May 29 - apartment hunting

"If I were trying to convince you that I was wise in my choice of apartment, I
probably shouldn't tell you that my bathtub is right next to my dining room
table. Or that the entire apt is about one-thrid the size of my house in Charlotte. Or that it's a 15 minute walk to the subway. Or that the bed is hard as wood.

But what if I told you that the bathtub is circular--2 yards in
diamater, and that I have a separate shower with a rain faucet? Or that the
apartment comes with 3 plasma TV's? Or that on the ground floor of my building
(I'm on the 18th floor), there is a 4-story department store, a supermarket, a Starbucks, and aHaagen-Daas and within easy walking distance are 2 Walmart-like stores, a Pizza Hut, a KFC and more Chinese restaurants that you can shake a stick at?

The company gave me 2 days off (VERY generous, but much needed for my mental health) and provided an agent to help me find an apartment. Went with Terre from work, whose also looking for an apartment. (see photos)

The agent's name is Jason--Chinese, probably in his early 20's. (see photos) He is such a wheeler-dealer, he reminds me of Ari from Entourage. He has an iPhone and a regular phone and is constantly going back and forth between the two.
He'll be speaking very niceley, almost lovingly, then suddenly starts shouting
and bangs his fist on the dashboard."

The Chinese have adapted extremely well to capitalism. And they're good at it."

"It was like buying a house in the US. Even though this is a modern high-rise
which was built less than a year ago, all the apts are owned by separate
landlords. You even get a deed when you sign the lease. I settled on this one
apartment pretty quickly out of the 11 that he showed us, but he was back and
forth on the phone with the landlord, negotiating the monthly rent and the
amount required up front. During the course of the day, the amounts and terms
for this one apartment kept changing. Then he said I needed to pay a holding
fee in case someone else rented it, which I refused to do at the time. He
showed me similar apartments (each with different landlords) in the same
building, going through the same negotiations with them. Like juggling 5 balls
at the same time. I was getting worried, so I told him to put a hold on a
particular one. He called right away, but said that it had been snapped up.
Then he told me the price had gone up on another one. I thinking he was playing
me. Remember, all these conversations are in Chinese (some for 15 minutes at a
time), while I'm sitting there having no idea what he's saying. I have to trust
him; after all my company arranged for him. They told me I could look on my
own, but can you imagine, with me not speaking a word of the language and not
knowing any of the rules, etc.?

"Also, Jason's English is not always the best and there was a good bit of confusion between us, one detail of which was
serious. (He says 'hello' very funny: the 'o' is like the French 'u', where you say 'ee' and then pucker your lips, sort of like the 'u' in 'bush). Then he
stretches it out because he's trying to be very cool, and it comes out 'Helluuuuuuuuuuu.' It comes out very queenly.)

We started at 10 am on Thursday and went straight through to 8pm without a break for lunch or dinner. If he was trying to wear me down, it worked. We finally
arranged to meet with the landlord of the very first place I looked at, the one I originally refused to put a hold on. We met and agreed on terms, but get
this. After the fuss they made about requiring earnest payment to hold it for one day, THEY proposed that I could move in after giving them only earnest money
that night, and we wouldn't sign a contract or settle up until 2 days later on Saturday."

"They read through the contract several times and made corrections in all 3
copies; I found a few also. We initalled the changes in all 3 copies. The
contract was in Chinese and English, but some of the changes were in Chinese, so
they told me what it said and had me write it in English, then initial. One
addendum they made was that I would do no 'power cooking'. Jason tried to
explain to me what this was by waving his hands up and down, but I never could
understand. Finally, he said 'no Chinese cooking'. Really, here in Beijing?
Turns out the previous tenant had damaged the stovetop with 'power cooking'.
Well, I don't cook much any way, so we worked it out.

I'll tell you next time about my first night in my apartment."