Lights Out

5.05.2009

My power ran out while I was getting ready for work today. My roommate told me that I should recharge the electricity in "at least 7 days" (yesterday) and that I should go to "China Construction Bank" to do it.

After getting ready in the dark, I ran down the street to China Construction Bank in the squelching heat and in my work clothes and shoes (which are neither comfortable nor cool). As I approach some train tracks, I hear the sound alerting that a train is coming. I see the gates start to close. I realize by the time the train passes, I will not have time to go to the bank and make it to work on time. I stop, seemingly defeated. I see a few Chinese guys running at full speed to beat the closing gates. Hmmm… Now, these aren’t “gates” like the American ones—skinny planks that drop down. No, no, these are actual metal gates that fully close. Maybe it was the heat causing me not to think clearly, or maybe I’ve been living in China for too long [the latter is more likely], but I ignored the guards already yelling at people running past and dashed through the gates, seconds before they closed.

Death narrowly escaped, I go inside CC bank and ask someone where to pay for my electricity. The answer is that I have to go to ICBC bank to pay my electricity. Awesome. Go inside an ICBC near by. It is hot, sticky, and awful. Again, I ask where to charge my card, and they tell me to get a number. There are 30 people ahead of me; I have to be at work in 20 minutes. I leave and head towards work, deciding to stop by the other ICBC that is on the way. [By “on the way” I mean the one that is literally right next door to Wall Street. As in the one I could have casually strolled to in the first place, had I known that’s where I needed to go]. I walk through the doors and a man speaking English and a blast of air conditioned air greet me. I tell him meiyou dian and hold out my card. He asks for my VIP card. I stare in confusion. He tells me it is a VIP center only: no VIP card, no can do. As I turned to leave, I guess my sweat-drenched, pathetic, tear-brink look affected him in some way because he stopped me and said, “Ok you can this time. Next time you go to another.” I sank with relief on a plush black leather couch. I was asked to come to a window 45 seconds after sitting. [I wonder how much a VIP card costs??]. Paid 100 RMB ($15) to recharge the card and rushed next door to work. It was 5 minutes to 2:00. Plenty of time to run back home and turn my electricity on! I dropped my stuff off, sprinted home, (found my roommate sitting in the dark), put the card into our meter, flipped a few switches, changed my sweat drenched shirt into a dry one, and darted back to work.

I was a few minutes late, hot, and flustered, but proud that I had somehow pulled off this feat in a very short time. I briefly longed for the days of simply paying your electricity by a click of a few buttons online or even having it automatically taken from your account while you sleep… imagine that! But shrugged it off and declared today what we expats like to call an “OIC” day: Only In China. We talk about OIC moments like we hate them, but we all know that we secretly live for them... otherwise we wouldn't be here!