A Year of the Rats Special Report: Home Away from Home, Pt 1 of 3

Perhaps the second most commonly asked question Corey and I get about life in China is in regards to where we live.

What's it like? Is it modern? Is it close to such and such thing? Is it clean? Is it safe? Etcetera, etcetera.

Well, over the next three days, I'm going to answer the question burning in all of your minds.

But how can he drag this out over three days, you're no doubt asking yourself. It's quite simple really... and it starts with this post right here... we're going to go step by step, to try and paint a full picture for you. So before we even step inside our freshly cleaned abode, lets spend this entry exploring right outside Casa de Corey and Shawn.

First, there is our little residential compound/neighborhood which I have just decided to name "The Demilitarized Zone". Partly because I can't remember the Chinese name, and partly because even if I did, I'd have know idea what it meant.

If you turn the corner, you're greeted by our neighbor's house. It's a garbage dump. Really.

Oh yeah, and then there's this... I think this is the neighborhood's air purifier. Or something.

I don't want to paint an entirely gloomy picture though. There is a farm of sorts...

So those are a few shots of my neighborhood (The DMZ). Lets walk a minute or two backwards and go right in front of the apartment. Here you can see the pile of rubble that was our place-marker for the first two weeks before someone had the nerve to clean it all up! What were they thinking?

I really miss that pile. Now lets do an about face. Look, it's our doorway. Well, I guess doorway implies a door. Lets just call it an entrance.

Now if you walk up three flights of stairs, you'll get to the top floor, also known as our floor. Here take a look:

See that ladder to the right of our door? It leads right up to the roof. The footprints on the wall lead me to deduce that they've been used Watson!

Oh, and just so there's no confusion... the ladder up to the roof is very simple to use. Just climb straight up. There's no door, or hatch, or covering or anything. Just our foyer, and the elements. It's really nice on sunny days. The rainy days, well... who doesn't like chunks of rooftop outside their door in the morning?





I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea here. I know I've been somewhat... sarcastic... about The DMZ, but I really actually like it. Maybe it's because it reminds me of my Romanian roots, maybe because it has a certain charm that can't come through in pictures, maybe because it's so fucking scary with no lights at night and it makes me realize how thankful I am that there are no vampires in China.

You really get to appreciate the little things I guess.

Join us tomorrow as we take a walk INSIDE the apartment! More of the same? An oasis? Most likely somewhere in between I'd say.

Until then... good day from China,

- Shawn