The teachers apartments are on the school campus. There are 4 floors of apartments, however there are two entrances depending on which floor you are on. There are 2 apartments on each level with a study between each apartment
When you enter the first building there are glass doors and like a concierge desk with a phone and couple of chairs and a table and some plants to add some life. The apartments are basically looked after by who we call "the girls". There English is limited and there seems to be new "girls" all the time. My apartment is in this building on the second floor.
The front door of my apartment is timber and I always seem to have problems locking and unlocking it.
My apartment has 1 bedroom with a huge queen size bed, 3 bedside tables, a lamp and two wardrobes. Attached to the end of the wardrobe is what I would call a divider which has two shelves that I store cards, photos, perfume and stuff on and underneath is a storage cupboard. The phone is also in my bedroom. My bedroom is also air conditioned.
The bed is rock hard. It has no bounce. I have cushioned it putting a doona underneath the bottom sheet. You cannot tuck in the sheet. With a rock hard mattress the sheet does not move anyway. We are used to soft mattresses. Sleeping on the bed is like sleeping on a rock. Apparently the harder the bed the better quality. In fact soft mattresses are less expensive!
There are some advantages to this when you are traveling - you have the choice of soft or hard beds when travelling on train. The soft beds are less expensive!
In the main living room there is a fridge, microwave, water cooler, 3 seater lounge and a one seater, a small entertainment cabinet with a TV with cable, desk with a desktop computer and printer, a coffee table and what I would call a grey metal office cupboard where the top is glass and the bottom is metal. This room is also air conditioned.
The water cooler used to hold an 11L bottle. This was not enough to last me a week. It was increased to an 18 L bottle. This also would not last me a week. It used to be Y3 for the bottle but has recently increased to Y4 IE 66c for 18L. The water cooler has both a hot and cold tap. I have to admit that I have become accustomed to drinking hot water!
On TV there are 2 English Stations - one is CCTV9 which shows news and documentaries the other is a movie channel that shows either movies in English or English sub titles. If I'm forced to watch the box I watch CCTV9. If you find something interesting but you miss it, there is no need to worry because the shows are repeated on a daily basis.
I have a shared kitchen with the other teacher who lives on this floor. I have never used it, couldn't tell you what was in there. I have been in there though. It is very clean but it appears no one from the floor uses it. I don't know my neighbor. I believe he is Chinese and I am yet to see him.
The bathroom is OK. It also serves as the toilet and laundry. The bathroom has a hot water system and an enclosed shower which is quite a luxury in China. The toilet is a western toilet (YippEEEE!) except it doesn't have water sitting in the bottom. It only flushes with water. The washing machine is a Chinese washing machine with only Chinese writing. It is the smallest washing machine that I have ever seen. Check out my photos and you will see what I mean. It is that small that I have to wash on a daily basis.
As I eat out every night I have had to buy a few utensils such as cup, glass, plate, knife & spoon to get me through breakfast and lunch. I also had to buy a container to wash the dishes in, dishcloths, washing detergent, tea towels just to make my life a little more comfortable.
I have bought some things to make the apartment more comfortable, however some foreign teachers do spend a lot of money making their apartments more comfortable. The walls do get to me at times so I have put up some photos from home. I also bought a potted rose. And surprisingly it is still alive!
The clothes line is a bar that runs above the washing machine. Now we all know that I am vertically challenged, but so are the Chinese. I need a step ladder to hang my clothes! And hangers.
The rooms are carpeted except of course the bathroom. Well maybe it is just red underlay. It picks up everything.
Normally when I go away I would iron my clothes before putting in my backpack. This time I just put everything in my suitcase unironed. Mum and Deleece both warned me that there may not be an iron. Of course there would be I thought! My nightmare became a reality when on my first day here, the men are all dressed in suits and take of their jackets to reveal an unironed shirt. I went a week without an iron. I finally bought one yesterday at the department store. Gee it was very interesting trying to communicate that I wanted to buy an iron. In the end I went into a woman's dress shop and went into their store room to find an iron to show them. They took me to the fifth floor. Success at last. I have an iron. And an ironing board.
I still haven't been able to find a bath mat. Those that have lived with me or shared a bathroom with me, will understand that I need a bath mat. I don't understand the concept of drying in the shower. And besides this shower is not big enough to be drying one's self.
Other than that I think my apartment is now set up and ready to go.