Shanghai Crib

So, it's been just over a month since I moved into my Shanghainese home sweet home. It's in a sizeable gated community called "锦苑" ( Jin3 Yuan4 roughly translates into "Brocade Park"), which maintains a rather prestigious-sounding epithet of "文明小区" ie "Model Quarter", presumably awarded by the Shanghai municipal council for err.. being a model example of a housing community.

I'm at the 56th block which indicates I have to (yes, you guessed it) walk rather far from the entrance to actually reach the block. The good thing is it is relatively quiet in my corner, and less polluted. Less dusty = less housework to do! Anyway it's 6 flights of stairs for me everyday, resulting in some nice toned thighs and bum. After months of inactivity due to my foot surgery, my posterior looked more like a deflated water balloon than a grope-worthy ass, but with having to climb those stairs at least once a day, I am now the relieved owner of une derriere par excellence. Hehe.

So here are some photos of my flat, taken after some frantic cleaning up and surreptitious chucking of clothes into the cupboards. They'll have to do for now until I bother to actually take some better angle-adjusted ones.

The central dining room area, first thing you see when you step in through the front door. Basically there are 2 doors on either side. On the left, the nearest door is to the kitchen, the farthest one to the bathroom. On the right, the first door to the sitting room, the second to the bedroom.
Better angle of the furnishings and bathroom door.
From left: front door, kitchen, bathroom.
Small drawer and water dispenser on the left.
This one's taken standing in the bathroom. You can see the doors leading to the bedroom on the left and sitting room on the right.
Kitchen from the outside. Having a convention cooker at home, it's been simply years since I last used a gas stove.
And from within. Rather sparsely furnished thanks to my incredibly generous landlady, who couldn't even bother to provide a microwave oven. She said the microwave would be too heavy for her to carry. And obviously she thinks it wouldn't be a problem for me, heh.
Bathroom, with toilet, washing machine, shower and sink. According to TingTing, this is considered quite sizeable for Shanghainese standards.
Sitting room. I'm currently living entirely in here at the moment, with the sofabed opened up. When I first moved in it was still pretty cold and this was the room with the best heating.
From another angle. It can be a bit of a squeeze getting in between the bed and TV, but when you're my size, small is nothing.
Closed balcony, great light for studying by during daytime.
Bedroom, uninhabited at the moment. Note the spare mattress leaning against the wall.
You can't see it, but there's plenty of wardrobe space for clothes. =D

In short, this space is my home away from home until August. With most of my day spent at ACLS, most of my time in here is taken up with doing homework and sleep. Kinda seems a waste of space and rental when the flat could easily accommodate another person. In comparison with some of the cupboards I lived out of during boarding school, this is like a mansion! Heehee.. actually boarding school wasn't that bad. Anyway when the weather is a bit more accommodating I will take the camera out and get some photos of the main entrance, and the downright ugly housing buildings here in Shanghai.

On another note, now that Spring is creeping in, some residents here have taken to walking their little trophy dogs in the mornings. So far on the way to ACLS I've seen: a Pomeranian with a massive fluffy winter coat, a pair of grizzled Schnauzers looking very much like Tramp from Lady and the Tramp, another large brown dog, and cutest little terrier puppy with a pink ponytail! Oh man, how I miss Muffin. Mum, if you dare give her away before I get back to KL, I shall be eternally upset with you! And never cook for you again, ha!

Muffin says, see, I have my own crib too!
Says, because you see, she's much too refined and proper to actually bark that.