New Home

Thirty three years ago (Wow!!-that is a very long time), Philip and I started our life together in a small apartment in the Germantown area of Philadelphia. At that time we had to get used to one another, get used to how we reacted to different situations, get used to what the other person liked or disliked- you all know what I am talking about.

Now we are back to apartment living. We pretty much know how the other person behaves and what they like or do not. This time the challenge is the outer environment,living in a big city in a strange land. And so it feels good to be together in a tight place again. And after moving around: from our friends house(thanks Evelyn and Warren-it was great)to Motel6's on our trip to Colorado, a stint in a ski condo and then temporary Beijing quarters- it feels good to have a place that we now call home, after 14 weeks of being vagabonds.

We now live in a complex called Yangguang Shandong or "Upper East Side"! It is a 20 ute walk to the hospital, or about a 5 min. bike ride. There are 26 buildings in this area, each phase has a totally different look and different heights of the buildings, which gives it a more interesting look than many of the other complexes. We will send more outdoor pictures after the trees leaf out in a couple of weeks. There is quite a bit of green space and some playgrounds as well, therefore many families with children live here. And a lot of very cute dogs!! But none as cute as Sadie (or as big) inside the 4th ringroad you are only allowed to have a small dog. We also have underground parking for those with cars, and a basement for those of us with bicycles.

Our apartment has two good size bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. So we have room for visitors, just not too many at a time.

The main room is both living room and kitchen. Philip said he liked this lay-out because then he can talk with me when I am in the kitchen. For some reason he did not seem to realize that I can also talk with him when HE is in the kitchen??

Around the living area we have an indoor porch on two sides, we will try to show this in the photos, and if you can not see it, I guess you will just have to come and see for yourself, which many of you are indeed planning. Presently we do not have any furniture out there, so we may get a few pieces as I think it will be a nice place to sit during HOT summer evenings. (Yes, we do have air conditioning.

We are presently bare bones with interior landscape but last week Philip and I went to Lai Tai, a wonderful flower market not too far away. We came home with 3 good green plants in addition to a thyme and a rosemary. And suddenly what was an apartment became a home. We are together, we have a pillow to sleep on and a tiny garden consisting of 2 herbs. (For the rest there is great produce at all the local markets).

For the time being, this is our "casa".(Or perhaps hutong would have been a better word)
-Astri