"Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it" - Confucius

This week we paid a short visit to the Confucius Temple here in Nanjing.  Very briefly, the Confucius Temple in Nanjing was originally constructed in the year of 1034 in the Song Dynasty. It was a place to worship Confucius the great philosopher and educator of ancient China.   We did not stay long since it was around 45 degrees outside, however we plan to go back in the Spring (March) when the weather is nicer.  We walked through the market area (anxious to go back and explore) and arrived near the Temple area.   In front of the temple is a golden wishing tree where you can make a wish on a ribbon and throw the ribbon up in the tree. The higher you achieve on the throw, the better the chance the wish will be received.  The boys had a great time doing this and we attracted a big crowd of Chinese people around us, who knows what they were thinking...  Strangely enough we did run into another family from Canton who just arrived a few weeks ago...  I have attached some pictures below.  We also took a nice boat ride through the channels around the market and the residence. The water channels and the Qinhuai river awarded to the City of Nanjing in 2008 with the title of The Most Harmonious City in the World by the United Nations.  It was a nice visit and we are excited to go back.

I also wanted to touch briefly on the simple things we take for granted in the US which become a week long research project here in China.  I am speaking in particular about getting a haircut....  Back home I have a great friend Aaron Michael who styles my hair at Cole Street Salon.  I spent the better part of the week asking friends what they do for their haircuts and quickly found that none of them have found a place to go where the stylist speaks English.  I was also advised that the men often experience very very short cuts with little input into the result..  So I decided to go to a nice local Mall here in Nanjing called Aqua City and ended up at a Salon recommended by one of the young ladies at the front desk where we live.  I arrived at the Salon with a note written in Chinese (from my front desk helper) that read "men's haircut, same style, not to short, high-end stylist please".  Here is China, similar to home you pay more for skill of the stylist.  My stylist "English name David" (you see many Chinese have English names that have either been assigned to them or chosen) just looked at me very briefly and then I went through the normal process (shampoo, cut, rinse, & style).  To my great surprise, he did an excellent job and I luckily did not experience situations that many others have.  I used my iphone translator to thank him and tell him what a great job he did.  Of course I got his card for return visits.  Natalie is still debating whether to wait until our summer home visit.  It is funny how even the simplest things can be challenging when you do not speak the language, but in the end it sometimes works out good.  All this for the high end price of 120 RMB or 20 USD's!!  A box of US cereal cost $10 but a haircut cost me $20 ;)

Things to look forward to this week; our permanent driver and also our air shipment arrival...  Keep your fingers crossed!

Kaaaaa BOOM!

Tonight I was inspired by a good friend of ours, after reading her blog, to wrap up my Chinese New Year commentary with the Midnight festivities.  In my previous blog I spoke of the traditions associated with the Chinese New Year and also the significance of fireworks in the celebration.  Natalie and I stayed up until midnight and woke Cooper up to witness the fireworks from our balcony (Brady is not a big fan of loud noises so he opted to sleep).  What we saw was a spectacular light show over the horizon of the city.  There are however some key differences in comparison to firework shows back home.  First this is a completely unorganized event whereas 7 million people follow Chinese Tradition to bring health and prosperity to their family.  They do not light off the fireworks in an empty field in a controlled environment.  Rather they take a box packed with explosives (say a box 2 ft x 3ft) and light it off in the middle of the city street.  There is no joy in lighting one at a time to enjoy the splendor of color, it is far more effective to light the whole box to ensure the evil spirit has been chased far far away.  What makes this even more interesting is the fact that this is a large city with many tall buildings, the echoes from the explosions magnify the sound ten-fold.  Here is the video and also a picture of the skyline at midnight.

I am glad I was able to experience this first hand here in China.  Each day this week you hear fireworks going off as the traditions continue and we find it is not all that annoying.  Rather it is a good reminder that we are experiencing a century old traditional that I never cared to understand prior to living in China.  It sounds odd to say this but nonetheless it is true and the reality is that there is so much more to understand about others than we often put forward the effort.

