Apartment Time!

We'll get to the apartment, relax. Patience is a virtue, or so they say. Who are they anyways? And what do they know? Do I even know them? Doubt it, nobody knows them. But they say a lot, don't they? REVEAL YOURSELVES.

Ok, ok. I know you have all been anxiously awaiting some Seinfeld references, so you're in luck. I've got two for ya' in this post. If you know them, awesome. If you don't, I don't know what to tell you. Look into it. The first refers to the episode when George and Jerry are pitching their show (about nothing) to the Chinese. George is convinced (I believe this is due to Kramer, but don't hold me to it) that the Chinese love oranges. He goes as far as to bring a bag of oranges to present as a gift to the Chinese people running the television network. Both of the Chinese look at each other and question the meaning of oranges. If you know George, you know he's feeling pretty confident about these oranges. Haha. Now, I live with a kid who lives with his Chinese girlfriend. They're both very nice. (Avi and Lian if you must know.) Lian apparently loves oranges. Quite often, from what I'm told, she'll eat multiple oranges in one sitting. I was told this went as high as eight. Probably exaggerated, but regardless, a lot of oranges. I like them as well, but you won't find me eating eight in one sitting. Anyways, thinking back to the episode, I asked her if the Chinese liked oranges. I was curious, ok? No big deal, simple question. She gave me a weird look, and responded, "No, not really." Case closed.

I actually can't think of the second reference right now. I know, I know. Maybe later. For now, I'll tell you about the apartment and what took place before and after. I met with one of the company's assistants in the hotel lobby at 9:00 AM on Sunday. From there, we took the subway. Bear in mind, I've got two large bags both weighing close to 50 lbs. Add my laptop bag, a large backpack, a plastic bag filled with some dirty clothes, and another small bag with some school stuff. This subway venture is not for the feint of heart. Most would opt for a taxi. For one, I don't mind a challenge. Secondly, it's 2 yuan versus about 30 or so. Not super expensive, but what the hey? If I can save money, why not? I've got fully functional legs and arms, so I might as well use them. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world with the subway transfers, walking, and bus transfers, but I made it. I carried everything except for the laptop bag and the two small bags. I was willing to take any help I could get. So, I got my stuff up to the apartment and set it in my new room without too much inspection. I then helped carry down things with the other two guys that were moving out to their new apartment closer to their school. Ok, time to shop.

I needed to get a few things. I was aware of this. Things were a little pricier by the apartment so I decided to go right back to the shopping mall near the hotel, Tian Feng Li. Prices are good, and you have a little bit of bargaining room. I was headed back with the assistant. She knew the girl selling comforters so she figured she could help me with the price on that. I had put together a list of items I needed, which included cleaning supplies. But then, it occurred to me that I should not be doing this cleaning. I'm moving into an apartment, my room should be cleaned for me. Ding, ding, ding. I'm always prepared to be a nag, and I know how to state my case and ultimately get my way should the situation call for it. Haha, most of the time anyways. Or at least in my mind. I stated this to the assistant, and she insisted that it was just cleaned. Oh ya? What kind of cleaning do you call that? I looked behind the bed and other general areas briefly. Behind the bed was disgusting. Dust and dirt central. It took a little bit of persuasion on my end, but in the end I got her to agree with me. She made some phone calls and set up an appointment for a cleaning lady at around 4:00 PM. Niiiiice. We'll get back to that, rest assured.

We got to the shopping mall and made our way to the comforter section. The other store we looked at had them priced between 80-120 rmb. Not too bad. You gotta figure that's less than $20.00 USD. But granted, the material is not nearly as good. The sales people immediately told me it would cost me 80 rmb, cheaper than what they would normally offer thanks to the assistant. But I still wanna bargain. Less than normal or not. I offered 60 and stuck around there for a while. I don't remember where we ended on that, somewhere between 65-75, I think. Still, it was a good price. Remember, I had some help with the translation part of the negotiating. This can work for you or against you, though. Long story short, I payed 108 for a comforter, a comforter cover, a pillow, and a pillow cover. The original prices were as follows; around 200 for the comforter, 40-50 for the cover, between 40 and 60 for the pillow (I don't remember), and 25 for the pillow cover. I did pretty well. The assistant left after this was finished.

