New city, new job, new apartment, new attitude

my previous company, Xing Xing Animation in Beijing, made me a surprising offer. It came out of the blue. They wanted me to teach an advanced lighting class in their animation school. It seemed like a sweet deal and after working out a contract I moved back to Beijing. They will be a client or partner in the venture, rather than my employer. I think that's better because they can't boss me around.

so, for about a week now I've been settling into my new apartment. It's about 120 square meters (1300 sq. feet), 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Similar size and rent to my last apartment in Beijing, but brand new building, newer and nicer furniture and appliances. The landlord is also much nicer and more generous too. They supplied me with a lot of extras I have never had at other places. Everything is top quality, which is unusual for China. Most stuff looks good for a few weeks then quickly breaks or falls apart. Not in my apartment, though.

Oh, and the best part: THE HEATING ACTUALLY WORKS AND IS EFFICIENT AND WARM! Actually, it's hot water underfloor heating from a gas boiler. So very sophisticated and toasty.

Also, I've been going into my clients office and practising my teaching and developing courseware. I just bought a bunch of Computer Graphics (CG) books from Amazon and they will arrive shortly. The main challenge is to recruit students now because I don't make any money unless we have a class of 20 to 30 students. So I'm living off my savings again.

At night I've been rediscovering local restaurants and bars where I used to go. Sometimes I'll get a tip on a new place and go have a look. Tuya is supposed to be coming soon but won't have any school or work here. So boredom could be a problem.

In less than 10 days I need to go to the Chinese / Mongolian border to exit and re-enter for visa purposes. It's a big pain to have to do that every 30 days. But it's got to be done.