Our Temp "Home"

Ok, so here's a little cap of our "home".  It's just temp housing.  Temp housing kinda reminds me of college, but I guess it's just what you have to do here in China.  We live in an Oakwood property.  It's about 1100 square feet.  Everything in it breaks when you look at it.  The dishwasher, the dryer, locks on doors, lock box.... I'm sure I'll have more to add to that broken list before we leave.  But the nice thing about things breaking here is I just pick up the phone, call the front desk, and about 3 Chinese workers show up at my door to fix it.  Of course, it's a game of Charades to try to explain what the malfunction is, but it usually gets fixed.

Onward with the tour.  Welcome to our "home".... er.... temp housing.

sorry bout the view not being visible.  this is NOT due to smog, but rather my lack-of photography skills.

this is where i attempt to cook with Chinese food and utensils.

play room (aka = living room)

we have a train in our living room.  Brooke - she asks about you almost daily.  she loves you.  and your train you gave her.

this is the tv that gets 1 English channel.  it's CNN.  we are kinda a FOX News family.

necessities for any expat.  our Vonage phone is $35/month.  we can call anywhere and you can call us.  it's a peoria, illinois (309) number.  if you want my digits, let me know.  

hallway

 Bianca's room.  

once upon a time, a princess lived in a castle.  this ain't no castle, princess.

Bianca's bathroom, laundry room.  you can't see the washer/dryer from this angle.  unfortunately, the washer/dryer is so small you can barely see it at ANY angle.  

reading materials.  

we bought this for Bianca to wash her hands.  i honestly think it's hand soap.  i mean - i hope it's hand soap.  what do you think?

i think i'm supposed to say, "this is where the magic happens."  but if you look to the right of the pic you will see a crib.  and feet.  and a crying baby.  

slightly messy, but keeping it real peeps.

our bedroom hall and closet.  if you ever get a chance to have top-of-the-line closets with lights that turn on when you open the door and custom built everything - DO IT!

our bath.  this makes total sense to me.  a shower and then the tub in the "wet" area.  don't mind the small raft.

ahhhhh.... the bidet.  i remember babysitting in high school for people who had one in their home.  Americans just don't consider them a staple.  now a Cisel family staple. 

the towel/bath heater/cooler/dryer.  amazing.  makes getting out of the bath or shower just as good as getting in.

Now... I have a few "extras" that I want to share.  Not so much a tour of the apartment, but just tid bits in our apartment and daily lives that we might not necessarily have back "home".

my journal.  thank you, pammy.  i constantly take notes, practice my Chinese, and record thoughts here.  of course, i also think of you every time i see it.

don't drink the water.  gotta be filtered.  this baby costs $8 and lasts about +/-6 days.

everything here is metric.  screws with you, big time.

electricity converters, adapters, plugs.... drives me nuts.  some things you can just plug in because they are "dual-voltage".  others you have to convert the energy.  and you MUST convert because those babies will BLOW if you don't!  then there's adapters......

"army time" was easy for me because of working in the hospital, but D has some adjusting.  

kitchen utensils

do not walk into a home in China with your shoes on.  these are cheapy slippers you see everyone wearing in homes.  note the marble floors.  kinda scary when you have kids that fall.

we love our $2 DVDs.  and our $10 rosetta stone.  as you can see, the saran wrap is still on that item.  

cooking.  we are lucky there's an oven here - most Chinese places do not have them.  this picture makes me smile for a couple of reasons.  #1: the towel was sweetly given to me by my MIL who thought it "looked" like something i'd like so i packed it in our luggage as a lovely reminder and #2: hand prints on the stainless steel i should've wiped before taking a pic.  ha!

brought a little ATL with us.  i gave Derek these coasters for father's day today.  reminds us of friends back "home."

Well, that wraps up the tour.  Hopefully it answered some of your questions and will serve as a memory to me someday.  We move into our permanent home July 19th.  Counting the days...