Days of frustration...
Well, the last couple of days have been quite frustating. I'm currently looking for a 1 bedroom apartment so I called up an agent to help me find a place. The first day, she was 40 mins late. Since I was just happy to be back in Beijing, I had no problems with that. I assumed that she just got stuck in traffic. She told me to meet at my school's entrance but she went to the wrong school. Fine, no problem...she just got confused. The schools were right beside each other so there's a chance of confusion...even though the name of the school is on the front gate. So I went to see 3 apartments and they were ok...nothing spectacular. I had 2 weeks so I definately want to see more apartments before I choose...why rush right? Later at night I had to grab a taxi back to my cousin's place and I asked the driver, "Do you know where this place is?" and of course he says "yes". So we are driving on the highway and he definately is headed in the right direction and he does get off an exit which seems close to the place. I then ask "You sure you know where it is? It's on [name of road]". He says "yes I know". Then I tell him "well the road in right in front of us!!" He goes "uh yeah, you have to turn up ahead".....anyways, we end up weaving in and out of housing blocks until he finally stops to ask for directions!!! Why tell me you know if you don't!!! Drives me crazy!!
Anyways, the next day, I have to meet my agent but I only have about an hour to look before I have to meet a friend. The agent tells me to meet at 3:30pm in front of the gate. I rush and show up right at 3:30 but by 4pm, she's still nowhere to be seen and NO PHONE CALL. By 4:10, I call her and ask her where she is. She says "I'll be there in 5 mins". By 4:30, I couldn't wait anymore so I left....I had to meet my friend now. Just after 4:35, the agent's friend calls me and says "I'm in front of the building, where are you?". I'm like #$%^&! First, you are over an hour late, second you are not at the place we are suppose to meet and third, why is her friend here and not my agent???? I told her friend that I'm not coming..I waited over an hour. The funny thing is, my agent doesn't even try to reach me right away to apologize! Maybe like 4 hours later, she tries to call me but by then, I'm just ignoring her calls. I was just so angry. Later on in the evening, I decided to meet another agent to help me. This guy was on time and was very nice. Only problem is, he spoke absolutely no English so it was very tough communicating. A lot of time we smiled and laughed at each other since we couldn't get our points across. While we were walking towards the place we were going to see, the owner calls and tells my agent that he has to leave because something came up. We just walked about 20 mins and we were almost at the building when he called. So I didn't see any apartments!! This agent apologized profusely. He even lent me his umbrella when it started to rain. It was definately a total day of frustration and I definately wasn't looking forward to taking the taxi home. The driver of the first taxi I jumped into told me he didn't know where I was going...Thank god! I'm glad he actually told me. I got out and went to another taxi. I was so happy too because this guy was very friendly...he was teaching me how to say things, we were joking around and it was a such peaceful ride! It was a great ending to a horrible day.
Well I guess there's always tomorrow right?
Anyways, the next day, I have to meet my agent but I only have about an hour to look before I have to meet a friend. The agent tells me to meet at 3:30pm in front of the gate. I rush and show up right at 3:30 but by 4pm, she's still nowhere to be seen and NO PHONE CALL. By 4:10, I call her and ask her where she is. She says "I'll be there in 5 mins". By 4:30, I couldn't wait anymore so I left....I had to meet my friend now. Just after 4:35, the agent's friend calls me and says "I'm in front of the building, where are you?". I'm like #$%^&! First, you are over an hour late, second you are not at the place we are suppose to meet and third, why is her friend here and not my agent???? I told her friend that I'm not coming..I waited over an hour. The funny thing is, my agent doesn't even try to reach me right away to apologize! Maybe like 4 hours later, she tries to call me but by then, I'm just ignoring her calls. I was just so angry. Later on in the evening, I decided to meet another agent to help me. This guy was on time and was very nice. Only problem is, he spoke absolutely no English so it was very tough communicating. A lot of time we smiled and laughed at each other since we couldn't get our points across. While we were walking towards the place we were going to see, the owner calls and tells my agent that he has to leave because something came up. We just walked about 20 mins and we were almost at the building when he called. So I didn't see any apartments!! This agent apologized profusely. He even lent me his umbrella when it started to rain. It was definately a total day of frustration and I definately wasn't looking forward to taking the taxi home. The driver of the first taxi I jumped into told me he didn't know where I was going...Thank god! I'm glad he actually told me. I got out and went to another taxi. I was so happy too because this guy was very friendly...he was teaching me how to say things, we were joking around and it was a such peaceful ride! It was a great ending to a horrible day.
