My apartment

(above: walk in closet, bedroom, extra bedroom)

This post is long overdue, but I finally took my camera out of my desk and took some pictures of where I live. As I have previously alluded, I have pretty nice digs here. In fact, I have undeniably more space than ever before in my life. This was quite a surprise to me, as one of the major issues in Chinese cities is a lack of space or at least livable space. But not if one is a foreign teacher. While the male students pack eight into a room only a bit bigger than my bedroom, I seldom enter all the rooms in my apartment each day.
(left: dining room, right: family room)
My apartment has two floors, with two bedrooms upstairs and the kitchen, breakfast nook, laundry room, family room, and dining room. I have put up some decorations, so now all visitors are greeted by the American and Iowa flags, as well as a map of the great state. I've got pictures in the hallway and my room upstairs, and a map of China by my desk so I can always be planning my next trip. Hopefully all of these photos will help you get a better idea of where I live. (below: breakfast nook, kitchen, laundry room)


As I previously mentioned, more pictures can be found in my Picasa gallery. The link can be found in the links section at the top right of this page. I have added the links to the blogs of Dan and Dave as well as some web pages which have some more information on Changzhou, Jiangsu, and China. I also really enjoy reading the comments which everyone leaves, so please continue to leave them. Additionally, I will shamelessly promote Skype, which is a voice and video over the Internet program I use. It's very easy to download and once you have it you can call any other Skype user (like me) for free. Lastly, I would like to explain why my blogs have been sort of sparse the last two weeks. In reading my birthday present from my sister, "Made in America" by Bill Bryson I was motivated to learn a new keyboard. When the QWERTY keyboard was designed, it was made to be as slow as possible to prevent typewriter jams. So, when better typewriters came along, and then computers, a man named Dvorak designed an optimal keyboard for speed and comfort. But, as you can imagine, learning a completely new way to type when my mind and fingers have spent my whole life learning another has a long and slow learning curve. So, I am (for the moment) much less efficient with my emails and blog posts.