Qibao Living

Shanghai is MASSIVE, and I live in a small part called Qibao (Chi-bow). I must admit that it is one of the more ghetto parts of Shanghai that I have seen, and it is does not have a big city feel, but still interesting nonetheless. Honestly, I have not seen a lot of Qibao because we usually go to other parts of the city but I love Shanghai.

Because Shanghai is so big, it is divided into small parts like little towns and cities. Then each part is divided into compounds. The compound that I live in is called Won Ke (like Wonka). The compounds are basically self-contained gated communities. You need to have a pass to get into the compounds and there are guards at each entrance and guard stations set up throughout. Won Ke is the largest compound in Qibao full of huge apartment buildings, houses, general stores, restaurants, a bank, post office, parks, sport courts, a river, etc.

Just outside of my compound (a not even five minute walk), there is a huge Tesco which is comparable to a Meijer. They have groceries as well as clothing, general merchandise, household stuff and a ton of boutiques and restaurants. There are several other streets of shopping, restaurants, fruit/veggie standing, massage houses, a big mall and the subway all within half a mile walk - really, anything that I could need.

My apartment is not terrible. From what I hear, it is actually pretty good living for the area, although not exactly what I am used to. We have a good size living room and dining room. Our bedrooms and bathroom are also decent. Our kitchen is kind of pathetic and really tiny. Our fridge is shorter than I am, we do not have an oven or a dishwasher and we are lucky to have a microwave, toaster and rice cooker.

Our washer is in our bathroom and no taller than my waist. The toilet and shower and in one room of the bathroom, and the vanity and washer are in a separate part. Our shower has good water pressure and hot water, so I can’t complain too much. My favorite part about the bathroom is the heat lamp. When I wake up in the morning, I turn on the heat lamp and the water and close the door for about 5 minutes so that everything can heat up.

What I hate most is the heating system. Nowhere in China has heating installed. Instead, there are small heating boxes in each room which we control and turn on and off throughout the day. They are pretty expensive to run, so we leave them off during the day while we are at school but then come home to a freezing apartment every evening. Then it takes an hour for anything to heat up, and even then, the apartment is still cold because we have big bay windows, hardwood floors and zero insulation. I always have to wear multiple layers and slippers around the apartment, and I sleep with a heating blanket. My school is just as cold (which is why I wear so many layers and school) and all restaurants and stores. I absolutely hate how cold it is. It is not like the weather is colder than Michigan, or even as cold, it is just that I am always cold and I just can’t seem to get warm enough.