A Night in Nanjing

It’s been about a week since we all landed in Nanjing, but time is a funny thing here in China. It’s been barely 7 days, but there’s a group of us that have gotten very close, almost like we’ve been friends for years. Total, there’s 13 of us here in Nanjing, and the set up is pretty sweet. We teach Monday through Friday, with a few long weekends, long vacations, and holidays off from teaching sprinkled through the semester. We call the 5th floor of a set of apartments home (the foreign language staffing apartments, that is) so we got to know these flights of stairs quite well, even after a few days. A tiny little kitchenette and a set of teeny washers bookend 8 rooms. There’s two to a room for most of the group, and it’s great. I could do with a shower curtain in the bathroom, and a shower that had hot water more than 4 hours a day, but other than that, no real complaints.

The fabulous 13 on Nanjing Campus

This first week has been a whirlwind; not only are we experiencing a new culture, a new apartment, a new language and new cuisine, we also have been busy planning and teaching our primary level and elementary level classes. The kids are the cutest, and I don’t use any sense of exaggeration with that statement. I mean, honestly; The program has a strict “No Chinese” policy in class, but they are so cute when they jabber on and on before class it’s hard to stop them. I’ve had as much fun as the kids through the various lessons, especially the primary levels. I teach the fourth graders in the elementary levels, but I really do love my second grade kids. It’s fun planning little games and art lessons because they all get so excited to play dress up or make ice cream cones with construction paper and muffin liners. Maybe that excitement will wear off as the school year goes on, but I sorta doubt it. It’s been 5 days and I already know I’m going to miss my kids. 

While the lessons  have been fun, it’s also been extremely time consuming. I want to go out and explore the city, but we need to plan out a few week’s worth of lessons which means less time to explore alleys and hop off at random metro stops. By the way, the metro here is top notch and is crazy affordable to ride, which is fantastic. It’s also a prime place to look at the cutest little Asian babies; they are always bundled up in huge coats with random English words scrawled across them, or wearing little booties in eccentric colors. 

Classes on Fridays are only from 10:00-3:00, meaning we finally got the chance to explore more than the 3rd stop over due to time and responsibility restraints. Obviously, I’ve known I’ve been in China, but wandering around the bustling city streets of Qin Huan cemented that fact. Glowing red lanterns illuminated an incredibly busy walkway, steamed buns created a smoke the curled into the night sky, framed by characteristic Chinese gates and towers. Add in the fact that tiny children were wearing the most fabulous crowns that had streamers that reached 3 feet above their head, and it was quite the sight to see. 

Not a bad view, right? 

I’ve been dying to eat something off a stick and a caramelized kabob of fruit seemed harmless enough - I”m working up to the scorpions in Shanghai - and proved to be right. Happily munching on mandarin oranges and tiny little apples covered in a hard candy coating, we made our way to the river for a look. The city square was insanely crowded, making it difficult to navigate and window shop for a place for dinner. I ducked into an alleyway that expanded into a long row of food vendors and cooks, serving up the good, bad, and unusual. Perfect. Most of us stumbled through the ordering process and were rescued by some kind soul who bridged the communication barrier. Dinner was hit and miss- most of us had no idea what we were ordering. Points for culture and experience, I suppose. 

(I'm working up to eat all of China. I'm easing into it...)

To top the night off, an evening boat ride on the Qin Huan river seemed fitting.Magical would be an accurate word; red lanterns illuminated the river as the boat slowly drifted through canals and under bridges. I’m sure the Chinese narration would have been quite informative, but it added some nice ambience all the same. The pictures don’t really do it justice because what’s missing is the electric thrill of being in China. The night was a good opener to countless adventures waiting down dimly lit alleys and other adventures. Welcome to China, folks. 

Fridays, am I right?