i live really close to my office. i mean, really close. a brisk 8-10
minute walk, or a 3-5 minute bike ride, and i'm there. i know i
haven't blooged enough about where i live. its on a classic old
street, but really close to a sub-major metro station. very
convenient to everything. i live on the 1st floor of an old lane
house with old shanghainese people all around me. they've probably
have lived in that small community for their whole life. i still get
odd stares sometimes. and they're really nosy. but that's fine, i
can use an extra pair of eyes on my place as i'm not at home that
much. anyways, i'll touch upon my living situation more later.
this morning, i swear i saw kanye west. if kanye west is my height,
then yes that was him. walking on my street. but since i think he's
an arrogant asshole, i didn't say hello. walking a bit further, i saw
an old man come out of a hair salon while still wearing the apron. it
looks like he just got his hair dyed jet black. b/c it looked like he
was wearing black concrete on his head. he was talking on his cell
phone and trying to get on his bike at the same time, while still
wearing the hair salon apron. kinda funny.
my current apartment is the 3rd place i've lived in shanghai. 1st was
the dorm room, 2nd was the apartment on huaihai zhong lu with the
terrace, and now the old lane house. when i was looking for my 2nd
apartment, i almost signed a lease with an apartment that's a few
hundred feet away from my current office. its on yanqing lu, this
cool little street connecting changshu lu and the 5-street
intersection (fumin, xinle, donghu, changle, yanqing) it was the size
of a studio apartment. small living area, narrow kitchen, and a small
front yard with a huge palm tree. the landlord wanted 7,500rmb a
month. back then, i was still kinda ignorant about average rental
prices in shanghai. i was still using an LA rental prices as
comparison (huge mistake). 7,500rmb is about $1,200, and i thought it
was a reasonable price to live in the thick of things. i really liked
the place, but thought i could get less rent elsewhere (true).
ultimately, i didn't sign on.
good thing i didn't. first, the rent was way too much. the landlord
was trying to make a killing on ignorant laowais like me. my current
place is pretty comparable, has more sunlight, and nicer neighborhood,
and i pay WAY less than 7,500rmb per month. second, apparently
others felt this way too. whenever i would pass by, i would stop in
and take a look. the place sat empty for a long time, and may still
be empty. third, and this is most important, there was a little small
room connected to the apartment that faced yanqing lu. it wasn't part
of the rental space though, i think the landlord might have used it
for storage. apparently, about a month or two ago, he decided to rent
out that small room and a local eatery moved in. so now everyday that
little eatery with about 3 tiny folding tables inside is open from the
crack of dawn to the late evening, packed with loud chatty people.
had i moved in, i would be awaken every morning with the cacophony of
high-decibel shanghainese and the persistent odor of grease. i'm
really glad i didn't move in. whew, felt like i dodged a bullet there..
