Fancy lunches and scrubbing toilets

Photos

Well my second week highlighted the unfairness of the social dichotomy within the class system, i.e. I object to spend that much time cleaning toilets.

I spent much of this week still organising and hunting for accommodation. I was waiting to see if my landlady would change her mind and let me have the flat and well, she didn't: no foreigners. So, Monday morning I was flat hunting again. Found a nice place, still close to work, but it needed a bit of work. Lights, taps and holes in the wall need fixing, and I had to chase the guy all bloody week for it. Am still chasing.

But it has a real toilet (wa-hey) even if it had a few months of crust on the bottom. I scrubbed that toilet within an inch of it's life. I wouldn't eat off it yet, but I'll use it now, which is a vast improvement. My money is slipping away faster than a street hawker at the first sign of police, but really I spent wisely and set up most of the house with less than it would cost me to buy a new Dyson. It was the bond and stuff that got me: you have to pay upfront three months rent, one month bond and one month as fees, and pay another 3 months rent in two months time. And my largest purchase will be my most important: an air purifier!!

Luckily food is so good and so cheap; last week I had the cheapest meal I've ever had. A bun thing (more with the texture of fried bread) with chopped potato and veg filling and a hint of chilli. Yum. And only 0.5 yuan (RMB), or a whopping 3 cents Australian.

But, randomly, do you know they don't have bluetack here?

Anway, when I wasn't running around like a headless chook doing accommodation stuff I was being wined and dined at the Australian Embassy. I was kindly invited to lunch hosted by the Deputy Ambassador's wife in the embassy residential area ("compound") which was a spiffing affair. Mango and Prawn salad, quiche, skewers, lots of fresh salads, and rounded off with seasonal fruits, crème brulee, cheesecake and chocolate mousse. A very colonial expat experience. We were sitting outside on the veranda and one expected to see some giraffes saunter past against the African sunset like they do in movies we don't believe. Dinner that night was also at the Embassy for a bbq Christmas in July dinner, a much more informal affair but again, quite an experience.

And the next day I was scraping toilets. That's Beijing.