Day 1

The view from our living room.

Right now, it is 1:00am China time.  I am wide awake munching on pretzel M&Ms I hadn't eaten on the plane.  We arrived yesterday, US time, on Saturday morning at 2:30am.  We unloaded all 8 suitcases onto the elevator using Chitrak, myself, and our driver as an assembly line to load our items to the 9th floor.

Now, as I look out the window, I see a fantastic view of dark, shadowy sky skrapers, illuminated by dimly lit apartment lights.  All is quiet, except for occasional honking from irritated drivers.  I shut the curtains and head back to the couch, where my husband and I collapsed earlier from exhaustion and jet lag.  He is still sleeping.

The apartment we live in is so much bigger than I had originally thought it to be.  It came furnished with a corner couch that can fit at least 5 people comfortably.  Our television is far bigger than the one we had purchased in the US.  If I had to guess its size, I would have to say that it is a 42" screen.

We have two bedrooms, two baths, office, kitchen, living and dining room.  Each bedroom has a tv and almost ALL rooms have a balcony.  The balconies are small, except the living room and guest bedroom.  One balcony is a storage place and the other is the designated laundry room.  After you wash your clothes, you hang them to dry.  A dryer is a luxury to have in China.  It usually is found in newer apartments because, just like in the US, it takes a special wall plug to use.  Since we live in an older, established apartment, we will be hanging our clothes out to dry!

Our suitcases are strewn across the floor, some opened some not.  There is no time to unpack, though, with so much of the city to explore.  Our apartment lies in the bustling downtown of Kunshan, China where every convenience is just a walk a way.  In the "small" city in which we live, only 1.5 million people reside.  I feel like I am living downtown New York.  The streets and stores are full of people.  Last night, my first chance to see Kunshan life, I had bumped into at least a dozen people trying to make my way through the store aisles.  It doesn't seem to bother anyone here.  The leaders of the world economy proudly show the buying power of the rising middle class.   The recession doesn't even look to have affected the lives of the people I met today.  Every day is like taking a Black Friday shopping trip.  Maybe shopping on a Monday morning will be better...hopefully most of those people will be at work! :-)

The view looking down from our living room.

This is the entry way to our apartment building.