I still wanted to get some cleaning materials for general maintenance of the apartment and what not. I needed some clothing hangers as well. The first guy I talked to started at 25 rmb for about five or six heavy plastic ones. I was thinking more around 10-15. I got him down a little bit and had a little help from some random guy that spoke some broken English. Anyways, this guy was rude and spoke in a mocking Chinese tone. He kept on a scowling sort of face. I told him I was going to find it cheaper some where else in a matter of words and gestures. NEXT. I went to the shop right next door to his, bargained a bit and got a small waste can and about 8 metal hangers for 18 rmb. When I walked back past the rude guy, he lifted his eye brows with a questioning face (still had that dumb scowl on) and looked in my bag obviously wondering if I was able to get them. I nodded while giving him a cocky smile. Yea, that's right. I found the whole thing pretty funny. I also bought hand soap and air freshener for about 15 rmb in the 'mall'. It's not the kind of mall you think of when in the U.S.

I had spent a little while in here, ate lunch there as well, so I had to get back to the apartment for the cleaning lady. More bags on the subway. Luckily, they were much lighter. Still a bit of a hassle, but it's all well and good. Got back and shortly after, the cleaning lady showed up. I was given the money to pay for her services (30 yuan for 2 hours - yes, that's pretty cheap). I didn't know what to expect, but I was not expecting this. She shows up, smile on her face, with a bucket, filthy rags, and sandals to change into. Uh? What? This is all you're going to use? Am I missing something here? I could not get past those disease ridden rags. Guaranteed they would do more harm than good.  I'll admit, I was expecting a little something more than this. It was a sad sight. At this point, I said to myself, "Whatever" and pointed her around to what I wanted done. We started with sweeping. Yes, she was my little Chinese slave. And I had her for two hours.  She did not even possess a broom. I gave her one, and proceeded to move around a lot of furniture so that she could get underneath things. I had already pretty much emptied my room to make things easier and to ensure that what I wanted done - got done. Another sad sight. I kept a loose eye on her and her 'sweeping'. Even with an empty room, the woman was going in a circle. I don't think she ever considered the corners. I'm exaggerating a bit, but seriously; it was bad. Greaaaattt. I watched her do some of the apartment with this technique, or lack of, and eventually I had to call it quits. I could not bear to watch it. Screw it, I'll do it myself. I could not sit there for two hours watching this display. I know it sounds mean, and maybe it wasn't entirely her fault. She was willing to work, just not very good at it. You get what you pay for. I used a few words (of which she did not recognize) and some hand gestures. Basically, I was trying to indicate that I would pay her 10 rmb for the 15 minutes she worked. That sounds bad, but think about it. She was getting payed 30 for two hours worth of work. I think she called her boss, and I proceeded to call the assistant that set up the appointment. The woman was prepared to go back and get clean rags, but I could bear no more. I stated this to the assistant and we went in a triangle a few times (me, the assistant, and the cleaning lady) and eventually we ended up somewhere. At that point, I think the infecting - errrrr cleaning lady was still prepared to go and get clean rags because she wanted to work. But again, I couldn't watch this. It wasn't just the rags. It was the whole operation. I managed to make her understand, attempted to apologize and say that it wasn't her, paid her 10 yuan and sent her on on her way. It was her, or maybe her boss. I felt bad, but it just was not going to work. I can and would rather do the job myself and get it done right. What can you do? I guess I'm a pain in the ass. I apologized to the assistant as well for putting her sort of in the middle. Unfortunately, there was no way around that.

