almost there

Today might be the last day we stay at the hotel. Even though our stay is subsidized by Zhejiang University, there's still something so luxurious in concept about living at a hotel that I'm growing more and more uncomfortable about staying here and increasingly eager to move into our (small) apartment.

We've turned on the electric and water. We've hired a cleaning lady to clean the entire apartment except for the windows and stove (which doesn't come with her package). We've arranged for new A/C units to replace the broken ones. We've bought new bedding, pillows, towels, kitchen appliances, and line-dry equipment. Today, the wireless internet guy's scheduled to come and set things up, and our washing machine needs to be replaced in order to handle my son's dirty diapers and our growing mound of sweat-stained clothes.

We are almost ready to check out and move in, officially.

Quick observations that are marked differences from how things are in the States:

1. People don't eat much meat here at all. Between my husband and me, we've probably eaten the equivalent of a chicken drumstick in meat quantity so far in the entire week we've been here. Meals here are predominantly vegetables and tofu of various kinds with lots and lots of white rice. Even when you order dishes with meat as part of their names.

2. Cigarette smoking is everywhere.

3. Babies are the most effective icebreaker between strangers. Random people everywhere would stop and grab or pat my son without greeting me or my husband. It was a bit startling at first; I think we're used to it now. It's really nice to see people making funny faces at my son wherever we go, especially because otherwise they would just stare at my very white husband and me like we're elephants that escaped from a zoo.

4. I used to think that the U.S. is the most expensive place to live. It's been really surprising during our one-day stop in Canada and now daily shopping in China to discover that, actually, the cost of living is pretty much the same abroad too. And with even less options.

5. Manual labor, cell phone plans, and internet service are still cheaper than in the States though.

On a quiet note, I've been having headaches and nausea quite a lot lately. We're going to try the pregnancy test again in two more weeks. Mixed feelings on what I would like the outcome to be.