On Sunday evening, we went with Tony and Sherry (the realtors) to look at another apartment. We were so disappointed about the apartment that hadn’t worked out and so we didn’t dare get our hopes up too high. The apartment was on the ground floor and had a little garden area in back. I am paranoid about being in a high-rise apartment (fire, earthquakes, heights, etc.) so I was glad it was on the bottom floor. I am not sure if I have mentioned in a previous email about some of the things that have to be negotiated for in the contract. For instance: oven (apparently they don’t bake), water purifier, water cooler (like the one with the bottles of drinking water from Culligan), dishwasher, full-size fridge, clothes dryer (they hang everything out to dry on the balcony area), international satellite TV, internet, parking in the underground garage, bathtub (we gave up on that one), dehumidifier, etc. The kitchen was about the size of my bathroom and I’m not kidding. There was a full-size fridge in the dining room and they will put a portable oven on a cart by the fridge. It was very nicely furnished. The one drawback, besides the small kitchen, is there wasn’t much room for storage. When I think about all the stuff we sent in our shipment, I’m not sure where we would put everything. Tony had two other appointments set up for Monday. I spent a good share of the night awake worrying about anything you could imagine.
Cherie got home on Monday morning from her trip to Bejing and agreed to go with us house hunting again. She is awesome! Tony and Sherry picked me up at 2:00 and off we went AGAIN. The first apartment was on the 14th floor, so you can about imagine how I felt about that. It was a nice apartment, but when I looked out the windows, I got dizzy. The next one had the same floor plan as the one we saw on Sunday. It was on the 4th floor. It had more storage. I asked Tony if there was any chance we could see the other apartment. I wanted Cherie’s opinion. He called the landlord and he said he would meet us in 20 min. It was so hot and humid, so we went to McDonald’s to get a drink and cool off while we waited. We were all sweating, but poor Tony. The sweat just runs down his face and he had to keep wiping it. Bless his heart! I posted a picture of us on facebook. (When I figure how to download pictures on this computer, I want to put pictures to go with the updates.) We went back to the apartment complex and met with the landlord. I told Cherie my concerns about the storage and the kitchen. We walked around and she gave me ideas about where I could put things. She was very encouraging (does the word “tender mercy” come to mind here)? It felt right. I told Tony to tell him we wanted it and to start negotiating the contract. That’s where we are right now folks. Keep your fingers crossed. It looks like it might be a go. Cherie and I went to lunch at the Potato Bistro and had a good visit.
Last night (Tuesday), Lane invited us out to dinner and fireworks for Cherie’s birthday. We went to a place called the Blue Marlin and had a nice, relaxing meal. Their son, Carson, and Mike Hart from work joined us. Now for the fireworks—it is totally unbelievable how they do things here. We wrote about the fireworks we went to at the Westover’s. That got Lane thinking that some fireworks for Cherie’s birthday would be a good idea. He took some of the Chinese workers to show him where to buy them. After dinner, we all piled in Lane’s SUV with Carson in the back. We drove down by their housing complex and found a place to light them. You should have seen Lane, Mike, Carson, and Craig. Let’s just say they ran around like a bunch of teenagers. I kept thinking that Brett would have been in all his glory to have been there. They were amazing! You name it—we had it, including a large birthday cake of fireworks.
There is so much I want to write about our trip to Jin Tan today that I don’t even know where to start. We were going there to get our residence permits. Now, you need to understand that these permits are a BIG deal. We have to have them before our shipments can clear customs, and I think before we can move into an apartment. Our air shipment is sitting in customs waiting for the residence permits. Once we get the permits, it takes five working days to process them. After that it will take another eight working days to get our shipment. So we are talking another two weeks at best. If we are able to move into the apartment, I did bring a set of sheets, two towels and washcloths, and two bags of cold cereal. So we should be set. Do you see why I say these permits are a BIG deal?
Louis, Craig’s driver, picked us up at 7:30 a.m. for the drive to Jin Tan. We arrived about 8:40 and waited for Katherine (one of the realtors) to arrive. The building was locked and didn’t open until 9:00. While we were waiting, a man came out of the building and said they had no electricity. Katherine came and we decided to wait until they opened and see what was going on. Well, as luck would have it, there was no electricity and they weren’t expecting it to come back on until about 3:30. Yup, you guessed it, no residence permits today! We made arrangements to go back tomorrow. Craig and Louis headed back to work and I went back to the hotel with Katherine and her driver.
The drive there and back was actually very interesting. We were on a four-lane highway in kind of a rural area. We could see people working out in their little fields. They haul their stuff on carts that look like a tricycle with a bed on the back. Some of them are motorized and some are pedaled. They are loaded and they drive right along the side of the road into town. It’s really hard to describe what I’m talking about. You have probably seen them in books about China. It is amazing how much stuff they can pile on them. I looked up and one of these carts was in the fast lane of traffic heading straight for us. I couldn’t believe it. And to top that off, a man ran across the highway in front of two cars. On the way back, there was a big van with two huge paper wreaths (about six feet in diameter) tied on the back. I asked Katherine what that was and she told me it was for a burial. When we passed the van, I looked inside and there was a casket, flowers stuffed everywhere, and it was packed with people. In front of the van was a truck hauling five gold cannons. Every so often one of the cannons would go off and made a very loud noise. Katherine told me that they are welcoming the deceased into another world. She told me they believe that when a person dies, if they have been good, they go to another world to live. I asked her if she was talking about heaven and she said, “Yes.” I told her I believed that, too. She seemed quite surprised. I asked her what happened if they had been bad. I didn’t exactly get what she said, but it was something like they didn’t exist or they didn’t go to another world. I asked her if they lived with the devil, but she didn’t think so. I told her I thought they still lived, but not in heaven (that’s the best way I could think to describe it to her). She said I was very kind to believe that. I asked her what they believed as far as little children who die. She said they are angels and I told her I agreed. You need to remember we are forbidden to discuss anything at all about the Church, but I felt like we had a good discussion.
One other little tidbit and then I need to close this: On the way home, a taxi tried to merge in front of us. Our driver was determined this wasn’t going to happen. I am sure the look on my face was something else. The taxi was probably three inches away from my side when I looked out my window. I thought we would get side-swiped for sure, but we didn’t. I made it home safe and sound. Now, if we can just get those blasted permits tomorrow!
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