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Oct. 21st, 2006 02:46 pmWe are moved into our new apartment. When I say "new" I mean it in every sense of the word. This place was just finished being built within the past week. I can't post pics yet because I have no idea where my digital camera is, but when I find it, you shall see all.
We now live on the third floor instead of the 11th. I like it much better. The whole building was designed by an American architect and it shows. For example, there are bars on all the windows. No kids are going to tumble out of these windows. That's very reassuring. The lighting in the living room is amazing. The furniture, it's so-so. The beds are ok, the tv is awesome. The couch is like faux cream colored suede. The first thing Petey did was step on it with a muddy shoe. Yes, we stained the couch within 30 seconds of walking in the front door. We had movers helping us, so fortunately we didn't have to carry everything up the stairs ourselves (there's no elevator).
It was pure craziness for the first two hours after we arrived. Angela, the assistant in charge of purchasing everything for the apartment, and Sailing called me downstairs to pick out the bedding. As we are the first to move in, we get first pick. There really wasn't much of a choice. The boys ended up with light purple checker board pattern and we have light purple flowers (cartoon-like daisies). Bedding is done differently here. Each set comes with a flat sheet, a pillow case and a duvet cover. The flat sheet covers the mattress and we sleep directly under the blanket. The duvet cover comes off when it needs to be washed. We were given 8 sets of bedding. This is on top of the bedding we brought from AZ, and the bedding the bought for us for our previous apartment. Why did they buy new bedding again? I'm not sure. Honestly, I really wanted to pick out our own set. There are some super cute things that I've seen in the department stores, etc. Ah well.
Also, they bought us a set of dishes, a pot and pan and a rice cooker. I already have all those things. Chris told them that, yet they still went out and got them anyway. And they complain because money is so tight in the budget. You can see how things are run sort of haphazardly in this program. I suppose this is to be expected as it is such a new program. This is the first semester after all.
After I picked out the bedding, I came back upstairs and tried to start organizing the place. Everytime I got started, I got interrupted. People kept knocking and knocking. Let me tell you something about the way people knock in China. There is no waiting patiently while the person inside walks to the door. You knock, and knock and knock until someone comes. I've even had people rattle the doorknob. They aren't trying to be rude, this is just how they knock. So, not only were people knocking non-stop, but two members of the staff apparently have keys to our place. They let themselves in when I didn't answer the door the moment after they knocked. That was a surprise. I'm telling myself that this was only because we just moved in and that they wouldn't do so under normal circumstances. Also, everyone had to come by to say hi and see how we are doing. That was nice but it did add to the confusion.
We have no gas in the kitchen yet, so I'm not able to cook or wash dishes in hot water. I thought that meant we had no hot water in the whole apartment, so I had Zack take a cold shower. Turns out the water heater in the bathroom is electric. I just needed to turn it on. Poor Zack. He took it in stride :)
Also, we have discovered two creepy looking greenish, very leggy centipedes inside. I knew we'd have more bugs here, since we live in a rural area now, but I wasn't expecting such an unwelcome guest on our very first night!
We now live on the third floor instead of the 11th. I like it much better. The whole building was designed by an American architect and it shows. For example, there are bars on all the windows. No kids are going to tumble out of these windows. That's very reassuring. The lighting in the living room is amazing. The furniture, it's so-so. The beds are ok, the tv is awesome. The couch is like faux cream colored suede. The first thing Petey did was step on it with a muddy shoe. Yes, we stained the couch within 30 seconds of walking in the front door. We had movers helping us, so fortunately we didn't have to carry everything up the stairs ourselves (there's no elevator).
It was pure craziness for the first two hours after we arrived. Angela, the assistant in charge of purchasing everything for the apartment, and Sailing called me downstairs to pick out the bedding. As we are the first to move in, we get first pick. There really wasn't much of a choice. The boys ended up with light purple checker board pattern and we have light purple flowers (cartoon-like daisies). Bedding is done differently here. Each set comes with a flat sheet, a pillow case and a duvet cover. The flat sheet covers the mattress and we sleep directly under the blanket. The duvet cover comes off when it needs to be washed. We were given 8 sets of bedding. This is on top of the bedding we brought from AZ, and the bedding the bought for us for our previous apartment. Why did they buy new bedding again? I'm not sure. Honestly, I really wanted to pick out our own set. There are some super cute things that I've seen in the department stores, etc. Ah well.
Also, they bought us a set of dishes, a pot and pan and a rice cooker. I already have all those things. Chris told them that, yet they still went out and got them anyway. And they complain because money is so tight in the budget. You can see how things are run sort of haphazardly in this program. I suppose this is to be expected as it is such a new program. This is the first semester after all.
After I picked out the bedding, I came back upstairs and tried to start organizing the place. Everytime I got started, I got interrupted. People kept knocking and knocking. Let me tell you something about the way people knock in China. There is no waiting patiently while the person inside walks to the door. You knock, and knock and knock until someone comes. I've even had people rattle the doorknob. They aren't trying to be rude, this is just how they knock. So, not only were people knocking non-stop, but two members of the staff apparently have keys to our place. They let themselves in when I didn't answer the door the moment after they knocked. That was a surprise. I'm telling myself that this was only because we just moved in and that they wouldn't do so under normal circumstances. Also, everyone had to come by to say hi and see how we are doing. That was nice but it did add to the confusion.
We have no gas in the kitchen yet, so I'm not able to cook or wash dishes in hot water. I thought that meant we had no hot water in the whole apartment, so I had Zack take a cold shower. Turns out the water heater in the bathroom is electric. I just needed to turn it on. Poor Zack. He took it in stride :)
Also, we have discovered two creepy looking greenish, very leggy centipedes inside. I knew we'd have more bugs here, since we live in a rural area now, but I wasn't expecting such an unwelcome guest on our very first night!