I'm Still Here!

I moved into my apartment a week ago yesterday, and it is very different living here. There's only one heater/ac unit in the apartment (luckily it is in my room), so the rest of the place is permanently cold. I don't have internet there yet because my landlord kept saying it was set up, but he didn't have the password and it didn't work. The Realtor came over and was trying to help me, but it was fruitless. I did finally have a chance to go into the internet provider office today and set up a plan. After you set it up and pay a deposit, they call you (who knows how long that takes!) to set up an appointment to get the internet up and running. I'm not off again until Wednesday, and I hear that their time frames are basically all day... so I'm looking at least another week. It is very boring to go home after work because the TV is all in Chinese, my internet doesn't work, and there's really no one to call. I just go to bed. Then I wake up at incredibly early hours. Not my idea of a good time. Work has been going well so far. It has been super cold in Nanjing. I freeze every day. And it takes about 6 minutes for my hot water to heat up to take a shower... you can hear the gas "clicking" on and then a fire starting. Once I'm more settled I'll definitely post "detailed" pictures of the apartment.

In other news, I did get to book my Chinese New Year trip. I'm off for 11 days!! I'm going to Xiamen and Sanya (Sanya is the southernmost point of China to my knowledge, and it is a beachy, tropical climate). I'll post more on that soon as well.

Merry Christmas! and Happy New Year if I don't have a chance to post again before then :)

Shanghai Circus

One of the stops on the Shanghai metro is called "Shanghai Circus World". Sounds cool, right? The day Ashley and I were wandering around in the French Concession, we saw tons of posters advertising Mamma Mia and she really wanted to go see it. Needless to say, the show had ended at least a month prior to when we even arrived! So, we decided we needed to go see some sort of show. After doing some research on the internet, we picked "Era: Intersection of Time". Even after seeing the show, not quite sure what the title is supposed to mean. Some describe the show as the Cirque de Soleil of Shanghai... I wouldn't go quite that far, but it was pretty good. And it was in a cool shaped building, so it gets points for that too.

I'm in the picture but it was really dark and if I used the flash then the background would be black. The show was in that dome. What really stood out to me is that the dome is exactly like the one at EPCOT in Disney World. Coincidence?

The sign for the circus.

There's a little restaurant in that ball.

This is the ad for the show we saw. Not bad for 80 kuai, right? (We got the super super cheap seats... it goes up to 600 kuai!)

 

And just for kicks, here's the crowd after the show. It was a full house (about 2000 people). This picture was taken after some of the crowd had died down... what can I say, it took awhile to get the camera out and on! If you're interested in reading more about the show, click here--it'll take you to a brief description.

Hello, Nanjing!

I know I came here 2 weeks ago today, but I'm a little behind in posting pictures of the city. That, and I was a bit sick so my days off were spent sleeping (tons!) and reading since I can't understand Chinese TV... although I did watch a show the other night that looked very much like "Wipe Out". At least it was easy to follow. Though no funny commentary...
The city is actually very pretty (I'm told, I haven't seen those parts yet!). I just have a few shots around the hotel and by my work (which is currently in a deserted mall... hmmm, questionable, I think.)

We'll start off with a picture just for my dad.

There's a huge Kohler store right near my work, and a showroom at the mall by me new apartment. I thought you all might get a kick out of the lovely flower bathroom.

As I was wandering around the mall one day, I stumbled upon this little German restaurant, so I had lunch there. Interesting place, to say the least. It started off well... I ordered the Wurst Plate Sampler and it had 4 different kinds of sausage pieces to try. The first one I recognized, and the second one as well. So obviously I ate those first. The third one looked like it might just be a polish sausage, but it definitely wasn't. I had a bite, then thought I'd try the last one. Not a good idea. The last one was just gross. I have no idea what kind of meat it was, and I was making myself thinking of the endless list of possibilities. Needless to say, I paid and left shortly after that.

This is the city center of Nanjing. I was trying to take a picture of the Christmas tree, and if you squint your eyes you just might be able to see it on the left.

