我们的家 (Women de jia = Our Home)

I dedicate this long overdue apartment tour to my dear roomie Kelsey, who gives awesome nightly hugs, shares her macaroni and cheese, and helps keep our place tidy (well, it's tidy most of the time) :)

Thanks Mom and Dad, for the awesome tinsel! It adds a lot of pizzazz to our holiday decor :)

When you walk into our humble abode, you will be very confused about why we don't have enough slippers or shoe-covers for you to wear, and have a hard time accepting that it's okay if you wear your shoes while in our house. At least that's the experience we've had with most of our Chinese friends here. It really doesn't bother me, but taking off shoes and wearing slippers is definitely the norm here...I once got laughed at a friend's house for walking around in my stocking feet.

As far as Chinese bathrooms go, ours isn't one to complain about. The water stays warm most of the time, we have a reliable washer (no dryer, sadly), and we haven't had any plumbing issues. The one "fun" part of our bathroom is that our shower head is so wonderfully powerful that we need to put two wet rags on top of it during showers, or it'll either fall down off the stand or raise up and spray the bathroom floor and your nice and comfy pajamas that you have set there waiting for you (this happened to me one awful night).

Kelsey's huge and welcoming room features an insanely comfy bed, and as a general rule, is much cleaner than mine :D The Green Bay Packer pillowcase, a gift sent from her fam, keeps our Wisconsin spirit alive from afar!

Like most kitchens in Wuhan, ours is tiny, but all-in-all it's more than sufficient. While we often wish we had a microwave, our mini-oven works well, we get water jugs delivered here, and there's a decent amount of cupboard space. Sometimes Kelsey and I will complain about the teensy sink, which holds about a days' worth of dirty dishes, and at about 2 1/2 feet tall, will give the vigorous dishwasher a nice backache.

We don't cook all that often, but when we do, a hot plate is generally the method for boiling, frying, or re-heating. There's a definite learning curve to their operation-- it can burn stuff quickly if you're not careful, creates a lotta smoke, and of course not being able to thoroughly read the Chinese on the appliance adds some...excitement to your food preparation! Thank goodness for accompanying pictures :)

Here's my "cozy" room, featuring a rock-hard bed that I've adjusted to pretty well, a chair that gets used as a necklace holder, tons of family and friends and American pics to make me feel at home, and yep, a curtain rod that doubles as my own indoor clothes-line!

I think the place is pretty Julie-esque in its abundance of pictures, drawings and cards, as well as the slight smattering of clutter...thanks for the boxes on top of the closet go to my superb family and friends! Thank you for the care packages :D