Well I guess there's always tomorrow right?

8 Comments:
Hi Jeff!
I can't remember where I linked from to access this blog.. but imagine my surprise to find that you're studying Chinese in Beijing!
I'm actually making plans to go there next year for a semester =)
Anyway, sounds like you had an eventful welcome back to Beijing. lol =) How long are you staying there for this time?
p.s: Blogger's no longer blocked in China?! That's really surprising :S
By
Jayne, at 11:58 p.m.
Hi Shopaholic,
I'm staying in Beijing for 1 semester at least. If I don't get tired of it, I will probably do another semester starting in March I believe. In my head, I'm thinking I'll be here for a year but you never know...
Are you planning on doing a semester at BCLU as well or at one of the other universities?
Anyways, thanks for visiting. I finally rented a place but haven't moved in yet...maybe when I get settled, I'll pop some pictures up.
Bye!
By
Jeff, at 12:28 a.m.
I'm still considering which university to go to.. BCLU looks most likely at this stage, but I'm quite worried about the accomodation, esp after looking at the photos you posted! haha XD
(I'm not a fan of the insect world! @___@)
Anyway I'll leave you to it - Keep up the writing of your Beijing adventures! =)
By
Jayne, at 1:55 a.m.
Don't worry about accomodations. Lots of the dorms on campus are being renovated right now. The best one on campus is called Building 17. Kind of like a nice little hotel where they have maids cleaning your room every day. I think it's a tad bit expensive though. I think renting an apartment works out cheaper and you get a kitchen and living room too!
The dorm I stayed at before was also renovating and they have some nice new rooms. Although lots of students live there, I found it a bit inconvenient since all my friends were near campus. Plus the new rooms are about 65-75RMB/day. Can't remember the exact cost.
A good site to check out to learn more about living/studying in Beijing can be found here:
http://www.chinese-forums.com/
There's also another site called that's Beijing which is aimed at expats and can be found here:
http://www.thatsbj.com/
By
Jeff, at 10:10 a.m.
Hey Jeff,
Haven't heard/read your writings in a while - hope you're having heaps of fun in BJ!
By
Jayne, at 9:32 p.m.
Hey Shopaholic,
Yeah I'm still here in Beijing having a good time. Everything has been going quite smooth now. Maybe I'll post something this weekend...just feel so lazy after class....plus I'm usually doing homework.
Thanks for dropping by.
By
Jeff, at 11:50 a.m.
Hey, Jeff! I haven't seen your blog for a long time! I was busy in US.
Anyway, Oh, gosh!
This is the culture difference? or just the people were rude?
Also in US, I'm surprised people are sometimes rude and not friendly. When I joined to the bus tour, the driver got lost...
I couldn't understand him because he MUST know the way.
In Japan, It cannot be happend, tghough.
I hope you'll enjoy in China! How long will you stay in China?
By
erika, at 2:45 p.m.
Sorry everyone. I couldn't access my blog for the longest time. I'm not sure why. I decided to try today and finally got through. I'm a bit lazy to write right now so hopefully it's still working on the weekend!
China has been still a bundle of joy and pain. Hopefully I'll be able to remember some of the stories....
By
Jeff, at 3:41 a.m.
Post a Comment
<< Home