Mi sumidero no funciona y hay un olor malo

Translation: My drain isn't working properly and there's a funny smell coming from it. Unfortunately I didn't look this up until AFTER I made a fool of myself in the Chinese store. Naturally.

My new apartment, while a blessing and lovely, has an odor problem in the bathroom. At first I thought the previous tenant was just smelly and it would go away after I cleaned the bathroom thoroughly. Um, no. I tried incense, oils, (can't find decent candles). But it still smells bad.

So tonight, after my last class (at which point I had been caught in the rain twice and my feet had been soaking wet for hours) I stopped by the closest Chinese shop and had a look around. I found bleach for clothes (or what I thought was bleach for clothes) then made the mistake of trying to ask the owner of the shop if he had something for drains. He beckoned his daughter (who is always working in the shop and can't be more than 14, hmmm) and between us it got quite comical. I had to act out having a shower and then noticing the drain wasn't working well. Then I made funny sounds and also indicated that the drain smelled weird. I think she thought I was crazy. It wasn't until I was finished that I remembered my small dictionary was in my backpack. Well, of course it was.

So I dug it out and looked up "drain" and "bleach". They didn't have bleach, but she pulled some funny powder off the shelf and told me to put it in the drain and add hot water. I was highly skeptical, but for 60 cents I decided to give it a shot. So I came home and did as she said. I am not expecting a difference, but we'll see. Where are the real American cleaning products when you need them? I need something that will kill things, dang it!

Another slightly embarrassing moment of the day (what a great day it was, too!) was the first instance of getting caught in the rain. I rented a bike this week from the Servici (look it up, it will take too long to explain) and I couldn't return it before my second class because the station near my class was full. So I hauled a bit across town and returned it somewhere else, then was quite late to my class. At which point I was a bit tired of Servici. But to get to my next lesson quickly I needed to use it again. So after class I grabbed a bike and realized it was not working well. At the next station I went to change it, and it wouldn't lock in. I started arguing with the machine, something like a four year old might do, for example "I did TOO push it all the way in!" Then I proceeded to say some, sorry to admit, profanities at the machine. At this point, a nice young man approached me and with his heavily accented English, smiled and offered to help. In the pouring rain. Yes, he managed to win the battle with the machine. He grinned again, then told me I could take another one now. Quite nice of him. After that I rode home in the rain.

I would say the city has beaten me today, but all in all it wasn't a bad day. I even remembered to take my drying in before the rain came! Ok, that's not exactly true, but let's just pretend like it is. My drying is no longer out in the rain, at any point. Where the heck can I buy cheap rain boots here? Arghhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Hasta luego! :)