New Apartment

So about 3 weeks ago the hot water was not working in my apartment. I called Tian Jia and she sent some workers over to fix it, but the hot water had been in and out pretty much the entire time since I had moved in.

As a temporary solution, until the workers fixed my hot water heater, Tian Jia gave me the key to the unoccupied apartment on my floor, since the hot water heater worked in there.

So I took a shower in that apartment, #607, and it was difficult not to notice how big it was! The living space was about twice the size of my apartment, the kitchen and bedroom were slightly bigger, but also the bathroom and kitchen each had a window to outside, making it feel less dank. So later, I talked to Tian Jia again and suggested that since I kept having hot water problems in my apartment (606) and since it worked in 607, maybe I could just move into 607. She said that sounded like a good idea, but needed to ask her director.

The next day she called me back and said it was cool, but that I'd have to pay for the cleaning lady to come and clean it since they had already paid for mine to be cleaned. With the advantages of this apartment, more space, brighter feel, and not least, hot water, this was no problem. In the meantime, I had been waiting for them to install the cooking hood, curtains in the kitchen and bathroom, and for the cleaning lady.

Last Friday (the 7th) I invited a bunch of the other foreign kids in Huzhou over to my place to play poker. Originally I had thought it was going to be about 6 people, which I can easily manage in my current apartment (606).

But earlier that day I got a text from Nellie; she invited even more local-living foreign people, so we'd have a total of 10. It was cool, the more the merrier I say, but we ended up having to move the game into my new apartment, 607, to accommodate all the guests.

It ended up being a lot of fun: good snacks, good people, and good beer. Ellis took some pictures:

[Poker pictures to be added]

My apartment is actually a bit out of the way for everyone else, so we may not do it at my place next time, but hopefully it won't be too long before we can do it again.

I also remembered how much I like playing poker with a group of friends, so the next day I invited a couple of guys, students at the school, over to teach them Texas Hold'em. They caught on pretty quick, and I learned how to say different poker terms in Chinese: fang qi (fold), xia zhu (bet), xiang den (call), jia (raise), fa pai (deal), xi pai (shuffle).

By the way, I will finally be moving into the new apartment this Sunday and Monday. Once I get all moved in I will post a video of it.