Our trip to Nanjing, China was quite an amazing whirlwind! We left early in the morning of the 3rd and arrived in Nanjing shortly after lunchtime. The view from the plane was so incredibly beautiful. Undulating hills and mountains rising out of the white mist and cloud that surrounded them. It looked exactly like the scenery on painted Chinese vases. Immediately upon arrival we sensed we were in a more "militarian" atmosphere. The very stern looking immigration officers were quite intimidating in their starched, red-trimmed, army-green uniforms. Our driver, whose only English word was "okay" met us at the airport, luckily with a Celanese sign! We got to experience the chaos of the Chinese traffic during our hour-long drive from the airport to the Lakeview Xuanwu Hotel. I cannot emphasize enough, the absolute anarchy and just plain madness of it all! There are as many lanes of traffic in a road as the width of the road will allow, including all emergency lanes, curbs, and sidewalks! Bicycles and scooters seem to have the right of way since they run through red lights, cross intersections at any time, any angle and in any lane, coming at your from any direction, usually at high speed! Traffic direction is merely a suggestion - if it looks like you can get there faster on the other side of the road then by all means, use it! If you're in the right hand turning lane and want to turn left, across 4 other lanes of traffic, then go ahead! And that was just the beginning - it just got more and more fascinating, and frightening, as the days passed!!!!
Being winter, it was overcast and misty, and the landscape was very dreary looking. A lot of the buildings are concrete and in varying states of dilapidation which made the view on our drive to the hotel that much more gloomy. I think we were all a little concerned at that stage! Cars and bicycles were well-used, old and covered in a blanket of dirt and dust. As we neared the middle of the city things started to look a little brighter and a lot noisier! A lot more traffic, bicycles, scooters and people bustling about. Randomly sprinkled between old crumbling "mom & pop shops" would be brightly lit, shimmering, glass-fronted high-end stores that seemed totally out of place squeezed in between the run-down old hodge-podge of general stores.
Our hotel was beautiful - very "westernized" - could have been in downtown Dallas without a problem. They even had a huge Christmas tree in the lobby and glass reindeer jumping through the fountain! Since we hadn't any winter jackets and the temperatures were in the 40's during the day, the first afternoon we went shopping. Maxine and Sydney were in shopping heaven! Not only does everything fit them, but the prices are ridiculously cheap, for really good quality items! We caused quite a stir, especially Maxine with her long red hair! She got quite tired of people just stopping and staring or even coming out of the shops to see her. We tried to explain to her that most of the locals, especially the older generations, had probably only seen white businessmen, a very few women, let alone kids with long red hair! Both girls turned heads wherever we went! We stopped in at Starbucks for a warm cup of coffee and a snack for lunch. It's inside a bookstore, much like Barnes & Noble, except that there's only 3 shelves of English books in all 5 floors of the bookshop! The shopping malls are much like anything you would find in Dallas, except all prices are written in Chinese only!!! I see many, many hours of Chinese lessons in my future!!!
After we got some jackets and gloves for the kids we headed back for a buffet supper in the revolving restaurant at the top of the hotel. In additon to the "western" food there's always a very interesting array of local food - most including some animal organ that I'm sure was never meant to be consumed! Amazingly, it cost only US$12 per person and we came away "stuffed" every time!!
On Thursday morning our driver took us to the Nanjing International School. The admissions officer, a British guy, gave us a tour of the campus, which is just incredibly amazing. A beautiful Chinese-style cobbled-walkway leads you past a pond and fountain surrounded by Maple trees to the huge red-lacquered entrance doors.
Each grade consists of 2 classes with a maximum of 20 kids per class. Most of the time, in the upper grades, the classes are much smaller because the kids break off into their elective classes. Sydney was very excited to see that there were four science labs! The art room was enormous, complete with pottery wheels, and a dark room for processing your own photographs! Maxine has become increasingly interested in photography so she was pleased to see that and to know that photography was also an option for an after-school activity. There's also a complete workshop where students design their "item" - could be anything from a cube in the lower grades, to pewter jewelry or robots in the upper grades. They then get to design it on the computer using CAD and then manufacture it in the workshop. There's also a full-size basketball court, tennis courts and track. For tournaments, they travel by bus to Shanghai and other neighboring cities. I know I'm rambling, but honestly, I've never seen anything quite like it before! After our tour the girls had to do a two-hour English and math test so Rory, Bridget and myself went across the road to McDonalds for a cup of hot chocolate and to use the internet while we waited. There's also a Starbucks going into the new plaza that's being built across the road from the school - I see a lot of my money heading in that direction!
