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Published: June 25th 2007
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Downstairs
Living room has two chairs, sofa, tv, desk. So today I moved into my new apartment today. Upon move in, I owed the landlord his 15,000 RMB and the agent 1,750 RMB. So all together I needed 16,750 RMB. That's more than 170 bills (100 RMB bills). Oh my god. The stack of bills didn't even fit into one envelope. Since my ATM limits me to a few hundred USD a day, I couldn't withdrawal all that money at once, or even in the course of three days. I brought traveler's checks with me and had to cash all of them. I go to bank #1 and I take a number and wait for my number to be called. I'm not so familiar with the banking etiquette process here, but I they call numbers out so people can take a seat. Anyway, I accidently took a number for the "VIP line" (the machine that spits out numbers is in Chinese), so the wait was only 15 minutes. I talk to the teller and turns out this bank (China Construction) doesn't accept traveler's checks. I proceed to the next bank (Bank of China) and I get a number (after I double checked that they can cash traveler's checks) and
I get #551. They are on #520ish. I take a seat and 30 minutes later they are only on #530 something. There are so many freaking people at the bank. There are 8 tellers, but only 3 tellers were available for the type of service I was requesting. The man next to me started to complain that it was taking so long and I started to ask him banking questions. Since China is such a cash based country, everyone needs to frequently go to the bank. There's no "Loomis Armour" or whatever here, so store owners have to keep going to the bank, people are paid in cash, so they need to go deposit, and there are just so many people in China, that it just makes the entire process inefficent and frustrating. At least I got to practice Chinese with the man next to me. He was an engineering professor at Jiao Da. He seemed to know a lot about America. Anyway, 90 (yes, that's ninety) minutes later, I get to the teller. At this point, I was already 40 minutes late to meeting the landlord/agent. I get to the teller and she is so slow. She makes me
Bathroom (upstairs)
Bathroom #2 needs some caulking, but tolerable. Bathroom #1 downstairs is a bit ickier. fill out two forms (ok, fine), then she proceeds to fill out two more bank forms, and she literally counts my 10 checks 15 different times. I was at the window for 20 minutes, no joke. Then I find out that the exchange rate is 7.6 RMB to 1 USD. Grr! I had almost exactly 15,000 RMB at this point. So I head to the apartment/agent office and then realize I didn't withdrawal enough to cover the commission fee. Darn! Anyway, the entire banking system here is so inefficient. I don't know how they are going to change things until businesses modernize more and can use more paperless means of exchanging!
I sign the lease, etc. and then I tell Hong (agent) that I don't have enough to pay him (oops, very embarassing). I offer to pay him a small premium in USD, but he wanted RMB. So I ask him to take me to the HSBC ATM that is a mile away. What a pain. I seem to only be able to withdrawal at this ONE ATM machine. The China banks don't seem to like my PIN code.
I go back to the hotel to get my
stuff and check out. I stayed at the hotel for 4 nights for 1075 RMB. Not bad. The chain of hotels (Home Inns) is apparently listed on the American Stock Exchange. I didn't know it was a US Co.
Anyway, I'm here now, and there's internet (130 RMB a month), cable TV (10 RMB a month) and a phone (30 RMB a month). However.... one of the air con units is broken. I am sitting here sweating. My entire t-shirt is damp. I'm waiting for the electrician now. The ayi is cleaning my place right now too. I asked her to come once a week to clean for me. She cleans the landlord (who lives next door) and neighbors too, for 15 RMB an hour. I need someone to mop the floors for me and stuff. She claims that there is a lot of dust and stuff. She says she'll do my laundry too. We'll see. I want to live as comfortably as possible. Here are some pictures, I'll post more later.
I think I'm going to get a bike. I was asking the people at the real estate agent how much I should buy one for. They
Downstairs
View to living room said a simple cheap one is like 250 RMB. I asked how much for a 2nd hand one? He laughed at me and said, "free" (aka stolen). I guess there's no secondary market for bikes. Anyway, he pointed to a bike outside (ugly and it was rusty), and he said if I bought a 250 RMB one it'd look like that in a month. Then he said, "if you ride one like that, you'll hurt your
mian zi ("image/face"). He was basically telling me it's not my style and I'll look like a peasant. haha. Then I asked where in the area I can order food/eat. He said there were lots of restaurants down the street and I replied with something along the lines that I'll order at the restaurant and take leftovers home (da bao) and eat for lunch the next day. He also chuckled and told me that Chinese people don't do that. He said that is also lacking
mian zi! I was talking to Hong (agent) earlier and asked him what "potluck" was in Chinese. He said there's no word for that b/c people don't do that here. He also said that potlucks lack
mian zi. He
Kitchen
Kitchen said if a friend invites you over, you cook everything yourself. He said people rarely gather in large groups at home or in restaurants since it's too expensive to frequently host. Apparently, my mian zi is pretty poor b/c I've been doing all the wrong things! 😊 Hmm... Note to readers: I don't I'll be taking this custom home with me. We're still going dutch and potlucking, k? 😊
I'm off to Ikea! I need everything... waste basket, sheets, blanket, shower curtain, rug, hamper, etc. Ugh. More buying and wasting. I need to start making a small budget.
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lks
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mian zi
hahahaha, how crazy!