然后就是詹姆士。他告诉我自己曾经和很多外国人打过交道。但他的经验只是拖着我马不停蹄地去看了三处令人哭笑不得的房子。三家房子的卫生间都小得可怜，里面只有一个桶状物和在天花板上的一个貌似是洞的所谓淋浴。其中两个浴室我几乎不能转身，并且腰弯得像个驼背。而另一个仿佛是在一条乌烟瘴气的小路尽头，到处都充斥着狂犬以及歇斯底里的小贩。还有，协议上说要住在建国门地铁站旁边，而詹姆士的理解是，在你住的地方可以遥望到建国门地铁站。

    I left James and fled into the night, into the waiting arms of Serita. My househunting clock was slowly ticking down, and our first meeting was less than encouraging. She was 40 minutes late and then told me to find the apartment on my own and she would meet me there. I got lost, the landlord lost patience and left... and Serita blamed me. OK. Being a forgiving person, I decided to give her another chance. She told me she hadn't eaten for a while, as she was always busy, so I took the bait and bought her dinner. We looked at some nice apartments - some were in good locations but poorly furnished. We bargained with landlords to change odd items of furniture, but they were hardnosed and unwilling.

    告别詹姆士后已经是晚上了 ......