Anyways, at this point I just didn't care. I had my mind on one thing, cleaning my room. I couldn't rest until it was clean. Cleaning supplies can be a bit pricey. Not ridiculous, but a bit. It was 30 yuan just for a bottle of pledge. Well worth it though, and it will probably last me quite a while. I bought a few other items not important enough to list. All in all, I spent about 300 yuan or so that day/night. That's really not that bad because you gotta figure 120 yuan is about $20.00 USD. It's always a little expensive at first to get set up because you have to buy all kinds of supplies initially. It won't be an every day thing and most of the items will last a while, so not a huge deal.

Before starting my cleaning escapade, I went to dinner with my roommate, his girlfriend, and a friend of theirs. There's a massive mall right by my apartment, (2nd biggest in the world I was told - Joy City. It has 11 floors, 14 if you count the basement.) For the most part, this mall is expensive. Near the top though, there's this western Italian food restaurant that is actually really cheap. I payed 36 rmb for a 9'' Hawaiian pizza, a fruit salad, and an apple soda. Yes, apple soda. It was interesting. Worth trying, but probably not drinking all of the time. It was pretty good food, and the price was right. No, not the show. That's 'The price is right'. I'll definitely go back there when I need a decent western meal. It's probably the cheapest you'll pay for such a thing out here. Those prices are comparable to average Chinese food.

Back to the apartment. I was a man on a mission, and it was time to clean. I took apart the bed in my room and moved the pieces over to the spare room. Paper towels, check. Pledge, check. Sponge, check. Bucket with warm soapy water, check. Mop, check. Let's get to work. I sprayed pledge and dusted in about every spot I could. I used the sponge and soapy water for the non wood items. I dusted off the supports of the bed and the other pieces of it as well. By the way, I got rid of the original wood bed and took the metal bed from the other spare room. It was newer and nicer with better support, so it might as well be mine. No one is in the other room anyways. I swept the room and then moved onto the mop. It's an actual mop, like with stringy thick threads on it. Lian had offered to mop for me, but I insisted on doing it myself. I told her that if you give a man a fish, you'll feed for him a day. Teach him how to fish, you'll feed him for life. I love that saying. She was later impressed with my work ethic and the fact that I wasn't lazy like most people. I just couldn't relax in filth, regardless of the time. I did ask her how to clean out the mop, though. Pretty easy. Just dunk it into water a few times, maybe after getting fresh water once or twice. All in all, I worked for about 3 hours or so. I took a shower, put on some clean clothes, and moved my suitcases back into my room. Finally. I finished around 11:00 PM or so. Close enough. Lian complimented me and thought it was cool that I was willing to do all that work. It's not that much, I know. But it was something. I was proud, and it looked 20 times better. Not to mention, 20 times cleaner. I've still got to clean the windows and bathroom up a bit, but I'll get that done in due time. For now, I was fairly pleased with myself. And you better believe that I'm going to have a word about some possible reimbursement from Expertise Education for supplies and my labor. It felt good doing the work myself, but that doesn't mean it was my responsibility. Those cheap 'you know whats'.

I had my first school day today, but we'll get into that in the next post. I'll tell you about some Chinese food as well. This post has already been dragged on a little bit. Not as exciting, but hopefully not too bad. Still can't think of the other Seinfeld reference. Oh well. I tend to correct posts later on, so you may have found some errors in my writing. I'll get to them.

Just edited, and I think I got them. You can be the judge.

-Jeff

Silk Market and Other Things

It's funny. I used to say I'd never want to live in a city, and now I'm living in one of the largest. Funny how life works. I'm enjoying Beijing, though. I really do like it. I read that most foreigners get a sense sort of like, 'This is where things are happening.' I can totally agree with that. There's a lot going on here, and it's exciting. The nice thing about living in a city is that there's so much to do at any given time. Transportation is so cheap and for the most part, fairly easy. For example, It's 4:00 in the afternoon right now, and I've already gone to the Silk Market. I'm chilling out for a little bit and then going back to Houhai Lake tonight with a bunch of foreigners. Despite the fact that I was just there, I really wanted to get back and see it at night. For one, it's awesome. Two, it's a happening place and it's Saturday night. Three, the effects of the Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival are still lingering a bit, so it might make it that much better. Sounds like a plan to me.

