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Published: January 19th 2010
Our apartment seen from the outside
The two top ones - the broader part of the outer side.Here I am, back in Xiamen again.
I'll just tell the story of how we got our apartment and some of the things going on outside our window every day.
We arrived in Xiamen on the 19th of August 2009. Josh had arranged to start working at Yingcai school, off the island in the part of Jimei district called Xinglin.
Although we had told them our arrival dates, the school apartment wasn't ready yet. We didn't want to live in the school apartment long term anyways, because it didn' t have a kitchen, so we wanted to search for an apartment, after staying the night at Josh's new boss' place.
The second day we were told that the apartment was ready, so we went to put our bags there before starting our search. The apartment was not ready - there were rotting tea leaves in the living room and dirty ashes on the floor. The air con didn't work and we were very sweaty and uncomfortable. They promised to have the place cleaned by the end of the day though, so we went off searching for an apartment, leaving our bags there.
It was about 40 degrees and
Seen from our window
It's never on, of course. we were sweating heavily as we were walking around with an enthusiastic real estate agent. We tried to explain that we wanted a balcony (as we wanted to enjoy the fresh air here, after more than two years in heavily polluted Shijiazhuang) with NO fence. All apartments here have their balconies fenced off, and people pay dearly for the privilege. It wasn't a language problem, but the agent just didn't really get the concept of not WANTING the extra "security" - I mean, who climbs up 7 stories from the outside to steal stuff? They're almost welcome to it if they've gone through that much effort..
Didn't see anything we liked that day, and returned to the school apartment, exhausted, at 9 PM. At the gate we were asked to produce our wedding certificate. We couldn't, so we were not allowed to enter. Well, Josh was, but since I apparently count as his mistress and not lawful wife, I wasn't allowed to sleep there. They could have told us this earlier in the day, but no. And there was no budging. After about an hour of talking and calling the head master we were finally told to find a
hotel.
They wouldn't even let us sleep there ONE NIGHT! Come on!
The school didn't want to pay for our hotel, but Josh's (other) new boss paid. And we were allowed to pick up some stuff.
The hotel had Internet, so we quickly found a couchsurfer to stay with the next night, and in the morning went straight there with our temporary bags.
Long story short, after some more searching in Xinglin, we finally found a nice place. It's two stories, has got 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 balconies, a kitchen, a living room - is fully furnished, 140 square metres, and only costs us 2000 yuan pr. month. Neat!
The owners of the apartment are a policeman and his business-woman wife. They took us around the area in their car on one of our first nights here, and even took us out for dinner and karaoke.
So here we live, 4 months later.
We have a nice view of the agricultural bank of China - where I got an account with awesome Internet banking, so I can buy Chinese plane tickets and cool stuff on Taobao - a school, 4 teashops and a couple of shops where
young women offer a different kind of trade.
There's also a Japanese restaurant in the yard, with all you can eat on their menu for 100 kuai (including beer and a little sake) and a health shop where old people come and get electronic waves sent through their bodies from a pillow - for free.
If we leave our building on the other side, there is a nice convenience store with everything from rice to beer to vinegar to toothbrushes. The owners are a really nice local family, and they've been trying to teach us the numbers in minnan-language (hokkien).
Right next to their store are several restaurants, hairdressers, another convenience store, a vegetable shop, a pharmacy, a bakery and a fruit shop (with a very nice lady who doesn't rip us off. Another old lady was trying to charge me 10 kuai for 4 apples, but our fruit lady sold me 6 apples, 6 bananas and 4 oranges for 13 kuai. Ha!)
If we go further down the road in either direction there are a few more bakeries, about a million tea shops selling Oolong Tieguanyin and tea-sets, a few more brothels and convenience stores, and several
other different weird shops.
Here, everyone has their own tea-set, complete with a little bowl with a lid, a filter, a small jug and several little 2cm high cups, as well as a metal tray and/or - if you're lucky - a wooden table or a wooden tray with drainage. You cannot drink tea in any other way :-) And tea is of course tieguanyin - do other tea sorts exist?? :-) It's delicious, and I've definitely adopted that habit!
Just behind our apartment building is a very interesting area. It reminds me a bit of the hutongs in Beijing. All the houses are 1-2 stories only, and there are huge old banyan and longyan trees growing everywhere. There are also several colourful temples and old houses hidden. And what makes it extra interesting is that no one knows it's there. So there are no tourists, and as we are the only white foreigners in the area, everyone knows where we live.
Going north through the little streets we'd get to a street market. They have lots of roast ducks, live ducks, rabbits and chickens on death row, all vegetables imaginable, fish, shellfish, fruit, shoes, you name it. The
smells can be overpowering for a first-timer, but for me the market is such a vibrant, lovely part of living here. And I've become quite immune to the sight of chicken heads, feet, cow's stomachs etc. - but I still don't eat it. I've tried, yes. But No. I don't like it. :-)
At night time the big intersection north of us becomes alive with cheap stuff for sale. Everything from hair-ties to shoes to fake hair, all for sale. It's not touristy, and most of them don't even try to rip us off. Or if they do, the prices are still so low that I wouldn't notice.
Between the intersection and the Xiamen No. 1 hospital, Xinglin branch, is a place that we've chosen to call oyster-place. That is because they serve the most amazing oysters, as well as lamb kebabs, fresh barbecued corn, eggplant, yum yum yum.
Ok, that was a bit of every day life, do come by if you have the time - We'll be here till the 30th of June 2010.
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Brad Swain
non-member comment
Also in Xiamen
Hi there! I am also a foreigner living in Xiamen. I live in the Huli area. I moved here in October. I have a friend coming to live here in Xiamen next week as well. My apartment is very small and wont be large enough for the two of us for very long. Your place looks great and is much bigger than mine and you only pay a few 100 more RMB than me a month! Would you mind letting me know the area your apartment is in and who you worked with to find it!? It would be very helpful and I'd really appreciate it! My email is Bkswain87@gmail.com or you can get in touch with me via my blog about Xiamen as well :) http://bkswainspace.blogspot.com/