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Here they are: the long awaited apartment photos! It's a really nice place, with lots of high ceilings and windows, but best of all is, of course, the Western style toilet! I would have just posted pictures of the toilet because that's how much I appreciate it, but I can see how that might be a little weird. So instead, I've just included pictures of the two main rooms.

All in all, it's a very sweet set-up, and I have no complaints...well, except for the cockroach I found wandering around the kitchen on the second night. When I first spotted him, I tried politely shooing him out the door with a broom. But he's a big sucker (about the size of my thumb), and instead of moseying out the door like I had hoped, he only buzzed angrily at me and scuttled angrily away into the drapes. Then he spent the whole next night dive bombing my head from high places as I tried to skype with people. I'm convinced that cockroaches are a whole lot smarter than people think. Or at least hold grudges for longer. Anyway, I've named the sullen little bugger Walter and have been reduced to leaving out roach poison and muttering passive aggressively at him whenever I do things in the kitchen. Since I haven't seen ol' Walt for the past four days, I'm hoping he's vacated the premise or has gone for the poison and died somewhere.

Okay, enough of that thrilling play-by-play. On to the much more exciting apartment tour! Don't worry though, Dear Reader, I'll be sure to keep you updated on my battle with the bug.

This is the living room/kitchen area, with a view of the front door. As you can see, it's a sizable apartment, especially a studio apartment, and came furnished with a good amount of furniture!

Here's the view from the front door. I've got a full sized refrigerator, a stove, a dishwasher, and a microwave.

On to the bed room! The bed, as is common in China, is very, very firm. The other American teachers liken it so sleeping on "soft wood". From what I hear, it's great for your back, so there's that. But in all seriousness, I never have trouble sleeping on it and its size more than makes up for its lack of cushiness.

My desk and TV. I have yet to get the TV working, but supposedly there's a repairman coming at some point to help me out with that. In the back of the picture, you might be able to make out my ten tons of closet space. Seriously, I have so much space.

And the last "room" is my little enclosed balcony. I have a washer out here, and have racks on the ceiling to hang clothes from. 

 Last but not least is the view from my window!

And that's it for the apartment. I had meant to have the video blog of the Xi'an trip up by now, but alas, it's been a busy few days getting acclimated to teaching. However, know that I am working on it, and it should hopefully be up soon!