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Published: August 12th 2008
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After a late night last night, we struggled to get up this morning, but were picked up at 10am and take to view some more apartments. This estated agent was loads better than the one yesterday....thanks Suzanne and Mark for the tip. June from Vian Real Estate had a pack ready for us with a map and all the places marked on it and a piece all about each place in English. These places were so much better too, all clean and we met the landlords in each place which was much better. We went to a fabulous complex called Oasis, which is next to YanLord Riverside, a complex I had been told was fantastic but pricey. Oasis is by Weining Rd metro station and about 10 mins ride in a taxi from here. We viewed a flat on the 18th floor which is our fave by far so far. It only has 2 bedrooms but it is so clean and spacious and we really loved the fact that it has great outside areas, including an indoor and beautiful swimming pool, tennis court, basketball court and gym and clubhouse! We have a bit of extra money to pay for the facilities
but it would be worth it, and the area is great too. We have put some photos of this up for you all to see.
We saw a couple of other ones but none matched. Some with 3 beds but much less nice. We are being picked up again tomorrow morning to view a couple of 3 bed places which are a bit more money, but we are quite hopeful about them. Sophie and William are getting used to sharing a room, they quite like it actually. William goes to bed first after special time, then Sophie has a bit more grown up special time writing her journal and doing some maths or english before special time games and story. By the time she goes to bed, William is asleep so it works well all round.
We had a great lunch a PapaJohns, a kind of american pizza hut, then dashed off to see another flat which was in a bit of a dodgy area, so we discounted it, then caught the metro to People's Square. This used to be the commercial, municipal and cultural heart of the city and has lots of indicators back to the 1930s.
We wandered through the park which was lovely, then went down into a fab shopping centre where we decided to have our picture drawn. This was good as the kids were moaning their feet were aching so we had a rest, but then we felt like we got a bit fleeced and learnt an important lesson - always agree a price first! We shan't tell you how much it cost, but we have attached a photo of it which is quite amusing! Not bad, and will take pride of place on the wall of our new flat when we get one - more for posterity's sake than anything else!
Sophie and William then covered themselved in candy floss and we tried to find our way out of DMall Shopping Centre, which was quite difficult. Eventually we made it out into the hot afternoon sunshine, with the Shanghai smog lingering, the first time we have really seen it. We found the other part to People's Square which was lovely and the kids ran around a disused fountain with some chinese kids.
We have made contact with me new principal as he has now returned from his summer holidays and
we are meeting him at school tomorrow. We also have our medicals (just me and Ian) so the children are going on a playdate at their new friends' place. We will probably look at a few more places on thursday morning to finalise our decision, but hope to have decided by the end of thursday really.
We had a yummy dinner again tonight at the same place we went to last night, with a few differences. Last night when we arrived, they fetched a man who spoke english and helped us order. Tonight as they saw us walk in, they called him and Ian spoke to him on the phone to decide what we wanted, then he told the waitress! It was all good, except we had some roast chicken which included the chicken's feet! We had heard about this so Ian tried them, but as we thought, there was no meat to them so he didn't pursue it (see photos!!). Interesting factoid for you here, I have not had any aclohol since we arrived!!!! Ian has had the odd Tsingtao (local beer) but it's not widely available so we are teetotal. Not a bad thing, but I can
see myself craving a glass of Pinot Grigio by the time we get our own place!
Please feel free to forward this blog to anyone who is interested, we have tried to send it to everyone but sure we have missed some people along the way!
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Julie Bedford
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Blogging & flat hunting
Well I think you make a fantastic blogger! Love the pics. Urgghhh chicken feet!! Love to everyone. Might start my own BHS blog ....