In the last post I was mentioning how we had an issue with the hot water tank at the Jianzha Estate which forced us to retreat to Xining.  Well, on our way back to Jianzha we discovered that there had been an issue with the coal stove which heats the house.  Evidently a pipe leading from the boiler into the house must have gotten too cold and froze during the night which caused a leak into the garage area. 

Without a functional heating system in the house we decided to make our move to the guest apartment across town.  (We were planning on doing this anyway, but this just bumped up our time table.) So we’re once again living in a new location.  On the plus side, my "coal duties" are officially over and Christa no longer has rodent phobia to deal with.  The apartment is also pretty warm and has three-bedrooms.

The challenge is that we don’t have a fridge, oven, microwave (can people survive without that?)  hot water, or (GASP!) the internet set up yet.  So we’re making due.  Our plan is to go back to Xining tomorrow.  Christa’s parents will be visiting for another few weeks.  Then, we (Johnsons) will probably be back one more weekend before we take our annual trip to Thailand in February.

If I’ve learned anything living here in China: plumbing and I just DO NOT get along.  That’s just the undeniable fact of the matter.