We have been living in the same apartment since we came to China in early 2010, but rent escalation finally reached its limit, and we began looking for a new apartment. Fortunately, a number of new complexes have recently sprung up around our school, and we found an apartment at the end of this street:
If your image of China is one of a quaint village tucked into some rice paddies, think again. This massive complex of 20 and 30 story buildings is just one of dozens being built in our city. After a dusty walk through an active construction zone, our building is on the far end:
One of our students helped us find the place and served as translator while I reviewed and signed the contract:
Each room in the 1350 sqft apartment looks similar to this:
One of the bathrooms provides us with the opportunity to improve our squatting muscles:
The apartment actually has a good view of the school building where I teach. It’s about a 10 minute walk to my classrooms on the 5th floor under the dome:
Here’s the reverse angle view from today’s classroom to our apartment building:
Looking out of our windows to the north provides a good view of the old and new buildings in this part of town. Of course, the short buildings will soon be torn down and replaced by huge ones to block the mountain views:
After some serious packing on Thursday and Friday, we hired three guys to come and load our stuff into their “moving van”:
I kept wondering why they didn’t use a hand truck for the big items, but it didn’t seem necessary for these small, tough guys. I was especially impressed by this man who carried our refrigerator down three flights of stairs:
We’re now moved in, but are in desperate need of furniture (we’ve been using our previous landlord’s for the past three years). We made our first trip to the furniture market yesterday and hope to quickly get this stage of life behind us.
So, what’s the price delta between this place and the old one? Glad you guys got everything moved OK — it’s always a hassle, but I imagine even more so over there!
Is the place brand new?
Oh moving….so hard and more so there, I would think. Hope you’ll soon find just what you need and that you can feel more settled-in. Will be thinking about you regularly in your new location.
The new place is 37% cheaper. The difference in our annual rent (which we pay in a lump sum) should cover the replacement furniture, although it’s questionable if it will compensate for the “mafan” (trouble) involved.
The apartment is “nearly new” – maybe one year old – we are the second tenants. The landlords are Chinese, but they teach English at a nearby university, helping overcome the communications barrier.
I like the views from your apartment. Wish I could come for a visit. That picture of dad shopping at a furniture outlet certainly is classic.
I didn’t realize you had a squatty! and that picture of the guy carrying the fridge is unreal!