little delights in a fend-for-yourself society

yesterday marked the beginning of our fourth week "living" here. overall, we're really thankful that we have quickly started to feel settled and at home in our place. we've met some great people and are living close to good friends. pretty close to the university where D teaches too.

but there are admittedly some days when I come home feeling a little bit like Chin(ar) just beat me up. be it the guy whose spit particles accidentally hit my leg as I'm walking along (we've taken to night-showering here), or the person at the copy shop that inexplicably says "nope, we can't do that" to everything I ask about (what kind of copy stuff DO you do then?), or the service person answering the phone at the internet company who pretends she's a machine so she doesn't have to deal with my problems (seriously...I'm not kidding). then there's feeling like I'm going to get run over every time I cross the street. or the weird anthem music that comes on around 3:30 every weekday afternoon and blares in our apartment from who knows where for a good half hour. when getting off the subway, D generally has to steer me from behind so I can actually make it through the throngs of people...it is truly a fend-for-yourself society. takes some getting used to and it's not always so easy to "do everything without complaining or arguing."

i'm realizing how thankful i am for the little delights that seem to come along right when I'm feeling a little weary. it doesn't take much, I'm much like a little kid in that sense. stuff like...

tart yogurt popsicles - just when i was really starting to miss tart froyo, accidentally stumbled upon these in the mart downstairs. not really the same thing, but still a surprising delight. a 2.5 kuai ($0.37) ice cream cone from McD will do the trick in a pinch as well.

beautiful bowls for 24 kuai ($3...total!!) -- we're still in the process of buying kitchen stuff, and our new friend took us to this random dish vendor in a nearby outdoor market. could not believe the prices for the beautiful stuff.

the 7 kuai milk foamer from Ikea - runs on battery. actually makes a decent latte at home considering you're paying maybe 1/20 what you would be paying at starbucks or other knock-off coffee shop

our little sun-balcony - my favorite nook in the apartment. doubles as a place to dry our clothes (no driers!) but D ingeniously put one of our random sofa pieces out there so it's perfect for sitting and having some quiet time away from everything


the chick and the duck - these guys just randomly hang out around our big high rise apartment complex. so weird and so happy all at the same time. they're having a conversation here, amidst the parked cars. i'm tempted to adopt them like Joey and Chandler, except they poop a lot and it would be gross.