My Apartment

So, I've moved into my apartment now. Is it all I dreamed it was? Am I swimming in a sea of happiness? Have my wildest fantasies come true? Not exactly.

My apartment is cold, very cold. All cities built north of Shanghai have central heating, meaning Shanghai is the coldest city without central heating built into any of the apartment buildings. There is one main heater for the apartment, but it is in the common room. In addition, I don't know if the Chinese care much for insulation. The combination of these factors causes bone chilling cold throughout the apartment.

Let me elaborate for a moment on the cold. Obviously I know colder than Shanghai, where the temperatures hover in the 30's, with maybe a half dozen snow flakes falling and not sticking on Sunday night. The problem is that this is 'the wet cold' anyone who has been to Scotland in winter knows what I'm talking about. Its like the reverse effect of humidity in heat, dampness in cold makes it feel way worse. Perhaps this is why the English and Chinese both like tea so much. Good thing I do too.

My little room came equipped with a bed, a bedside table, another table/desk thing and 2 clothing racks on wheels to hang stuff up on. Also, I was given a small portable heater which functioned more like a hot fan you'd put on a table than a conventional stand up radiator style heater. After shivering through the first 2 nights I bought one of those stand up style heaters, which seemed to help last night, but it might have just not been as cold. We'll decide by Friday and maybe return the thing. It took me 2 days to get organized, but I feel pretty close now. There is an IKEA in Shanghai, so I'll need to hit that up to grab either a dresser/bookcase or perhaps a wardrobe (cuz I always wanted one). I also need a chair... A big, ol', feel like a million bucks comfy chair.

A quick description of my neighborhood. I live on the bottom floor of a large apartment building with 3 roommates. All seem nice but they seem to work in the day, and I work into the evening, so as of yet we have not seen each other much. I live in a part of town known for shopping, westerners and bars. Now near me there is a quint little noodle shop I was shown with great cheap noodles. As you get closer to the subway I pass a Burger King (a nice departure from McDonald's, though I'm avoiding the later already and have decided to do the same with the former when possible), as well as a Burburry store (which I swear on the heads of my unborn children I will not set foot in). Its a hip area, I'm well pleased. I can be at work in under a half hour from when I leave my apartment. If I go 2 stops the other direction I'm at a large Wal-Mart like store (Carrfour), which I know is bad and I should be looking for the Chinese experience, but sometimes its nice to shop where it feels.... normal, especially when buying sheets, space heaters, etc.

Well I have to run to class, but I wanted to mention yesterday I had to go to teacher training all day. This was good and bad, as I learned a lot and didnt' have to teach, but as with any full day lectures, I found myself getting bored, which naturally causes me to be disagreeable and forces the belief that my teachers are incompetent upon me. Either that or I disengaged when the teacher misspelled the word 'quiz'. She is from England and at first I thought maybe it was a British thing - its not, she just couldn't spell. I'm back tomorrow for a full day of training with best thing to look forward to being lunch (there is an italian restaurant nearby) and afterwords when I hit up IKEA!