My New Place...but first the hunt.

As of today, my apartment is finally organized and packed with the essentials...except food. Which, by the way, I need to do immediately. I don't want what happened last night to happen again.

Last Tuesday, the 9th, I began apartment hunting. I should have known from the moment I got an email stating my budget was too low that this would be a nightmare. The agent shows up and leads me to my first and only option for the day. The apartment was literally half the size of my college dorm room - no kitchen, living room, or desk. It was home to a bathroom larger than anyone would ever need, a table, a bed on the floor, and a TV. I said no way. (I thought she was doing this to encourage me to raise my budget so they could make more off the commission, but it turns out my budget was really low for what I was looking to rent.) She left, which was ridiculous because it takes her an hour by bus to get here. I feel like efficiency just escaped her.

The next day, after telling her my apartment didn't have to be "western" or furnished as I would be living there for a few years and I could collect furniture on my own, we went and looked at 2 other apartments. I walked in the first apartment and started screaming in my head. What was this lady thinking? Apparently, "unfurnished" meant unfinished. There was bare concrete walls with no tile or sink or...or...or anything. I left. The second one, well, we didn't see because we walked into a real estate agency to ask for other options. It was here we found the one.

So, in 2 days, I found the apartment I was looking for. It was a little bit out of my budget but I splurged for comfort and convenience. The landlords were excited to have me until the next day when I would need to post payment. Long story short, I had to go to the ATM 8 times in over the course of the following days because my accounts would only let me withdrawal so much per period. The landlords went crazy. They thought it was too much "mafan" (trouble) to receive payment over a few days. What? They couldn't wait to go to the bank until after they received all their money? I understand though. No one likes to be cheated.

Now back to the pantry. 2 days ago I ordered internet. And like in Yichang, people just say, go home and wait. Wait? I like appointments. Be here at 2. Be here at 3. Way more efficient for everyone. They said, "Go home and wait from 1 pm to 5 pm." Argh. Well, I forgot to buy food for the day because I was cleaning and so 1 pm came and I had no food and had only eaten oatmeal. By 5 pm, I was done waiting and they hadn't shown up yet. I was agitated. They finally showed up to install the internet and asked me where I wanted the hole drilled for the line. I kept telling them where but they would only do it where they wanted so I kept asking them why they asked me why cared where it went. Turns out, where I wanted it was twice as thick as I had actually thought. So after arguing for 15 mins, I lost and lost face really badly. I blame it on the lack of food or maybe the fact that 3 bowls of oatmeal just doesn't cut it for someone who wants CHOCOLATE!

So now you get to see pics. Check them out in the next post or on facebook.