I have arrived safely with most of my belongings intact. My guitar, sadly, did not arrive in one piece.
I was met at the airport by a very nice guy from the University who took me to the police station to be registered, and showed me my new flat, and organised a bank account for me.
I am living right on campus, a 3 minute walk from where I will be teaching. The building is mostly student accommodation, but a section of the top 8th floor is for foreign teachers. There will be three of us here altogether. Have not yet met my neighbours.
The flat is nice. A good size for one person. I have a huge bedroom with a huge bed and masses of cupboard space. I could easily fit all my London clothes in them. Shame I left them all in London!
I have a huge sofa and a TV which does actually have one English channel.
My kitchen is the size of Malee's pantry. On arrival it contained a microwave and an electric hotplate. No dishes or pans or anything! Living on oatmeal and instant noodles and bananas while I clean everything and investigate decent pots and pans.
And the shower room is quite interesting. I didn't notice until I was already taking a shower that there is a working radiator right underneath the shower head. An interesting arrangement. Might check with my neighbours about how often they get electrocuted, etc by this type of thing!
The view is great. Loads of light all day. And the heating is pretty good. It was -10C outside last night and I was toasty and warm.
There are several restaurants very close by with cheap and decent food. And there is what my guide called a 'small' supermarket a 10 minute walk away. It has two floors and sells everything from fresh meat and vegetables to kettles, shoes and safes. I spent an hour exploring it yesterday. Can't wait to get a wok so I can experiment with the food!
Today am off coat shopping. Have seen lots of people in bright red and pink and purple coats. trying to decide if any of these colours will go with my new scarf (orange), or accurately portray the image of sensible and reliable teacher that I ought to convey to my students! Hmmm.....
