Settling, Settling, Settling

Well we have finally moved into our permanent home in Beijing.  Its been a busy couple of weeks but we are finally feeling like we are settling in.

Pee in a Bucket

Last Saturday I went shopping for the last “big” purchase for the house. I was sick and tired of shopping at Ikea and asked around for some recommendations for local furniture purchases. One of the ladies from church suggested some places out in ShunYi. ShunYi is a district of Beijing way outside the city center east towards the airport. There are many expat communities out here with subdivisions and western looking homes, which they call “Villas”. The suggestion was some small local Chinese furniture stores that were along TianBei Avenue heading west from the Airport Expressway. These shops had a lot of wooden furniture : tables, dressers, end tables etc. Most of them were made from elm, much of it recycled from old buildings. There were a few antiques scattered throughout but I was looking for just a few items.

First priority was a dining room table for the front room. Our apartment has a real kitchen that was large enough to accommodate a small kitchen and 4 chairs that I’d purchased from Ikea. Along the way I was looking to pick up 2-3 end tables for placement around the front room. I found a place where they had a variety of end tables and bureaus. I took photos of several to share with Stac and I kept browsing from store to store. The last one in the row I found a table that I really liked. The table top was made from a solid piece of elm 4 inches thick. The table was 2 meters long by 80 cm wide, which would fit 4 chairs along the long sides and 2 on the end. The table is so heavy that I can barely lift it by using my legs to push up. The chairs were also elm, with nice curved backs and were far sturdier than anything I’d ever seen in the US. The style was simple and straightforward, we are not much into the fancy classy stuff. We bartered a little on price and finally settled. I bought a few other knick nacks, some candles and they wanted me to put down a deposit of several thousand RMB. Since I didn’t have that cash on hand I had to go up the road a bit to a bank and make a withdrawl. Before doing so I went back to the shop with the end tables and picked out three of them and settled on a price.

After withdrawing the money to purchase and deposit everyone had to go to the bathroom.  While I helped load the end tables I asked the lady if the kids could use the bathroom. She hesitated and her husband made dismissive statements, but I said they really had to go and so off they went to the back. After I finished loading I asked if I could go as well and Sofi led me back to a small room with a curtain hanging over it where there was a large bucket. Sofi said : “We had to pee in a bucket”.  When you have to go, you have to go!

Loading up we made our way back home.  The drive was around 40 minutes and along the way we hit some really bad traffic, finally the source became evident. There was a policeman in the middle of the road.  He was flagging some cars down and others were weaving erratically around him. Mr. Wang our driver when he saw the policeman quickly put on his seat belt and the policeman waved us past. There was another officer a few yards beyond the roadblock on the side of the road writing out tickets with a whole set of trucks pulled to the side and around 15 guys huddled around him.  I guess they were doing a mass ticketing.

Moving in

Sunday after church we loaded up a bunch of bags up from our temporary hotel/apartment and delivered them over to our new place. The guys from the furniture store came and delivered the table. It took 4 of them to carry it into the apartment.  We put stuff away and then as it grew dark took a taxi back to the temporary hotel for our last night.  That evening Stac and I packed up the rest of the clothes, toys and few DVD’s and the like.  Monday morning we loaded up all the remaining bags in the van with Mr. Wang and I helped Stac unload everything into the place.  I drug the bags to the various rooms and then the guys from Ikea showed up to deliver and put together the last batch of stuff : another chair for the front room, desk for Sofi’s room, some pads for the rock hard beds and an entertainment center. I left for work and that Monday night I went to Carrefour again and loaded up another cart with some household sundries like garbage cans, brooms, blankets etc.   Finally moved in the week settled down to a routine where each day wasn’t about something new or buying stuff for our place.

Settling to Settled

Park Avenue is a series of large apartment buildings in a circle with a large park in the middle that has trampolines, swings and slides. Its gated with guards in every building and at each entrance. Having guards is nothing special; they are widespread everywhere in Beijing. Any place you go that has a parking area has a guard. My work has a guard that stands in a little house at the entrance and then 5-6 scattered inside and outside the buildings. These guys at Park Avenue don’t speak English, but there is a management office where they all speak English to one degree or another. One in particular : Miss Zhang is especially helpful. We wanted a place with 4 bedrooms so we could accommodate Kiah and guests when the visit. These large apartments are only located in the upper floors so we are on the 29th floor. Our apartment has lots of windows that all face north looking down on Chao Yang Park. The views are fantastic and when the weather is nice and clear (which its been the past few days) you have great views of the sunrise, sunset and the mountains beyond Beijing.  I’ve already spent a couple of evenings and mornings running around taking photos of the various scenes. I don’t imagine I’ll tire of doing that any time soon.

We’ve managed to settle into what feels like a semblance of normalcy.  In this first week Stac had a migraine (sadly) and we were able to get a taxi called, to the 24 hour clinic where we were seen within 4 minutes. She got a shot and was home and in bed within an hour. I bought a BBQ grill and we had pasta with pesto and grilled salmon. Miles and I bought bikes and he learned to ride his at Chao Yang Park and I biked to and from work successfully without incident. Friday can’t come soon enough as I was up really late two days with work and I’d forgotten that Tuesday and come and gone completely. Here is to settling and settling! (Next blog about the kids school)