Sticky situations and nervous breakdowns.

I want to apologize ahead of time for my lack of knowledge on “how to blog appropriately.” Until I really get settled here in Nanjing, which I will now refer to as NJ and can give you all more specific and funny stories on life in China, I’m probably just going to tell you what I’m doing.

Saturday started out like any other day in China, except it was moving day. And while the laughs and the “ayes” when the bellman, taxi drivers and train station workers saw just how much luggage we had was somewhat embarrassing, I took it in stride. In my minimal Chinese I told them I was moving to NJ, “that’s why I have so much stuff.” But they still said, “but it’s sooo much stuff.” Whatever.

After a pleasant two-hour train ride to NJ, I was excited to see my new city. If it hadn’t been for JT (his Chinese is much better than he gives himself credit for), I don’t know how I would have managed navigating around the train station, telling the taxi drivers where to go and realizing the sticky situation I was about to get into.

My new boss was kind enough to make reservations at a hotel almost across to the street to my new office. And since the organization offered to pay for the first couple of nights stay, I acquiesced to the offer. JT was a little disappointed we weren’t staying at the Crown Plaza or the Sofitel...he’s called the silver spoon child for a reason...just kidding. When we arrived at the Green Tree Inn, I knew it wasn’t five star but figured it was probably better than somewhere my friends and I may have stayed on a fraternity road trip. And granted the room had a somewhat lingering smell of cheap air freshener to cover up the cigarette smell and the beds brought new meaning to “stiff as a board,” I wasn’t about to offend my future boss and tell him this was not up to par with my family’s standards. That was until JT saw the sign that read “hourly rates available” and the contraceptives for sale in the display case. My mom made the executive decision that we were out of there.

So there we were with our six pieces of luggage, two backpacks and two purses off to find the Crown Plaza... JT’s wish came true. We packed back into two cabs and set off in search of our new and what promised to be at least a little nicer hotel. After a nice joy ride around Nanjing and pulling into the wrong hotel and me nearly having a nervous breakdown because the cab driver didn’t know where he was going I was finally at my home for the next few nights. A little bit of a rocky start, but mainly I’m just happy to be in my new home.