I decided at the beginning of spring that the easiest way for me to make it through the summer without air conditioning, was to invest in a ceiling fan. Having asked all my classes where I could get one, I was a little disappointed. All of them said, “they are not quite common in Hungary” or “we just open our windows.” Ok, I get it, but I want a ceiling fan. We checked OBI and TESCO, Intersparr and another store we thought might have them. Then, I tried the light store in Tata. Sure enough, they had ceiling fans… in a catalog. I garbled my way through an order, pointed out the one I wanted and eventually was satisfied with my choice. Only then did she tell me that it was 24,000 Forint – the equivalent of $120. Holy crap… but I was already knee deep with this nice woman who was patient with my Hungarian and really wanted to help me. So, I gave her my 5000 Forint deposit and she said she’d text when it came in. Three weeks later, I got that text. I went to the lamp shop that afternoon excited for the fan, dreading the payment. She opened the box, and was taking out all the parts and showing me, which I started to say was not necessary, until she uncovered a broken cylinder where one of the light bulbs went. I told her I’d come back the following Monday and she said she’d order another one. That Monday, I dutifully returned, and as she went through the “new” fan, we found yet another broken cylinder. After she said she’d get another one, I told her I’d return the next day. It was at this point, that I decided that this was my out – after all, I was nervous that it’d break during installation… so I haven’t returned to the store to pick up the third one. Though I lost my 5000 Forint deposit, I was able to purchase a ceiling fan at OBI for a third of the price of the other one.
The next step was installing it… so I called “handy” man/boyfriend Justin. (I'm beginning to like the times that we just hang out more than any time he tries to fix anything. Thank goodness we do more hanging out than anything) We got the other fixture down, and he began to create a hole for the base of the new ceiling fan. As the ceiling crumbled easily from the pressure of the screws and screwdriver pressure, he realized that there was solid concrete just a bit above where the ceiling started. Hmmm… how would he get these screws into the concrete? We didn’t even need to wait for an answer, because more and more of the ceiling was falling in his presence. So, the next day I went BACK to OBI to get some anchors for the screws. I got all the way to OBI when I realized that I had forgotten the screw, and I didn’t know what size anchor to get. Dang. So, I came home with a set of 80 pieces of anchors, many sizes to choose from. When Justin came over that day, he went back to work, and ended up cutting down the anchors AND the screws, and though one worked, the other didn’t and a huge hole was created. He made an executive decision that it wasn’t going to work this way, and tried to get the wiring down so that he could re-attach the original fixture. As he retrieved the wires from where he tucked them while working, he noticed that the procedure involved in “grounding” the original light fixture involved putting some electrical wire over the end and tucking it up into the ceiling. He retrieved the original “hooks” that held the light in place and the rusted pieces of wire came out with more ceiling, damp ceiling at the same time. Oh boy… it’s wet up there, and not grounded. Safe. I have since sent for some cement to be used to mend the ceiling so I can put the original light back, having given up on my dream of a ceiling fan. At least I didn’t pay $120 for it… yeesh.
To take our mind off yet another defeat, we headed out for a walk and a dinner before he left for Germany the next day for training. He's helpful, but it just didn't work this time. I like him a lot anyway and will miss him while he's in Germany. Thank goodness for text messages and e-mail!!!
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