One Week Until the Move

On Wednesday we found out that our new landlord broke the agreement we had and gave what we thought was our new apartment to his friend.  Sneaky bastard!  Thank god Adam was still in Rui’an so he was able to go look at another one in the same complex.  Well it turns out the new one is even better because it’s on the 3rd floor and has heat lamps in the shower.  So it was a blessing in disguise!  But the landlord is still a sneaky bastard.   

We bought dinner for a bunch of people last night as a farewell.  We invited the heads of all the departments and the people we worked most closely with.  There were 13 of us, and we booked a really nice room:

Ms. Zhen from HR ordered the food for us ahead of time.  We gave her a few suggestions and let her do the rest.  She ordered 31 dishes, three bottles of baijiu, 11 bottles of beer, and tea for everyone.  The bill came to 2,305 RMB ($365).  This was actually less than we expected because normally the men drink a lot more baijiu but I think they were being conservative for our sake.  But while I’m grateful for that, it could have been even less expensive if Ms. Zhen hadn’t ordered shark fin soup.  Shark fin soup!  That alone was 588 RMB.  If I was spending someone else’s money, I would ask before ordering a totally unnecessary and expensive soup.  And it tasted just like chicken soup, too, so I’m a little miffed about that.  But it’s ok.      

I finally took down the New Year’s sign we had on our door.  Smudgie had a good time ripping it up.

Original sign

We didn't have any tape so we stuck it up with bee stickers

The sign's demise

 

Apartment Shopping in Rui'an

Today, Adam went apartment shopping in Rui'an.  I stayed in Huainan to take care of Smudgie so Adam sent me pictures from his phone.  I requested ahead of time that they all be within walking distance of the RT-Mart, so location wouldn't be a problem.  The main criteria then would be:

1. Grass nearby for Smudgie's potty area
2. Heating and cooling in every room
3. A bathroom with a separate shower instead of the whole bathroom being the shower. (I'm quite tired of having to lay down a towel on the floor and wipe the toilet off after every shower.)

When we went apartment shopping in Huainan, the first one we saw was crap, the second one we saw was great, and then the rest of them just couldn't measure up to the second one even though they were all better than the first.  This time, we actually had two apartments (almost three) that were hard to choose between.

First Contender (Apartment 2)

Grass outside

Living room

Bedroom

Bathroom 1

Bathroom 2

Kitchen doors/dining room

Kitchen up close

Second Contender (Apartment 4)

Nice little courtyard

Living room

Bedroom

Bathroom 1

Bathroom 2

Kitchen

Dining room

Both apartments had two bathrooms, one with a separate shower and one without (which is good for bathing Smudgie).  And none of the apartments we saw were on the ground floor, so Smudgie will have to get used to the elevator.  We actually liked Apartment 4 slightly better, but then we found out it was a 25 minute walk to the RT-Mart, and Apartment 2 was only a 5 minute walk.  Apartment 2 wins!  They really shouldn't have even shown us Apartment 4.  Who wants to carry heavy groceries for 25 minutes?  I'm so excited to move!  And we still don't know when that's happening.  If we had our way, it would be next week but Adam thinks it might be the week after.  Then we have to go to Shanghai to renew our visas and residence permits before the national holiday which is the first week of October.   

Here is Smudgie enjoying some treats we bought him at Felix & Oscar, a natural pet food store near my sister's house in Springfield, VA.  These treats are disappearing quickly!

Nom nom nom

What?

    

Culture Time! Manly Men

Time for a culture lesson on Chinese men.  This is a list of things I've observed a lot of Chinese men doing that American people might find a wee bit peculiar!


1. Sharing a scooter together - Nothing wrong with two men sharing a scooter/motorcycle, but I doubt you'll find that happening in America (among straight men anyway).  It's quite common here, and it's probably just carpooling.  Although I've never seen the back guy "holding on", it's still pretty cute.

2. Letting their wives/girlfriends drive the scooter - Between the man driving and the woman driving, I'd say it's about 50/50 here whenever I see two (or more) people on a scooter.  I know Adam doesn't mind if I drive him in a car, but I think if we were on something more exposed, he wouldn't want to ride in the "bitch seat".

3. Having girly ringtones - For example, Mr. Zheng's ringtone is "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne.  And our driver used to have a ringtone that was a girl group singing "La la la la la la, laaaa la la la la la!".

4. Wearing pajamas in public - Now, I don't know a single American guy who even owns an actual set of pajamas, let alone wears them in public.  But here, it's completely acceptable, especially in the wintertime.  I think a lot of people either don't have heat in their homes or keep the heat down very low to save money, because they have these really thick quilted pajamas.  You can see people wearing them outside all the time as if they are regular clothes.  They have summer pajamas too, and they will often wear them while out on an evening stroll.

