New Digs

As some of you know, I recently moved.

I promised pictures. So, here you go...

This first picture is the view outside the 3"H x 4"W window of my old apartment.

This is the view outside the floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall window of my new place.

See the building in the center of the picture? See the top floor? That's where I live.

This was my old living room. It was bigger than the picture makes it seem, but this was the best picture I could get due to angles, etc. This view is from standing at the front door. I actually had it arranged differently, but I put it all back they way it was when I moved in.

This is my new living room. I had the chairs set like that because 10 people were coming over for food. Normally, they are around the dining room table. In this position, I have my back against the "sun room" that has the window which looks at the place in picture number 2.

So anyway.... There are a couple pictures of the new digs. Costs a lot more, and not everything is perfect, but it's worth it to me.

What's not perfect? Well...
-The water is TOO hot. Scalding hot at halfway.
-Paying my bills is more of a pain. I had to open an account at a different bank just to buy electricity.
-Running out for a soda, or ice cream, or a potato is much more involved. I can't just walk across the street anymore.
-The old place was 2 bedroom. Which meant I had one room just to store junk. Now, I don't have as much junk storage as I used to.

Still, overall, a major upgrade in my life. And, I'm very pleased.

Feel free to visit any time.

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This picture is completely unrelated to my apartment.

A while back, we took the kids and their parents on a field trip to an apple orchard. It was one of those Pick-Your-Own places. Everyone seemed to have a really good time. Even me.

Here is a picture of the sign outside the place.

It says "Ping Guo Yuan", which translates to "Apple Garden".




So there we go... My old place, my new place, and a Chinese lesson all in one post.

Happy Thanksgiving, New House, and Bicycle Crashes

Howdy all.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I've been a little quiet recently. Primarily because of dealing with the new house.

Searching for the new place was not fun. Cleaning the old place was not fun. Unpacking at the new place is not fun.

But, I've found, cleaned, and made a huge dent in the unpacking, so all is good.

I'll have pictures in a few days. I just need to get the pictures onto the computer, sort them and post them. You'll see the before and after, old vs new.

One thing about the new place is that I can't walk to work anymore. It's a little too far. So, i ride my bike.

In the previous two years of living here, I'd only had one accident. In the past two days, I've had two accidents.

Accident #1 - I'm riding my bike down Wusheng Lu. Car comes out of a side street and pokes its nose out. I have to swerve to miss the car, and bump off the side of a passing bus. No big deal. Didn't fall, and barely slowed down. Just a little something to get the adrenaline going.

Accident #2 - Happened just about an hour ago. I'm riding along, and one of those tricycle pedalcab things turns left right in front of me. I couldn't stop. Crashed into him, he rolled over my front tire and mangled it all to hell.

Remember the story of when I got accused of shoplifting? How tons of people stopped to watch?

Think about this.... This time, it was the middle of nighttime rush hour. Right at a bus stop. And this time, I know enough Chinese to curse at the guy in Chinese. LOTS of spectators.

To make a long story short... The guys friends moved his pedalcab away, and he took off running when he realized that the cops were coming to sort it all out. One thing about China... The cops will make an on-the-spot decision, and demand that the person in the wrong pay the other person, right then and there.

I'm not really pissed about the cost of the new tire. I am pissed that I let him get away. Oh, well.

At least I did get to use my Chinese cursing in a real life situation :)

I got to use:
-Are you foolish?
-You are foolish!
-Are you blind?
-You are blind!
-You are stupid!

I didn't think about it at the time, but I should have told him that he wears a green hat. This is just about the worst thing you can say to a Chinese guy.

Obviously, Chinese-style cursing is a little different than American-style cursing.

Anyway... Hope all of you have/had a great Thanksgiving! No green hats for you!

Magores