Thursday, October 20, 2011

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.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

A Pictures Worth a Thousand Words

I heart pictures and I finally figured out how to post them on my blog!  Wahoo!  So here's a post of pics and the stories to go along with it!  :)

DAWN'S BIRTHDAY PARTY
This is Dawn!  She is one of the sweetest girls I've ever met.  She truly has a servant's heart and has been the most helpful person I've met in China so far.  She is always helping us foreigners out.  This is at her birthday party at the Randall's house.  The Randall's are a foreign couple from the U.S. who live in Huangshi.  They have three daughters and have become good friends of Dawn's over the years.  Dawn was making the dough for pizza.  She loves to cook and is an excellent one if I do say so myself.  She wants to own a bakery/coffee shop one day. 

Lesley and I chilling at Dawn's party.  We were really excited because they had Reese's.  You would not believe how often our team talks about American food!  Anytime we eat something that reminds us of home we feel the need to document it.

 Kevin getting pumped about the pizza!  It was seriously good pizza!  YUMMMMMMMMM!
On the left is banana bread, which was so yummy!  Dawn's birthday cake is on the right decorated with fruit roll ups and M&Ms. 

 Lesley, Erin, and myself enjoying the festivities and American food!


Dawn opening her birthday gift from our team.  We got her a French press coffee maker and coffee grinder!  Then we sang Happy Birthday in English and Chinese!  So fun!  Love her princess birthday crown.

We also got to play on the Wii!  Kevin and the Randall's daughter Mercy about to throw it down.  Let's just say Kevin gave a good fight, but couldn't top Mercy.  She beat us all!

WUHAN PEEPS VISIT

We had some friends visit us from Wuhan on Sunday through Tuesday.  It was a great time hanging out and enjoying their company!  The two girls that stayed with us were Melodie and Mandi.  Both Southern girls, so you know we had a good time!  Melodie is a Texas girl and there is no denying it.  If anyone understands our love for the South it's her.  Mandi is the other chicka from Louisiana!  We had some great girl time, just talking, dancing and being psychoanalyzed! haha Rebecca also came to visit.  She teaches at the university in Wuhan and is from England/France.  She is so sweet and we were so glad she decided to visit!  Also, two of the guys from our team in Wuhan came too, The Nathans!

 
The pic above is the best dessert from the Tea House here in Huangshi.  The restaurant serves Western food that is the closest you can get to the real thing.  Chelsie and I split this divine piece of heaven before we headed to KTV!


All of the girls hanging out before we headed to our room for KTV!  KTV is just like karaoke, but instead of being on a stage you pay for a room just for your friends.  It was one of the best nights we have had so far.  Although most of you know I can't sing, I still had a wonderful time rocking out some tunes and dancing!
From Left to Right:  Dawn, Erin, Mandi (Louisiana girl), Chelsie, me, Lesley, Melodie (Texan), and Rebecca. 




The Dudes
Left to Right:  Nathan T., Paul, Nathan M., Kevin, and Aaron


Nathan M., Melodie, and Erin singing their hearts out!


Chelsie rocked it all night long!  Love this girl!


Nathan and Aaron singing Backstreet Boys.  I also got a video of this one, but it takes forever to load.  Maybe next time.


Is that Paul singing?!?!  No way I must be seeing things!


Before the Wuhan peeps headed home we had breakfast at the "Waffle Place" in the underground mall.  The waffles were very tasty, but it's a very Chinese version of a waffle.  They come in several flavors, such as banana, strawberry, chocolate and plain with red beans. It comes served in a bag with no syrup or any sauce.  For China, it's delicious!  Oh and yes we are sitting on toilets.  We thought about stealing one for our apartment! :)


Lesley enjoying her toilet time!


Lesley, Melodie, and Mandi



Hope you enjoyed the pictures! It was a fun filled weekend/ Monday and Tuesday.  It's National Holiday here in China, so most of us have the week off from teaching.  Our school gave us seven days of vacation, but then we have to go in this coming up weekend and work Saturday and Sunday to make up for the Thursday and Friday we were off.  Oh China!  That's all I can say.  Flexibility is key to surviving here.  I'm headed to my first Chinese wedding tonight, so I'm sure that will be included in my next update!