We’ve been here a week now, and while it still doesn’t feel like home it isn’t as strange a place as it was.
The food continues to be a highlight, even if I don’t always know what’s going to come out of the kitchen. I can say chicken (it sounds like G-row), and not a whole lot else. It’s possible that pork sounds like Jew-Row, which is a little ironic, but I might just be misinterpreting the wait staff’s explanations. We’ve had noodles (mein, which is pronounced me-in) and dumplings recently. An absolutely enormous quantity of food comes out of the kitchen every time you order. We’ll be sharing a lot of plates, I think.
By the way, it only cost 30rmb for both plates, which is a bit less than $5 total.
We also ventured to Laker’s last night (Friday) to meet up with a few of Scott and Joe’s friends. We’re meeting quite a few Brits here. Laker’s has what at first glance is a very nice menu, but after Zach (from New Jersey) ordered the nachos to share with his girlfriend, we quickly figured out that they talk the talk but can’t walk the walk. Or cook the food.
Super Husband ordered a veggie burger, which came out with more mayo than patty, but was palatable once you scrapped the glop off. I had the “Pastoral Scenery Pizza”, minus the peppers. It came out with cherry tomatoes, broccoli, and the regular pizza fixins. If we’re in the mood for a not terribly expensive, decent pizza we know where to go.
They also have beer towers for 50rmb ($8.50ish), and Friday nights in September they’re doing a “buy two get one free” drink special, so three Tsingtao beer towers were shared by the table.
I did not partake, opting instead for the “Bucket special”, which is quite as you imagine, a bucket of drink. I chose a screwdriver. Whatever vodka they use is pretty cheap, and weak, which suits me just fine; I only ordered it because it was cheaper than getting a regular orange juice.
On Thursday night Super Husband and I went to look at an apartment three stops north of the school where I teach. We wont be renting it. It was an efficiency in the extreme. One bathroom, and a “bedroom” – living room – kitchen combination that puts your stove about six feet from your bed. I’ve seen four apartments in this style, and it boggles my mind. The rent is over $600 for all of these, and the Feng Shui is just horrible. The highlight of these apartments is really the bathroom. There is no tub, and no shower in the normal sense. In a couple of them you literally sit on the toilet to shower. I’m not kidding. The showerhead is attached to the wall and you sit on your toilet with the water running over you.
Yesterday, Friday, during lunch I saw another flat one stop south of my school, about a 30-minute walk. It’s in my price range, and only has three drawbacks.
1) It’s a sixth floor walk up. I’m trying to think positively about this, and say things like “No need for a stair-master if I’m walking up six flights of stairs a few times every day”.
2) The bathroom, while better than sitting on your toilet to shower, is still small and weird.
3) It is a furnished apartment, and the stuff is fine, but they haven’t furnished pots, pans, or dishes. This isn’t a huge problem, but it adds to the cost of the place.
Once you’ve made it, huffing and puffing, up the stairs you unlock the door and enter a tinsy, tiny foyer, the bathroom is on the left. Then there’s the living room, complete with a fold out couch, heater, tv, and glory of all glories, a bookshelf! Two doors lead off the living room, to the right is the bedroom with a decent armoire, a tv, and a desk. The left-hand door leads to the small, but workable kitchen. Both the bedroom and kitchen have doors that lead to the laundry porch. The washing machine is on the laundry porch, and the ceiling has long metal rods for hanging your clothes to dry. I’m thinking about getting a few potted plants to set out there, as well, but with the bitter winter coming, who knows.
One thing that I find a bit weird here, though, is that realtors charge a fee to the renters, not the landlords. And it’s not cheap, either. I have a feeling that my bargaining skills are going to come in quite handy this week. But I’ve just been informed, at 4:15pm on Saturday that if I don’t put down a 3000rmb deposit before 5:30 this evening the apartment is going to go to someone else.
Super Husband has just left with Joe to play football. And by football I mean soccer, but all of our new British friends alternately get a bit annoyed, or just find it silly and amusing that we call it that, so I’m changing my vocabulary.
They all, of course, think it’s quite amusing that I say y’all.
I have a feeling that when I get back “chips” will be “crisps” and “fries” will be “chips”, “candy” may even be “sweets”.
Speaking of crisps, I need to remember to take a picture of the dizzying array of Lay’s flavors. Last night, post Laker’s, we purchased a bag of Mexican Tomato Chicken Flavor. They just taste like tomato soup, but that’s fine by me. I want to try the Cool Cucumber flavor, but haven’t gotten up the nerve.
At the small market around the corner from the apartment we’re in now we bought a few pears and peaches. They’re not Georgia peaches, that’s for sure, but they’re sweet and juicy, and they don’t have any buggies in them. Romaine lettuce is going to be rather hard to come by, apparently, but I’ll just have to learn to eat new greens for salads.
It actually seems cheaper here to eat out for dinner. One ingredient at the market costs the same as a whole plate at a restaurant.
The internet is down. No one is really sure if it’s because this is China, or because it needs to be paid. Hopefully someone figures it out soon, because I have things to do.
Because the internet is down this post has been sitting in Word for five hours, as I slowly add relevant bits to it. Between writing most of the post and now, I’ve walked the ten minutes to the bank, withdrawn monies, and paid a deposit for the apartment. It shall be mine tomorrow when I pay the realtors’ fee, and two months rent. In China you’re supposed to pay three, or even six months rent at a time. It’s a nice system for the landlords, I’m sure, but it really isn’t awesome for me.
This is the view from the flat on a decently clear day.
And, the view on a normal day.
Beijing, what will you do to our lungs?
No comments:
Post a Comment