Getting Settled

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I am finally starting to feel settled in China. I apologize to the people reading this for the lateness of this entry.
I moved to an apartment in Kaifaqu. The apartment is on the top floor of a 6 storey building. We have 2 decent sized bedrooms and an office (storage room). Our living room is big and the kitchen is small. It finally felt like home after we had it cleaned top to bottom and put a few things up on the walls. There are 2 decks and the ceilings are sloped, in fact they are so sloped in the kitchen that it makes cooking kind of difficult.
Trying to get anything done in China is extremely difficult. Not only is the language barrier huge but I find that the solution is often a ‘quick fix’. For example, when we moved into the apartment we noticed that the sink was leaking. In order to have someone fix it I had to phone a Chinese friend of mine at the school to get her to phone my landlord and then she has to phone me back and ask me what time works and then phone the landlord back and tell him and then phone me back (and the list goes on...).
Then, when they finally come to fix it they basically tried to put duct tape over the leak! Another round of 3 way phone tag and they finally replaced the pipes under the sink. To be honest, there is still a small leak but I couldn’t be bothered. Its not that bad.
Repeat this whole process for trying to get internet.
So – our apartment is about a 15 minute walk to downtown and a 20 minute walk to the qingwei station. I really like it. It is in a nice quiet area right next to a park called UFO hill (you will see why it is called that in another entry). There are a few shops close by and some great restaurants as well. A bunch of other teachers live in the apartment complex so being social isn’t difficult.
I really like living in Kaifaqu. The downside is that it is a 20 minute walk to the qingway station and then a 20 minute ride to Jinshitan and then another 20 minute walk to the school. This means my mornings start at 5:20 every day. We have been taking a taxi to the qingwei station in the mornings... its only about 60 cents each so it’s not bad and it saves a ton of time.
The upside to living in Kaifaqu is everything else. There are grocery stores, import stores, markets, shopping malls, restaurants, coffee shops, and a great gym that I joined. It really makes life a lot easier and happier in the end!
I am trying to post pictures but internet is very slow... will try again this weekend!

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