So, I am writing this from my new apartment. Very exciting! Didn't realise just how much I’d hated living in a hotel until I woke up this morning and just felt so much calmer and chilled out. I feel like I’m really here now, instead of just visiting. Which is scary but also pretty cool.

The apartment. 7^th floor, 2 bed (well one bed and one study/sofa bed), 2 bath, kitchen and lounge/diner. Plenty of space for me – and believe it or not my clothes and shoes too. My shipping boxes arrived last Saturday as well which was a great moment – I’d packed a box full of ‘home stuff’ i.e. pillows, quilt, photo frames, special wine glasses, little ornament-y things, and that has made a huge difference just having my stuff around me, makes it feel more like home.

I also have something which is quite popular here; a ‘functional balcony’ (which is how they describe it in the listings). Basically there’s a door off my kitchen with a closed in (but outdoor-ish) space that contains my washing machine and my boiler. Hilariously, this being Chinese building techniques, my boiler has a steel pipe protruding from it, to accommodate this (and release all the noxious gases outside –no wonder  the environment is so bad) they’ve cut a hole in the glass window. Amazing. I’ve also been told I have to leave the kitchen door open when I’m at home to make sure the boiler can eliminate the gas – yeah right. Judging by the size of the mossies out here, my doors aren’t getting opened ever.

So I said I was going to talk about language lessons and sartorial choices last time…let’s start with language lessons and I’ll do sartorial choices next time as that may take a while. I’ve had five Mandarin lessons so far, and I’ve learned some of the key basics – how to order beer (pijou), ask for the bill, where the bathroom is, how to yell at a taxi driver. It’s difficult but no more so than any other language. In some respects it’s easier because there’s no masculine/feminine difference a lot of the time. For example he/she/it is the same word. Therefore I’ve been told not to get offended when someone calls me Mr Smith. What is interesting is the same word will have about five different meanings, the difference is in the pronunciation, which you can tell from the accents on the words.

Numbers are interesting too. When I first bought my Chinese sim card, I was asked which phone number I wanted and depending on which one I chose, it would be less or more expensive. It’s because the number ‘4’ is deemed bad luck and the numbers ‘4’ and ‘7’ together can be seen as offensive for some reason (can’t remember why, think it’s something to do with the word ‘shit’). Anyway – guess what my phone number is? It has a 4, and a 7, and they’re next to each other, no wonder it was cheap. I’m also living in block 4 of my compound so I’m just inviting trouble, although there’s no floor 4 in my building. Or 14, 24, 34 etc etc. But there is 40^th. Not sure why that’s OK.

So all in all I’m doing better. Every time I look out of my office window and see the Pearl Tower it reminds me that I have been given the opportunity of a lifetime and I need to grab it with both hands. Can’t wait to see where it takes me J

Breaking news from this week – I saw the sun! The sky was blue and the sun was shining – it’s amazing how quickly you get used to hazy grey days. So this was literally a breath of fresh air.