Moving and Great Wall

We have been living in our new apartment for just over a week now, and we are loving it! It is 95 square meters, but feels bigger as it is really roomy and open. It gives us lots of space, and an awesome view!

Moving did not go too bad. Most of our stuff fit in suitcases, and Chelsey was able to wheel them over (a couple people from the realtor helped moved them). After signing the contract I had to go straight to work so I was not able to help out. We were going to do a bunch of it on Tuesday (I had the day off) but Monday night the Halls came over and helped move a bunch of stuff. They took it downstairs to their van, and then drove the van through the parking lot to the new building and took it upstairs. So there really was not much left to do on Tuesday. The apartment really feels like a home now that we are unpacked (more or less) and have our pictures up on the wall. We have also gotten done a lot of firsts in a new home that makes it feel like a home - first family meal, first guests, etc.

Jada is cutting a new tooth, and was really not doing well for a couple of days. She had a fairly high fever for about two days, and we were concerned about her enough that Bro. Hall and I gave her a blessing. She is doing a lot better now, and is back to her happy normal self. The tooth does not seem to be the front top tooth, but rather one of the ones beside those. I guess we will see when it is more visible.

On Saturday, our plans fell through, so we decided to go to the Great Wall! We had been planning to go for some time, but we just decided to go when we woke up in the morning, kinda spur of the moment. We went to the MuTianYu section, which is a little further away from Beijing but in my opinion a lot nicer section than BaDaLing which is closer. Beijingers say "People from outside Beijing go to BaDaLing, but locals go to MuTianYu." The crowds were not that bad for a Saturday, partly because it was a hot day - close to 30C (but there was a nice breeze), partly because it is still early in the tourist season, and partly because it was not that clear outside (Beijing Smog). We were there about 6 hours all in all, including travel time. This was Chelsey and Jadas first trip to the great wall (my third). We had a lot of fun. We decided to take a driver out there instead of taking the bus. It was a little expensive at 500 RMB (73USD, the bus would have cost about 220RMB/34USD) We figure that the extra 300RMB was worth a happy baby. On the bus she would not have been able to sleep that well because many people would be looking at her, but in the car she had a good nap there and a good nap back. Many Internet sources said that a driver should have cost about 400RMB (58 USD) but the drivers near us would not do it for that much. The price with drivers is all negotiated, and 500 is quite a bit lower then the 900 they started at so we were happy.

Later Saturday we had some of our friends over for supper, as they were in the area looking for apartments. We made some Sweet and Sour Pork (Tangcu Liji), some marinated cucumbers (Pai Huang Gua) and some dumplings (jiaozi). It was a lot of fun, and we were happy that we could host some friends in our new apartment! We actually have 4 matching chairs! It makes us very happy. We also have a couple of extra chairs in case we need them. Saturday was a busy day, but it was a lot of fun!

Fish! I want to see the fish!

Yes, we seem to post a lot of Jada moments, but hey, we're first time parents - what can you say?!
Today we went to an Indian restaurant near our home. We have been there a number of times, but only a couple times with Jada. It has been open for not quite a year or so, and the owner told us today that we were the first foreigners to come to his restaurant when it opened up. He is a really nice guy - he gave us free lassis (a cold yogurt fruit drink) that day.

Anyway, last month on our anniversary (first time we had gone with Jada there) Jada was being very fussy. We had to take turns eating while the other would hold Jada and let her look at the fish. The owner was nice and tried to hold Jada for us, but that made her scream all the louder. Every time he would look at Jada that day she would start to cry.

Today was totally different. Almost as soon as she saw him today, she smiled and let him hold her for a long time. She even let ALL the wait staff hold her (3 or 4 people). They took her to see the fish and she just kept wanting to go back there, so they took her high chair over so that she could have the front row seat. Every time they started taking her away, she would turn her head around looking for the fish and reaching out trying to grab them through the tank. It really surprised us that she a) let everyone hold her and b) that she let strangers hold her for a good 20 minutes! They even offered to watch her for us while we ate, but she needed some supper as well. She had some rice, some potatoes, some naan and some chicken. She really loved the chicken and naan. It was butter chicken (we sucked off the sauce because it had a little spice) so I guess she is a lot like Chelsey and LOVES butter chicken.

