It has certainly been a full week here, and a good one at that. So many things to report on...
My train got in Tuesday afternoon, and I headed for Andrew Dougherty's office. It was only seven or so metro stops away, so I elected for that instead of taking a taxi. Bad choice - I had to change lines twice, and there were no escalators in these stations, so my arms got more than a workout each lugging an enormous suitcase up multiple flights of stairs! The subway here isn't nearly as nice as Nanjing or Shanghai - kind of old and run down.
Then I got off at Jianguomen station and started looking for the world trade center. Problem: there are too many buildings here that could be construed as a 'world trade center', so I ended up going to three different places and walking forever before I found Andrew's office. By which time it was nearly 3:30 and I hadn't eaten lunch. Andrew works in the tallest building in Beijing, and he's on the 36th floor with an incredible view. After he finished work, we went home and I got to meet Nicola and the nine-month-old master William. They're an awesome couple, and I can see why my parents like them so much - they're alike in a lot of ways. We had tortilla soup for dinner, which was a fantastic welcome to Beijing!
Wednesday I walked all over Chaoyang looking for apartments and realtors. Actually, I spent most of the morning getting my iPhone set up. Once I had that, I set up a few appointments. The first was awful. The rent was 3100 a month, and it was a concrete cell. There was no kitchen and the bathroom light didn't work. I felt around for a second and touched a live wire, shocking myself pretty well but not enough to hurt. And it was filthy. No, thank you!
The afternoon was pretty long, but I saw a couple places I liked all right, although they were all 4000 or slightly over, more expensive than I had originally planned on. But apparently in this neighborhood it's either that or live on the edge of habitability. You want cheaper, you leave the city center. Mostly, I felt like the city was forbidding and impersonal. All the streets are wide and there were no little neighborhood streets with stalls and little shops anywhere. So I went home slightly discouraged but with a few options. Pesto for dinner; Nicola outdoes herself! I went to institute later at the Stratford's home and met them and some YSA here; it will be very nice to have that every week again.
Thursday I started work. I wrote a journal entry abut that already, so we'll leave that there. I get off at 6, so after that I headed back for dinner (fish/snow pea stir fry) and then went out to meet Joel and see my favorite apartment option again with him. We went, and lo and behold the landlord agreed to let us rent for four months! Miracle! So we agreed then and there to sign and move in on Saturday. Rent is 4500, but it was nice to be done worrying about it that soon and without much pain.
Friday I of course went to work again. It's only a 15 minute walk from the Dougherty's house, so I couldn't have found a more convenient place to stay for my first few days. After work, Joel and I hung out at the Dougherty's, ordered Italian food and watched The King's Speech, an excellent movie. I'm glad I finally got around to watching it. We were going to babysit William, but they ended up taking him to the Valentine's dance instead, so we were on our own.
On Saturday, I slept in (until 9 or so - I've become an early riser in the last week!) and then packed my things and messed around until it was time to go. I made a salad for lunch, and Andrew made their maid stay and eat some with us. It was funny to watch her try to refuse, but she finally ate some and quite liked it, so they gave her a bottle of salad dressing before she left. Oh, mianzi! Andrew drove me over to the apartment in his Jeep Cherokee, and Joel and I signed the contract and moved in. It's fairly nice - white tile floors, good furniture, a huge tv - and the area is pretty good, too. There's a park across the street and it's right by the river, and there are places to eat pretty close and a sports center across the street. Not a bad find.
It also turned out to be a short bus ride away from church! So it's close to everything (it's a 25 minute commute for me to work - seven minutes to the station, ten minute ride, eight minutes on the other side). We made it to church right on time; church here is on the fourth floor of an office building that we rent out. There were mostly older couples and younger couples with small children in the branch, but there were also about 15 YSA there, and there was a YSA Sunday school class. Two of the new YSA girls, Karin and Andrea, came to the Dougherty's for dinner after church, so we got to know them a little better. Andrea just joined the church in November and is here with an American University program until May; Karin is a BYU student here interning with China Post until August or so. There might be some potential there - she's cute and learning Chinese, two important things in a future spouse...
The last couple days were pretty much the same; not much variety. Work, come home, grab dinner at a place nearby, and putter before bed. I mopped half the house yesterday but didn't have the motivation to do more today. Maybe later. The place will look really nice when it's all cleaned up. Joel's okay with small tasks if they don't take long, but he doesn't really have the desire to do any thorough cleaning. There won't be time tomorrow: there's a fireside with Elder Oaks, Hallstrom, and Perkins at 7, so there's my day all planned out already! I'm looking forward to the fireside. Hopefully the spirit directs me further as to what I'm supposed to be doing in my life. We shall see what the morrow brings...