As for foreigners. What is wrong with people? Is it me? Do I have an 'old soul'? Maybe I'm not hip, haha. I just don't get it. These people, man. They get here and all they want to do is go out and party. Why? Were you sober when you got off the plane and arrived in China? I'm not sure if they actually know that they're in CHINA. This isn't some weekend venture or Thursday night at your college. There is so much to do and see and all they want to do is party. Me? I've got better things to do. Granted, I don't mind doing a little bit of partying and having that sort of fun here and there. But not all of the time. I talked to this kid earlier that was drunk as a skunk. It's 4:00 in the afternoon, dude. Everything alright? Life got you down? I think he was taking some retard capsules. You laugh, but I'll put up a picture up of pills that say on the box, Retard Capsules. They're actually for serious colds I guess, or so the picture on the box illustrates. I think they're just for retards. Like that kid. I can drink in the states and hang around all the westerners I want back home. YOU'RE IN CHINA. Unfortunately, it's people like this that give foreigners a bad name and cause other countries to think poorly of us. As far as I'm concerned, you're a guest. Have fun, but be on your best behavior. You're being scrutinized even more so because you're foreign. Retards. Mean while at the grocery store, "Yes sir, he's going to need another box of retard capsules. Uhhh, ya know what? Better make it a case. He tends to go through them rather quickly." Idiots.

