Chronology III: MyChineseApartment...

Once again, Gentle Reader, please forgive your foppish author for his negligence, he should be flogged at dawn with the braided whiskers of a thousand cranky old men as the maidens churn butter and the drunkards stumble home after a full days work! Being in China, constantly learning, Teaching; all of it is very draining. Good, but draining. However, I have a long stretch of days coming off and should be able to catch up soon. I am tempted to record here my dream from last night, but lets just say that it was very strange: I was in a mall and I caught a case of the 24 hour vampire flew from Dan Conner( John Goodman) and we just sat down and played cards as we knew it was going to hit soon. There was a homeless guy laying next to us and i said "buddy, you might want to find somewhere to sleep because in a hour or so, this is not going to be the best place to nap..." It was actually weirder than that, but that was the most coherent part!

So onto the Chronology... My Chinese apartment. Ed and I checked the apartment and everything was good except there was no water going to my toilet or bathroom sink (turned out the water was not turned on to the toilet, still not sure what is up with the sink , but it does not matter for reason that will soon be clear). I have been lucky in that i have had very few problems with my apartment, as other teachers have had problems with water and other things. I like my apartment. It is on Ba yi Lu (8.1 road), a very booming city street/ neighborhood. I live a block from the main street, and mostly everything i want is with a short walk: tons of stores, restaurants, the bus line, markets, supermarkets, Internet cafes. The rest of the city is a short bus ride or cab ride away, such as the main office of the company, the massive downtown area, my schools, etc. As mentioned before, Dalian is very urban and modern, it has Zoos, more shopping and restaurants than you can imagine, malls, bookstores, beaches, museums, an amusement park and more... A thousand different types of clubs and bars, from local to German, American, Irish and more( and don't forget the hooker bars!). Dives and upscale. There are many public parks. Vendors everywhere, selling fruit, belts, magazines, maps, spoons, you name it!( probably the only thing you can't buy in this city is a gun!) I have missed living in a city and this is a city! My urban nature is very happy here. It's not the china that you probably imagine, its like living in Pittsburgh but its much bigger and everyone is Chinese and has slightly better accents! Not to say that its exactly like an American city, but its much closer than you probably think. Well, more on the city later...

My apartment. It looks like an apartment in the states. Its in a big block looking building surrounded by other big, block looking buildings. I am lucky enough( well in many ways) to live on the first floor. My door is like the door to safe ( there is even a combo lock that i never use!); It has seven dead bolts and is solid steal. China has a theft problem, but i don't worry about my apartment, no one is getting thought that door. I have two big windows, but the bar cages outside of them are impenetrable. Its a little like a jail cell in that manner, but I would rather not worry about some Chinese guy taking my crap and selling it on some rug on the sidewalk. I can hear the noises from the street which makes the city boy in me very happy; I find it relaxing. people do walk pass my windows chanting all of the time, they are looking for work( fixing things) selling things or asking for recycles( the garbage collection system in china is very...different). Sometimes i want to throw stuff at them, but for the most part they just add local color. My apartment has a medium sized dining room/ living room area, which has a big table, a fridge, a water cooler( you don't drink the faucet water in china) and a small stool. Its not really big enough for anything else, but it is roomy the way that it is. There is a sliding blue glass door to the kitchen, which has cabinets, a sink and not much else. again, roomy enough for my purposes. There seem to be not many stoves in china. I have one gas burner connected to a gas hookup like in Chemistry class and a wok( i bought a Pot to boil dumplings and will by a pan soon).
I have a electric kettle to boil water to drink and make soup ( the Raman in china is fantastic and comes in a variety of flavors). The Kitchen is meager by U.S standards, but enough for me. The Fridge, in the dining room, is small, but serves my purposes. The bathroom in also connected to the dining room. I thought this was the strangest part. There is a small washing machine ( no hot water for the washing machine and no dryer-- I have a clothes rack and also uses the large cage bars on the windows to hang clothes). the bathroom is small but not as small as some in the US. there is a sink that does not work. next to sink is the shower ( no tub). this was the wierdest part to me: the shower is just a handheld shower connected to a hot water tank right under the ceiling. No glass, no curtain, you just stand next to window( you can't see in) and spray essentially in the middle of the room. This is pretty different than what we are used to, but it works. there is a drain between the sink and the toilet, and the water goes in there. This is pretty standard in china. So you take a shower in the middle of the bathroom. You get used to it. My water pressure is good and the hot water heater is good. You have to watch your TP from getting wet but the system works! The drain does stink a bit, it always smells a little sewery, but i am used to it by now. For China, this is a pretty nice apartment , and i am pretty happy with it. the Bedroom is big, with a king size bed, a wardrobe, two drawers table thingies and a dresser kind of thing. oh and a televising and a phone. The Internet was not connected when i first got here, so more on that later. I don't watch TV much, although it is amusing and all Chinese( although you can pay for HBO and some American channels) as i have been reading, writing and doing school stuff much more. The mattress is very Chinese (hard as a rock, they believe that it is better for you) and takes some getting used to, which i have. There is not curtain in the kitchen and since i have to walk ther to get to bathroom and sometimes the bedroom curtains, I have probably given the neighbors a free show that they wish that they haven't seen!

All in all, its a bit different, but i love my little apartment. My landlord and neighbors don't bother me( a plus), its in a busy part of the city, and i am alone... which i have wanted for a very long time now. Oh, the company pays the rent! I have to pay electric, gas, water, cable, phone, Internet and gas, which are not much when compared to bills in America. Like i said, i am happy here....
so i will continue with the chronology soon, and hopefully get to some funny stories...