Lastly, interestingly Cooper is becoming the ladies man here in China with Brady as his wingman.  Brady attracts the attention by saying "Ni Hao" with this huge smile.  The young ladies think this is the cutest thing ever because he is a "westerner" and that he is speaking Chinese (he is darn cute, but it is becoming tiresome!).  Then Cooper quickly takes the lead and smiles, winks, and makes a heart sign with his hands.  He loves the giggles that are returned and when I try to correct his behavior he says, "Dad they are laughing and enjoying it".  The young ladies in the lobby seem to have something for the boys each day, whether a big smile or a dragon balloon (received today).  Cooper is reciprocating with colored pictures he makes during the day... 

We are thinking of planning some sightseeing trips here in Nanjing once Spring arrives (March), perhaps a trip to Hong Kong Disneyland in March, and then Thailand in April.  We have booked our flights home for the summer so we are looking forward to seeing friends and family!  Daily life at home for Natalie is certainly challenging and work for me as well, so we are looking forward to the adventures ahead!

Gearing Up for the Holiday!

Next week is the beginning of a very important holiday in China, The Chinese New Year.  So I thought I would give a little background and our experiences thus far leading up to next week.  In China this is also known as the “Spring Festival”.  The festival begins on the first day of the month in the traditional Chinese calendar and ends with the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day.  On Chinese New Year's Eve (January 22^nd) Chinese families gather for their annual reunion dinner.  If you want to learn more there is plenty of content on-line.  Rather than a history lesson I thought I would mention what we have personally witnessed thus far.  There are many decorations where we live and also all over the city. Windows and doors everywhere you go are decorated with red color lanterns that signify good fortune, happiness and longevity.  The decorations really make the city and shopping areas look very nice, I have attached a picture from a local shopping mall (similar to Somerset in Michigan but higher end retail) decorated with the red lanterns.  

Another tradition we are participating in (and it applicable to our situation here in China) is the “red envelopes”.  These envelopes are filled with a denomination of money and are passed out during the Chinese New Year's celebrations to show appreciation to certain individuals.  We will be providing these to people who have helped us during our first month in China.  For example we will provide red envelopes to our housekeeper and to key staff members where we live. Per custom, the amount of money in the red packets should be of even numbers as odd numbers are associated with cash given during funerals, also should avoid 400 and 250 RMB as these are unlucky numbers (strangely enough odd and even numbers are determined by the first digit, rather than the last. Thirty and fifty, for example, are odd numbers.  Many things to keep straight!).  

The one tradition which we have been forewarned about is the fireworks.  When I say fireworks I do not mean like the ones at Ore Lake or at traditional 4^th of July celebrations.  The Chinese are all about the BANG!  We saw evidence of this on New Year’s Eve however everyone has told us the noise is constant for the entire week.  The reason for the noise is that explosions were once used in ancient China to drive away evil spirits.  Next week I will post a short video off our balcony, the continuous noise is amazing and it is all over the city.  I should also mention that they use fireworks to celebrate marriage, promotion, good fortune, etc throughout the year.


They have decorated our lobby with a Wishing Tree.  This is an expression of the Chinese traditional culture and belief that you could make wishes for your family, loved ones or even wishes for a better life.  The kids wrote down their wishes and they were tied to the wishing tree.  We gave the kids the freedom to write whatever they wanted.  Brady did not have too many ideas so we suggested “making good friends at school”.  Cooper however insisted on writing his wish for “more Lego’s and magic tricks”.

Off topic but interesting to share is a cultural trait that we have noticed with the Chinese.  This is a much smaller area set aside as “personal space”.  As seen with the similarities in driving, there is no order when waiting in line at a register or to be helped in some manner.  For example, instead of waiting in an orderly line, people crowd counters and you will often find Chinese nationals shoulder to shoulder with you or immediately behind peering over your shoulder.  All you can really do is laugh to yourself when in this situation.  Back home you would think it is rude for someone to step in front of you, here it is common.
  
