Bathroom Narnia and Toilet Surgery

I'M HOME!!! I HAVE FINALLY MADE IT TO TAIYUAN!!!!

Sorry just had to get that off my chest. I seriously cannot believe after months of waiting, I am in my home. I think the relief of just making it here helped temper the shock I felt when walking in to my apartment.

I have never seen so much dust, dirt, and grime in my life. And you all know I have a wonderful mother who highly values cleanliness. I have been spoiled for 22 years ... and Friday, I got to see what the majority of the world considers clean. 

Our living room. And Hailey.

My bedroom

The next day my two apartment-mates and I spent the entire morning scrubbing out the bathroom on our hands and knees. At one point we even grabbed a knife and starting chiseling away at the years of built-up dirt and grime. We used close to half a liter of bleach on the bathroom alone. And my hands were basically raw by the end of the cleaning day. And Hailey and I were sore the next day. I never thought cleaning was an aerobic activity ... until that day. Best work out I've had in a long time. 

Our bathroom, before cleaning

I made several profound discoveries during our day(s) of cleaning:

1) I can now perform toilet surgery. Our toilet was a very sick patient. The chain was literally attached by two safety-pins. I about fell over laughing when I saw it. It took me 3 surgeries to get it working half-way decently. And I'm probably going to have to perform a 4th surgery some day in the future. 

2) Bathroom Narnia: I have two wardrobes in my room. Behind one of them is a duct-taped door ... a door that leads to what we have christened Bathroom Narnia: the Bathroom behind the wardrobe. There is a bathroom behind that magical door ... a bathroom that has probably not been used in 5-6 years. There is a half-inch of dust/dirt/only-Father-knows-what-else on EVERYTHING in that room. 

And there is a terrible stench that emanates from Bathroom Narnia. One of the girls who lived here last year told us her uncle (who is a plumber) said feces probably leaked out of the pipes at some point and are growing something in there. The girls last year called the growth demon melons. And those demon melons are food for the goblins that live in the dust. 

Just my luck I would get the room with Bathroom Narnia. Maybe one of these days I will be brave enough to venture into the magical abyss and take samples of whatever is growing in there. 

3) Rotten Cabbage Smell: our apartment has been smelling like rotten cabbage since we got here. It took us two days to figure out the source of the smell was actually our washing machine. Don't ask us how we're gonna get that fixed.

Despite all of these little surprises in our apartment, I love it here. It is my home for the next 10 months, and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

view from my room

We felt welcomed as soon as we set foot on campus. The team from the University met us there and had cleaned and bought some food for us. And the team from last year left us each a box of presents and lots of notes and maps. I am amazed and humbled by the love our brothers and sisters showed us.

If I haven't believed that this is where Father wants me, I do now. Being here is right. The fact that I didn't have a major panic attack when I walked in our apartment is nothing short of a miracle. And it's Father who performs all miracles. I have doubted Him a great deal in the last year. But He continually proves Himself faithful despite my faithlessness.