Got a shock this evening as I walked back to the regular bus stop. It didn’t fully register until I was almost upon the bus stop – there was a very long snaking line of people waiting fo the bus, Yes, people were actually queueing.

I should have taken a photo, but I was still in shock, since when did the Chinese learn to queue-up? Had hell frozen over or was I imagining everything; I pinched myself.

So we waited for the bus, it came and there was no scrum not even a mad-dash. So obligingly I pushed in line and got a seat 🙂 And the Chinese left waiting were probably saying ‘ those damn laowai, so rude and impatient!’

Many of the Japanese era buildings built for the Manchurian government have been turned into hospitals by the communists, smartly distancing there own government from the previous tenants. These buildings stand out against the more recent constructions and look a class apart. Many apartment blocks built only 5 years ago are already crumbling and look more like they were built 50 years ago. I didn’t believe it at first when I was told that my apartment was only 5 years old; ‘ it can’t be ‘ I said to myself. If a building looks about 20 years old it’s actually 2 or three years old, if it looks 10 years old it’s probably more like 30.

Anyway, there are only a few of these impressive buildings left in Changchun, which is unfortunate, as they add unique character to a city that would otherwise be architecturally bereft. Indeed, I’m willing to bet that not many of the newly constructed high-rise bocks will still be standing in 70 years time.

I’m writing this because, I went into one of these old buildings to visit a friend who is in one of the hospitals. Inside the building once you walk through the large doorway it could be any other building in Changchun. Dark long corridoors, walls painted brown up to waist height, then light blue up to the ceiling. My first impression was somthing like: ‘I hope I never get really ill here’ ‘I don’t want to ever come here as a patient’ and ‘if i’m ill, i’m on the first plane out of here!’
I’ve been told the medical facilities are good and up to western standards, But I think I’ll take their word for it.
I saw cracked flooring, dirty walls and lumps of paint falling off the ceiling – not particuarly hygenic.

There’s no such thing as visiting hours either. People come and go as they like and there are no restrictions on the number of visitors, it’s considered part of the responsibility of the family to look after the relative

Of course being China, many of the men were smoking taking no notice of the signs plastered on every wall. In many ways, there are far more freedoms in China than in the UK – as here most of the laws are not enforced, and even if they were i doubt anyone would take much notice.
Also there seemed to be no problem using a mobile phone, even one of the nurses was chatting away, I noticed most of the staff had phones in their top pockets. I walked upstairs to the thrid floor past lots of rooms crammed with beds, 6,8 even 10 to a room. And past beds out in the corridoor itself, I started to think of something i’d seen on TV, this wasn’t quite a field hospital but it wasn’t far off.
Unlike hospitals back home I was free to roam pretty much where ever i wanted, on some of the walls there were posters of people’s internal organs – too graphic by far to show and shocked me at first. Also there were lots of government looking health related posters and some wonderfully elaborate english translations for the names of the departments. The ‘anus dept’ sign made me laugh.

Up on the top floor there was a large steel door. Beyond this I could not venture, it’s where the operations are conducted and from looking through the glass window, looks just like a hospital back home. Clean floors, that smell or disinfectant and for the first time I saw something that looked modern; some sort of machine. Outside this door were waiting about ten people, and when the door opened they jumped up and out came a stretcher. The people – relatives and friends – took the stretcher and walked towards the lift, no porter or hospital staff here – self service. Also you get to see the goods. Surgeons would come out with a plastic see-through bag full of whatever body part that had been removed from the patient, as an indication that the work had actually been done.

In China, despite being a so called ‘socialist’ country, nothing in the the health system is free. Everything costs.  As far as I know the government provides little of no free medical care, though most people are covered by their employer’s medical insurance. However this does not cover the cost of everything and those without good paying jobs i.e. those in the countryside, can’t afford it. Also you will probably have to pay up front, then claim afterwards.

The lease on my apartment expires on 4th July and my landlord said he had no problem with me paying for an extra month and staying there.  The semester finishes mid July, so this would work out really well for me, and would save the hassle of moving everything as I am really busy at the moment.

However my landlord has changed his mind. 

He’s upset that I won’t be staying here (in his apartment for another year) and believes that I have tricked him.  Infact I never told him that I would stay in his apartment for another year, he assumed this himself.

