Missing Floors

My address says that I live on the 20th floor in apartment 2007. Please remember that all of this is by non-American standards meaning that the first floor is what we call in the good ol’ USA the second floor. To add to the confusion, I could, in reality, be on the 19th floor because I discovered shortly after I got here that there is no second floor (Chinese second, American third).

It was very strange because I was riding the elevator and watching the numbers flick by (because there is only so much you can do in an elevator) when I got the horrid momentary feeling that the elevator had jammed because the numbers flickered for an extended period on “3.” Not saying I am claustrophobic or anything, but I have absolutely no desire to be caught in an elevator and much less so in China where I can’t communicate what is wrong over the emergency phone should I get stuck. While all these dreads are flicking through my head the elevator numbers flicked calmly to 1 and the doors opened to let me out into the beautiful world (ok, so it was still the slightly polluted world I emerge into every day, but I was extra glad to be exiting into it on that particular occasion).

I actually thought it was a superstition in china not to have a 2nd floor for a bit since the next elevator I got into also lacked the “2” button, but after a quick powwow with the sources that know (aka other teachers who have lived here for a bit and their native wives) it was determined that I was just special enough to find two second-floorless buildings in the same day. This conclusion was later confirmed when I realized that the building I work in doesn’t have a third or forth floor. Not sure why the elevators don't go to these floors, but I will put it down to a "charming cultural quirk" and hope that I never have to visit the 30th floor of a building with a missing "30."