a good monday
it was a good monday indeed.
the highlight of it was signing a one-year lease on an apartment very close to work... about 30 minutes by foot and 10 rmb by taxi. it is 126 square-meters and costs 4700 rmb a month (or, for y'all in the states, that's 1,356 square feet for $US 607.32 a month).
i saw the ad on beijing listing of craigslist.
a copy of the ad is available here just in case they remove it.
for those of you who might've thought that the housing size/price were the same as in tokyo, well, no.
the signing of the contract was an event. actually, i've pretty much heard all such things in beijing can be... first, it's important to note that alot of big purchases are done in cash. and, since the largest bill is a 100 rmb note, there can be a lot of bills involved. my terms were three months in advance with one month deposit. i brought half a brick or so and it wasn't near enough (damn atm cash-advance restrictions). i'll bring the rest by the end of the week.
also, be prepared to bring your passport. my passport will also be required when i goto the police station and register as a foreigner living in the area.
okay, so the girl that i'm getting the apartment from is a meiguoren who speaks really good mandarin. steve came along with me just to make sure everything was on the up-n-up. the agents and the landlord's representatives spoke korean and chinese (i believe that they were chinese-korean minorities versus being korean). they would switch between talking to steve and the current tenant in chinese and a mix of korean and chinese when talking amongst themselves. i counted on steve to give me periodic updates.
a transaction that probably would've taken about ten minutes in the states took about 45 minutes. just be prepared.
