Our First BBQ Upstairs

I have mentioned before that when we bought our house here, there was another 4 bedroom apartment that came with it above us. Yup, we got lucky and thus we have been the proud owners of a "buy 1 (house) get 1 free" deal. Actually, the house on the 7th floor alone is quite nice, but having the extra rooftop apartment was the deciding factor in making the purchase.

We originally thought it would be great to have an apartment to rent out and we did that for awhile with one of my friends here - Zak (and Hali and Chunky, his dog and cat, among various other animals). But a little over a year later, he decided to move out to a bigger place outside the city (better for his pets) and we were caught in what to do. Another tenant might be ok, but then we thought 'Why don't we just make the upstairs into a classroom / living area?'

When we started to crunch the numbers and brainstorm, the feeling was 'Damn! We should have done that in the first place!'

So now, after cleaning up Zak's apartment (he did not like to clean) and getting things ready for students, Jo and I decided to have a quick BBQ with some close friends.



While there is still a lot of 'fiddling' to do around the balcony and even inside, the feeling is great to now have a large balcony to ourselves (alas, without the water pond - which posed a leakage threat - we found out later). Here is Jo and Peter - our new live-in tenant, cook and specialist (will talk more about him later) doing up the Barby....




This is when you open the door to the upstairs apartment. We have made it BBQ-friendly, so it is messy, but basically, it has lots of shelves and plants, a table and 4 comfy chairs to relax in.




I was so happy to make this apartment ours, since I love big spaces (although they are a pain to keep clean - up to Jo's standards.....sigh), and I could finally have enough room for my games and such. Yes, there are 'some' of my board games that I brought from my crowded computer room downstairs. While I don't say it in front of Jo, we have made the upstairs apartment into a 'gameroom' not a classroom.....hehe




That is Jia Yi or Ginger eating away. And we have another view of some of my games (yes, I was taking these pics)... Those white things on the door are magnetic poetry words that my sister Jen gave me a long time ago - and now I have a great place for them! Actually, I use them to test our students before they come into the class. I either say they have to find a word and say it, I say a word and they find it or they have to make a part of a sentence before they are allowed in.




This is our actual classroom (sans the table since we were using that for food). Since we have 3 classes now, each with 4-6 students, it is big enough to feel cozy. Plus, I hope you notice the added bonus of our AC, which will be used a lot in the summer months (which is basically half the year, here...).




Well, after a nice BBQ, Mommy is relaxed and stuffed....




And so is Daddy