So. I have an apartment. It is near the Shanghai South Railway Station in Xuhui District. All my teacher friends live nearby which is awesome and there are food shops all around. This is super because I have NOTHING in my apartment. Scratch that, I have an ice cube tray, a fork and a spatula. None of which complements the other. So I must buy my vittles out on the street for now.
The layout of my apartment is insane. While I appreciate the effort to create a large apartment, the layout makes it such that it is not particularly livable. It is functional and whatnot, but it's pretty awkward. You can't eat in the kitchen (no room) and then you walk through my "bedroom" to get to the table/sun room on the other side of the apartment. It's not a super big deal, but I'd prefer to not bring food into my living space on account of the critters. Haven't seen any critters...I want to keep it that way. Here is a rough sketch of my apartment layout.
my little apartment (big actually)
It has everything I need, yes, but I'm all about having a comfortable home that I enjoy living in. I'm contemplating moving into the tiny spare room and working out some sort of living room. The bureau is in the main room, but I live alone so I can adventure out to find my clothes. I'm not sure. Your opinions are welcome. Let's do a walking tour.
small spare bedroom
kitchen
hall with bathroom on left
living room/bedroom/sunroom?
enormous bed that is clearly way too big for this place
out my window (to the jackhammers)
my complex (no, not that one)
Overall, I'm grateful to have a nice place to call my own. I just want to make it a happy place where I can spend the next ten months of my life in a city that never sleeps (shut up New York, you know nothing).
It was frustrating to have to buy home stuff all over again. Granted, it's been a couple years since I've furnished a rental, but the process is grueling. Where to splurge, when to pinch pennies? I've decided on a wok and a knife and a cutting board thus far. I need to do a deep clean of my kitchen before I really figure out the cooking situation. Also, any recommendations for stop-top meals would be appreciated, especially dessert. There are no ovens in China. Okay, there are ovens but not commonly. So I've got two great gas burners that I want to break in and I love to cook!
By the way, I'm going to put it out there that the next time someone says, "Oh, you're in Shanghai? Well that must be nice because it's so Westernized and cosmopolitan," I will punch them in the face. Shanghai is a big city, yes. There are quite a few Westerners, yes. But it is China. There are maybe 8 square blocks--in this city of 18 million people--where one could forget it was China. That is not a big ratio. Here, outside my apartment, no one speaks English. And if a shopkeeper or waitress discovers you are not a clueless foreigner, they apparently assume you are fluent. Today i was handed a menu entirely in Chinese, plus a notepad on which to write my order. I could maybe read 15 things on this menu of 150 dishes and then I had to write it down for them? Plus, I may be able to discern a word or two, but that means nothing about what might eventually make its way to the table. My friend Bethanie just shoved the papers at me and said "You order, I'll go buy water." This all arose because I was able to say "outside" when the waitress gestured about the seating arrangement. In short, this is still China: people speak Chinese, stare at foreigners and life is still a huge readjustment. So there.
Tomorrow, I may adventure to the Bund to see the people doing morning exercises.
Loooovve,
ellen
No comments:
Post a Comment