While the street may not have been called Route Herve de Sieyes since the 1920′s, my little apartment on what is now called Yongjia Lu is located right in the heart of the former French Concession. If you don’t look too closely at the curious stains on the sidewalks and instead focus on the Sycamore trees and if you mentally add a fresh coat of paint and remove all the hanging laundry occupying every available space on several old buildings… you might think you’re in France. But then again you might not. I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been.
Anyway, I love where I live. It’s perfectly Chinese, but still hints at that old Shanghai swagger. And I also spot and then promptly avoid eye contact with at least five westerners on my block everyday.
My apartment may be a six floor walk up, but I love it. While the staircase may be a little intimidating and slightly frightening when the lights don’t come on, the apartment itself is pretty great. It’s clean, simple, and has everything I need. My apartment complex is pretty great too. There’s a lady who sells cold beer… and some other stuff. What. I don’t exactly know. I think I’ve detected bags of dog food and bags of rice. It changes daily. Also in my complex is someone who really loves to listen to Eminem at full blast on the weekend afternoons, which always gets me kinda pumped as I head out to run afternoon errands. My absolute favorite though is the guy who plays the chinese flute in the early evenings. I love love love it.
Anyway here is my apartment:
My Balcony/Laundry Room
My Bathroom
My Bedroom/ Everything Else Room
My Awesomely Yellow Kitchen
