Day 23 ~ Week ending July 8

Monday, July 2—The contracts have all been signed and we finally moved into our apartment.  The name of the apartments is Horizon Resort Phase 2.  We are in building 16.  There are a lot of expats living here.  (An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing.)

 It is a very nice apartment, but there is quite a long list of items that don’t work.  Here a just a few of the obvious one: 

• The lighter on the stove doesn’t work, so I use a cigarette lighter.   
• My doorbell doesn’t work so I never know if someone is visiting.  (We have double doors.  So even if you knock I won’t hear you).   
• The clothesline doesn’t go up and down.   
• There are only about one-third of the light bulbs that work.   
• My bathroom door doesn’t shut nor does the toilet flush properly.   
• The electrical outlet in my bathroom doesn’t work.   
• The light in the laundry room won’t turn on.   
• And last but not least, we have ants that have moved in with us as well.  For goodness sake people, we are on the nineteenth floor—that’s a long ole hike for those pesky fellows.

Horizon Resort Phase 2

Lots of TP choices!!!

Tuesday—even shopping for me is a whole new type of entertainment.  Similar to the Ramen Noodle soup aisle, here  are all the varieties of toilet paper.  

  

When I get to the cashier, she says something to me that I don't understand.  Lee told me they are asking me if I want plastic bags.  I am getting pretty good about remembering to grab a bag on my way out of the apartment.   So I answer bu xie, which means no thank you.  (I think!!)

One of many purse shops.

Since Donn is taking American holidays, we headed to Shanghai for another trip to the Shanghai Science Museum.  It is a giant underground shopping place.  You barter for everything you buy.  I got some really good prices.  I got such a good price at one story, but I'm pretty sure that she will never let me back in her store.  She sold me the socks, but wasn't too happy about it.  I felt a little guilty, but it wasn't really something I needed so I really didn't care if she agreed with the price or not.  We stopped by a very busy restaurant, but once we sat down, everything was Chinese and we just didn't have any idea what we were ordering.  I finally just got up and walked out the door.  We ended up eating at KFC.  I really like eating the local food when someone is there helping me make some educated choices.

You can see the Ferris wheel in the background of the light show.

On Friday we came back to Suzhou.  Donn headed off to meet with the local government officials and I made me a quick PBJ.  I got a chunk of bread lodged in my throat and I thought I was going to suffocate.  It was really truly my most scarey experience that I have every had when eating.  As I am standing over the sink trying to get a breath.  I realized that I didn't even know how to call 911.  My body finally starting throwing up and I was okay, but it really messed up my emotions.  I was fairly depressed most of the evening.  Donn even took me to an amazing fireworks extravaganza, but that didn't help too much.  This place is two blocks from where we live, and we see and hear fireworks every weekend.  It is a really neat place.