Lastly we have learned that our air shipment which was to arrive this Friday, just prior to the week long holiday, is likely to be delayed.   They are questioning the “four DVD players” that the movers labeled, officials wondering why I need four DVD players.  In actuality it is two home DVD players and two portable players.  Having explained this to Senior Custom Officials they are now satisfied that I am not looking to start my own black market…  Yet, it now has to go back through the process again.  Ugh!  We are all looking forward to the shipment arrival for some more comforts from home…

Looking Forward....

Thought I would share a short blog this evening before going to bed.  At the dinner table this evening I asked the family to name some things that they are looking forward to receiving when our air shipment arrives in the next few weeks.  It is also important to note that our ocean shipment follows the arrival of the air shipment so the question was not all inclusive of everything we packed.  Here was the responses:

Natalie - She was looking forward to receiving the memory foam mattress topper that we bought for our king bed that came furnished in our place here in Nanjing.  I immediately responded that her thought was a great one.  The mattresses here in China are pretty firm, certainly not like the pillow top we enjoyed back in the United States.  Luckily through with the help of our expat friends we were advised to purchase a mattress cover...

Cooper - He was looking forward to receiving some of his Christmas presents.  In particular he mentioned his science kit, majic tricks, and also his lego sets.  We are all becoming tired of the card games so it will be nice for some of their toys' to arrive.

Brady - He was looking forward to the arrival of his talking chipmunks; Alvin, Simon, and Theodore!  Also he was anxious to receive his programmable robot that Grandma bought for him.

Jim - I mentioned the arrival of the portable ice maker that we bought.  In restaurants and all around China you need to be careful of the water you drink.  In our place we have a filtration system and also have the big purified bottles of water delivered, however outside of the home it is rare to have ice served in your drinks.  This is something small that I miss.  In reality I am looking forward to everything on the air shipment because it will move us one step closer to a home environment and becoming completely settled.

We are all becoming comfortable here in Nanjing and feel fortunate that things have been going well up to this point.  The children start school tomorrow morning and so this is an exciting week.  Natalie is planning to blog about some of her more personal adventures in the days to come.  To conclude here are a few notable mentions about living in Nanjing so far (I am sure there is many more that will come to mind);

* There are no stop signs, not that anyone would follow them anyway...
* At the stop lights there is a big clock that counts down until the light is to change color...
* It is acceptable to muster the largest throat clearing sound followed by spitting outdoors...
* Split pant babies (Natalie will cover this one...)
* Constant eyes upon you and the children in public, they have great interest in westerners (all are very nice however and like to practice their english "Hi".  Funny story, our driver in the car looked at the kids yesterday and said "quiet, quiet" with a big smile on his face (oh boy what are we teaching this guy...).
* High fashion, all the young people dress very nicely
* Everyone hangs their clothing outdoors in the high-rise apartments to dry (counter intuitive given the dust in the city).
* All the western stores in the nice shopping malls (summerset equivalents) are triple the price than in the US, hard to understand who buys the merchandise...
* I have almost got hit by a scooter 5 times...
* Badminton is very popular, I am to try it this week with a Chinese friend I have met who is an employee here where we live...
* Plenty of street food, have not tried yet....

Enough for now, loving all the new experiences.....

When in Rome.... Do as the Romans do!

Today I am writing as my temporary driver escorts me to work (yes I actually sit in the back seat…).  Yesterday I watched throughout the drive and found it very stressful so I have now determined I will use my driving time to read e-mails from work, catch up on the news (once I get my phone next week), or write about our experiences in China.  The drive to work is approximately 30 minutes unless I leave at peak rush hour which then means it will be extended to 50 minutes.  Yesterday I hit peak rush hour and was able to experience first-hand how the Chinese drive in heavy traffic.  Vehicles are literally bumper to bumper as drivers allow little room between the car in front of them, this results in short intervals of quick acceleration and braking while only moving 6 feet at a time.  The close proximity to the car in front of you is a result of every driver wanting to occupy the 12 inches of space available to them to progress further.  This also creates what I call continual swaying from lane to lane or perhaps on the median as you try and merge into traffic at the last possible moment.  Think about the person in the US who either merges at the final moments or cuts your vehicle off forcing you to hit the brakes, this is the norm in China.  I mentioned at the start I am with my temporary driver, Mr. Chen (I think this is his name…).  You see he speaks even fewer words to me in English than I speak Mandarin to him.  Although each morning he greats me with a smile and a “good morning” which I believe he picked up on from our family.  Yesterday I was very impressed with myself as I instructed him “please arrive tomorrow at 7:15am” in Mandarin.  Small victory!  On Tuesday next week our permanent driver starts with our family, Mr. Xiao Fan.  Yesterday I was able to interview two drivers, through a translator, and I selected Mr. Fan.  He is 43 years old, former taxi driver, with a wife and 12 year old son.  He appears very nice and was very attentive to our family needs in the interview.  Only time will tell, stay tuned.

