New 'hood

We moved over the weekend and I am officially in love with our new neighborhood. It's actually a bit fortuitous that it ended up being as quirky/hipster/laid back/artsy as it is - I knew it was close to some of my favorite restaurants and cafes, but there are entire streets and alleys just around the corner that I knew nothing about until we actually started exploring the area. It turns out that our new neighborhood is Greenwich Village (independent, laid back, boutique-y, tree-lined & quiet) + Chelsea (funky, urban, gay-friendly) + SF (yuppie-hipster-liberal) + Berlin (avant garde) + Paris (French brasseries, bistros and cafes galore) in one and I love, love, love it.

It's also lovely to have more SPACE. Our previous flat was 740 sq. ft gross - which in HK actually means something closer to 500 sq. ft. net after you subtract all the bay windows and "shared" space (elevators, lobby, gym, etc.). 500 sq. ft. really starts to feel cramped after awhile. What it means is that when there are two of you, you can almost never feel like you have any personal space (you share one bedroom, one bathroom, one cramped living room) - even when you try to go somewhere for some privacy, you are within arm's reach of the other person; and when you have visitors, you literally feel claustrophobic and are constantly knocking elbows with each other. Our new flat, while only a couple hundred feet bigger, just FEELS more spacious. We finally have two bathrooms so neither of us has to wait for the other to finish in the morning. There are different rooms to go to if you want some privacy. But most of all, you can stretch out and not feel like you are going to knock elbows with the other person. Space is grand.