I found this cute little fruit stall on my hunt for the Taiwanese pancake. I found the pancake stand too, but it was closed :( so sad. I did find another one though at one of the metro stops. It was funny, when I found it I was so excited I stopped and got one to eat. The lady working there looked at me as I butchered their language trying to order my food. I ended up pointing out the words in the dictionary. I was near this Taiwanese pancake stand again a few days ago, and when I walked up (same lady!!) said to me in perfect English : "Do you want the usual? Egg, cheese, pepper, no sauce?" Seriously, I go once and now I have a usual. I think she was just pulling my leg last week. Either that or she studied English all week hoping I'd come back and order another dollar pancake. You know you must be the only foreigner that goes there when they remember your order over a week later.

I actually looked at one of those apartments on the right. That's all. It actually had a nice layout, good location... unfortunately it was on the 4th floor (really the 5th if you count the ground floor) and no elevator. And tiny stairwell that was dark and dingy. No, thank you Nanjing...

Disney Nanjing!

 

This actually isn't Disney's doing. The castle on the side of the building was already there. This mall used to be a children's mall--all of the stores were catered to kids (clothing, toys, etc). There was also apparently a really neat kid's place (kind of like Safety Village in McKinney or the Children's Museum in San Antonio) that had a miniature village with an airplane, grocery store, bank, etc. The entire mall (minus Disney, of course) shut down a week before I got here :( I have heard that it is supposed to reopen. When, I have no idea. But hopefully soon because it is quite lonely in this huge building. 

Look Closely

Let's just say you're lucky he is wearing a diaper ;)

I'm No Longer Homeless!

Okay, so I was never really homeless. But I have been living in a hotel for 5 weeks. I like hotels and all, but after 5 weeks, it gets old. Especially when there's no drawers to unpack. Or a fridge. Or microwave. I guess I was spoiled at the Sheraton where we had all those luxuries. Here, not so much. Check back tomorrow for some pictures of the hotel I'm at in Nanjing. It's actually quite swanky (for a Chinese hotel)... kind of reminds me of the Aloft or maybe the W (the W is definitely a stretch, but kind of.)

Anyway, back to the apartment. I'm really good at digressing. Sorry. This was apartment number 7 that I looked at. Yes, lucky number 7. It's actually located in the same community as 2 of my coworkers, and one is even in the same building. I had mentioned to my Realtor that I wouldn't mind being in the same area as my coworkers, but I didn't know the name of their complex at the time and it was pure fate that it worked out this way.  I'll start with pictures this time, then the story of how it all came to be.

The top photo is of part of the complex. I think there's like 6 buildings so far. The whole area around it is still under construction. My building is complete, I hear it has been around for about 6 months or so. I'll be on the 22nd floor (there's 33 total). That 2nd picture is walking into the complex. There's a row of little stores: a fruit stand, a noodle shop, barber shop, convenience store and a few others.

These pictures don't really do the apartment any justice. This is the master bedroom. It really is larger than it looks. The apartment is about 850 square feet, but all the rooms look small in the pictures. I'll take more once I move in next week :)

Attached to the master bedroom is an enclosed balcony for the washing machine and hanging the clothes to dry.

This is the other bedroom. You can see it is much tinier than the first one. See? The bed practically touches the wall. Don't know if this is suitable for having a roommate or not.

 

Both rooms have 2 closets like this. They're a decent size inside. Plus, I only brought 2 suitcases with me so I think that'll be plenty of space. And there's a nice size storage unit near the bathroom. 

This is the living/dining area. The living part has two of those wooden chairs and a little coffee table thing. It also has a TV stand, and apparently the landlord is buying a TV for the place. The dining area has that table and two chairs. Interesting furnishing choices... but hey, I can make it work.

Notice the fridge in the corner. I'm just glad it is a "full-size" fridge (at least by Chinese standards!). Even if it is in the living area... I may have to do a little rearranging. 

This is the kitchen... kind of. It's a galley kitchen. It has a microwave and two burners for the stove. I am ordering a toaster oven on taobao (wonderful site, by the way! its like a super cheap ebay of sorts). Decent sized compared to most of the ones I saw.. and lots of storage and natural light.