One thing to know about the culture is the morning breakfast routine.  Although we are not deep into Chinese culture in our complex, the breakfast buffet each morning does reveal a little into how the Chinese eat in the mornings.  The buffet contains the normal US items like toast, cereal, omlette’s, fruits, coffee and orange juice to name a few.  However you will also find how the Chinese use breakfast as a bigger meal of the day (Natalie tells me this is what Dr. Oz calls eating in reverse).  For example this morning I found stir fry noodles, pepper steak, and mashed potatoes.  Each morning there is also a salad bar to select from.  Each day will contain some food that we would normally consider lunch or dinner appropriate in the US, although the boys were happy the day when they served chicken nuggets ;)

Jump forward 9 hours and I am now on my commute home for the day.  To my surprise I have discovered how the drivers, including my temp, pass the time when they are waiting for the next pickup.  Unfortunate for me when I left the building today my driver was nowhere to be found.  I located the car in the parking lot and another driver pointed me to a building where he could be found.  I walked in a smoke clouded room of Chinese men playing cards.  Everyone in the room looked up at me where I pointed at Mr. Chen and he came in a rush, must have been a little embarrassing for him…  LOL. 

So, the last thing I will touch on is lunch which is served daily and provided by Ford at the office Canteen.  Like a mass exit, promptly at 11:30am all the staff rises from their desk and begins to head to the Canteen, holding their lunch cards.  This is similar to the start time in the office, since most take the mass transit system they all arrive right at 8:30am and leave at 5:30pm.  Yesterday I followed the routine to the canteen with an Australian colleague I met whose family relocated the same time as we did.  Once in the canteen you swipe your card and then can choose from several Chinese dishes.  There is a variety of meat items, I chose the ones that closely resembled either beef or pork.   In addition you can have a bowl of soup, bowl of white rice, vegetables, and/or a noodle dish.  I am finding the food hit or miss from day to day, some days it is good and others not so much for a westerner.   But it is hard to complain about a free meal.

Arriving home now to Natalie and the kids.   Time to eat dinner, play a few games, and then join my 8:30pm conf. call, stupid Americans don’t they know it is late here in China!!!

  

Day Two.... Happy New Year!

It is our second day here in Nanjing and so I wanted to provide everyone with an update. I guess let me start with our flight to the Far East.  Things started out a little hectic once we arrived at the airport as we noticed that the car seats were left behind at the hotel.  Not to worry, Nicole and Lisa (my cousins) saved the day and rush them over to us just in time (so thankful for their love and generosity)!  Once we surpassed this obstacle things went very smoothly.  The greatest challenge was getting eight bags checked-in followed by another four carry-ons and backpacks through security.  Cooper and Brady were angels on the plane.  They watched three movies each and then slept the remainder of the flight, love business class on international flights!  Once we arrived in Shanghai our friends (Thank You Turner Family!) had their driver meet us at baggage claim where he then drove our luggage to Nanjing (approximately four hours).  This made the transition to our connection so much easier!  Once we arrived at Fraser Suites our luggage was not far behind.  Adjusting to the jet lag is challenging.  I am finding that we are exhausted by 5pm each day, where the best strategy is to fight to stay awake until 9pm so that you do not rise at three in the morning but rather 6am.  As tonight is New Years Eve and we celebrate 13 hours ahead of all our friends, I am fairly certain we are going to crash early as we struggle to adjust to the time change. 

