Or is our bathroom actually fixed?

Well, here’s the latest:  Yes, the new tile has been (re)laid (lovely, lively blue that never looks clean) AND the toilet is re-installed. Plus, our second floor neighbors have some peace of mind that no matter how bad the leak from the 4th floor is it into our place it will never get through our floor down into their apartment.

They tested this out to make sure before they laid the tiles.  The method: they put three inches of water in our bathroom and left it there for two days to make sure it couldn’t leak through.

But that’s all old news now.  They got our toilet and cabinets back in.  The toilet went in on Sunday and we got it functional again yesterday.   (It doesn’t quite flush the same and it seems that a bit of water is leaking from the base…but that seems small potatoes at this point in the saga.)

But the really crazy thing is that currently no water is leaking from the fourth floor into our bathroom.  Yes, I have entered a parallel dimension where something can actually be visibly and literally fixed.  Or it would seem so…

I just paid the renowned plumber Mr. Ni (which is a fitting name since he towers to the height of my knee) 300 kuai (roughly $37.50) for the repairs he made to our upstairs neighbors’ bathroom.  Now, I’m not saying that this is a victory just yet.

Perhaps our neighbor’s water isnt turned on?

Perhaps this "fix" (like many others we’ve seen so far) is merely temporary…and will come crashing down on us in tidal waves in a day or two.

Perhaps this is just another ruse in the Great Radiator Debacle…

But I must say I’m dangerously close to leaning in the vicinity of–around the corner and just up the street from–optimism.  Optimism, you could say, is within striking distance again.  I am actually surrendering to hope again.  And that’s a good thing…

Mr. Ni also told me that one of the hoses on our toilet (one bringing water in, not out—sheeewww) is bad which solves that other leak problem I mentioned (in a way).  Since he didn’t have time to fix it for me, I found out that it will cost me a little less than a dollar to buy one and replace it myself.  Sweet!  I love pretending I am a plumber…

Well, since we are still human and the world is still, well…the world, I am sure there will be more house dilemmas to share with you later, but for now I feel as if there has been some form of resolution for us.  (Thanks for all the vertical communication on our behalf.)  The Chinese word ‘wan’ means "completed" or "finished"; the Chinese character for wan shows a completed house with everything in it.  Very interesting.  Maybe all this home improvement mafan will be wan soon enough…one can hope.