The advertures of house hunting in China

A company called English First has offered Mike a job, it would be one-on-one tutoring. The contract signing is on Monday so depending on if we feel that the terms of the contract are agreeable then mike will be able to start work. They don't have housing for their teacher but they are willing to give us a housing allowance with each check. We took advantage of the time we had this weekend to go apartment hunting. We have found that the average price for apartments, depending on the area of Beijing that you live in, is 400-600 cnd $ for a 1 bed, and 500-800 cnd $ for 2 bed. But it is standard in Beijing to pay three months at a time, therefore the first month can come to a pretty hefty amount considering that there is also a security deposit equal to one months rent added onto that so we are looking at about $2000 down for the first payment. All that extra money that we have in savings from tax returns is a huge blessing. Apartment hunting is very interesting when you are dealing with a totally different culture. Everything in China is about bargaining, even rent. Some of the tactics used here can seem really fierce to us of the west. And they all think that we have millions of dollars stashed away somewhere because we are white and that we are just playing tough. It kind of feels like playing a game that you don't know the rules to. It is often a lot easier dealing with the middle man (real estate agents) but they can have their agenda as well. We told them our price range and they showed us two within that price range and then about 10 more above our price range. We were told "just look" with a lot of other persuasion tactics attached. The members of the branch have been so kind and helpful. All weekend different members have been working for us trying to find us the best deal and help us bargain with the landlords/agents. We hope to find one that we feel good about in the next few days. As soon as we have a place I will have China Study abroad (the company supporting us here in China) to help set up some private tutoring in our home, where I would be my own employer. It seems that will be the best option for me since I would only be able to sign with a company for 3 1/2 months. We are loving it here in Beijing, we feel like it is where we need to be. We are so grateful for the many people supporting us.