Day one in China involved Natalie unpacking our belongings (air shipment to arrive four weeks from now and then sea shipment another three weeks thereafter) while I made a visit to the office.  Aside from all the adjustments I am certain to encounter as I start my new position, for now I will try to write about the observations or experiences in the city the first few days.  What becomes very apparent is the rationale for our assignment of a personal driver while in China.  Although there are lines on the roads few chose to drive within the boundaries of the lanes.  It is a continual game of "chicken" as cars work into any open space freely honking horn's to alert one another, vastly different than the Michigander that quickly follows a honk by a middle finger.  However, it is not only the other cars that come into play.  It is the seven million people that are also walking or on motor scooters, same rules apply (see who gets to the open spot first).  We have found the English speaking Chinese which work within our building as a very valuable resource with translation since our driver speaks very little English and we are still learning key phrases in Mandarin. 

Also interesting to note is the fine dust/dirt that covers the city streets and cars.  I am finding that many do not have a strong regard against littering, often witnessing people throwing wrappers, etc onto the ground.  The litter is not that evident since the large population means the communist party seeks to employ many at minimal wages.  On the outskirts of the city, where we live, the dust is not that prominent.  I was quickly reminded of the large city population when I visited the bank to exchange currency.  It was similar to our experience's at the Secretary of State in the US, lots of people waiting for a number to be called.  I had 50 people in front of me however when we (realtor/translator) were told to just wait for an open number to be called (a process I did not understand, why then take a ticket in the first place)?  Perhaps because I was a foreigner they gave me some flexibility? 

For the past few days we have been eating our meals at the restaurant in our building.  We are enjoying the breakfast buffet that we will have daily.  However as the restaurant strives to provide "western" meals they are still a way from what we are used to.  As a result we quickly realized we must grocery shop.  Our first stop was China's version of Costco, called "Metro".  The similarities were the warehouse atmosphere and set-up of the building.  Many of the products are unfamiliar to us, since they cater to the Chinese desires.  There is however a few rows of imported products that we are able to chose from, imagine how excited we were to locate frozen chicken breast.  We then journeyed to another grocery store, however the selection was limited for "western" cooking.  As a result of all this, we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our ocean shipment which will have many of the complimentary items for cooking that we have not been able to readily locate.  I noticed in the grocery store many people took great interest in looking at us, not in a rude manner but more of curiosity.  Of course Brady loves the attention and quickly says "Ni Hao (hello)!  It was so funny when we arrived at the Shanghai airport, Brady was walking around at ever person he saw stating "Ni Hao, I speak Chinese"...  LOL!

Our last stop of the day was to a McDonald's downtown, the boys had been bugging us to find one.  They were happy to find the food tasted exactly the same.  I noticed the workers in the restaurant were very busy and quick to fill orders, in addition to the cleanliness not typically seen in all McD's in the US.  It appear many young people used the restaurant as a gathering place.  In addition we were surprise to find out that our meal only cost 60 RMB ($10 USD) for the four of us.

 

Ready, set, blog!

So it is today that I have decided to begin my blog after weeks of procrastination.  If it is grammatical and written profoundness you are seeking, this blog is certainly not going to be for you.  Rather I thought I would periodically write and publish to my family and friends some of the experiences this new adventure brings.  I want to remember/share some of the challenges, the hardships, the culture, and the laughs along the way.  The true challenge will be the longevity of this blog.  So keep your expectations low and I will be sure not to disappoint ;)

