Moving Day?

The good news this week is that our property management company/realtor toured the apartment on Monday and agreed that the mold situation is beyond belief and that we should not continue to live in this apartment while we wait for the landlord to fix it.  The repairs will obviously take months, so our management company is working on getting us out of the lease and moving us to a new apartment in this complex.

Yesterday, I saw the 3 available 3-bedroom apartments in this complex that are listed through our realtor and picked the nicest one to move into - also the one that our realtor said has the "nicest landlord."  (I hope so.)  The apartment has the same basic lay-out as our current apartment, but the kitchen is much bigger, with a built-in oven and dishwasher.  Once we actually move-in, I'll post some pictures.

However, the bad news is that Chris has been in Bangkok on business since Sunday.  So, I had to meet with the management company on Monday without him and without Peter, who has been on a school trip with Kennedy since Monday morning.  So, fortunately one of Peter's friends agreed to be here when I met with the management company, sort of as a witness and partially for moral support.  Thankfully, the meeting went very well.

Given that Chris is gone, I also had to pick out our new apartment by myself - here's hoping he likes it.  But, even more unfortunate was when the realtor informed me that we needed to get out of this apartment before October 1 in order not to have to pay another month's rent on this mold-filled disaster.  I'm flying to Bangkok to join Chris for 5 days of vacation tomorrow morning - we'll both come home on Wednesday, October 2.  So, that means, I had to pack everything we have in the apartment and get it ready to be moved, by myself. 

True, we didn't bring a shipment, either air or land, to this assignment.  But, we did bring about 14 suitcases with us and we've bought things, including a king-sized mattress and mattress topper, a printer, a fan, and other items since we've been here - never mind food, dishes, pots & pans, etc.  I have no boxes, no bubble wrap, no newspapers and about 36 hours to pack everything - by myself.  Chris is truly going to owe me one for this.  

As it turns out, we aren't going to be able to move things into the new apartment before I leave for Bangkok tomorrow morning.  My plan is to take our most irreplaceable items, our laptops, medications, jewelry, etc., to Peter & Nickle's house this afternoon and then sleep there tonight as I told the realtor I'm not sleeping in this apartment any more.  So, our realtor has told me to pack everything, leave it in the living room, and tomorrow, he'll have movers come move all of our belongings to the new apartment. He says they'll move it tomorrow, although it's hard to know when things will really take place in China.  Although the people are hard workers, the concept of not losing face can prevent them from telling you the truth, in case they think it's something you don't want to hear.

The wrench in this plan was our discussion at my Chinese class today, when several of my classmates confessed that they didn't want to mention it when I'd told them we live in Dawn Garden, but that they had heard from friends that had lived here that Dawn Garden is know for having mold problems and rats.  Now I'm a bit freaked out and wish we were just moving, not moving to another Dawn Garden apartment.  I don't want to over-react, but I also don't want to spend the next year living in a mold-infested building in a mold-infested complex, with the resulting headaches, post-nasal drip, sinus congestion, and wheezing.  And I really wish Chris was here to help deal with all of this.

We have been told that expats living in Shanghai experience Shang-Highs and Shang-Lows - some days will be better than others.  This week has definitely been one of the lows, so I am very much looking forward to joining Chris in Bangkok and putting this behind us, at least temporarily.  I don't know what we'll come home to next week, but fortunately, we have a safety net - we can stay at Peter & Nickle's if we can't get into our own apartment.  Thank goodness for family.