Got keys on Monday, did inventory.
David spent nearly 3 hours in a "Starhub" shop signing up for local TV, phone, mobile and broadband, and I bought some bits for the apartment.
Moved countless suitcases of stuff from the apartment at Normanton Park to the new place on Tuesday morning. Arrived just in time for stuff shipped by sea: spent hours sorting and trying to find homes for 1,000,001 things in only 1,001 places and then, joy of joys, an evening trip round IKEA (until 10:30 pm with the kids in tow) to buy more homes for more things.
Wednesday: refilled and moved more suitcases from Normanton Park - more sorting and tidying.
Thursday: IKEA delivery arrived and WE MOVED IN!!! More unpacking of yet more re-filled suitcases etc. (I think our luggage and possessions have been breeding over the last few weeks)but great to be "home".
Friday - more sorting out, mostly trying to get the kids bedrooms in some sort of shape and Adam was finally reunited with his train track. What a happy person he was when I said he could lay it out again.
Well, things are still a little chaotic and I forsee a few more trips to IKEA over the next week or two, but the children start school on Tuesday so things should get a little easier, regarding browsing and buying.
It's great here. We have a lovely but compact 3 bedroom apartment with an en-suite bathroom and another shower room. The kids bedrooms are considerably smaller than theirs in the UK, but so far they're happy. We have a smart living/dining room with granite floors and a huge window across one end with panoramic views (from the 25th floor) to the North west. We're very much more suurounded by other buildings here and much more aware of just how many people live packed into this little island! The kitchen is fairly small and not particularly well laid out so the worksurface is the size of a postage stamp.
We also have a "yard". This is a laundry room, but yards don't have windows - just a balcony style, low level wall. I'm delighted to report that our landlords have put in a grill across the opening that can be locked shut as at 25 floors up I wouldn't be too comfortable sorting out the laundry right next to that. We also have a "maid's room" and tiny shower room off the yard which we use for storage. "Maid's room" implies an extra bedroom but it's really little more than a wide corridor between the yard and the maid's tiny loo and shower. All fine if you have a maid and she can sleep standing up!
Outside we have two tennis courts ajacent to a huge, glorious pool, something like a small inland sea surrounded by palm trees and other tropical plants.
Next week, one day, after we see the kids off on the bus at 7.50, we shall book a tennis court at 8am whilst the weather is cooler and play for an hour. David can still be showered, changed and in the office just after 9.30am! It takes 24 minutes from front door to desk by MRT. Now that's the life!
I haven't got photos of our particular unit ready yet, but to take a look at a few pics of a similar, empty one then click on the following link to the property page of a website. The panoramic view is the same as ours (although possibly a few floors higher) although that is only part of our vista!
http://www.expatchoice.com/property_for_rent/district_1-8/queens.htm
Last night we attended a traditional chinese baby party held for a one month old baby, but more on that in a few days time.
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2 comments:
Just followed the link, AND THE LOO SEAT IS UP! AAAARGH! Ha haha ha ha ha ha!
It looks fantastic - the children must be thrilled by the pool. Are there other kids in the place for them to befriend?
Oh, the joys of Stuff. And Stuff to put Stuff in. And peeling off a whole other bunch of price labels! Let joy be unconfined!
While you, I know, can never have enough of Ikea, D&H must be bored to tears with it, and longing for school. (You are putting them on a bus? By themselves? Really? Wow.)
Still can't find servants to play that game of tennis though.
Amazing about the loo seat when it's such terrbile feng shui, but there you go.
There are loads of kids here, but we've seen only a small number of caucasian families. Lots of Japanese, but at their age I'm sure it won't take long. There are a few other children from here at their school too, so tomorrow on the school bus we'll find out who. Of course, they could be any nationality, but will be being educated in English which will make communication easier.
As for the bus, it's the school bus. It's the way it is out here, almost all kids travel by bus even the really young ones. Every bus has an "auntie" who makes sure everyone is strapped in and OK. Tomorrow, I plan to go on it too and the bus company are OK it with that, but they'll be ooming home alone.
Anyway, need to go pack school bags now having spent HOURS ironing in name labels
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