My train got in Tuesday afternoon, and I headed for Andrew Dougherty's office. It was only seven or so metro stops away, so I elected for that instead of taking a taxi. Bad choice - I had to change lines twice, and there were no escalators in these stations, so my arms got more than a workout each lugging an enormous suitcase up multiple flights of stairs! The subway here isn't nearly as nice as Nanjing or Shanghai - kind of old and run down.
Then I got off at Jianguomen station and started looking for the world trade center. Problem: there are too many buildings here that could be construed as a 'world trade center', so I ended up going to three different places and walking forever before I found Andrew's office. By which time it was nearly 3:30 and I hadn't eaten lunch. Andrew works in the tallest building in Beijing, and he's on the 36th floor with an incredible view. After he finished work, we went home and I got to meet Nicola and the nine-month-old master William. They're an awesome couple, and I can see why my parents like them so much - they're alike in a lot of ways. We had tortilla soup for dinner, which was a fantastic welcome to Beijing!
Wednesday I walked all over Chaoyang looking for apartments and realtors. Actually, I spent most of the morning getting my iPhone set up. Once I had that, I set up a few appointments. The first was awful. The rent was 3100 a month, and it was a concrete cell. There was no kitchen and the bathroom light didn't work. I felt around for a second and touched a live wire, shocking myself pretty well but not enough to hurt. And it was filthy. No, thank you!
The afternoon was pretty long, but I saw a couple places I liked all right, although they were all 4000 or slightly over, more expensive than I had originally planned on. But apparently in this neighborhood it's either that or live on the edge of habitability. You want cheaper, you leave the city center. Mostly, I felt like the city was forbidding and impersonal. All the streets are wide and there were no little neighborhood streets with stalls and little shops anywhere. So I went home slightly discouraged but with a few options. Pesto for dinner; Nicola outdoes herself! I went to institute later at the Stratford's home and met them and some YSA here; it will be very nice to have that every week again.
Thursday I started work. I wrote a journal entry abut that already, so we'll leave that there. I get off at 6, so after that I headed back for dinner (fish/snow pea stir fry) and then went out to meet Joel and see my favorite apartment option again with him. We went, and lo and behold the landlord agreed to let us rent for four months! Miracle! So we agreed then and there to sign and move in on Saturday. Rent is 4500, but it was nice to be done worrying about it that soon and without much pain.
Friday I of course went to work again. It's only a 15 minute walk from the Dougherty's house, so I couldn't have found a more convenient place to stay for my first few days. After work, Joel and I hung out at the Dougherty's, ordered Italian food and watched The King's Speech, an excellent movie. I'm glad I finally got around to watching it. We were going to babysit William, but they ended up taking him to the Valentine's dance instead, so we were on our own.
On Saturday, I slept in (until 9 or so - I've become an early riser in the last week!) and then packed my things and messed around until it was time to go. I made a salad for lunch, and Andrew made their maid stay and eat some with us. It was funny to watch her try to refuse, but she finally ate some and quite liked it, so they gave her a bottle of salad dressing before she left. Oh, mianzi! Andrew drove me over to the apartment in his Jeep Cherokee, and Joel and I signed the contract and moved in. It's fairly nice - white tile floors, good furniture, a huge tv - and the area is pretty good, too. There's a park across the street and it's right by the river, and there are places to eat pretty close and a sports center across the street. Not a bad find.
It also turned out to be a short bus ride away from church! So it's close to everything (it's a 25 minute commute for me to work - seven minutes to the station, ten minute ride, eight minutes on the other side). We made it to church right on time; church here is on the fourth floor of an office building that we rent out. There were mostly older couples and younger couples with small children in the branch, but there were also about 15 YSA there, and there was a YSA Sunday school class. Two of the new YSA girls, Karin and Andrea, came to the Dougherty's for dinner after church, so we got to know them a little better. Andrea just joined the church in November and is here with an American University program until May; Karin is a BYU student here interning with China Post until August or so. There might be some potential there - she's cute and learning Chinese, two important things in a future spouse...
The last couple days were pretty much the same; not much variety. Work, come home, grab dinner at a place nearby, and putter before bed. I mopped half the house yesterday but didn't have the motivation to do more today. Maybe later. The place will look really nice when it's all cleaned up. Joel's okay with small tasks if they don't take long, but he doesn't really have the desire to do any thorough cleaning. There won't be time tomorrow: there's a fireside with Elder Oaks, Hallstrom, and Perkins at 7, so there's my day all planned out already! I'm looking forward to the fireside. Hopefully the spirit directs me further as to what I'm supposed to be doing in my life. We shall see what the morrow brings...
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