Currently, my life is work, more work, sleep, and, whenever I can, shopping. When packing in America, I didn’t want to bring too much so I only brought clothes, my tablet and it’s accessories, and a few other items that I thought I would need but would be impractical to replace, like my yoga mat and my snorkel and mask with prescription lenses. I knew that I would have to buy a lot of things to make my life abroad more livable.
Due to this lack of household items, I have had a large shopping list, especially so that I can cook and eat at home. My apartment’s kitchen consists of a mini fridge, counter, sink, and a washing machine. There was no way to cook or even heat up leftovers. And, surprisingly, at least to me, there is nowhere to store food or the dishes and cookware I don’t have, yet.
In an ideal world, I want to make breakfast for myself at home. I used to eat oatmeal or cereal. But occasionally I would make pancakes or eggs, if I felt like being fancy. I’m not sure what I’m going to be eating for breakfast here as China isn’t big on cereal and milk is hard to find and expensive. Maybe there’s some oatmeal somewhere?
One of my coworkers suggested buns (think Chinese rolls usually with some kind of meat or vegetable filling) as that is what he does and it is quick and cheap. I had quite a few of them in quarantine and liked some of them. But the grocery store sells them frozen in a large bag that I’m not sure my mini fridge’s freezer will fit. Really, I’m not sure it will fit much of anything. It’s really tiny.
And I know I’m not going to be able to eat frozen buns, or preferably, oatmeal without some way of cooking first.
During one of my afternoons off, I went to tacos (yum!) with most of the foreigners that work at the training center’s 3 locations. I mentioned that I still couldn’t cook anything as I don’t have a hot plate and haven’t really had a chance to get one due to too much work (having a full and part time job really leaves little time for anything else!).
One of my coworkers mentioned that she had cleaned out a couple friends’ apartments when they left China to avoid COVID and couldn’t get back in. She offered to donate an electric hot plate to my kitchen as she had 3 just sitting in her closet. Another coworker had accidentaly acquired too many pots when setting up his own kitchen and donated a couple of the smaller pots that he wouldn’t need. But since most of my pot needs are just boiling water, they are perfect for me!
Now, my kitchen finally has the means of cooking food, that I don’t quite have yet, but I have no way of eating it, even if I did! I don’t have any dishes or silverware. But an quick Ikea trip in the 3 hour break I get between jobs will sort that out. And be a nice place for lunch!
Now, I can finally cook and eat! And I didn’t spend more than 100 yuan (about $15) on my kitchen! Granted, I got the cheapest things I could find. I have nice dishes back in the US that I really like and don’t want to replace and I’m not planning on bringing any of my kitchen back with me, except for maybe the storage thing I got at Ikea.
This lack of items also proved a challenge when my apartment got me a rose and a little box of soap for International Women’s Day. It’s apparently something that they, if not celebrate, than acknowledge. I used an empty water bottle as a vase as it was the only thing I had.
Rose and soap from my apartment 
The best vase I could find on short notice 
Rose
Another thing for me to consider is do I want to get an electric bicycle. Everyone in Shenzhen has one. They are a great way to get to places out of walking distance, as long as they aren’t too far away. And, apparently, as they are technically a bicycle, I don’t need a license to drive one.
A Chinese coworker has one and she gave me a lift to the metro station one day. They aren’t the biggest things in the world and the seats and foot rests are equally small. It was a little scary to be on the back of something that small with nothing to hang on to, except my friend. I did enjoye the ride, once I got used to it, after a block or so.
I’m not sure I’m ready to drive one, but I do want one.
My TEFL Adventure 