These are the bathroom pictures. The bathroom is my least favorite area of this place. As you can see from the picture above, the toilet is in the same space as the "shower" with no separation. I negotiated to get the landlord to fix that, so we will see what happens. It's not horrible. The sink area actually is decent (though not pictured) and like I mentioned earlier there is a huge storage unit right next to the bathroom.

So that's the place. What do you think? After the first round with the Realtor and not getting the place, I prayed about and then let go. I figured if it was meant to be, it'd all work out. And this one did. Not only did the Realtor lower the rent by 100 kuai/month, there's no management fee (which at the other place was 200 kuai/month) and the landlord agreed to provide me with a western mattress (notice the beds above--that's what most people here sleep on... that little one inch thick pad!) , a TV and they are supposed to fix the area between the toilet and shower. I am moving in next week and I'm excited to get to decorating the place.

There's an IKEA out here and a Wal-Mart (right down the street actually!). Plus all the local markets. My coworker is actually in the same building as me, and today when I saw him at work he said someone was moving in mattresses in our building. Hopefully those belong to my place!

Trains in China

Well, I'm not much of an expert on the subject, but the train here was actually pretty nice. I know this is a bit out of order, I've actually been in Nanjing for over a week now (8 days) and I'm just posting about the train ride over here. Ashley found out from her work that we could ship our bags to our destination city for a pretty reasonable amount... luckily, after all the drama, it worked out. I only shipped one of my bags (just in case it never made it, I wanted to make sure I had things with me too!) it ended up costing about 170 kuai (about $28)... and I'd say my bag weighted every bit of 70 lbs, probably more. And it arrived the next day (!!) by noon! How's that for service?

Anyway, it was much less stressful to tote one massive bag and a backpack through the train station than 2. I'm so glad I paid the money to ship the other, because the escalator in Nanjing was broken and I had to lug my 60+ lb bag up 50 or more stairs. Imagine that with 2 bags. Not fun, but I made it. I took a couple pictures at the train station, and then I borrowed a few others of the actual train/inside the train so you all could see what it was like.

Be proud--I actually went to the ticket office and purchased this ticket on my own without speaking any Chinese. I know, I'm more impressive each day ;) I actually found a website with the ticket info listed, then I had a Chinese person write Shanghai and Nanjing in Chinese, and I looked up the word "tomorrow" in the handy dictionary and I was all set to go.

 

That's my actual train ticket. I've labeled it for easy reading :)

There's me at the train station, and a couple of pictures of the waiting area. I failed to take pictures on the train as I was a bit occupied with all my junk, but I found some on the internet instead.

By the way, the G train is one of the fastest in China. It reaches speeds of over 300 km per hour.

I Didn't Know I Was Famous

Funny story. The first day I walked into the Realtor's office was interesting. The entire office of about 30 employees were so excited to see a foreigner. About 10 different people came up to me and said "Hello, How are you?" then started laughing nervously. When I responded, I just got blank stares. One person asked to take a picture with me (of course, we had to make the obligatory peace sign for the picture).

During the initial meeting and the negotiation, employees kept coming in to check on me and practice their one or two words/phrases in English. When I left, a big group would gather outside to say goodbye. Several people wanted hugs.

Needless to say, it was an interesting experience.

The Search is On

If any of you follow me on Facebook you'll know I've been apartment hunting. That's where I've been the last few days--work, or apartment hunting. It is very time consuming, but I'm lucky I get to pick out a place rather than just having something assigned to me.

So Wednesday I actually met with my Realtor for the first time. There are very few English speaking ones, but my manager found a couple... no one else has used them before, so we'll see what happens. I e-mailed her about a week ago with the list of requirements. Trust me when I say things that should be standard in an apartment just aren't. Like hot water in the bathroom/kitchen sinks, and for the washing machine. Definitely not standard. Western toilet. Not usually standard. Air conditioning and heating... sometimes standard, usually you'll get one or the other only though. This place is nicknamed one of the "three furnances" for the summers. Air conditioning is a must.

