My search is over. And as my relatives kept telling me over and over during these hectic six days – finding an apartment is like finding a partner, it’s all about fate. Thanks Drömmaren who cared.
Here’s how it went: Saturday 10 PM – we get a call from an agency about a real hot apartment. It was released on the market this morning, and there were already two others interested. If we wanted to see it, we’d have to come right now, and give an answer by 3 PM. The contract was to be signed at 5 PM.
(That’s the Beijing real estate market for you. It’s insane.) Me and my brother-in-law figure we have nothing to lose, so we take a cab there. The location is perfect, just across the street from Beida, but the big question was: would I consider the apartment liveable? We’d looked at another apartment the day before through the same agency, and what he promised was “very clean” turned out to be look like this:





“very clean” by Beijing standards. And this was rented out for 2600 RMB a month. I actually considered it, but it had some annoying limitations attached to it, and in the end I turned it down.

The agency guy (who’s actually quite nice, unlike most people in the real estate market we’ve had to deal with so far) promised that this one would be cleaner than the other one. And to my surprise, it actually is. Maybe my eyes have gradually gotten used to Chinese standards, but it is actually much better than I’d imagined, and perfectly liveable. The bathroom is not western standards by any means, but then again, even the fancy apartments in Wudaokou (which I originally considered getting and sharing, further from school but pretty high standards, and lots of foreigners lived there) didn’t have better bathrooms than this one.
It’s really quite perfect, except for one thing: the price. At 2800 RMB a month, it’s too expensive for me on my own. This meant that in order for me to get the apartment, I’d have to find a roommate by 3 PM.
By then, it was noon.
Well, there really was nothing more to it. I went to the foreign students’ registration area in Beida and started chatting people up. I spoke for a while with a nice German girl, who unfortunately already had a room. When she left, a British girl suddenly came up to me and apologized for eavesdropping, and then asked if I wanted to have her as a roommate? She seemed really nice and we talked shortly about the basics, discovered that neither was a party animal or overly studious, that we were both easy-going, and ten minutes later I called the agency and told them I wanted the apartment. We went over immediately so Hannah could see the apartment, she really liked it (having spent 6 months in Shanghai a few years ago, I think she was more used to Chinese standards than me) and from that point, it was just contract signing.
Contract signing implies it’s quick and easy. It took over 3 hours, and by the time we were done, I was absolutely exhausted. With the frantic pace this past week, I felt absolutely drained of energy, and there are still things to settle with the apartment. For example, we don’t know how much electricity we have left, so I don’t dare move in yet, and we have no clue how to get Internet either.
Ah well. Hopefully, by the end of next week, we’ll have moved in, but this coming week I’ll probably continue to stay with my relatives. The odd thing is, as much as I’ve felt uncomfortable staying with them and having them pay for everything, I’m going to miss them. They’re more casual now, letting me pay every now and then, and they’re really fun and easy-going. I’ve enjoyed talking to them immensely, and they actually remind me of my parents. They’re really awesome people, and I won’t ever be able to thank them enough. Also, their apartment is like Heaven compared to the places I’ve seen now. Not kidding. Oh, I’m going to miss the bathroom.
Awesome people. If I had to be a live-in, I’d live with them, but three years of independence means it’s not an option. And especially this year, I want to be able to make it on my own.
You know?

Anyway, this post has been a little fragmented and perhaps boring, but I figured y’all wanted to know. On that note, you guys do know you can comment right? I know you’re reading. Tell me about your lives, what’s happening in Sweden and elsewhere?

And if you're nice, I'll tell ya about my introduction to Beijing nightlife =D