Right at this moment I am physically exhausted although enjoying sitting in silence on the floor of my son’s now empty room.  The movers are busy packing all our personal belongings to be loaded the next day in air and sea shipments.  How quickly we arrived at this point.  In just eight days our family will be boarding a flight to Shanghai and then another to our new home in Nanjing, China.  Most recently we have been packing like crazy, this not only included all our possessions but also all the western necessities that we are allowed to bring with us.  I am fairly certain that Natalie is going to be crowned “Costco Member of the Month” after spending large amounts of our bonus preparing for the trip.  We are allowed to ship via sea food and household items that may either be hard to find in China, expensive, or otherwise comforting to us as we ease into our new culture.  As you can imagine this is a challenging task as you must be mindful of expiration dates since the ocean shipment will take 6 to 8 weeks for arrival.  Packing has become a complex process as we sort things to bring in our suitcases, or within the airship and then finally the sea shipment.  This is a great time to thank several of dear new friends located in Nanjing, China; the Darwick, Johnson, and Turner Families.  Without their help and guidance over the last several months we would not be nearly as prepared and optimistic for our move.  Although leaving family and friends is immeasurable, have great new friends for us and the kids is very comforting.

Our first China experience did not include the children and occurred mid-November as we visited for one week to locate housing and school for the children.  We found a place to live that Natalie and I are very pleased with.  Our place is a departure from what we are used to however it has many unexpected comforts.  My best description would be a high-rise condo complex which is full service (cleaning, laundry, pool, fitness, gymnasium, etc…).  Please take a look at my Facebook page for pictures from our pre-trip (“… and the adventure begins!”).  We are also very happy with the school for Cooper and Brady; The British International School of Nanjing.  This is a private school that follows a British curriculum.  All of the teachers and Head Master were very friendly and the school felt like a large family.  There are approximately 15 to 20 children in each class thus we are looking forward to the personal attention each will receive. 

In sticking to my opening statements I also have to comment on some of the hardships we encountered during our first trip.  Our home finding was not similar to “House Hunter’s International”.  Rather we were treated to the unique relationship that the realtor and the landlord have with one another.  You see, the realtor only wants to show you properties that they have a landlord relationship with.  The idea being that they both seek to maximize profits for one another.  The house search process is not organized like here in the US and the challenge is further compounded by cultural/language complexities.  We were shown homes that were already under contract or quickly signed by other international seekers.  Frustrating process, however in the end everything worked out.  In the evenings we were fortunate to have dinner with friends and try the favorite ISE (International Service Employee) locations.  We went to an Italian, Irish Pub, and Taiwanese restaurant.  At lunch we ventured to local Chinese restaurants which were very good.  It is unlikely that either of us will try any street vended food in the near future…  Oh and I need to mention that the driving is crazy!  There are cars, people, scooters traveling in all directions.  It takes some getting used to.

Let me explain a little about the city.  Nanjing is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions.  With an urban population of over seven million, Nanjing is the second-largest commercial center in the East China region after Shanghai.  We got to spend just a few hours visiting Purple Mountain, at the eastern edge of the city which is home to many of Nanjing's historical sights.  We got to witness the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, revered as the leading force in bringing down the Qing dynasty, who died in 1925.  We climbed the 392 marble steps to the top and took in the beautiful scenery.  It is experiences such as this that we look forward to sharing with the kids.  Aside from all the historical locations we want to visit we are also planning to relax in Thailand, Fiji, etc.. ;)

Our Mandarin lessons are proving very beneficial and I am optimistic we will become more familiar with the language when we are required to use it daily.  Cooper and Brady are doing great learning the language, in fact more recently we sang Happy Birthday to Brady in Mandarin.  We are going to miss our instructor (Sue) as she has been unbelievably patient and armed us with all the basics in our first few months.  We planned to continue the lessons once we become settled in China.  Also, I am looking forward to working with my colleagues throughout Asia Pacific and Africa.  I have obtained my India and Thailand Visa at this point and the entire family has all our passports and Visas.  What a process…  My new position is going to be challenging but building upon the growth in the region is going to be exciting. 

This all brings me back to the empty room where I sit.  We have had many great memories in our current house but we are looking forward to what is ahead.  Next on the immediate horizon is the completion of our packing, handing over the house keys to the new owner, and leaving for China.  The first week will require learning the food shopping process, purchasing cell phones, interviewing for our driver, preparing the kids for school, meeting my work colleagues, and experiencing the Chinese New Year celebrations. 

The coming days are going to be hard as we say goodbye to family and friends.  Thank you to those that have made our final days in Michigan memorable, you know who you are and we will never forget your generosity and love.