A new apartment

Well, I officially have my own apartment in the Tianhe District of Guangzhou. It's a one-bedroom and it is costing me $250USD per month. It is not fancy but neither is anything wrong with it. It is a sublet which I found through a friend of a friend who wanted to get out of her lease early. I signed a handwritten Chinese contract with the landlady probably giving her power of attorney but I have the keys at least and will keep my fingers crossed about getting my security deposit back. The new neighborhood is far more interesting and there are a few internet cafes nearby so I have regular access for the first time in a few weeks really. I have been trying to work on a program idea I had for helping memorize new Chinese characters and eventually I will start to add information to Morethansalad for all these new restaurants I have visited on my journey. There's a few grocery stores nearby and more restaurants so in general it'll be a much more convenient place to dwell for the next few weeks. I technically have the apartment until 3/8 though I don't really know exactly how long I'm going to stay yet. I have classes for another few weeks so after that is over I will see how I feel.

The internet has been kind of hosed since the Taiwan earthquake so reaching websites based outside of Asia has been pretty tough. Hopefully that'll be fixed soon but from what I read it may take until mid-February for them to finish repairs on the underwater cables that were damaged. In the meantime, uploading pictures isn't going to happen, things are way too slow. Anyway, hope everyone out there is well.