A Much-Needed Update

It's real. Wuxi's a real city. Jiangnan is a really university. My apartment ... is REAL! My job ... yep, you guessed it. Probably real too. I'm really here. After months and months of searching, planning, and making all the preparations for my little jaunt on the other side of the world - I'm here. With software that lets me access my blog and facebook to boot. Excellent. Take that, Chairman.

I'm anxious to post an update on my travels. I mean, it was nearly two months at breakneck speed, traveling from the east of China to the southwest of India. I did stuff. I saw stuff. I really want to tell you about it, especially because I sucked royally at updating people while on the road. (Sad. For the record, I was pretty bad at updating myself, even ... I hardly had the energy to journal toward the end ...) So, the moral of the story is that I need to record my memories before they are wiped from my mind (which happens at a speed that astonishes even me sometime. I really can't even remember what I did two hours ago, much less what I did two weeks ago).

However, I cannot summon the energy to do this today. Tomorrow, perhaps? Thursday? It will come. There will be pictures. There will be captions. You will, in fact, see me bathing with an elephant. This might not actually interest you, but it will make me feel like I did something to record my epic journey. :)

I'm currently basking in the glory that is my OWN APARTMENT! My own place. I just keep reminding myself of how awesome it is over and over. Yes, I have to walk up seven flights of stairs to get to my apartment, and yes, I have to plunge my toilet everytime I use it due to seriously inadequate plumbing - but it's MINE! I don't have to wait for anyone to clean the kitchen in order for me to want to go in there. I don't have to wait for anyone else to get out of the shower. I don't have to do laundry in the creepy basement. I even have cupboards that CLOSE! LUXURY! (Yes, they are bright green, but I'm not picky ...).

We arrived in Wuxi yesterday. Hao (our Chinese traveling companion) and his uncle were gracious enough to drive us to our college campus, after the university backed out on their contractual obligation to pick us up. Laaaame. It's just how it goes here, though. And it was so convenient. We were so grateful to have their help. We really needed it: once we arrived, it would have been really hard to sort things out had we not had a Chinese speaker with us. Once again, Hao to the rescue. We all let fate decide who would have what apartment, and fate chose that I would have buns of steel this semester. The seventh floor went to me. (The others are on the sixth.) So, make sure you look at my legs when I get back. I can assure you, they will be fabulous.

Our first night in Wuxi was overwhelming. After spending a couple hours unloading our putrid-smelling clothes, digging through our suitcases to be surprised at what things had been waiting for us for two months in Shanghai, and attempting to clean up my flooded kitchen (my water cooler machine broke and spilled half of its five gallon contents onto my floor ... as I love water more than pretty much anything, this was perhaps the most frustrating thing that could have happened to me), we all decided to embark on an adventure to find a supermarket and get all the necessary supplies for life in general. Not having Hao with us anymore, we were finally left to our own devices and my meager knowledge of Chinese was put to the test. Though I couldn't remember the words for "store" or "supermarket," I was pleased when we ended up at a very large shopping facility. Apparently, "Can you take us to a place to buy food and other things for rooms?" did the trick. Sometimes I hate being able to speak "a little" of the language, though. Because then people feel the need to respond to you in rapid-fire Chinese, and you have no idea what they are saying. There's always a victorious feeling inside of me that follows any listening comprehension!

I think we were at that darn supermarket for over three hours, though it felt like six. First we got plates, cups, some utensils ... anything that hadn't been left behind in our kitchen that we thought we would probably need. Though I hope that my "real" kitchen is far better stocked in the future, I think I will make do for these next few months. Going on to the bathroom was more overwhelming, primarily because we couldn't read the labels on anything. J and K had funny stories of miming out "shampoo," "conditioner," and "body wash" to the employees, who didn't speak any English. I had a lady yelling at me in Chinese about some sale or something, and at that point I nearly cried because I was so tired, I had no idea what she was saying, and she kept putting things in my card that I didn't want. Grr.

Then we had to get food ... a new dragon to slay. The place we were at had few foreign options. It's not that I'm opposed to eating Chinese food, it's just that I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to cook it. So, our options were fairly limited. I ended up getting some veggies, some drinkable yogurt (they didn't have my whole milk, 100% organic, no sugar added, locally grown favorite ...), some rice and beans, some weird congee soups that I'm pretty skeptical of, and some dumplings that I can make in the microwave. I also got a veggie burger with rice patties that I inhaled after getting home that night. It wasn't bad. So, we'll see how this eating situation goes. I'm really banking on a good package from home ... thanks, mom. :)

The real adventure was still to come on the drive home. After dropping a load of cash, we had to catch a taxi back to our apartments. I managed to get the driver to come pick us up closer to the grocery store, which was a small victory. However, something was lost in translation as to where said taxi driver was supposed to deliver us. He, apparently, "knew" where Jiangnan was. I told him we were near the North Gate. He didn't know where that was. Now, Jiangnan is a big place. But the North Gate would presumably be a good landmark, right? This is all we knew. He was babbling in Chinese asking about what road we were on and blah blah, and I couldn't decipher most of it and couldn't answer him even if I had understood him. We realized about 20-30 minutes later that he didn't even seem to know where the college was, much less the North Gate. He was asking for a number to call - as we don't know anyone here and don't have anyone's number, this wasn't helping. He called information. He drove around aimlessly. It took a very long time to find the college, and then - probably another half hour at least to find our apartments. It was sooo frustrating! We stopped probably 20 innocent bystanders asking if they knew where the foreign teachers lived. We got lots of different directions. The only English the man spoke was to cry out, "OH MY GOD!" in exasperation. It was pretty hilarious. He thought so too. He wasn't the one shelling out 20 American bucks to pay for this ridiculously long ride!

Finally, finally, finally, around 11pm, we made it back. It was one of the happiest feelings in the world. Finally. I ended up staying up way too late, putzing around and basking in the glory of having my own place and having my feet on the ground. I slept soundly (a little too soundly), and woke up at the nick of time in order to have our pictures taken for our work visas this morning. Today has been a very laid back day. I didn't get much done, but it's just been nice to hang out and read and organize my life a bit. I'm sure there will be more of that tomorrow, which I look forward to. What a life!

I hope to tell about our traveling adventures soon. Until then, let me know how YOU'RE doing! I'd love to hear about it! Send me a message on facebook or write me an email: nicole.carow@gmail.com