Emergency Management, part 2

After making a few phone calls, our manager arrived at around 11:30. His name is Woody. Contrary to what I had been told, Woody knew nothing about the situation. He arrived very quickly and was rather helpful.

Woody called the complex's work men, who arrived in an astounding 3 minutes. They had clearly been working on the situation in the apartment upstairs. Here is the plan, as they explained it to me, through Woody.

There is a lot of water still in the ceiling. Its sitting on the drop ceiling in the kitchen. Its soaked into the wooden beams. Its a real mess. So, best just to leave it alone and let it dry. We'll take another look in a few days. Should solve the problem.

Through all of my protests, and all of what I believe were Woody's protests, they did not waver from their plan. I said we need fans - they said they have no fans. They suggested turning on the heater full blast until everything dries. I said they need to remove the water damaged portions of the ceiling to allow air circulation and speed the drying process. I believe they laughed at that suggestion. There was certainly smirking. I said I was worried about both mold and electrocution. They said, don't worry.

They left.

I told Woody what I know to be the solution. The wet ceiling needs to be removed. Fans ought to be pointed at the new holes in the ceiling, but that will clearly not happen. The holes in the ceiling will at least stimulate more air movement. As soon as the space between the ceiling and the floor is sufficiently dry, the ceiling needs to be replaced. If they remove the ceiling this afternoon, then the girls and I can live without any problem in the space until they work to replace it. As is, we must keep buckets and towels on the floor and toys must remain hidden away in a living room arranged chaotically around drips and new ceiling cracks.

Woody has promised to fix the problems as soon as he can reach someone. He is aiming for today. But the Chinese have a cultural tendency to tell you what you want to hear. I have no idea if there is any truth behind his words.

Our agent has assured me that if this isn't fixed quickly, it is worth breaking the lease. At least we do have recourse, and a strong threat. But after wanting to move for months, I may have convinced myself that we have a good home in this area of Shanghai. I don't really want to move.