China - Week 50 (8/18-19): Moving with Jisue

Friday I spent the morning finishing up most of my packing (except for my computer and a few small things) and then spent the afternoon running a few errands.  My wire transfer from the U.S. went through so I was all good to take care of my rent payment.  For those of you who don’t remember, I was able to negotiate a discount on my monthly rental rate by paying for the year up front.  I did the math and the amount I would save paying it all up front was more than the amount I could have made investing in a CD or other short-term investment, so it made sense to take care of it all at once.  It’s kind of nice to know that I don’t have to worry about paying rent for the next year.  Just utilities, food and random expenses from now on.

In the evening I rode my scooter down to my new apartment and met with my landlord who was just putting the finishing touches on the apartment.  Her and her husband and daughter (about 6 or 7 years old) were there. The real estate agent came over and we went over some final details of the rental agreement, checked all the stuff in the house to make sure things worked (cable, internet, etc) and then paid the money.  We took a trip to the local police station to register me as a foreign resident, but the office was closed so I would have to come back on Sunday or Monday morning to take care of that.

And then it was done.  I had my new home!  I sat in it for a while relaxing enjoying the atmosphere but it was time to go back home and take care of some more packing stuff.  I grabbed a cab, and went home.  I spent the night watching some “Friends” and relaxing until it was time to sleep.

Saturday morning  it was go-time.  First I packed up my computer and finished packing the rest of my stuff.  Then I took my bike to the repair guy and had it fixed, eating lunch while he was putting on my new pedals, fixing my rear brake and working out a few kinks.  Then I rode back home and hung out with Tam for a bit.  We took my turtles to a local park and let them go.  It was actually a nice park with a natural pond and lots of plant-life and small little fish in the pond.  I think they’ll be happy there.

We grabbed a cab to the Pudong airport and picked up Jisue who was going to be visiting me for a few days from Korea.  Then we cabbed back to my place.  Since we were starving we all ordered some lunch for delivery.  It was 4:15 p.m. and my movers were supposed to arrive at 5:00.   Jason was also going to come over and get the kimchee that Jisue brought for him (it was like .. 10 pounds of kim chee).

As fate would have it, the movers came early at 4:45.  They started moving my things out to the elevator and then Jason showed up and we gave him his share of kim chee.  Then the food showed up, but it was too late for Jisue and I since we had to go with the movers.  We grabbed a container of noodles and then went down to supervise the truck-loading.

They managed to pack it up with tons of room to spare.   Only room for one person in the front cab so Jisue sat up there and I sat in the back of the truck with the two mover guys.  The whole move went pretty well and at my new place they called 3 security guards to oversee the moving process as well.  I was pretty impressed.  They have great security there — I’ll never have to worry about getting mugged while at my apartment complex.

After the move (and paying for the move — they did a great job so I tipped them pretty well and they were thrilled) Jisue and I went to a restuarant around the corner for some food and then a quick scooter ride around the neighborhood.  After that she slept while I unpacked and now my place is looking almost like a home.  For the next couple days I’ll be doing apartment stuff while showing Jisue around the city.  Also will do some work on the TVCC site.

And now it’s time to shower …