Making demands of the school early on.

yeah - the tennis racquet ones are cool.  Get one of those for each room, run experiments.

I've never managed to get a cockroach with the tennis racket zapper.  Never thought of trying.  Would the zap be strong enough?  Whacking with a slipper works, if you can catch the little buggers. Eeew, eeew, I don't like this topic.  I hate them worse than spiders.

Let's get back fun topics like Eric's cleaning spree.

Apartment troubles aside, how's the rest of the campus, immediate surroundings etc?  The Zhejiang backwoods are a really nice place to be (when the weather aint stinking hot or feezing cold) in my experience...once you get out of the main cities and into the mountains (ok, 'hills') it's surprisingly natural and wild...

Gee, ETR, with an offer like yours how could a good dragon refuse? But alas, you would have to convince my school to let me go for some additional professional development time. You think they would go for it??? Congrats on getting a livable place, and I have to say I could use a bit of your energy for tomorrow. Can you bottle some and ship it to Colorado?

Oh my.  Eric, it's an emergency.  We need you here in Dongguan RIGHT NOW.

When I moved into my villa (row house, whatever) it was with the understanding that I would have to move into an apartment at some time, as the FAO would be buying an entire building and all the FTs would eventually live there.  Okay.  We figured once we got our butts planted in the villa maybe we would be harder to move.  And with the speed that things happen in China, we figured maybe we'd be long gone by the time moving day came.  Nope.  They actually made it happen when they said they would and the FAO is now the proud owner of a block of flats.  Miss FAO took us to see a couple of them today.  She didn't have keys for the ones we can choose from, so didn't get to pick.  However, I saw two others.

My FT neighbour was with us and he claimed the one with the most furniture.  It's full of stuff left over from the previous tenants, including a kid's bicycle and all their garbage.  The living room furniture is filthy (don't sit on it, you might catch something) and Miss FAO said they couldn't pay to have it cleaned.  He's not in a rush to move because he's in the villa next to mine.  Left him making a list of everything he needs/wants before he moves.

New Guy is supposed to arrive today.  We looked through his new place.  It's got a bed and nasty filthy living room furniture. That's it. No air cons, no fridge, no water heaters, no desk or bookshelves, no table, no TV.  A layer of dust everywhere and the grease on the stove hood is so thick I doubt any cleaner will get it off.  The stove will need a chisel to get rid of the crud around the burners.  He's arriving TODAY and they are just now checking out the condition of his apartment.  He could seriously run away screaming and the school will be out one new FT.

I'll reserve judgement until I see where they want me to move, but I could well have a list a mile long of things I want done before moving day.  Miss FAO said I could stay where I am until the end of this semester.  This house is great now that the rainy season is over.

Sounds like you'll need more than Eric, Ruth. You might need his army of squirrels, as well!! Who lived in the flats before? Chinese or FTs?

Forget squirrels, this calls for a team of Dragons to do some demo and sterilization. 

Chinese folk lived there before.  Presumably university staff, if not teachers, as it's on campus.  They are moving across the pond to the new buildings as those places get decorated.  Heard today that there have been complaints about the new buildings leaking too.  Just can't get good help these days.

Just got back from seeing/choosing our new flat.  We picked one on the second floor (less stairs and no roof to leak on us) with a view over the same lake we now overlook.  Faces north/south so we won't get the full-on morning and afternoon sun like we do now.  This is a huge plus living in the steamy south.  It's bare naked except for one desk, one chair, one bookshelf and the couch that is in pieces in the storage room.  It does have 2 air conditioners and a water heater.  Toilet works (I checked  )  The bare naked part is a good thing.  It means we'll either get new stuff or move the stuff from our current home (although some of it apparently belongs to a different department).  And I'm staying put until they clean it.

Met New Guy.  He's less than impressed and very thankful that he still has a couple nights left on his current lease in the city.  Didn't see the flat he chose, but he said it looks like a bunch of students had a party in it.  Miss FAO is quite thankful that we don't want to move until December.  Gives her time to focus on getting New Guy's place liveable.

All summer and they wait until the day before school starts to check the condition of the apartments