Apartment Pictures

WARNING:  This is a very lame post.  I was feeling the pressure since Lesley posted another one this week and I still hadn't.  I wrote one last night and then it got deleted, so this one is even more pathetic.  I promise a legit post is coming soon with stories about my students and even a video clip from class! 

Any who, way back when I said I was going to post a Before and After Shoot of our apartment....well here is the before part.  Hopefully, the after will come soon.  I need to do laundry, wash some dishes, and pick up our apartment in general before I take any pictures or I might look worse than the before shots! haha

These pictures were all taken my first day in Huangshi.   We walked in the door, looked around and started taking pictures. 

OUR APARTMENT

This is my bedroom!  Our waiban, Diana, picked out the bedspread before we arrived.  It is very Chinese and bright, but it's growing on me.  The bed is very hard even with the foam I bought for it.  Literally it is like sleeping on wood.  Behind my bed are two sliding doors that open up into my sun room.  Yes, I said my own sun room just for me! It has tons of shelves and glassed in cabinets, so lots of storage room.  Honestly, our bedrooms are the nicest part of our home.  It is very cozy and definitely a great place to retreat and get away from the hectic China life that lingers right outside our door.

This is the sun room which I use for storage for my towels, clothes, coats, etc.  I also dry my clothes in this room, since we do not have dryer here.  It is a great addition to our bedrooms and makes the whole space feel much larger.

The Living Room  The only way I can describe our living room is with one word WHITE!  The floors, ceilings, and walls are all stark white.  To the left of the picture is our "couch".  It is more like office/airport furniture.  We thought our school was going to buy us a new one, but again this is China and everything doesn't work out quite as you expect it to.  Flexibility is definitely something you have to embrace here.  Lesley and I might buy a couch for ourselves soon.  We are still trying to decide if it is worth it.  The TV is on the right.  It is huge!  We do have cable, but we have never watched anything or even turned it on.  Although I probably should try to catch a children's show and maybe I could learn some more Chinese.  haha

Lesley's bedroom is an exact replica of my  bedroom with the sun room and all.  Her bedspread was also picked out before we got here and is even more Chinese than mine! 


Brace yourself....you are about to enter into our bathroom.  It is very different than a western bathroom.  As most of you know, I packed a camping toilet with me when I moved here, since our apartment has a "squatty potty" aka a hole in the ground.  We used the toilet for the first week and then decided to embrace the Chinese lifestyle and do as the Chinese do.  We are so adaptable and flexible now.  haha :)

This is it!  The white porcelain hole on the floor next to the mop is our squatty potty.  The sink is to the left and the box on the right with the blue lid is the washing machine.  It is official that we will be stuck with the squatty for our time here in China.  We figured this out pretty quickly because our washing machine drains into the squatty, so for plumbing/draining purposes a western toilet wouldn't do.  Although it was scary at first, it really isn't that bad.  I promise! 

 Another picture of the bathroom with a full view of the washing machine.  Behind it is the plumbing for the shower and the shower head.  This water also drains into the squatty. 

The Kitchen is very small, but functional.  The little kettle is for boiling water, since you can't drink the tap water here.  Also, we have a water jug that we use for drinking water.  There is a good bit of storage in here as well, which is nice.

The stove top and the sink.  Again not that appealing to the eye, but it does the job.  The two aqua boxes above the stove are fans for the stove.

Last but not least the dining room.  The refrigerator and dining room table are pretty much the only two items in this room.  It is actually a great space with a large window that has a descent view of China.  My favorite meal to eat here is breakfast, where I can just chill out, eat a good meal, and spend some time in the word.

I warned y'all this was going to be boring.  If you made it this far I am impressed!  Overall, the apartment is starting to feel more homey with the few decorations we have put up.  An After post should be coming soon.  Although I should probably call it an In between/Middle post.  We still have lots of work to do with it, but slowly it is all coming together.