Getting Local

This week has been a great week.  Very tough being away from my family.  I don't think it will ever get easy being away from them.  I am really looking forward to Alauna and Mikayla coming here in April.  It will be great to see them and spend a few days with them.  Skype has been great.  They turn Skype on the kitchen computer and I can talk to everyone.  It's a great way to be part of what's going on when I'm not there.

Work was really good this week.  I did get sick this week and lost my lunch.  I was only sick in the evening and then the next day felt pretty good.  I'm glad it was just a quick bout with whatever it was.  Could have been something I ate.  That day we ate a pretty traditional meal in this little village restaurant.  We were visiting stores and were out in the countryside about an hour outside of Nanjing.  When we walked up to the restaurant there were quite a few little wood "cottage" type buildings.  You would eat in one of the cottages.  In front of one of the cottages they had a rack with dried pig faces hanging on it.  They dry the pig face and then thinly slice it.  I tried a couple pieces and it was actually pretty tasty.  Kind of like a pork jerky.  That might have been what trigger my episode later in the evening.

Dried Pork Face

On Saturday Nanjing International School (NIS) had an expo.  They have students from 44 different countries at the school.  The expo had representation from about 33 of the countries.  It was a great event.  Lots of fun, food and cultural activities.  It was a great example of how the school really has built a strong community there in Nanjing.  I'm excited for our family to meet friends from all over the world.  My work team is also a very diverse group of people.  We have people from China, US, Ireland, Canada, Scotland, England, Wales, Pakistan and India on the team.  

NIS expo held in the school Gym

The Peru Booth.  I put this in for Ethan in Peru.

NIS Theater.  

Seating in the theater.  They can retract these seats
 back into the wall so there is a large open area. 

Here are some additional pictures I took of the school.

Walk way in between buildings.  

Student Art

Cafeteria

Soccer "Football" Fields

Swimming Pool.  There is also a smaller
kids swimming pool as well.  Normally
opened on Saturday, but closed due to the Expo.

This morning I woke up to some banging outside my window.  I was a little shocked by this since I live on the 53rd floor (top floor).  I looked out the window and saw some ropes swinging around and hitting the window.  A few minutes later I saw someone sitting outside my window.  It was window washing day.  It was amazing.  53 stories above the ground and the guy is sitting on a small board held up by ropes.  I snapped a couple of pictures and watched him for a second.   He had a couple of mates on the next windows over.  Even though he was a foot away from me he made no acknowledgment of me being there.  I guess he get's pretty focused on the job.  Not sure how window washers usually do it, but it was just a single knot that held him up.  He would lessen the slack on the line and gravity would pull him down until he tightened the knot and gravity would keep him suspended.  It was really quite amazing to watch.

Window Washer on the 53rd Floor

It's starting to get warmer in Nanjing.  Not warm yet, just warmer.  The locals say this is the longest winter in 20 years.   Hasn't been snowing or anything, just much colder weather than they usually have this time of year.  It has been 50's or low 60's and is starting to feel pretty good.  Still rains quite a bit.  I'm ok with the cooler weather for now, because I have been here in August when it was almost 100 degrees and about 100% humidity.  There are three "furnace" cities in China because they are so hot.  Nanjing is one of them.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Furnaces

There is a quote describing the heat in the article that I love;  "especially hot and oppressively humid".  Oppressive is a great way to describe it.  So while I look forward to it getting warm, I'm not looking forward to the oppressive heat.  

I have been looking for places to rent.  There are not a lot of places that will fit our size family with our budget.  I have found a few that will work and am getting excited about getting settled into a house.  We will be living in an area called Xianlin.  It is on the northeastern part of Nanjing.  It's about 30 min on the subway to get to downtown Nanjing.  I'm starting to feel a bit more local.  I got my subway card and found a shortcut from my hotel to the subway.  There are a series of underground tunnels from the hotel to the trains.  I found a pretty direct way for me to get there.  It's like a mouse in the maze.  I found the cheese at the end.  It looks like we will make the final move on June 6th.  I am really excited to have the family over here.  It will be great to all be here in China together as a family. I look forward to getting the family all here and then experiencing China as a family.