Floating

I always look forward to Mondays and Tuesdays.  The weekend shifts at school are early and high-energy, so Monday brings much needed relief and relaxation.  This Monday morning, I was enjoying the soothing sound of pelting rain as I surfed the net and watched a movie, but then I heard a different kind of *drip..drip…splat.*  With a large fish tank gurgling in the room and the downpour outside, I chose to believe this new dripping sound was part of one of those...until I heard it again…and turned my head to the left.  A small trickling turned into a steady stream of water pouring from the second floor through the middle of the staircase onto the tiled first floor. 

Oh… crap

I carefully made my way upstairs to find a flooded second floor.  Most of it was in the guestroom, where the wind popped open a window.  I waded through the water as it sloshed over my feet to secure the culprit window and survey the magnitude.  This isn't the first time we’ve had water problems on the second floor, but it was the worst.  I shuffled toward the door and looked opposite the guestroom in panic as the water lapped under Stacey’s bedroom door.  She was surely asleep, unaware of what awaited her.  I carefully opened her door and she popped up in her bed startled.  As controlled and calm as I could I urged her to

Get your laptop off the floor!

 I couldn’t help but notice she looked like a stranded girl on a bed island amidst a floating room.  We watched as a buoyant sandal floated from one end of the room to the other and had to laugh at what we knew was in store for us.  We later found out that a door leading to the outside from Stacey’s room was also responsible for so much water.  Five towels, three sham-wows, three fans and a mop later, we got the water under control with a workout session to boot!  Twofer.

That night, I allowed the night owl in me to take over.  Soon it was 1:30am.  I walked into my bathroom, turning on the light as I entered.  A tinging crackle sound happened, and 

*POP*

The entire house’s electricity went out.  For a few seconds, I did nothing, taking in the full darkness around me.  The longer I waited for my eyes to adjust, the longer nothing happened.  I waved my hand in front of my face and was surprised I couldn’t even see that.  I haven’t experienced this kind of darkness since being in a cave and it made me nervous.  My phone, lighters or flashlight?  No clue.  I was totally unprepared for this!  Maybe I blew a fuse, but where was the fuse box? Probably outside by the rat playground (rock pond).  I decided it was an ok time to go to bed anyway and felt around for the bed.  The next twenty hot minutes were spent listening to the amplified sounds of bugs, birds and other unidentified scufflings outside my window.  Something about not being able to turn on the lights, even if I wanted to, was a little unnerving.  

Tuesday morning, I woke up with no power.  I found a fuse switch, which turned on half of the house’s lights, but my room and bathroom were still out.  My landlord assured me that an electrician would come by, and he promptly showed up to play with a few wires until he successfully made the rest of the house’s power go out again.  Then he left.  With no common language, he could not tell me if he was coming back.  Later on, I was told that the city electricians would be coming to save the day. 

After a while, I looked up from grading papers to notice some men in bright orange jumpsuits entering the gate.  One of them stopped for a few minutes to look at our rock pond while he finished his cigarette.  I walked outside to say “xin chao” and they looked at me but didn’t respond.  After about two minutes, my power went on and I walked inside to make sure all of the rooms worked.  As I came back outside to confirm, the same electrician was bent over the rock pond with a water bottle.  I couldn’t figure out what he was doing until he stood up and turned to reveal a few of my fish inside the bottle.  My face scrunched up in confusion as I quickly raked my memory for the word 'fish' in Vietnamese. 

Hey!  That’s my fish!  My cá! My cá! gesturing toward myself.

The men snickered and smiled as they left with the fish.  I could see in their eyes that they were laughing at my inability to defend myself.  You may think this was something very small to get upset over but my roommate can testify that I have cared for these pets with love.  Why should they be taken from me?  Defeated. 

Later on at school, I was telling my TA this story and she asked

- Why didn’t you do anything?? 

- What was I supposed to do?  Tackle them? 

- Nooo, you yell thief!  Thief!

So now I know the word, and will exercise it when necessary! 

Ăn Cắp!!!!  

p.s. Stacey's laptop was just turned on and to our amazement and joy - it was unharmed in the flooding of her room.