Thursday, November 6, 2008

Guess what this is...


Yes, it's a toilet. A brand new toilet! We just got it yesterday. And it actually worked!
After more than 2 months of gentle reminders, the school finally gave us a working toilet. They have tried to fix it a few times, messing with the toilet and the plumbing, and I have been telling them that the toiled was broken and needed to be replaced. They were reluctant to spend money on a new toilet. I heard this one cost them 1.3 million VN dong, and it got approved by the rector (chancellor) himself.
A school official came to our rooms last week to get us to agree teaching an additional new course. This course is called "Rethinking America," and it's taught to school English teachers and staff. We agreed to teach it even though we're already very swamped with the English classes. The official was happy, and so I took the opportunity to tell him that our toilet has not been working for two months and that no one has been trying to help us recently. On top of that, one of the two burners on our stove never worked, and we also needed a dinner table and three chairs. We had given the school a list of these needed items a long time ago, and nothing has been done.
The official made a phone call, and the next day a table and chairs came, the burner got fixed, and a plumber came to take a look at the toilet. He couldn't fix the toilet, and I told him it needed to be replaced. He agreed. He told the maintenance guy, and the guy submitted a request to the rector, and two days later a new toilet came.
We are grateful to have a toilet now, so we won't have to use the one in the kitchen while the food is being prepared right next to the toilet. We've been praying for a toilet for many weeks.
There are two items left on the list that have been approved but did not show yet:
1. A bicycle for me
2. ADSL

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