “outing”.  The Chinese children jump and play on all the displays.  Elle REALLY needed a big girl bed as she was crying every night to get into Emmy’s bed.  I went to Ikea with Mr. Nie and Elle.  The bed was out of stock.  It would be in stock in 2-3 days.  Can I buy the bed today and have it shipped when it comes in??  Oh, no, that would be too easy.  I would have to go back out to Ikea, which is a 45-minute drive to see if it is in and then have it shipped.  Elle still has no big girl bed, but she has stopped caring.
 
Cash.  Banking is new for China; therefore, no one really has any trust in the system.  No checks are available with a bank account.  Everything is paid with cash.  Jim has a China Visa, but we then pay it off with cash at the bank.  Of course, a bit broken, one can only get 4000rmb/$US500 from the bank at one time.  The bank machines only give 100 rmb notes and only a limited amount of notes can pass through the machine.  So, each stop at the cash machine is for two transactions of 2000rmb.  One must wait 24 hours before trying the next day.  Now, we must horde cash along with food. 
 
Maintenance.  Our complex provides maintenance services.  We have the luxury item of an icemaker in our freezer.  Something we never had in Hong Kong.  Our ice machine was not making ice.  I call management.  Two Chinese men come to “look” at it.  One is tall and one is short.  They don’t speak English…fine we are in China.  They use mobile phones to talk to someone back at the office that speaks English.  They “look” at the icemaker, flip the on/off bar a couple times and say, “there -its fixed”.  I inform them I have already tried that and still no ice.  They will send someone else on Saturday.  On Saturday, a different man comes.  He actually pulls the ice machine out and puts it back in…should be fix.  Not fixed.  I call maintenance again.  They send the exact same tall/short men back to my apartment.  Again, they “look” at it, touch nothing and tell me they cannot fix it.  I can “look” at it too!  I then get a call to tell me it will cost me 5000rmb/$US500 to fix to get a new part.  Since they don’t know why it does not work (from looking, not touching anything), they will replace it.  Now, I am frustrated as my girls LOVE to eat ice, something they get from Daddy.  I say to Jim, “FIX MY ICE MACHINE!!!”  Being Jim and very resourceful, he goes on line to find the workings of the ice machine.  He prints it off and fixes the ice machine.  It was as simple as a wire not connecting.  We have ice!!  Now, the dishwasher is not working…do I have the patience for the maintenance men to come and “look” at it?

Deep breath…remember, nothing is easy…Nothing is easy!