{"id":217,"date":"2017-10-15T21:33:39","date_gmt":"2017-10-15T13:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.turquoise.me.uk\/China\/?p=217"},"modified":"2017-10-15T21:33:39","modified_gmt":"2017-10-15T13:33:39","slug":"a-new-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turquoise.me.uk\/China\/a-new-home\/","title":{"rendered":"A new home"},"content":{"rendered":"

What a busy month!<\/p>\n

We moved from city to suburbs – I say we<\/em> moved, Cameron had a busy week at work so I did all the actual shifting of things, with the help of Tony the Driver.<\/p>\n

(We slightly love Tony the Driver. Maggie wanted to go and stay at her friend’s house, weeks ago when we were still in Puxi. We’d all been running round all day and I thought I couldn’t possibly ask him to take me with her then drop me back home, although I was a bit nervous about her going to stay with strangers*. I gritted my teeth and asked him just to drop her off \u2013 I didn’t mention my nerves. Later that evening I got a text from him to say she was there safe! Very kind and thoughtful, especially as she ‘forgot’ that she had promised to text me when she arrived.)
\n(*Mum is a teacher at the school so I wasn’t *that* worried.)<\/p>\n

A slight hiccup when we turned up here on moving day to be told the beds and bedding (rented) were not arriving until the next day so I had to re-pack an overnight bad for one last very basic night in the apartment. I borrowed an ayi from a friend for half a day and she unpacked all the cases and hung everything up for me, which was a massive help. We are getting a taste for staff.<\/p>\n

The air freight turned up on our second day here, which was lovely (although what was I thinking? Good to have towels, saucepans, teabags and my favourite mug. Why didn’t I pack some books and DVDs? How did that random carrier bag of entirely random spoons get in there?)<\/p>\n

It’s a funny old place, Jinqiao. You could pick up the entire area \u2013 certainly any of the compounds \u2013 and move it to another country without it looking out of place. Maybe not the UK because the streets are a bit wide and straight and orderly, and when you walk past a gang of teenagers on the street at dusk they all say a very cheerful ‘good evening’, but certainly bits of the states or Europe. It’s hard to remember we are in China. But a 15-minute walk to the girls’ school is so much more pleasant than the 40-minute drive we did for the first half term.<\/p>\n

So, one night in our new house, then we flew to Nha Trang in Vietnam for 6 days of oh so overdue holiday. We were all exhausted and we spent most of the time sitting around by the pool, in the pool, near the pool, on the sofa, and reading books or snoozing. We popped across to ‘Vin Pearl Land’ twice, which was a sort of theme park, I suppose, on an island connected to the mainland by a 3 km cablecar. They made me go on a rollercoaster (pesky kids) and the dodgems but apart from that it was great. A big waterpark was next to a lovely sandy beach with a gorgeous warm sea; there was a zoo and a massive aviary and a huge Ferris wheel and, oddly, a mermaid show. The food was hit and miss (at the park: the food in Nha Trang proper was gorgeous. And a lovely lady came in every morning to make our breakfast) but we managed.<\/p>\n

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Back from Vietnam on the Friday (kids really pleased to see Tony the Driver!) then on Saturday I flew to Lisbon for a conference. Cameron now really understands the attraction of having an ayi, too. My return journey was very stressful indeed as the French air-traffic controllers went on strike and I was told I was going to miss my connection … given that Cameron needed to go on his business trip before I was due back, this was going to be a massive problem. BA pulled it out of the bag: I’ve never seen a flight board so fast, and we got an early slot, which left me time at Heathrow to go mad in WHSmith and buy all the books and magazines, and I arrived bang on time and picked the girls up from school.<\/p>\n

I’ve now spent 6 nights here and it is slowly beginning to feel like home. I whizzed round and took a few photos today – who wants to see?<\/p>\n

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It took me an embarrassingly long time to work out why, when downstairs feels bigger than our house in the UK, the upstairs is so small. That will be because of the massive double-height bits. (Note funky curtains. Neutral would not have been better.)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Dining room plus desk (not yet unpacked or organised)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sitting room, stupidly big yet irritatingly non-functional telly, Tamsin wrapped in a blanket because it is 20 degrees and we are all freezing<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Very rainy deck<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Kitchen plus view into ‘ayi kitchen’. That oven is shocking<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Stairs<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The internet is really iffy and we can’t get the (very expensive) telly to work apart from showing DVDs. The provided garden furniture seats four. The dishwasher has already flooded the kitchen, and I had to get a man out to fix the hot water. I haven’t yet reported the window opener that fell off in my hand, nor the fact that the washing machine dispenser is on its last legs. There is absolutely nowhere to hang a towel. Apart from that, all is good!<\/p>\n

Our furniture is still on a ship \u2013 we have heard a rumour it might reach China next week, although that is very much not the same thing as reaching us. Everything you can see in the pictures is rented, as is an appallingly low quality piano. I am feeling some trepidation about where we will put all the stuff when it does arrive. One gets used very quickly to managing without. (There are some items I’ll be glad to see: scissors, warmer pyjamas and socks now the weather is changing, lamps because I hate sitting in the evening with the big lights on. Tamsin wants her onesie.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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