What’s the old saying? Being between a rock and a hard place?
Or, Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right…
My new digs, Chateau Stevo East, is on the 12th floor of a building in Dalang (that could mean big wolf, I’m not sure of the “lang” character) Longhua, part of Shenzhen, China. My wonderful employer thought the main Chateau Stevo was too far to commute from three days a week. Presto! Stevo has another apartment.
It’s a little bare. A bed, desk, small table, two stools, an office chair, and a large fan are my associates. It’s two rooms, reasonably secure, and functional. The lack of AC and a shower (I have a bucket) are minor concerns.
Back to the rock and the hard place, or the clowns and the jokers.
Jokers to the right.
Out my window, to the east, is a church. Yes, a church. There are a few scattered around the mainland. It looks like a North American church, a big cross on top, gothicesque walls – I haven’t noticed any stained glass.
Clowns to the left of me in Longhua, China
Out my window to the north: The police academy. Last evening I listened to them playing the Chinese version of taps around 10 pm. (apologies for the poor photos – my camera is still in the shop and Mrs. Stevo’s leaves something to be desired.)
A rock and a hard place.
Everyone sing: Cops to the left of me, God to the right: Here I am, stuck in China with you.
If there’s a tax office to the south or west I’m hemmed in by the things I despise about North America. This will be an adventure. Have camera, will travel: Yes, and you never know where you’ll find yourself.
If you haven’t: Please VOTE STEVO!
For some reason I see self-portraits in the near future…
R(etc… )
Or photos in the newspaper, under lurid Chinese headlines.
For some reason I see self-portraits in the near future…
R(etc… )
Ron in L.A.´s last blog ..Cormorant Blur
It’s deja vu, I think I’ve seen this comment before.
I know that area well-right over line from DongGuan
Mark Forman´s last blog ..Ten-Hut!
Close to there, Mark.
Stained glass is old school, Stevo.
No AC is a deal breaker in my world.
Shawn´s last blog ..The Wedding Dress
I am old school, Shawn.
I lived in Longhua from 2006 ’till the end of 2007 working at Foxconn, and lived not actually that far from the school you show in that picture (there’s a post office just up the road from there, right?). Last time I was there was back in August, they’ve finished a lot of the projects that they were working on whilst I was there, and the city wasn’t nearly so dusty as it was before. I had some good times there, but to be honest, the place was a shit-hole and I’m glad I don’t live there any more. At least now they’ve fixed the roads into town it doesn’t take hours to get through the checkpoints, so you can spend plenty of time in the city. I hope you can speak Chinese, because Longhua will be deadly boring if you can’t – my Chinese went from so-so to fluent whilst I was there, and that’s at least partly because it had to.