We found an apartment!!

We did, we did! I love it and I think its perfect. Its actually neither of the two we were considering yesterday that I had mentioned in my previous post. We went back to those two places today, the first one had possible construction going on next door at some point in the next year, and the second one had no closets! I am so glad I went back and checked. After a year in Monterey with no storage space and barely any closets, I will never do that again! My clothes will NO longer take up the spare bedroom, haphazardly strewn across the bed.

We checked out another apartment building in the business district of the city, and we loved it. We also really like the business district, it has a nice feel to it, lots of restaurants and shopping but not quite as crazy as the other area we were looking at. We will have a quick subway ride (5 stops) to our language school, but its no big deal, like I said before its really easy because its one subway line and we don't have to switch... you just get on and get off 5 stops later, easy! Anyway it will be good for me!! I don't love public transportation... at all... so it will be good to broaden my horizons!

This area of the city also gives you the feeling of real city living. The tallest building in Beijing is next door to our building, and the buildings down there are all really tall like a usual downtown area would be. I think our building is something like 37 stories high. For the first month we will live on the 29th floor, and then switch to the 15th floor... I'm sort of scared of heights... hah... so we will switch later on, though 15 is still fairly high and gives you a great view of the city! Our apartment is also just down the street from a really cool park called Ritan Park - 日坛公园。Once we move in I will be sure to take pictures of the park and surrounding areas, I thought that would be a cool post to give you the chance to see what I see everyday.

Anyway here are some pictures of our place! Its 2B/2B which is perfect for us since its just us. I love the decor! and the place has a huge swimming pool, a fabulous gym, free pilates.... what more could I ask for? Breakfast is also included everyday! as well as wi-fi (yay!), weekly cleaning, and international channels including HBO! Its furnished so what you are seeing is exactly what we get. We will make it our own with pictures and stuff like that.

Living room


Master bedroom


Master bathroom - look thats a TV! hah


Second bedroom (we are switching to a queen bed)


Kitchen - it has a dishwasher! Our place in CA didn't and I will never do that again! hah. Its interesting because in China, the kitchens are really closed off to the rest of the house. Its really different from the U.S. in that respect! Our real estate agent told us Chinese like small closed off kitchens because they cook with the wok and a lot of smoke/steam occurs.


And this is one of the surrounding buildings. I think this is the one the gym is in.


We also went to a local park today - this is not Ritan Park that I mentioned above, this is a random park in an area my friends are choosing an apartment.

It took these guys on this cart, with a horse, longer than us to get down the street. It was really funny but the horse had a mind of its own and did not want to cooperate with them.







We are going to The Forbidden City tomorrow, and also to Beihai Park - so lots of fun pictures tomorrow!

Thanks for looking!

Steph