Fridge Whisperer

I returned home to the States for a brief visit in order to check out the campuses of my two favorite grad school options (Emory & Johns Hopkins).

When I returned to Zhuhai, it was to an apartment with a broken fridge. Considering that it has been 80 degrees Fahrenheit and humid here, the results were not as dire as they could have been. Residual chilliness from the freezer kept the fridge somewhat below room temperature, but that is not saying much. Without paying attention to the lack of particularly cool air in the fridge, I added some freshly cooked, steaming hot jams and soups to the fridge shelves, and *boom* it was obviously not cooling itself.

We called a repair guy. He wiggled knobs and said it was fixed (despite my claims to have tried all such jiggling methods prior to calling him). The next day, the 80 degree fridge disagreed with the repairman's proclamation. I called Summer (our personal angel in China) and she called the Fridge Whisperer. He came with his apprentice and carefully took the pulse of each of the tubes in the back of the fridge (territory the first "repairman" hadn't covered). It reminded me of the medicine man in Fourth Uncle in the Mountain. For those who've read it (it definitely deserves a reading by anyone interested in international health practices, recent Vietnam history, the many faces of Buddhism, or a really good story), remember how he took people's pulses with four fingers and at various depths? The Fridge Whisperer did that, too. He came with a lot of equipment (most of it lugged by the apprentice) but apparently that was not enough. He asked if I would be home all day. I said I would be (I was waiting for my luggage, too, which had decided to enjoy an extra couple of days in L.A. rather than accompany me to Guangzhou). He came back alone in the afternoon with some other fun toys, but again left saying "it still isn't up to snuff" ("还不行"）. He returned with the apprentice half an hour ago, but found ice reforming in the back of the fridge, indicating that it was working again. I asked if I could call him after my roommate & I returned from Shanghai this weekend if it was acting up again. He seemed to welcome the idea. I liked him. A lot. You could hear his smile in his voice.

Sorry there are no videos. I am tempted to turn the o'er-jiggled knob to 1 and call him again saying "my fridge is warm again!" just so I can hear that friendly laugh of his as he tells me that 7 is colder than 1 on the dial and film him taking the fridge's pulse. Looking at my new teaching schedule, though, I doubt I will really have time for such shenanigans. My basic contract calls for me to teach 16 periods a week; I may up that to 24 because, honestly, I really really really want to teach all of the classes I have been given and cannot imagine giving any up. We'll see...