I'm back!/ My apartment!

Hi everyone, I'm back!  I'm sorry for my lapse in posts! Things sort of fell apart when I got to Hangzhou (actually I'm not in Hangzhou, I'm in Xiao Shan which is like a suburb of Hangzhou).  I don't want to dwell too much on the details of everything that blew up in my face.  Maybe I'll save those things for a later post. The short version is that everything about my living and working situation was a disaster.

I had pinned so many hopes on my journey to China, and especially to my settling in Hangzhou.  I think the months of planning, preparing and dreaming made the disappointment of the reality so much more bitter.  I was crushed.

I actually thought about booking a plane ticket, flying home to Arizona and never looking back.  But then I thought, “What will people say if I come home from China after only two months?  All those people went to my goodbye party!  They’re all gonna know I’m a big fat lame-o coward.”

So I spent some time crying and then some time readjusting the way that I see the world and now things are a little bit better!

I've been thinking about the following quote a lot:

”If at some point you don’t ask yourself, ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ then you’re not doing it right.” — Roland Gau

I hope it's true for me!

Okay, so the first thing I can show you is pics of my new apartment in Xiao Shan.

 This is my front door, surrounded by wires and dead herbs.  One of my coworkers knew someone that was looking for a female to take over her lease in a three bedroom apartment with two other Chinese girls.  I went over and met the girls and decided to move in the next week.  Mostly, because the rent is super cheap, it's close to work and it's available. I was nervous about negotiating with landlords and utility companies that don't speak English (there are no English speaking services/realtors in Xiao Shan) so this place was attractive because I could move in and all that would already be done.

Clothes dryers are basically nonexistent in China, everyone line dries their laundry.  All of the buildings in my neighborhood have these cages around the windows of the apartments so that you can hang your laundry outside and if it falls, it won't fall to the street

 

 My neighbor is putting trays of things out to dry in the sun...maybe tea? or seeds/herbs or some kind?

 I forgot to take pics of my bedroom but I sure remembered to take them of my big, walk-in closet.

 My living room, pretty sure that TV doesn't work

 So I've yet to be in an apartment in China that doesn't have crazy LED lights.  So fashionable :)

The kitchen.  You'll notice that there's no oven (a big luxury in China, almost no one has one). The stove is gas and my roommates, who don't cook, don't pay the gas bill. So...I'm not sure what we're gonna do about that yet.

Also, please observe how clean the apartment is.  It was filthy when I moved in and I hired a cleaning lady (An 'Ayi'- literally 'auntie') to come and clean for 2 hours.  It cost about $8.

 The bathroom/laundry room. The water is solar heated (that's what that contraption is on the upper wall) which means showers have to be taken late afternoon-before midnight or cold water for you!

Washer with buttons in Chinese.  My first attempt at using it was silly, it kept stopping mid-load and I just kept pushing buttons until 2 hours later the clothes were clean.  I'm pretty sure I washed the first load three times.

Entry way complete with shoe cabinet and shoe rack so we can take our shoes off right when we come in the door and put on slippers.  So we all know this is a tradition across Asia and now that I've started doing it, I don't think I can ever go back.  The streets of China are pretty dirty (what with all the spitting and public urination) so of course it makes sense not to wear your shoes in your house.  The idea grosses me out so much that I'm sure I'll keep wearing house slippers when I get back to the states.

My roommates have only been in this apartment for 2 months and apparently there have been many tenants in and out of this place.  There is random crap everywhere...like birdcages and baskets in ping pong balls

In China it's very common that single people don't cook at all.  It's so cheap to eat out that everyone does that three meals a day.  I thought it was pretty that there's almost no food in the entire house. My roommates were shocked and delighted to hear that I cook and they said they want to try it.  The first night I was at the apartment they came home with eggs, fruit and sugar.  We had a super of poached eggs in sugar water (apparently it's a Chinese comfort food, sounds gross but it was pretty delicious.)

Standard issue fridge...tiny and energy efficient, like most things in China

The tea kettle is mine, when I moved in the girls were heating water for tea inside that rice cooker.  They have absolutely no cooking utensils, pots and pans, or anything!

Small, useless room off of my bedroom, with random crap in it.  I think it was probably built as a "drying room" for hanging clothes but was never fitted with bars across the ceiling

Stairwell, it's a six floor walk up.  In China there's usually no elevator unless it's over seven floors.

My neighbor's door with typical decorations for bringing good luck/ warding off evil.