Prospects of sustainable life in Shanghai

I've been a little busy in the past few weeks.  I went to the UK to say goodbyes, and then when I came back, had about 10 days to study for two MBA exams find a new apartment and move house.  Finding an apartment was the tricky bit here.  I went looking for apartments with Ray, my new flatmate, but finding a place to our mutual tastes and budgets wasn't easy.  Oh and the day after moving house, I started work officially with Capgemini China.

 

We had a 3 day orientation at work, giving about a dozen of us new joiners a chance to ease in and have some fun.  It's great to be back to work, and to be part of the exciting journey which is working for and helping develop Capgemini China.

 

It's great being back at work... but the past part is at home.  We saw a number of strange apartments along the way, and a few really nice ones.  A couple of complications and confusions along the way, but we're in our new apartment now, and it's great.  It's brand new, and it's really very nice.

 

Sharing with two others helps a lot.  On my own there's no way I could live in this nice an apartment.  It's strange.  We pay less than 3000 each to leave here.  But the foreign student dormitory accomodation is about that much for a single room.  Living in the centre of town, this is a Much better deal than the old apartment I rented near Fudan University.

 

Being closer to town, and having a flatmate, I feel far less isolated.  With an en-suite bathroom and a large bedroom, and a brand new apartment, it's so much easier to see myself living here and enjoying life.  Our ayi can cook us meals.  They're healthier than the ones my Uni ayi cooked for me, and the restaurants in the town centre are plentiful, if often expensive.  I went out and bought films today.  I bought about 40 excellent DVDs such as The Motorcycle Diaries, and haha the School of Rock.  I bought a 6 DVD set of the classic HK triad films 'Young and Dangerous'.  In all, they cost less than it would have cost to buy 2 films in HMV back home.  Haha I'm hoping to spring Trainspotting on some of my local friends, I hope they can understand the Glaswegian accents!

 

We have a few more things to buy for the apartment.  This week we had telephone and internet installed, and bought a water cooler.  We want to buy a wireless internet hub so that we can all access the internet from our rooms, and to get some chairs to relax on the balcony.  Once we're more settled we're planning on buying bicycles of sorts, so as to explore more of central Shanghai.  I'm really looking forward to that part.