Our Apartment

Sea of Clouds is a free translation of Yun Hai Yuan, according to Silvia the real estate assistant, which means something like Cloud Sea Garden or Court. I can't seem to find the Yuan character in any of our dictionaries. The landlord told us that the place was built in 2003, or else his family bought the apartment that year. We're on the second floor, which means we can take the stairs, but the elevator is air conditioned. The apartment has a big living room-dining room combination, with a mirrored wall next to the table and a giant TV surrounded by a decorative frame of dark wood that on one side holds a purple vase, as well as a pair of candles that we brought, and on the other side an Ikea clock. The rest of the walls are bare. The floors are dark wood except for the kitchen and bathrooms. The kitchen floor is that infernal grubby white tile, and the bathroom floors are beige marble. The drapes (not curtains) are beige. The décor, in off-white, glass and black, is a mixture of ugly and Ikea, which is apparently par for the course in Chinese furnished apartments (see Imagethief’s blog from 8/17/06, Infernalture). The walls are cream colored with white trim, all in all a pretty neutral place. Julia at least has a colorful comforter cover (no comforter needed yet), but our sheets are white - boring! Obviously, as housekeeper and non-working parent, I need to do some decorating. I'm thinking red fabric. Time to shop!

The kitchen came with an assortment of pots and pans; a few glasses (we've broken 4), plates and large bowls; some spoons and chopsticks and a set of children's cutlery from Ikea; 2 rice cookers (one for the microwave), a toaster and a coffee maker; dishwasher, refrigerator, microwave oven and an assortment of partially-used cleaning supplies. The dishwasher wasn't functioning - the water valve was shut and we couldn't find it to turn it on - but it's so small that the plates don't fit. It's just the right size for demitasse cups (we bought 2) or children's tea sets. We bought some small plates that fit and we run it once in a while when the timing is right. We broke the first of the big plates yesterday - perhaps we will let attrition dictate the size of our dishes as we move toward the miniature.

The washer and dryer live in the hall bathroom (Julia's bathroom, as no guests have yet shown up to claim it as theirs), and are quite small, as one would expect. The beds, alas, are king-sized, and it's not easy to find king sheets in the cheapo stores. King-sized sheets take up the entire washing machine and the comforter covers are too bulky for the dryer. We have a drying rack that came with, and most of our wet laundry goes on it. I have occasionally put the rack out on the balcony, but the floor of the balcony is so dirty that clothes need to be tightly tethered so they won't blow off and need to be rewashed. One sheet takes up almost the entire drying rack. Bill discovered that the inside of the lint trap in the dryer was full of lint but the dryer works much better now, after a more thorough lint removal. Now that Julia has 3 uniform shirts instead of just one to sweat in, laundry is somewhat less crucial. One weird thing, though - after we run the washer, after some undetermined interval, her bathroom smells like a sewer. I poured boiling water down the drains (sink, shower and floor), which caused an ominous "glug glug glug" and only brought out the essential aroma of sewer. It occurs to me that being on the second floor of a 28-story building might not be the best idea, especially in hot, sticky, sewer-smelling summer. Live and learn.

Our bedroom is light and warm with the curtains open, though for the first few days we kept the curtains closed all the time to keep in the air conditioning. As we've gotten more used to the heat we've started allowing light in. Both bedrooms have marble window seats, but we only have enough sofa pillows to outfit one window seat at a time. Julia has used hers for studying and waving at people, although she doesn't look to see if they wave back. Bill tried it and she didn't notice. The office/guest room has a yellow Ikea sofabed that is the most colorful thing in the apartment. There's a small balcony that looks out onto a park in between the two buildings of Shanghai TV. Across the street (it's a pedestrian street, so no buses) in front of the park a series of benches that are always occupied. People sit on them, sleep on them, perch temporarily and then move on. We can see some tall buildings, and of course they are lit up at night, but for a real view we have to skibble up to the 28th floor (actually, we take the elevator) and then we can look out and see highways and trees and buildings as far as the smog will allow.