Chelsey took a blanket today and wrapped it around her middle to hold her up as she crawls. Jada pretty much knows how to crawl, but just does not do it. But within 10-15 minutes of being supported by the blanket we could see a lot of progress in her effort in crawling. We have a bit of a maze of stuff (suitcases) as we get our new apartment tomorrow and Jada was exploring and pulling herself up from a sitting position, holding on to the suitcases. It wont be long before she decides she can crawl on her own (she kinda army crawls/scoots right now on her belly) or pull her self up and walk around things. Any guess as to which will happen first?

2 more sleeps in our old apartment, then we are in the new apartment. We really really like it! When we first saw it, and they told us that it was 5500RMB and unable to go down in price, I felt really bummed about it. It really felt like home, more than any other one had. A few days later, we were feeling discouraged of looking at apartments that felt wrong, so we took a look at our budget (again) and decided that even though it would be tight, we could afford it. We were about to go to the realtor and tell them that we would take it, she called us and asked if we would take it for 5300! Of course, we said yes! Not a huge difference, but we felt really lucky and blessed. Look foward to pictures and adventures from moving.

House hunting

Our lease with our current apartment is ending soon (next week) so we have spent the last two or three weeks looking for a new apartment. Blah. We were looking for something a little bigger, but even if we did not really want to move, we would be forced into it as the landlord is looking to sell the apartment to take advantage of the higher prices. Many people are looking to sell right now. Part of it is that the Chinese government is trying to take steps to cool the housing market a little bit so that there is no bubble, and so people are trying to get the most money that they can from it before it goes into effect. There is also a higher demand right now, both for rented and bought apartments, so prices were a little higher. Someone told us that if we had looked 2 months ago, we the prices were a little lower. C'est la vie.

We did find a really nice 2 bedroom apartment in the same complex as we live now, for 5300RMB/month. It was a little higher then we wanted to spend, but was the best apartment that we could find and like. This new apartment is on the 27th floor and has an awesome view!

But before we found this apartment, what a wild ride (and annoying) time it was. First, Realtors like to post low prices of apartments, then say something "like it was just rented yesterday" or "They changed their mind". You would think that if it is rented or no longer available, the signs would come down. Nope. They use it as a tactic to get people to look at similar (but slightly more expensive apartments.) Again part of the problem is that prices recently went up, so they are scared if they have posters with the current price, people will be scared to look. Its annoying, but at the same time I kind of understand it. The realtor is trying to work in the interest of two people - the landlord and the renter. They also are working for themselves, as they want to get higher commissions. On the other hand, it had given us a false idea of apartment costs right now, which was a huge pain in the butt. We had to rework our budget a couple of times. We can afford 5300/month, but we wish we could have had a little more extra money in our budget.

When we started looking, we the realtor (who acts as de facto landlord) about apartments and gave her a price range. She told us that she would look and let us know. We also told her about my time constraints with work, and the area we would like to live in. Every few days (but not very often it seemed) we would get a call asking if we could see one, but it was often in an area we did not like, or at an inconvenient time, or kinda of a dingy apartment that we would not want to live in. She was doing her best to stay within our price range, but we later decided that we would have to increase our price range. We also did not just stay with her but also tried a few other companies. They showed us some, just none that were really great.

We almost signed with one of them as we liked it when we first saw it. But because it was one of the first ones we saw we did not sign then and were thinking about it. We are glad that we did not take it even though it was only 4800/month. Part of it was that when we saw it again we did not like the colouring (we did not really notice it the first time) and also the fact that we would have had to pay two deposits because the landlord moved to a different city and had already signed a contract with the company for them to act as the landlord, and this company requires two deposits with this situation.

Another apartment that we looked at (close to where one of friends live) was OK, but out of our price range. That was another annoying thing - we would tell them a price range, then they would show us ones that were way above it. But anyway, we were going back down the elevator and at first the doors did not close right. they pushed the open door button and re-closed the doors and the elevator started going normally. All of a sudden, a bell rings, and it just stops. Yup, stuck in an elevator with 6 adults and 1 baby. It also had a glass back to the outside so it was getting HOT! We were only in there for 10 minutes or less, but it felt like longer. We also got really lucky as it stopped right by a floor (only a little step) instead of in the middle of the floor.

We are really happy with the apartment we got. We were hoping to move in this week, but the landlord went on a trip to another city, right before we wanted to sign the contract. He also would not let us move our stuff in on Saturday before we sign the contract - don't know the reason why but nothing we can do about that one. So we are going to sign the contract Sunday night, and move in Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday is also the day our current contract ends, so it just means it is a busy couple of days. We will post pictures once we move it. We really like the place.