Apartment Hunting

As part of the well taken care life of the ex patriate in Shanghai, we spent the better part of yesterday looking at options for apartments for the next year. Really only saw six different locations, but it took over 4 hours (no breaks). We saw apartments in brand new buildings (we would be the first tenants), some in older buildings, some on the fifth floor and others on the nosebleed floor (26 or 32, I can't remember). All of them were two or three bedroom suites and had very small kitchens, some even had exercise facilities in their basement or clubhouse. Some were furnished and others would require us to negotiate for furniture. We have a couple more to look at potentially, so I am not sure which one we will choose. Once we select one, it will probably take an additional two weeks or so to sign papers with all of the agencies that are involved with this transaction. We are not in a hurry however, since the Hilton is a very comfortable home for us at the moment. C gets a free breakfast at the buffet downstairs (where I am told there are particularly delicious pains au chocolat) and I really like the gym; I am there every day to take advantage of the great facilities and the steam room and whirlpool.

We experienced our first really rainy day here yesterday. It rained cats and dogs, and probably a couple of other small mammals for about 2 hours or so. When it stopped, it was moist but much cooler than it has been in the last couple of days. There were really impressive storm clouds and thunder claps. The rain cleared some of the fog too.

By the way, I was finally able to fix the slide show and it is working about two posts back. I have also fixed the comments part; now you can comment and it goes straight to my e-mail- so take THAT you censors!