5. Rolling their shirts up to expose their midriff on a hot day - Conversely, when it's hot, Chinese men will roll their shirts up to air out the ol' potbelly.  Women don't do this, just the men.  And of course it's mostly the fatter men.

6. Growing their fingernails out - Some guys grow them all out, some just grow out the pinky nail.  After some internet research, I've read that long fingernails is a sign of wealth and status because its proves you don't do manual labor.  The long pinky nail is significant because in ancient palmistry it was said that if your pinky finger reached past the last knuckle on your ring finger, it was a sign of intelligence and that you had a superior bloodline.  They are also good for nose and ear cleaning!


Well, that's the end of my list for now.  We found out we will be moving in approximately two weeks!  Adam is going apartment shopping next week since he'll already be in Rui'an.  He's been working there and coming home on the weekends for the last few weeks which has really sucked so we're ready to move.  And this time, the relocation company is on the ball (unlike last time when we had to find our own way to Huainan from Shanghai) and they'll be moving us by van!  So we don't have to take a bus this time.  Smudgie is very thankful!

Sleeping cutely

Enjoying Daddy's company

Flying!  (not enjoying Daddy's company so much)

   

Apartment Quirks

When we came back to America we brought everyone a bar of sachima, the Chinese version of a rice krispie treat.  If any of you haven't eaten yours yet, hold onto your hats because I discovered how to make them taste infinitely better:

I'm afraid that the people who've already tried it may think it tastes really bland.  I tend to really like bland tasting things, but on the plane trip back to China, I happened to have some sachima and some m&ms in my purse.  So this wonderful new snack was born.  Anyways, if you get the chance, try it!


(sigh)  Our apartment...  When something goes wrong, we only bother having someone fix it if it's a big problem.  Because whenever we need a repairman, someone else needs to arrange it and we also need a translator to come over.  It's just a big ordeal.  We've had two breakers blow and those are the only things we've brought someone in to fix.  But here are some problems we've had that we've just been living with.

The kitchen faucet handle is not securely attached to the faucet.  This has been broken for most of the time we've been here.  Many times we'll go to turn the water on or off and the handle will just fall off into the sink and get all gross.  Last week it fell onto a dish and broke it.

Our bedroom lightswitch is not securely fastened to the wall.  This has been broken the entire time.  And its connection with the electricity is hit or miss so sometimes the switch works and sometimes it doesn't.  It's been working pretty consistently lately.

Look at what's going on with this wall!  It looks like water damage but I don't know how water would get there because this room is the farthest away from the kitchen and bathroom... it's been slowly getting worse over the months.

The light in the kitchen has been out for 6 months at least.  We would have fixed it right away but we couldn't figure out how to get the light fixture off the ceiling.  Luckily the room gets enough sunlight that our housekeeper is still able to see while she cooks.  But the bathroom light just went out this week so that needed attention.  The bathroom does have a silly little mirror light which flashes blue and red LEDs:

So we've been using that.  But we still thought now would be a good time to fix the kitchen light too.  The light fixture turned out to be really easy to remove so we feel dumb now.  But anyways, after picking the photos for our album, we had Dreamer take us to a place to buy light bulbs because these particular lightbulbs weren't available at the Carrefour.  We went to this little hole-in-the-wall place, literally. 

This type of store is extremely common in China.  Besides places like Carrefour and RT-Mart, these are the places you buy things from, especially if you're looking for something specific.  He sold lightbulbs, tubing, wires and other electrical and plumbing knick-knacks.  And he had exactly what we needed.  So the lights are fixed now.  Horray!

Here's Smudgie getting a belly rub:        

We Got Our Wedding Photos!

I don't know if you've been geeking out, waiting for these pictures to arrive, but I have!  The wedding photos are here!!!!  People, if you're going to come to China for an extended period and you have a few hundred dollars to spare, I highly recommend this experience.  Just make sure you don't do more than 4 outfits.  Here are some of the best ones: 

My makeup.  As the lady was putting my foundation on, I overheard her say "Tai bai" which means "so white"!  This is definitely me at my palest. 

Pink ensemble

Pink ensemble 2

Searching for freedom!  We didn't find it.

I hope Adam never runs for president because this picture will surely come back to haunt him.

Classy

Lovely solo shot

Traditional Chinese garb.  We are so not Chinese at all.

I didn't know how to hold the fan correctly.

Camera magic.  Looks like sunrise, but this was actually taken on an overcast day in the afternoon.

More camera magic, there were grass stains all over this dress.

I wish the price tag on the flowers wasn't so darn visible in this picture.

Amazing shot

Nerds in love!  We really didn't have a choice in this outfit.

Coffee shop kiss

These last two were supposed to be like a modern photoshoot but because we suck at modeling, they didn't turn out too well.

Swirl!

 

Well there you have it!  Tomorrow we go to pick out which ones go in the albums.  I sure hope they can get them done before we leave Huainan.