The Lair!

I forgot to write about an interesting moment that happened on Friday. Laura and John had been telling the Halloween party planning committee that our school had some Halloween decorations in the warehouse downstairs. We had been told that the electric lock had been broken and we could not get in. The building that the school is in has a downstairs basement that I have never visited. When you first step into the building from outside you have two choices of walking upstairs to the school or going downstairs. I had been told that we were not allowed to go down there.

Well, on Friday morning, one of the customer relations staff was given some new thing to break open the electric lock. Ryan, James and I went downstairs with most of the Customer Relations staff. We went down about four flights of stairs! We were way, way under ground. Once we made it to the floor, it was nothing like I expected. There were dozen of long hallways that seemed to connect somehow. All the room were tiny, like prison cells, with cots in them. I guess there are quite a few people that live here. I can't believe I ever complained about living in a dorm room! I have heard stories about people living in places like this in Beijing, but I never imagined that I was working on top of one!!! Kevin, one of the CRs, broke into our little "warehouse" which was about the size of a dorm room. While we were surfing through just piles of Halloween and Christmas decorations a woman came up to us and just started yelling in Chinese and a bunch of the other CRs started yelling back. James, Ryan and I took a little break and wandered a bit more into the lair, but didn't loose sight of all the CRs. We joked about how we should have our haunted house down here, but it would take us weeks to round up all the students. Seriously, I wouldn't want to be dropped down there by myself without at least some water! We returned back to the shouting match. The CRs gave up and told us to grab a few boxes and go. We all left there pretty quickly. I guess the lady was a landlord for the lair and we were trespassing to get our own stuff? I'm sure there's more of a story that has gotten last in translation.

I felt a little humbled after the basement lair experience. I have a new appreciation for my studio apartment.

Captain's Log: 24 Weeks!

Happy Birthday, Dad! Hope you have a fantastic day!