After 5 months of planning and packing, and 2 weeks of insomnia and heartwrenching farewells, I got on a plane last week to move to Nanjing, China.
Why Nanjing? It is where my company's Chinese headquarters are located. Nanjing is somewhat south-central, and quite close to Shanghai. It was the former capital of the country, and still has the protective city wall intact. There are parks and lakes everywhere, and it is considered one of China's safest cities. It's also on the small size - only ~10M people. ONLY!
I arrived on a Saturday night, with the wisdom of my friend, Carol, ringing in my ear: Everything takes longer to do in China. If you get 2 things accomplished, it's a good day. If you get 3 things done, it's a great one. I was determined to be happy with good days, and to savor the great ones. For someone with NO patience, this was going to be a feat of epic proportions, but I chose this - it's not a death sentence, so I had to accept and adjust.
The flights were on time (accomplishment #1), a driver was waiting (#2), and my apartment was ready (#3). Great Day by China standards. After that, I laughed at the events of the night. The apartment was a sauna - the air conditioning wasn't working, and China is a wee hot this time of year. I had no sheets, so I had to use drop clothes as bedding the first night, and my landlady opted not to provide a key for the mailbox. All manageable.
It was the oxygen unit that set me over the edge, doubled over in fits of laughter, and reminding me that sleep was critical if I was going to function here. When I came to visit the apartment, it was still being constructed. In one of the bedrooms, there was a giant box marked "wall oxygen unit". I asked if it was an air purifier, and all heads nodded, yes - for clean air. It was negotiated into the contract, and all was good.
About 5 days before I arrived, my realtor advised that the landlady wanted the oxygen unit for her mother. I advised that she would have to replace it - clearly, clean air was important to me, too. We went back and forth for a while, but in the end I won. I would have a new air purifier.
But, when I got here and saw the box marked "portable oxygen unit", I said hmmm. So I opened the lid, and saw the mask. And the tubes. And the tank. Clearly, NOT an air purifier...not even close. If I was opening an air bar, it'd be awesome, but since I just want to not breathe in China dust, it was a little extreme.
The realtor was so confused. She's so used to getting strange requests from Americans that she didn't see a reason to question why I was so adament to have an oxygen tank. I, clearly, learned that it is important to truly make sure people understand what I mean when I say something.
The rest of the week was a lot like that. It took days and hours to get a phone established, internet working, and shopping completed. After 1 week in, I'm still unable to connect the Ooma phone and the wireless router, but I am at least able to stay connected somewhat.
The rest will unfold in later posts. China is a remarkable place - I can't wait to be settled so I can comfortably go exploring!
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