9/7/06 There's No Place Like Home, Because We Cannot Find One

A comfortable home is hard to find. Apart from poor upkeep of the units themselves and of the actual buildings, Derek and I are having a heck of a time finding an apartment because of Beijing's different sense of decor. No longer can I retreat to my safe haven of the Pottery Barn. Instead, the furniture is either super traditional oriental furniture that is made out of wood (not comfy) or hideous "modern" furniture that is framed in black wood with either red, purple or gold colored cushions. But as Derek positively spins it, if we do a combination of purple and gold it would be his Viking's dream room. Shoot me now.

Other units have been decorated with very dangerous looking samurai swords. Derek's positive spin on those units is that we could pretend to be ninjas. I'm Leonardo and Derek is Donatello. Turtles in a half shell, turtle power.