Right now it's been in the 20s-30s, so heating is a must as well. My list was actually quite extensive, but I figured it's better to list everything I want and be able to knock things off the list than to try and add later.

Anyway, I saw three apartments. I was planning on taking pictures of all for comparisons and maybe taking a vote on which one was best, but I wanted to cry after looking at the first one, so that game didn't last very long. The first one I saw was a 10 minute walk to work in a high-rise that was about 35 stories tall, give or take (the skip floors with the number 4 in them because its bad luck... so it's not uncommon to either go from 13 to 15, or have a 13 and a 13a. Still the 14th floor people!!) The first one was a studio apartment (I'm pretty sure studio apartment was on the DO NOT WANT list, but you know, it's China...) It was tiny. Like slightly larger than my bedroom at home, but with a kitchen and bathroom too. No closet. Let's just say I could brush my teeth and cook breakfast while sitting in my bed. Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but the point is that it was tiny. And they wanted 2500 kuai. What? Are you kidding me? It may be "cheap" by US standards, but it definitely was not cheap by China standards. And it was very dirty. They don't really care about cleaning the apartment to make it look its best before showing them. So I vetoed that about 2 minutes after I walked in... they asked if I wanted to see the bathroom, and I didn't think that was necessary seeing as one of the three of us would have to leave the apartment or sit on the nasty bed in order to open the bathroom door. Not interested.

Oh, it gets better. The second one was another studio (really!! I think I would have skipped it if I were the Realtor). It was much larger than the first, but still tiny. And it was even dirtier than the first one. It had pictures of naked babies on the wall. Except they don't think it is necessary to cover up their privates. Yeah, like I want to wake up to that every morning. This one was quite odd too. You walk in the door and the "kitchen" is like right there on the right. Basically you're standing in it once you step inside. About 3 steps ahead is the bathroom door. The shower was a corner shower--not sure if I could even fit inside the little glass box... anyway, then about 5 steps after that, there was this interesting "room" (well, there was a dividing wall between it and the main "bedroom". In this little cove-like area was bunk beds. I don't know how people are meant to get into these bunk beds because there was less than a foot of space between them and the walls. Plus, 3 people living there? That'd be a sight to see... Then the main "bedroom" with the naked baby pictures. I think it was supposed to be "cute" because there was other pink, girly things in the room. I just found it disturbing. I think I spent a total of 5 minutes in this one. They wanted 2700 kuai for that. No freakin way.

The last one I saw was in a new complex, part of the buildings are still under construction. I was a little hesitant after the train wreck that happened just minutes before the last one of the day. When I walked into the elevator, it was a little shady. It wasn't "finished". It had plywood on the walls and looked a little rickety. But you know, that didn't stop me from taking a ride in it. What's wrong with me? This one was a two bedroom (yay!! separate areas!) They wanted "under 3000" for it. It was really nice. About 900-950 square feet (I'm horrible with conversions). Brand new. When they called the landlord, I was told it was 2800 and they'd provide the furniture. The landlord was in Shanghai, so he wasn't able to meet that day.

Thursday afternoon I went in to meet with the landlord to negotiate. The Chinese love that. Bargaining, negotiating, getting a good deal--you pretty much bargain for everything here. Two hours later, I walked away empty handed. Turns out that they'd do it for 2800ish only if it was "unfurnished". But if I wanted furniture, it was going to be 3300 fully furnished (I got it down to 2900, still over budget) but they only wanted to provide some of the things I wanted. I had talked to some of my colleagues the night before and they gave me some advice, so I decided against this place. Sad, I know. I actually go looking again on Monday and I e-mailed the Realtor about 6 places I found that were all under budget and 2 bedrooms. Fun stuff.

Taiwanese Pancakes

At least that's what their called in China... I tried googling these babies to find a recipe to share, no luck :( maybe they have a different name. Or origin. That doesn't really matter though. I adore these things. I think I've had one every day since I discovered them a week ago... some days I even go get one for dinner.

