Two years and almost seven months - 935 days - 22,400 hours - 1,346,400 minutes - 80,784,000 seconds. When you put it in seconds, the time actually seems shorter. You know, seconds are so short and 100 seconds doesn't take long to count up to, and I counted a thousand seconds once and it wasn't long either (I waste my time doing useless stuff like that). Of course, you can't count 80,784,000 seconds (you would die of dehydration or boredom by the time you reach 604,800 - that's a week), and I do not suggest you try, but when you think about a second, it's but a sliver of the tiniest sliver of cake divided by ten and cut in half again that can be eaten without being chewed (the cake is a junky representation of a year). A second is not that much, so when you put two years, six months, and twenty days in seconds, it seems like that time could just fly by because a second is usually perceived as being a very fast unit of time.
MOVING ON (because you are not here to learn about math and cake), those two and a half-ish years hold many experiences and memories and changes in a person's life. I mean, really, nothing happening to you in two and a half-ish years is an obvious sign that you either don't have a life or you are a potato. Even if you're cooped up in your house all day, there will be experiences and memories and changes. But, I'm getting off subject (a common occurrence for me).
There is far too much to mention in this one post, so I will limit myself to our apartment complex, which I will prefer to as AC in this post because I am lazy. Please do not mistake those two letters as abbreviation for air-conditioner. Mentioning air-conditioning in the winter is stupid.
Look, I've put pictures for you. Cherish this day. This may be the one time I put more than one picture by my own decision because, my friend, I never put pictures. I am a word-person. However, these pictures are worth a little more than three thousand words here, which saves me two hours of writing.
This is out the parent's window. NOTE: This is our first apartment on the fifth floor. We now live in another building in the same AC on the sixteenth floor. [END NOTE] I believe those white things back there are for the gas...
Fifth floor: This is out the living room window. Te house to the left is now a preschool. It has a neighbor to the right, but you can't see it. Past the trees you might be able to see the playground... Expand the photo and look for a little blue speck - that's the top of the big toy.
This is the sidewalk out one of our gates. The restaurant to the right used to be a favorite of ours when first arrived. FAVORITE, as in we went at least three times a week. We had some waitress friends there, all whom are now replaced. The sign is also different, today.
We've made a few Chinese friends who work in convenient stores all around our AC, namely the "front store people". We haven't got their names, which is a bit embarrassing, but they don't know ours, either, so it's all cool. (Of course, they know Matthew's name, though - ma tai.) Each time I go on, I say "hi" and as I leave I say "bye", so I think that's a pretty darn good relationship right there. Our biggest purchase from them are big bottles of water, as Mother does not care for the free filtered water in our apartment. Emma and Baba also always go down for drinks and instant soup.
There is also a neighboring vegetable store near the "front store place", excellent for last minute shopping for fresh produce. That's at the gate nearest us, as we have two. The vegetable shop I believe has had three different owners, but stayed relatively the same. I do not share a similar relationship with them as I do the front store people. I do say "thank you", though.
The second gate of the AC, farther back, we have/had "breakfast people" who had a cart they sold hard-boiled eggs on, these odd sandwiches, and meat buns. They've been on break for Chinese New Year for three weeks, and the parents and Jen are beginning to wonder whether or not they're returning...
If you read the Xi'an Q&A, you know I go out mainly to walk about the courtyard. As such, I am very familiar with the AC. I am also very familiar with the apartment, our next subject.
Here are some pictures of our old apartment...
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| The bathroom... |
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| The [tiny] kitchen.... |
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| The living room... |
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| The living room during a black-out... |
And one picture of our present apartment (I couldn't find anything more)
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| The living room, the only one that REALLY matters, right? |
The doorway in the back: Go straight, you find the front door. Go right, you find the kitchen (which is MUCH bigger than our last.) I think Jen's at the kitchen table (behind the couch), but I can't tell well from black-and-white photos. Expand for better image.
There are probably more pictures in our intimidating, unorganized Pictures folder, but I am not going through a hundred folders to look for the specific pictures I want. Perhaps in a -
~Abby
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FROM THE EDITOR OF THIS POST
WARNING!
WARNING!
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| A view from the 16th floor apartment posted by the Editor in hopes you can forgive him/her for the interruption. |
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