Moving in day

Well, today was the big day. Time to move out of the nice business hotel that I had been treated to by a friend and for the new life to begin. This as you can imagine was tinged with a litte nervousness of the unknown, a lack of any Chinese vocabulary and a large stint of optomism.

Taking down my 45kg luggage was not a problem for the hotel porter, but you should of seen the
face of the taxi driver when he realised he was expected to lift it into the baggage. As far as he was concerned, by luggage could have dropped on the roadside, because under no circumstances
was he willing to strain himself by turning it around that it would fit comfortably in sideways. So with the suitcase ''butt'' sticking out and the bonnet flopping, large extra handluggage taking up
most of the back seat, we set off on our way without a backward glance. Of course a lingering look at western civilisation would have been expected, but with a big bag bouncing in the back blocking my view, a little uncomfortable.

Upon arrival at my new home, I was greeted by my volunteer ''agent''. Agents are a normal side of renting if you are a foreigner in China, but I was lucky when mine turned out to be a family friend of the owners and no extra cost charged. This knight in shining armor that lives close by, had opted to help me with my offending suitcase. For sure he had not bargained for the sheer size and weight of it, as well as the flights of stairs it had to be lugged over. But, a charmer he proved to be, even when mopping his brow and expressing a sigh of relief that we had made it, he didnt cease to smile.

Now in, I could inspect my quarters. A simple factor that I had not taken into consideration when bringing with me a blanket, towels, sheets, cuddly toys (scooby, hippo and blue elephant all presents and memories of the past) that of course could not be left behind, plus a small travelling kettle - I had overlooked the fact that I had now nothing to eat with or on!

Browsing/searching earnestly through the magazines that seem to be for free in English for ex-pats at our centre, I saw a number of familiar names that would serve as possibilies for shopping.
Walmart and Ikea were two of them, so armed with list I set out on my expedition.

Disappointment can hit you hard. Not being an american, I am unaware of what Walmart looks like in the States, but to me here in Beijing it looked like an out of place department store, that
had a ring of the west with eastern undertones. I found the prices not in the least competitive, so much for their famous ''we try to be the cheapest"...... or something like that, that would be
an impossibility in China and as for Ikea, I think they were giving it away and someone forgot to
tell me how to get it for free!!

So, disappointingly I returned home with ''bits and bobs'' that would have helped if I had had food to put in the storage containers, or my kettle would have fitted into the socket, but I now
did have a cushion or two for where to put my very weary head.