我爱我家

For those of you who can't read Chinese, the title of this post is "wo ai wo jia," or "I love my home." Ironically, this is the name of the apartment agency I used to find my new place. Coincidence? And I’ve decided that my posts should have a little more focus to them. Rather than “Today I blah blah blah,” I’m going to take the time to go into a little more detail of life my life in China. I’m going to start out with where I’m living. Many of you may be wondering what my new home actually looks like, so I took some pictures to accompany the post and

First of all, the area, called Long Jiang, is a really family-friendly area. It’s somewhat removed from downtown Nanjing and is always bustling with families. One of the many differences in China is that families many times all live together. Mom, dad, child (usually only one son or daughter) and even grandparents all live together in apartments. So I see people of all ages around here. It’s also not uncommon to see grandma and grandchild out to dinner together or at the grocery store together. Honestly, it is refreshing to see all generations of family interacting together. I always felt lucky to have grandparents that I actually liked and wanted to visit and spend time with, so it’s encouraging to see the same feelings here too.

I’m really enjoying my apartment as well. While it is a little more than I wanted to pay (still holding out for a roommate to help with the cost), I’m so happy here and it is worth the few extra kaui a month. Like the rest of the surrounding area, there’s a lot of families here. Everyone is surprisingly friendly, a welcomed change from life in Shanghai. A lot of times, I felt almost unwanted by the locals when I was living in Shanghai. Maybe they were tired of “laowais” invading their neighborhoods. Not here. I mean, I get the frequent stares, but with a polite smile and a nod the starer usually smiles back. Best of all, there’s a really friendly guard who is always quick to say hi to me. I feel like he’s looking out for me. He works the afternoon/night shift, so when I get home from work he always greets me with an enthusiastic “Ni hao” and a wave. He sits there at his post and chats with the other residents. I occasionally here him telling his latest companion that I’m American and working in Nanjing, and then they go on with their conversation. While I really have no idea what they’re saying, I’m starting to feel like a part of this community.

This afternoon, I ventured off to check out this park that is along the river between my apartment and work. It’s actually really pretty and so peaceful. There are all these willow trees planted along the sidewalk that keep it nice and shaded (this was especially nice considering the heat index was about 97 degrees). The park is really well maintained and will be a great place to go on long walks or runs. I passed a few people out while I was on my walk, but across the river there were a lot of families picnicking. I could hear little kids laughing, running around and enjoying their Saturday. It reminded me of going by the parks by the Chattahoochee River at home or Lake Alice in Gainesville and seeing all the families taking their kids out for the afternoon. In some ways, China is not all that different after all.

This is not the fast-paced, crowded life I knew back in Shanghai. And that’s really OK. It’s a much slower pace and, honestly, it’s much more pleasant. I think I will be really happy here for the next year or so. Once I get my Chinese skills going, I know I’ll really be able to call this home (at least my home far away from home!).