House Hunting Day #2

We met our realtor, Sherry Wang, at 9:00 a.m. for our second day of house hunting.  We went to the apartment complex where Tracy Crump, one of Craig’s co-workers lives.  The landlord was there yet to show us the apartment, so we went to see Tracy and his apartment.  He has a nice place and he showed us some of the decorations he has bought since he moved to China.  He is fascinated by the Chinese culture and has some nice things.  We then went to see the apartment.  The people were still living in it and we weren’t impressed at all.  Let’s just leave it at that.  I had a few adjectives I was going to use but decided I better not.  The second apartment was a little better but not much.  We were pretty discouraged by this time.  We really liked the third apartment.  It has been completely redone and everything is new in it.  It is located in the area I wrote about yesterday, by the International School.  The last apartment was new also, but is farther away from the Autoliv worker’s homes.  It was in a very nice complex, much nicer than the other ones.  I really didn’t like the furnishings though.  And I mean I really didn’t like them.  Could I just say purple velvet cloth headboard in one room and pink in one room—the list goes on and on.  We are going to go back with Cherie Sparks on Monday and get her opinion on the apartment, location, etc.  We are feeling a bit more hopeful today

After we got back to the hotel, we decided to go back to where I was yesterday so I could show Craig the area.  We went by taxi and it was quite the ride.  He got lost or was just driving around to make it cost more.  I think that is what he was doing, but Craig gave him the benefit of the doubt. Craig was trying to give him directions which was a disaster.  We finally got there and this time it cost 20 rmb or about $3.50.  We went to lunch at the Potato Bistro.  We decided to try their Mexican cuisine this time.  We both enjoyed our meals.  I showed Craig all the places Cherie and I went yesterday.  Our taxi ride back was uneventful and cost 13 rmb (go figure).