My New Room

   

Our apartment is on the 5th floor
(built in workout as T would say) and the location is
AWESOME. This is kind of like the China version
of a backyard. Ours has a swing, stone pathways
and little waterways with koi fish. Very peaceful.

We have 3 balconies, a rooftop terrance, as well as an almost-spiral-staircase,
living room,sun room/great room and dining room, 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.
Here is the view from the living room looking into the sun room/great room
(we haven't named it yet) and the dining room. Here is T and her daughter K.

Here is my room.

This is what it looked like when I picked it.
They gave me the choice of 1 of 3 rooms.

I chose this room for several reasons: the window seat,
the L shape which gives it more dimension and a bit more room and
the location, near a bathroom on the first floor.

Let the painting begin! I bought the paint (which is exorbitant, wow) and
painted the room myself. It took me about 2.5 days
(I did the base boards as well).
A special thanks to my Grandpa for teaching me and
Uncle Jim and Peggy for keeping my summer jobs full of painting,
because of them I knew just what to do . 

Painting in China is not like painting in America. No way, no how.
First buying the paint is like, well, frustrating. They can do it, no, wait,
they can't, oh, but they can. Sure we can give you this, ok I want 3 cans, oh, we only have 1....
Anyway, after the buying and delivering is done (btw most everything here is delivered
directly to your apt. for free, awesome), there is the problem of the quality of supplies.
For example, I practically died (large exaggeration) of a sneezing attack
while trying to sand the putty (which filled everything but the hole once dried...).
I literally sneezed almost-straight for 10 min. 

The other issue was the tape. AH! The tape, don't get me started on the tape.
I had to retouch many, many times. Here I am laying on my floor because
(A) I was tried and had just finished the first coat and (B) because I could.

View from the window seat.

Paint everywhere. All different colors for all the different rooms.
We hired someone to paint the rest of the house (thank goodness).
Well, it was bitter sweet.  Let's just say that when you live in China you can't
compare it to home (for many valid reasons) and
therefore your standards for certain things being to change, like,
 for example, painting. The things that are a priority in the US suddenly
 become dim in this new environment. And so they probably should. 

We are getting new counters installed next week (yay!). 

Some more of those helpful (or sometimes not so much) tools.

This is only the introduction, there will be more room/design posts in the near future....

Most likely tomorrow : ) 

As you can imagine, life here as kept me busy the past week. I have been in China for a little over a week already. The jet lag is still here, the digestion, not so good, BUT life here, overall, has been new and exciting. Can't wait to show you my life through my photos!!

The Beginning

Lisa Helped me do everything. Could not have done it without her.

Stephen came to say goodbye around midnight and
helped me get all my technology in order : ) 

Lisa with Hong Kong money.

Snow on the window.

Doodling with markers.

Experimenting with color and pattern.

Neat patterns on the way to San Fran.

The room I am sharing until we move into the new apt.
I am liking all the window seats here.

I Left the house at 5:30 AM. The goodbye was a very tearful one. I had another tearful goodbye at the airport with mom and Lisa. I ended up having to pay over 400 to have my luggage checked (both were over weight), which was unfortunate. On the flight to San Francisco, I got 3 seats to myself so I could rest. I enjoyed hearing the banter of a group of Aussie guys, which was quite humorous, and doodling. I ate my last meal in America (for awhile) at this awesome deli in the international terminal. It was hummus, falafel and tabulie, YUM. I think the international terminal is my favorite to people watch. So many people from so many different places. I think someone should have an airport fashion blog. They could go around taking pictures of all sorts of people from around the world with the most interesting outfits. Anyway, it was a nice layover. I took Lisa's advice and wrapped a scarf over my head to sleep, I can only imagine how this looked. I slept til it was time to board. To my great dismay there were no T.V.s on this flight (I am not counting the projector which was missing the color red). I wouldn't normally mind, but I had been anticipating zoning out for at least 4-6 hours, and watching movies is the best way to get through the 12 hour flight. I knitted, read, ate, listened to books and music and slept. At the end of the flight I was so tired I kept falling asleep at the most random times. I literally could not stay awake. 

I arrived in Beijing at 9 PM, which is when my next flight was taking off. I was too tired to even notice the time and just went along as normal. There was really no reason to stress, I still had a long way to go to make the flight. After going through customs (which was simple and fast) I arrived to get my luggage. There was only one bag. I finally found the lost and found and waited in line to write a report. My bag was still in San Francisco! At least they found it. I rushed out of the lost and found into the terminal and waited 20mins for an elevator (Chinese aren't the best at forming lines) so that I could recheck my bag and go through security again. I was in a daze the entire time. When I finally reached my gate (the very last one, very far away), I immediately sat down and fell asleep. It turned out that the plane was delayed an hour (if it had not been I would not have made the flight). A kind lady woke me up and I was one of the last to board the plane. This plane was nicer than the one to Beijing and I fell asleep again. 

When I made it to Kunming I was relieved to find 2 people waiting for me. I was worried that they would have left or something since my flight was delayed. In Beijing I realized that I did not have any address or phone number of anyone in China, so I had no way to contact them (no wifi either). They were there and I was happy to see them. After a 40 min. drive we made it to the apt. I quickly sent an email to the family then brushed my teeth and washed my hair (flying always makes me feel filthy) and went to bed with a scarf around my head because I hadn't unpacked my towel. In the morning I met the girl I shared a bed with (she was sleeping when I came in). She is very nice and has been here for one month already. At 9 the next morning we went to see the new apt. that we will be moving into next week. My next post will be about this and I will take before and after pictures because it is being renovated as I write this. I can't wait to show you. 

Until next time,

Lindsay