Welcome Home

So remember all those times when you listened to people tell you how lucky we are in America? How rich and spoiled we are? And you mentally nodded agreement and then moved on to the next thought... Well, this time I'm aiming for more than a verbal nod in response to the statement that Americans ARE spoiled.

I live in Guzhen, China. Which I have recently found out, is REAL China. Not tourist China, not upscale Americanized China --- it's China China. And kind of the ghetto. Megan and I traveled to Kaiyin yesterday-- and there is a difference between Guzhen and Kaiyin. And combine that with a couple of other things... well, let's just say I know that living here I am experiencing China. Real China.

Now. I'm not saying I wish I lived in Kaiyin. And I'm not complaining, I'm just letting you know that I know of what I speak. Because despite it's slightly ghetto nature or not, I love Guzhen. And actually, we have freaking great living accommodations for China. We're the spoiled Americans in the building. Want to know how I know that? We have air conditioners. And a small refrigerator. And a hot plate and microwave. Yes. We are fancy. Upscale. Classy.  All of the above.

And since I know that you probably want to see for yourself, I will proudly give you a tour of my upscale abode:

My Apartment Building

We live on the third floor. Which is kinda funny, because there isn't a 2nd floor. Or a 4th floor for for that matter. The numbers in the elevator go as follows: -1, 1, 3, 3A, 5, 6. No joke. Chinese numbering.... haha. I think the lack of 4th floor is due to superstition about 4 being an evil number. So they filled it in with 3A. And the lack of 2? Uh.... maybe the shops are all two stories? And don't ask about the -1. Because I just don't know.

See the little door above the hood of that red car? That's where we enter the building. There are two elevators and stairs... we go up to floor 3 and proceed to the very end of the hallway to find our door.

Buttons in the elevator

 In case you didn't believe me :)

View from the 3rd floor

 This is the view out of the windows when you step out of the elevator before you walk down the hallway to our room.

Walking down the hallway

Apartment 309!

If you can make it through the gate at the front of the hallway, then you can find our apartment. No, we haven't a clue where the doorknob is. We haven't had one the whole time we've been here :)

The Kitchen

 Cooking 101. It's a little bit adventuresome... and yes. This IS all the equipment we have. A mini fridge, hot plate and sink. The microwave is in the living room. Luckily the school usually feeds us.

Eating Dinner

 This night was french toast --- there isn't maple syrup in China, so we used honey. And peanut butter. And bananas. Jam. Brown sugar. Whatever we felt like really. Can I just say that french toast with peanut butter, bananas and honey is divine? Eating it with chopsticks is kind of tricky though...
*note the microwave behind Megan ;)

Living Room

 Yes. We have epic orange couches. They are great. They're also the most comfortable pieces of furniture in the apartment. I love them.

My bedroom

We sleep on box springs. China seems to have missed the mattress memo. Three of us share this room... Anna sleeps in the higher bed, Emma and I share the lower one. See the black bag and green/blue blanket? That's where I sleep. 

Oh. And you may be wondering what the deal is with the bag on the door handle? We only have two mini trash cans in our apartment. And they are both in the bathrooms. So trash bags get tied to door handles....

The dumpsters for our entire building.

 Speaking of trash. These are the dumpsters for our entire building. Chinese people don't believe in large trash cans.

A bathroom

As you may have noticed, there is not a toilet in this bathroom. We affectionately refer to our potties as 'squatters.' At first I thought it would be a tad difficult to get used to, but as Anna puts it: "Squatting is a surprisingly natural position." And it is. More benefits to squatting: You get a nice thigh work out. And it's sanitary. You don't have to wonder who sat on it before you.... 

haha. The shower is hooked to the wall above and slightly behind the toilet. And the washing machine is against the far wall.

Doing laundry

Speaking of washing machines... washing clothes here is a whole new experience. The open part that I've got my hands stuck in is the washer. Basically you fill it with soap and water and it swooshes it around for a bit... then you can drain and rinse the stuff. The dryer is next to it. It spins the clothes really fast to get the water out... then we hang them up outside to finish drying them. They don't completely dry though unless we bring them inside to hang up for a bit.

WELCOME TO CHINA!