Unless you are enrolling in a formal program, most other
things in Beijing are almost impossible to preplan from abroad- the ball gets
rolling once you hit the ground. Although my daily life is a bit difficult due
to my poor Mandarin skills, it helps that life’s bigger decisions seem like a
breeze in this otherwise complicated city. When I left Beijing in December I
gave up my jobs (art: gallery, museum, magazine) and apartment, knowing that
when I landed back on Chinese ground in mid January I could have a brand new
life in the space of a week. Extraordinarily the big things like apartment leases
and job contracts are that easy to arrange when you are in China.
At first bit daunted by finding a place on my own, a night spent
sleeping on a friend’s couch quickly motivated me to get going on my search. I
browsed the cryptic adds on Beijing’s most popular expat websites, scanning
broken English and strange exclamations to decipher the basics. Several halting
phone conversations later, as Chinese agents barked ‘HUH’ and ‘OK’ in my ear
for several minutes, I had 9 appointments set for the following day, each with
a different agent. And the speed dating began- I had decided the location (I
was only looking at apartments in the downtown hutong area) and now I was going
in to see the goods! ~frightened yet prepared to either leave empty handed or
get lucky.
The next morning I battled the 8am subway crush from my
friends place in the university district to my first 9am appointment in the city’s
inner loop. It was going to be a long intense day- I was scheduled to meet new
agents every hour at alternating subway stations. My real estate agents: Cody,
Jack, Andy, Linda, Bob, Tim, Lena, Tonny and Alan- all masqueraded by their
convenient English names and met me one by one on coughing scooters and
motorcycles. The places they showed me were the epitomy of good, bad and ugly.
Thus despite being long, the day was also fun because of the entertaining characters
I met and thrilling motorcycle rides.
Let me tell you what I saw- it ranged from the bizarre and
charming to downright distasteful and utterly unlivable. Yet there was one that
struck my fancy!
Originally I thought I wanted to live in a hutong house- the
ancient courtyard dwellings that were Beijing’s original homes. Renovated
hutong residences and shops are positively the most charming places you have
ever been. But I forgot that for my budget there would be nothing so pretty.
The first hutong spot I saw was down so many winding allies I thought we were
trapped in a labyrinth. Once inside this hidden apartment I missed the kitchen
because it was so small, was startled by the toilet hunched under the steep
ladder-like 2nd floor stairs, and sadly discovered that the
advertised ‘terrace’ was a tiled roof filled with a large solar heating panel. Despite
its authentic hutong location, I decided the apartment wasn’t for me.
The next agent spoke little English so I toured the second
apartment with his cell phone against my ear chatting details with his more
English-literate colleague. Several other apartments I looked at still had
people living in them, a detail I realized only when we burst in on a girl
sleeping and the agent unflinchingly told me to walk around the room to see how
I liked it. Young tenants were moving out of yet another place and the rooms
were strewn with weeks worth of take out containers, food and bone remnants,
used qtips and sunflower shells. Other places had the typical cheesy-as-hell
Chinese décor~ basically the equivalent of cheap Vegas style furnishings-
strange shiny tile, all chrome fixtures and ‘elegant’ lights.
As the day unfolded it also entertainingly unraveled. I saw
several apartments twice yet with different agents and some agents told me to
cancel my next appointments because I was scheduled to meet agents from their
same office with the same apartment offerings. Best of all I accidently
Shanghaied someone else’s agent and went to a completely bizarre hutong
apartment that was in the thick of renovation with debris everywhere. To make
matters funnier this particular apartment had a vaulted hotel like ceiling and
the bedroom walls were covered with heavy dark brocade.
I was mind boggled. I have never actually been speed dating,
but this is what I imagine it would be like if you subbed real estate agents
and apartment portfolios for hopeful lovers and their inevitable baggage. In
the end I guess it was cheaper than a real date~ I just had to buy tea between
every appointment to warm my numb fingers!
The next day I went in for speed date madness round two,
with more agents and offerings, to make sure the apartment I had liked the day
before really was the best out there. Midday I realized that I had fully
penetrated the web of semi- English speaking agents and their complete listings.
I still liked my original pick so I called the appropriate agent from the day
before and we met early afternoon to sign the lease and pay the deposit. Just
like that and I had a new apartment, three days start to finish. A Chinese
friend asked me later, “Three days, what took you so long?”
My new place!~ made me smile for the next two days straight
as I moved in and rejoiced at my new surroundings and wonderful home. My old apartment this past fall in Wudaokou, the university district, was close to my
friends going to language school but was over an hour away from anything else I
wanted to do in the city. By contrast, my new apartment is in the thick of it
all! I feel like I am now in the center of Beijing’s universe (from a
foreigners point of view that is), and I am very happy about it. I chose my
apartment because it is conveniently located on two different subway lines and
is in one of the city’s cutest hutong neighborhoods- chock full of vintage
boutiques and international cafes (coincidently I blogged about this
neighborhood in the fall under ‘Yonghegong Hutong Wanderings’ and ‘Meandering ~Vintage Quirk Design’).
With my background in religious studies I am overjoyed
that my apartment is also right next to the biggest functioning Tibetan Buddhist
temple in Beijing, called the Lama Temple. Thus the other half of my
neighborhood is devoted to Buddhist ritual goods and music. Additionally the impressive
and important ancient Temple of Confucius and Imperial College is right down
the street. As you can tell, I am nuts about the location.
The apartment itself is wonderful- spacious yet cozy, with
character but not too corny. Conveniently located on the second floor of a 7-story
pollution stained apartment building, I am surrounded by charming hutongs but
have the luxury and space of a real apartment unit.
My place has two bedrooms
(my new Australian roommate Kate~ whom I adore~ will be back to Beijing in late
February) and a large living room with a giant salmon colored couch.
Both the
bathroom and kitchen are amply sized, hallelujah, compared to the broom closet
sized equivalents in my last apartment. Although my light fixtures are corny
and some of the kitchen tiles feature little dogs playing in soap bubbles (why,
why…?!), most of the furniture is sturdy wood which balances out the over-the-top
feeling of other apartments. Ok some of the wood furniture is also a bit tacky-
namely two oversized decorative Adirondack chairs.
No Chinese situation is
without its funny quirks and sure enough my apartment has its own as well- the
fridge is prominently wedged next to the salmon couch in the living room and all
my clothes storage space is on the clothes drying porch and therefore the same
temperature as outside freezing winter air (I recently forced my agent to
squeeze a wardrobe into my room so I wouldn’t be afraid to get dressed in the
morning).
I can’t wait for Kate to come back and together we will make
this new house our home !