On Friday morning we met with a relocation agent, Susan, who is native to Nanjing, to show us around the "compound" and some of the houses. The compound is really just a gated community, with houses much like those in Coppell, although most are double storey. Some are made of concrete while others are "American style" wood fabricated. All the fixtures, like sinks, appliances, light fixtures are imported from Canada - which I found quite interesting - I thought everything was made in China anyway!
The lots are quite large, hilly, and have many trees, with it being a more established neighborhood. The narrow roads and trees gave it really nice neighborhood feel. I'm sure it will be beautiful in summer when the trees are green. Some of the houses we saw were rather run down, but the landlords will fix or change anything you want prior to moving in, like put in new carpet, paint inside and outside, replace fixtures, etc. So we weren't too concerned about their appearance. Within the gated community there's also a playground, park, pond, and in the clubhouse, a gym, tennis courts, and indoor pool.
Susan took us to lunch at "Hot-Pot" a Chinese restaurant where you get a big bowl of "soup" placed on a hot-plate in the middle of the table, which boils the soup as you add whatever dishes you orderd to throw into your soup. It was much like a fondue, except soupy! We had a mixture of meats, fish, and veggies, including some Chinese ones which we'd never had before, and lettuce which was plopped into the pot and boiled! I didn't try any of that! After lunch, which was surprisingly filling, we went to look at furniture stores to see what was available. It seems we can get just about anything we could ever want! You actually "order" it through your landlord so sometimes you might not get the exact color sofa you want, but it always seems to work out anyway. What we saw in other houses seemed to have been well chosen.
Friday evening we met with LG, who Rory will work with in China, his wife, Andrea, and Mack, who Rory will be taking over from. We went out to a restaurant in a neighborhood referred to as "1912" which is a lot like Deep Ellum - an eclectic mix of restaurants, small stores, clubs and salons. We went to "Round Table" for supper. Our chairs were 6-foot tall red-velvet thrones! It actually made you feel almost like you were in your own little dining room. They first brought out some bread, and a bowl of cocktails on dry ice so it ice bellowed "smoke" around the table! The way the restaurant is set up, you choose all your courses at the beginning and they just bring them out as you progress through the meal. Easier said than done since none of the waitresses spoke English, and even though we pointed to the menu item and she nodded and wrote it down, when they bought each course out at least one of the dishes was wrong! The entire meal, including bread, salad, soup, entrée, dessert, coffee, and beverages (including wine and beer) worked out to less than US$20 per person! Truly amazing!!
LG and Andrea have only been in Nanjing for about 3-4 months, having moved from Houston. We all got along very well, and she was able to give me a lot of information and tips on what to bring. She offered to take me around to all the stores to get stuff when we arrive. She also showed us her set of flashcards which are used for the drivers for translation. She had a whole bunch on a ring - places like restaurants, shops, as well as short phrases! I'll need to get some of those! One thing I really hate but will have to get used to, is the smoking in the restaurants. Yuck! It seems everyone lights up during or after their meal. While the adults were dining in style, the kids stayed at Andrea & LG's home and made friends with a lot of the girls in the neighborhood. One of them were leaving this weekend and they were having a farewell party. Andrea's daughter is in 7th grade but all the girls around that age hang out together.
Saturday morning Rory met with Mack to discuss business while the rest of us took it easy and spent some time reading. In the afternoon we went to visit Confucius Temple and it's adjoining market so the girls could buy some small trinkets. By Sunday we were all exhausted and ready to come home. We'd seen so much and absorbed so much information that we were all ready to just relax. We all left feeling very upbeat and positive about the whole experience, looking forward to moving there in June next year!