I told him about 8 weeks ago that I was not going to extend the lease for another year, and he didn’t take this well.  He started to get into a frenzy about how I have ‘ruined’ his apartment and that he only bought a new washing machine because he thought I was going to continue to stay in his place.  Of course I haven’t ruined his apartment,  and he only bought a new washing machine after 3 months of hassling him to do it. 

When I viewed the apartment and signed the lease there was a washing machine, I made sure this was put into the contract, but when I came to move in the washing machine was gone.  No washing machine, he had taken it.  This schoolboy trick upset me, but he said he was going to buy a new one ‘tomorrow’ so I believed him.   He seemed like a straight man, one of those ex-army types, direct and to the point. This was a year ago, before all of my troubles and at the time I didn’t really understand how things work here. Now I know, this is a common dodge used by some Chinese – to tell someone what they want to hear, and have no intention whatsoever of following up with actions.  

Last July I foolishly agreed to give a 3000元 deposit as a cover for broken things in the apartment. This is silly money, and I should have agreed to only giving one months rent – but at the time I was desperate for somewhere to live and didn’t know any better. At the end of April I managed to negotiate this down to 900元 by giving the landlord less than he was expecting, and saying that at this time I don’t have the funds – but really because by paying in full, I would be throwing away my deposit.

Anyway, this is just one of a long list of things that have gone wrong with the apartment.  I wouldn’t care if the apartment was free, but i’m paying good money for the place and so I expect more; but this is what one can expect renting from the private sector in any place. 

Here’s a list of things that have gone wrong over the year –

Broken toilet– has a crack in it and when flushed scum seeps out onto the floor- I repaired it myself.
Gas leak – under the sink the gas pipe fractured. The handle for the shut-off valve has been removed (or probably was never fitted – costsaving measure no doubt), had to improvise with a kitchen knife – potential to destroy building.
Water Pipe burst, bathroom sink pipe exploded spraying very high pressure water everywhere (the stop cock was inside a locked cupboard outside the apartment (luckily I knew this), which I forced open with a claw hammer, destroying the door in the process!
Bed collapsed,- I sat on it one day and one of the legs snapped in two!
Wardrobe concertinaed in on itself – This is not a joke! I opened both doors and it fell apart like something from a cartoon- reminds me of this film
Drains stink – Not the landlords’ fault, they stink in all the apartments here, generally a China problem – there’s a market for u-bend pipes…
Black flies – come out of the bathroom sink, probably fly up from the cess pit below.

On the plus side, there hasn’t been a power cut here all year and I had them frequently at my old place. Also, I only recall one day when the water was off, and I remember not having running water for days at a time where I was last year.    

So I’ve not been getting much sleep over the last few nights, though i have been unable to keep awake for the evening games – 3am kick off – as I have to get up at 6 for work.  Next week I think i’ll do an ‘allnighter’ as england are playing in the evening. 🙂 

Chinese TV is usually pretty awful, game shows, talent contests, and ‘historical’ sitcoms from the Chinese Civil War/WW2, depicting the communists as savours.  They love their adverts too, sometimes the breaks can last for ever and with (i suspect) no laws regarding what can be advertised, they try to plug some weird stuff.  From the local hospital, to strange weight loss techniques that are nothing but a fraud (one such is a patch that one puts on the bottom of the foot, clearly a scam)  to herbal teas and medicines.  So I was expecting the football to be interrupted at the very least, but to my surprise, CCTV have done a decent job. 

The coverage is actually pretty good, all of the games are shown live (KO 9pm,midnight, 3am) and full recorded replays the following day.  They have extensive analysis, pundits etc, and seem to know what they are doing.  Most of the games are show on CCTV 5, which is the state run broadcaster’s dedicated sports channel.   Of course everything is in Chinese, which is fine, but it can get tireing after 90 mins of listening to Yue(4) Wei(4)Offside, Tou(2) qiu (2) Header and  jing (4) qiu (2) Goal!

I’m stil trying to figure a way of getting the UK commentary over the web, but as i’m outside of the  UK I need to connect through a proxy and I’m yet to find one that is reliable enough for 90mins 

Just found out how to get this  –  http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/live/surestream.ram