A Rough Landing

Well, the actual flight and process getting into China went pretty smoothly. It's what came after that was rough:

After getting through customs, immigration, and quarantine for the cat quickly (total time from landing to reaching our new home = 2.5 hrs) things started to go wrong. First was that we ended up in an apartment on the wrong side of the building from what the housing people had told us -- meaning the floor plan wasn't quite the same. Basically, we got the less desirable apartment with the smaller closets and office/den.

Second, the place reeks of new... something. New appliances, new paint, new asbestos or other toxins. We're not sure what exactly it is, but it's pervasive and not airing out well.

Part of this toxicity showed up when we went to give the cat a much-needed drink after more than 18 hours without water. We poured some water into her dish from the water cooler (it is recommended that we do not drink the tap water, so a water cooler is provided) and not long after that, she started yowling, running around, clawing out her fur in tufts, and panting/gasping for air. At first we had no clue what was causing it, and started freaking out since we had only been here 2 hours and had almost no local phone numbers and had no clue how to make an international call. She puked up the water, and after an hour or so, she seemed to calm down.

So here we are, with a different floor plan than we had been told, and water that almost killed the cat. Other issues include a tiny, crappy kitchen and retarded closet design in the master bedroom (more on those from DiploWhat, I'm sure).

Anyway, on Friday we went to the embassy to start the check-in process. The air that day was "hazardous" according to an embassy official (pic below). Our sponsor, who is supposed to guide you around to the people and places to check in, wasn't even at the embassy when we arrived. One of his colleagues jumped in and helped out, but we still ended up doing most of the stuff that day by ourselves. Brand new. Know nothing about the place. No phone. No nothing. Just wandering around trying to figure things out.

So far, this experience is a far cry from our first post. But, things are looking up. We have cell phones now; Internet access is up; we even already have a housekeeper (who is working while I type this).

I took a few pics of the place and one while walking about ("Lady Street" and "Super Bar Street" are nearby).

From our entryway to the living room


From the living room to the entryway



Air on Friday



Air on Saturday


And a little World of Warcraft!

Will post again soon!