We looked at this apartment last weekend. It was difficult for real estate agents to find 4-bedroom apartments for us, but we still looked at about five or six apartments, all through different agencies. The only down-side to this apartment was that one of the bedrooms didn’t have a bed (an activity for this afternoon), and that it seemed a little far from the university. It’s only about a twenty or thirty minute walk to class, though, and we will figure out the busses as well. The walk is nice because it goes along one of the main parks, which is basically a small lake with bridges going through it to small wooded areas. It’s very pretty if you ignore the algae in it, with lotuses coming up all over. There is usually music coming from the middle of the park, and we often see people doing aerobic dancing or tai qi. Aerobic dancing is a popular form of exercise in most parks around China. It’s usually done by older people, and they often use parasols, fans, scarves, or even tennis rackets, as they follow a leader through motions. It’s pretty slow, so it kind of looks like tai qi, not like a fast-paced aerobics class at a gym or anything.

Anyway, back to my apartment search. We came into the agency on Saturday after seeing the apartment on Friday. They told us that someone else wanted it, too, but if they didn’t come up with the money for it by 6:00, we could have it (as long as we brought in the money the following day). So, we were worried for a bit that we would lose the apartment and have to start all over in the search. But the other people didn’t come through, so the next day we came in and met with the landlord. Signing everything was an ordeal. In fact, this whole process was an ordeal. We are not used to the Kunming accent – they say “s” instead of “sh”, for instance, and generally have a different way of pronouncing vowels and use some different expressions. So, in general we could barely understand our main real estate agent, and he could barely understand us. There was a lot of asking to repeat. Then, looking at all the rental agreement, we could understand about 50% of what was written, so we kept having to ask them to explain, and then not understanding what they were saying. But we finally got a grasp of everything. The landlord was pretty funny throughout the whole process. He wanted to talk to us about where we were from, immediately answering when we said we were from America with the blunt, “I’ve been.” I couldn’t really tell what had brought him there. I later asked his wife if he was working there, but I don’t think I could really communicate it well, because she sounded like I had said something totally absurd when she answered with, “no he works here in China.” Oh well. He was carefully watching us as we struggled to understand what was going on in the agreements. My friend Ilaria signed the agreement, and everyone was amazed at how fast she wrote such a long signature. Then, she had to copy the address of the foreign student office at the university, and they were making fun of her, that she could sign her name so quickly, but wrote characters so slowly. Of course, they were meanwhile trying to decipher her passport, which we were careful to only point out to each other in English and feel a little better about our situation. All in all, I think we are all pretty proud that we succeeded in renting an apartment in Chinese. It feels like a big accomplishment.

After finishing up business at the real estate office, we went over to the apartment with two of the agents and the landlord’s wife. The agents seem very helpful – they have helped us a lot with the landlords, and helped us get things like internet. The landlady has been very interesting. I think she is trying very hard to be helpful, so when we were looking at the apartment with her she went through just about every room and item in the house. The problem was, it seemed like she herself didn’t really know how to use some of the things, and there were some good moments like when she left the gas on (even though there was no gas there, since we needed to buy a card for it, so it probably was safe) (we turned it off as soon as she left). After trying to explain the complicated procedures of paying for utilities, she would then make a point of showing us where we could hang up our laundry and wait until we all acknowledged that we understood and then she would repeat it. So going over the house to a while. Yesterday, she was very nice and came with us to the police station, where we needed to register our residence so that we can get new visas. I think the problem with our relationship is mostly that we don’t understand her when she speaks, and she doesn’t understand us when we speak. So it sometimes feels like we are speaking two different languages to one another. I’m hoping I will get more used to the accent here. It will be interesting to see how much I can understand after living here a couple months.

1

written by  agentsarainkunming on September 5, 2009 from Kunming, China
from the travel blog: CHINA
Send a Compliment

---

Sarita - I am so proud of you, Number One (and only) Daughter! Brava on the apartment process! What an experience! Good luck getting in the swing of Mandarin classes and learning/understanding the local accent!

Your walk sounds lovely - good exercise and a charming environment! A sixth floor walk-up also sounds like great exercise - if we come visit though, I may have a heart attack just trying to get up the stairs (poo-poo-poo) - better you than us!

Thank you for your wonderful report! Keep them coming!

XOXOXO

Yo mama

written by  Jeanne Segal on September 6, 2009

---

Lol ... Sara, your experience reminds me of my recent one where my Korean clients (actually, clients of one of my co-workers) spoke very little English and I had to do a "walk-through" of their new apartment to make sure everything was ok. I had to keep emailing my co-worker in Korea (she was vacationing there) so she could call me and then talk to them and translate. (My calling her would have been very expensive.) The walk-through should have taken 15 minutes but it took 2 hours!! I got really good with sign language! I wish I could hear you speaking with your landlords and agents! What a brave and clevuh girl you are!!! Keep the blogs coming! xoxoxo Ms. Mush

written by  Violettama on September 7, 2009

---

Hi Sara,
SOOO proud of you doing the apartment hunt and acquisition in Chinese!!! You go girl---as they say!
I'm awaiting Anna's arrival on Sunday (13th) and excited. Shall hook her up to this blog of yours if she hasn't had a look already.
Enjoy every waking/walking moment in Kunming, Agent Sara!

Love--big bunches!///Kath

written by  Kathy Fairhurst-Lown on September 10, 2009

comment on this...