The last of the themes: Our apartment

Paul's room before.

Before: Our bedroom

Ok, this is for sure the last of the thematic posts, I want to get back to cataloguing our daily lives so that I can remember the details, but I have not posted about our apartment. I remember obsessing over what our apartment would look like before we got here. Spending hours perusing over any apartment that might be ours. I watched an obscene amount of international house hunters and imagined myself trying out new apartments, wondering what ours would be like, and figuring out my likes and dislikes. But mostly I just tried to keep an open mind. 

The office/train room

The night we arrived I was so incredibly anxious to see our place, it seemed like hours in the taxi from the airport to our new home, but it was really only an hour. When we arrived, it was late, and we pulled into the below ground parking structure and made our way up to the 7th floor through the tiny elevator. It took us several trips to get all our baggage up there, and it was stiflingly hot.

Our Bathroom

When we walked into our apartment, it was hot and empty. Sure there was furniture, but it seemed a little bit desolate. The only light we had was fluorescent, and our beds were made with loaned sheets from school. I couldn't help but feel disappointed after my extensive "research.“



After: Our room

But in the morning light, it was better. Our apartment is large, three pretty good sized bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room combined with dining room and a kitchen with attached patio for laundry. It has tons of windows with natural light, and the bathroom has a good sized shower. Our bedroom even has room for a king sized bed, which is super luxurious. :)



Computer/TV

After our horrific trip to Ikea, the apartment began to feel more like home. We had rugs, our bed wasn't as hard as a rock, and light that wouldn't blind us. It's much smaller than our five-bedroom house, but it seems the perfect size for us. Actually, I don't know what we did with all that space. Donnie and I share a closet, and it's fine. Paul has his own room with a full size bed, plus his "train room," which is actually an office. So if anybody wants to come visit, we have plenty of room. ;)

The furniture isn't what we would pick out for ourselves, but we've arranged it in a way that is acceptable, and we've accented it with some furniture that we've bought and now it seems like it all went together to begin with.

Sure, there are days when we lament not having our own pool and a kitchen the size of our living room, but mostly we enjoy coming home to our oasis of cool and quiet in this hot and bustling city.

Our apartment is in a part of Shekou called Garden City. It is right across the street from a mall, and a Wal-Mart (which is a whole other post), and it's right next to the QSI Shekou Secondary school. We catch the bus about a 8 minute walk from school, and along the way there are hair salons, little marts, clothing shops, a cute cafe, and a couple nail shops. We seem to be in an area of cosmotology, which is good when you need grooming, but not so great when you're searching for dinner.

Luckily, right across the main street there are some dumpling, noodle and other shops with lots of good stuff. Not to mention, pretty much every place delivers.

So although not the place of my dreams, and still a bus ride from school (I was hoping to be able to walk), it's home now. I really like it. Donnie is a fantastic decorator, and he's put his touches on it and made it ours.

 

Come see it for yourself. ;)