New HGTV episode: Design on a Yuan

It's about time! Some blog entries ago we promised to give an update when we got the apartment squared away. Not that we have been living in a hotel all this time, mind you, but it always takes a bit of time when you land in a new city (country) to find just what you need to make your space feel like home -- we have always referred to his concept as "outfitting the nest." I won't elaborate on how to get your sometimes cumbersome (4" thick double-bed, mattress), purchases home.

In our photoalbum, you will see that we have developed a decorating scheme that utilizes craft items from our new country with a New Mexico twist of color. It is always fun to discover just exactly what your new country has to offer in terms of household fitout (http://picasaweb.google.com/trucknmama/DesignOnAYuan). The smallest thing can sometimes be the biggest challenge (dish drainer, ice cube trays). I'm sad to say that I have not found a HomeDepot or Lowe's. But then again the university probably would not appreciate my tearing down a wall to enlarge the livingroom space. I was eventually successful in acquring a hammer, multi-head screwdriver and box of nails/screws. (Note: Before I found the tools, I was able to repair the vacuum cleaner and install a water filter only using Steve's swiss army knife!).

Of course, in an earlier blog we made reference to WalMart. Let me just say that options in an American WalMart vastly overshadow the options an average Chinese person has to purchase utilitarian household items. Where we would find a row of seemingly infinite choice of towels, sheets, bathmats in every color, size, style, & quality imaginable, here there is a single row with maybe 12-15 choices. Higher end stores carry imported goods -- organized by brand, not by function. So if you are shopping for towels, you might find them in several different locations or even on several different floors throughout the store. Makes for interesting (and always lengthy) shopping experiences. We have been very hard-pressed to find dental floss an only recently found this product at a store that caters to western clientele in the "development zone." This is an area where those who represent foreign companies live and work in Dalian, but have very little interaction with their host country and its culture. I much prefer shopping at the neighborhood grocery -- there will be another blog on that shortly.

I am pleased to say we have discovered several locations that carry very good quality local arts and crafts. These range from simple, but intricately tied "luck knots" to beautifully carved jade. Alas, the beautifully carved jade is out of our decorating budget, but we have been able to acquire one or two very nice, hand-painted scrolls that are now decorating our rather bland, white walls. In addition, we have a very nice Lucky Knot that offers all visitors good luck when they enter our home. The scroll at left hangs in our main room and represents the craggy, karst landscape that occurs more in the southern part of China (note small sailboat at bottom right) than in the area where we live. There is an area just north of Dalian, the Bingyu Valley, that we hope to visit on a week-end trip in the near future. This smaller scroll depicts red berries on a thorny bough. Works with the color scheme!