The LQ

This is the entryway into the LQ, otherwise known as our Living Quarters, or as I like to say the compound. There are at least four entrances into the LQ and all of them come with these gates and security guards. I'm not really sure what they are guarding as they always let everyone through.



This is just past the gates. Straight ahead is the people only walkway to all of the apartment buildings, except ours. Ours is just to the left, but we will come to that later.




As Amy continues to be our model for the day, you can see her relaxing at one of our many benches. There really is some nice greenery along the way, and the benches are comfortable (or as comfortable as a bench can ever be.) It seems strange to me that all of them face away from the walking path. I suppose that is to give you a better view and to not have to stare at all the people walking, but in reality it now faces other apartment building so the view isn't really good.



RMB is another name for Chinese money. I can only assume that the 200 RMB mentioned here (excitedly with an exclamation point!) is the fine for littering.



A little farther down the path. There are something like 20 of these apartment buildings in the LQ. We live in what they call Phase 1 which are the older and not quite as nice apartments. There are also Phase 2 and Phase 3 apartments which are slightly newer.



Next we have the little tykes playground. There are actually more stuff on the other side of the camera, but I figured this is enough. Plus there were actually kids playing there and I didn't want some Chinese dad wondering why the strange American was taking pictures of his kid.



These are the magic music mushrooms I've mentioned before. They pipe in classical music all over the LQ for a few hours in the evening. They remind me of the Super Mario Bros mushrooms for some reason. The elementary school has the Super Mario Bros theme song for their hourly bell, so maybe that's a theme.




Not sure exactly what MA rest, but as this sign is close to the playground, which is close to many apartments I always assume it is asking the kids to pipe down after hours.




There is a canal that runs down the middle of the LQ. On the other side are the Phase 3 apartments and what they call the Villas which are really nice townhouses.




Across the canal again, for a closer look at the townhouses. Us poor peasants aren't really allowed, so that's as close as we can get. (not really, but the people in the townhouses are much more wealthy than me and usually are the administrators and big whigs, and I don't normally walk across the canal anyway.)



This is the building that we live in. We live in the center section on the third floor.



The mailboxes are inside the front door, as you can see Amy is checking our mail. So far this has consisted of bills that are for the previous tenant. The little box to the left of Amy is the classic big city password key to open the door, or if you do not have one a way to call up to the apartment you would like to enter.

And that is our little commune. I'll try to post a couple of pictures of the school tomorrow and maybe get our pictures of our trip into the city.