 

It starts out as a dough ball. The lady was too quick for me to get a picture of that part.  They throw it on the griddle, and then press it into a circle with that big spatula, and she constantly spins it and flips it over so it gets cooked evenly. She takes the edge of her spatula and makes little holes in the pancake to make it more pliable when she rolls it up. 

They have all sorts of toppings, but I usually get egg and cheese. So she fries the egg, then lays the "pancake" on top of the semi-cooked egg so they stick together.

Then, she flips it over and lets the cheese get all melty and delicious. After that, she rolls it up, breakfast burrito style.

It goes into a little wrapper and a plastic bag for total portability. It doesn't ever last me longer than 2 minutes though. So yummy. I even had one for breakfast today...and dinner. :) 

Hey, I'm leaving Shanghai tomorrow and may not be able to get these in Nanjing. Though it would be a total shame.

Total cost? Depends on the place, but usually 6 kuai (less than a dollar my friends!)

The pancake is 3 kuai, egg is 1, cheese is 2... bacon/meat floss?? whatever that is/ham are 2 kuai... then they have "vegetable" which is either lettuce or cucumber, depending on the day for 1 kuai. You can add a sauce for free, but I just like it with salt and pepper. 

They have ketchup, mayo (haha "salad dressing"), spicy sauce, sweet and spicy sauce, and extra spicy sauce as the other options. Gotta love the translations!

Qibao (aka little Venice)

And that's a stretch. Qibao is one of the metro stops off of line 9. It took us about 30 minutes to get there from the hotel, which is great. The cost? 4 kuai each (let's say 60 cents, each way). We read about this little city (maybe its not a city, I'm not really sure) in a few different travel books. It was mentioned in Lonely Planet's Shanghai book and it is also briefly mentioned in a brochure we picked up called "Touring Shanghai via Metro". It was lightly raining and very overcast yesterday, so we almost decided to stay at the hotel... but then we figured, what's a little rain going to hurt? I'm so glad we went. It was super relaxing and great scenery. The only downside was the boats weren't operating yesterday because the water was too choppy. Boo.

This is the "entrance" to the canal side of town. Very Chinese, right? Let's start with the views. Despite the unfavorable weather, the views were still beautiful. I think my phone did a great job of taking these pictures for your viewing pleasure.

When you first walk in to this little town area, you come to a large open square. Straight ahead is the bridge to cross the main canal. To the left is a lovely little restaurant with this neat rock sculpture.

There's the canal. Kinda murky water, but who cares? Still pretty to look at, just wouldn't want to swim in it. :) 

Here's the boats. Don't they look like something you'd find on a road block for Amazing Race? It only costs 10 quai to ride them. I already want to go back :)

Right after you cross the bridge, you run into several of these stands. In all those little boxes are different stones. They'll either make you a necklace with the stone, or one of those red hanging tassels for good luck.

Now for the food. Ashley and I didn't eat "lunch" here, but of course we ate something. I actually had good ol' McDonalds. However, this place was bursting with food choices. See for yourself.

 Fresh crab, anyone?

Above you'll see all sorts of foods. Wish I could tell you what they were, but that's not the case. I saved the best for last:

You might have to click to enlarge. I think those birds on the stick are duck--head and all. Maybe not... I didn't stay around long enough to find out!

Of course the post isn't complete without pictures of Ashley and me. That's the street Ashley and I went window shopping on :)

A New Way to Do Your Business

 

I know you all have been dying to see this, so I thought I'd end the wait. This, my friends, is the new porcelain  throne. Notice the waste basket. They don't flush here, either. I thought I'd point that out in case you missed it :) Also notice there's no toilet paper. Yup, you have to bring your own. You can get a truckload of those mini-tissue packs for like $1. See the ridges around the toilet? That's where your feet go. And, make sure your bum is facing the door... well, you're lucky if you have a door. Sometimes, it is just an open stall. This is actually a very clean restroom, I've seen way worse. 

Luckily, I haven't had to try the squat pot yet. Usually there is an "accessible" toilet that looks like the ones I'm familiar with. Or, I wait til I find a nice, western hotel and I go inside and pretend like I'm staying there. So far, so good.