Ok. So. On to Silk Market. I read that it was not going to be a pleasant experience. People had said that they would grab you and swear at you and call you names if you didn't buy from them. Now, this may be true if you're rude. I was polite and joked with a lot of the sales people, and I really found it quite humorous and really enjoyed it. You'll see pictures of it eventually. Anyways, this place has plenty of everything and there's about 4 or 5 floors. Lots of clothes, but plenty of other things. Just about every sales person there will speak to you in American and say something like, "Hello, you want shoes? I give you best price!" I just laugh and say, "No, thank you" or use a hand gesture stating no. I'll give you a couple examples of my experience there. Now again, I was having fun with it so they behaved in a friendly manner as well. One girl said, "You need bag? Wallet?" I stated that I did not and had them already. She responded with, "Oh, how about your mother? Girlfriend?" I told her that I didn't have a girlfriend and that my Mom had plenty of bags. She just kept insisting I needed more. I told her my Mom had plenty and didn't need more. To this she said, "You don't know your Mom." I laughed at this. It's all very amusing. Another time, a girl had asked me if I had a girlfriend. When I replied no, she said "Oh, I didn't think so." This was pretty funny, so I laughed and told her that now I definitely wasn't buying from her. Another girl was trying to sell me shoes and when I pointed to mine and said, "I already have shoes, you like them?" She said, "They're ugly, you need more." Even better. Again, I laughed and told her that now I would definitely not be purchasing anything from her. She quickly changed this and told me they were pretty. Haha. Love it. I'm gonna keep giving you some examples, so be prepared. At another shop, a girl asked me if I needed a shirt or something of that nature. I informed her that I did not and she asked why. I kept on walking and had said, "I don't know" in a half laughing tone. I was able to hear her say, "I know." Hilarious. They all tell you they need help opening their business. I get real with them though and tell them I know differently in a friendly tone. It's amusing. I exchanged names with a few of them so they would recognize my face and take me seriously the next time I was there. Again, it's good to know people and they'll know I'm not a fool. I did end up bargaining with a nice woman named Nina for about 10-15 minutes over some more chopsticks. These were much nicer than the ones I had already bought. They came in a box, very ornate, sitting on top of silk with 2 duck stands (used to set the chopsticks on). It's a touristy type item typical of China. But I really liked them. I tend to be very anal and check out the details of them and such. I want to get the best item I can if I'm going to spend money. So this woman told me that the typical price was 180, but she would give them to me for 50rmb. This is common. Still plenty of room to work.  I stuck at 10 for a long time and she was definitely stand offish at that price. But I was looking around her shop and enjoying the nature of the game. I was talking to her as well and being pleasant. She kept dropping here and there. She stayed with 40 for a while, then told me 'maximo' price was 35. At this point, I was at 15. Again, I stayed here for a while and she stayed there. Her 'maximo' price then dropped to 25 and again, I knew I would probably go a little higher to get them. I was just amusing myself more than anything. You can always go up, but you can't go back down in price so go super low every time even if you know it's ridiculous. They go super high, so it's kind of a give and take. Besides, you can always walk away and get an even better deal than their 'best' deal. I did get called crazy and one woman walked away from me after one offer, but it's all well and good. I was more so just getting a feel for prices and what I could get away with. Anyways, back to the chopsticks. Eventually, she suggested we meet in the middle to be fair. Since I had come this far, I decided I would do that. I bargained a few times, but only bought one thing. Like I said, I was just playing around with it and having some fun. I find it highly amusing. I also picked the best 2 duck stands I could find amongst the other boxes. But yeah, I payed 20 and with some encouragement even got her to throw in another chopstick stand.  The sale was pretty much done at that point so it was much easier to get her to throw it in. She told me those normally cost 10 yuan. (Remember, rmb, yuan, and quai is all the same.) I think I got a pretty good deal, much better than most foreigners. I think she sort of enjoyed my haggling as well. I told her I'd be back and that I would recommend people go to her. She liked that as well. Contacts, all about the contacts. These sales people talk to each other and observe your actions in other shops. I've written chopsticks so many times, I started to write chops instead of shops. Haha. This being said, when I walked into a shop next door and stated that I was only looking, the girl immediately told me she knew that because I went everywhere and said that. That doesn't mean she didn't try to sell me something. She wanted to sell me this cool fan. It was a good price. She told me that she would skip the bargaining price and show me the real price. 35. This very quickly dropped to 5 yuan. I didn't buy it, but again, I got her name and told her I'd be back. And I probably will.

I think I've given you a pretty good idea about going to the Silk Market. I had a lot of fun with the place. I like matching wits though and playing games like that. Very amusing. I'll be here for a year, and I'm sure I'll be back there for some more items several times. If you've ever seen those cool water type shoes that have toe slots so you can run on pavement and what not, I plan on buying a pair there. A woman started at 750, down to 480, and down to 200 when I walked away. I think I could get them at 100rmb with a little tact. That's less than $20.00 USD. They sell for over $100.00 in America. Now, they're probably fake, but they'll do the job nonetheless.

Anyways, tonight should be fun. Ditan park was a bust. Disappointing, but that's ok. Now I know how to get there when there's another cool event going on. Gotta look at the positive sides to every thing.  Until next time, be good. Hope these blog posts are interesting and that you're enjoying them. I'm enjoying writing about my experiences here and will continue to do so.

Oh, real quick. While eating dinner last night (Friday), I met this kid named Henry. His real name is Ren He. Very clever of him. He's my age, 24. You know when people are put in front of you and you were meant to meet. This was one of those times. I was real happy to meet him. He was Chinese, but spoke English very well. I definitely plan on getting together with him. It's not about what you know, it's about who you know. Believe it or not, there are many Chinese that haven't seen the Great Wall. He's one of them. We discussed perhaps going out there some time. Sounds good to me. He told me the Chinese have a saying that's loosely translated as, 'You're not a man, until you've visited the Great Wall." Great to meet you Ren He. 


-Jeff (Haggling Pro. Just kidding, but I'm decent. I'll get even better when I can speak more mandarin.)