Street Floods

There's something about Shanghai Expat culture I need to explain to you....

During the Summer months, wives pack up their children and leave for about 6 weeks. Wives of perfectly stable sound marriages. The husbands spend the bulk of the time hanging out and "bachin' it" bachelor style after years of marriage. They don't all leave. But lets just say that on our entire street of 7 houses, I was only one of two left behind. Ghost town, eerie feeling around Shanghai expat communities for Summer.

But here's where I freaked. A bit.

Ever wonder what it would be like being one of the 'left behind' families when Noah and fam took off on the arc?

'Left behind me' happened to open my window and see this:

About 9 inches of standing water on the streets, you couldn't even see the street markings. And while the picture doesn't show it (the walk ways are slanted too), it was deep; and the rain was coming down in buckets.


And of course, the first thing that runs through my mind as the water inches closer was:
food storage.

It's a Mormon thing. You see, I know it sounds crazy, but Mormons store food in their homes to be prepared for such occasions- like natural disasters. It's actually a commandment to have a 1 year supply- PER family member. In Shanghai, our standard is only 3 months.

And I sheepishly admit that I was not obedient to the call to 'store'.

TOTAL FREAK OUT SETS IN. So I buzz the front guard shack (grateful the connection was still clear).

Their response to the flooding?

"Oh, Okay. We'll go fix it right now." Picture me repeating my mandarin Chinese in head to be sure my tones were right. Really, I mean, what are they going to do, vacuum it all up?

I drew the curtains after 5 minutes. The below is what I saw:

I guess they never knew of the problem
... since I was the only Expat neighbor left to notice.... a small clog in the drain system, I'm sure.

Still, it was an eye opening reminder- Suzanne, YOU ARE ALONE HERE in this complex (almost alone, anyway).

Needless to say, I'm so glad the rest of you crazy vacationing expats are back.

We fed the mosquitoes while you were out.