New Place!

     We finally found a place! We met with a Century 21 agent with our new price range (it was unavoidable) and went to see 3 apartments in Upper East Side and 1 apartment in Pearl Harbour. The first place, in Upper East Side, had me as soon as I walked in the door. My first impression was...is that real wood I smell? It was real wood! On the floors and all of the doors...including closet doors! I have closets now! The other places just did not stand a chance. We negotiated the price down by 1000 kuai (150 dollars) and signed the contract the next day! We moved that night (the landlord couldn't sign the contract until 6pm), the next day and the next night...and now we are all moved in! Not only does our new place have closets, it also has a bathtub and an oven...all in all, my perspective of living in Beijing has dramatically changed in the past week.

     I also got a job! The American recruiting company wanted me and so offered me an American starting salary (not commission based, yay!) and they are sponsoring my work visa. I take my first step into the career world March 7, 2011! I could not be more excited. The only draw back is that while I love the bones of this apartment, the style of the furniture is quite clearly a case of "Oh, now I have an apartment I want to rent...guess I'll just put furniture in there wherever I can find it.". There is an orange couch, and several pieces of wood furniture that are all different shades. So I need to at least start redecorating before I start work! That is no small feat. I need to replace all the curtains, get new couch coverings and find a way to switch out the light colored wood furniture (eww...I HATE light colored wood) with darker wood furniture.

     All in all this has been a fantastic week! I got a new wonderful apartment in a complex I love and I got a great job! Things are all starting to fall into place. I plan to post pictures of my new place one room at a time with my plans for decorating.