Nong Jia Le

As of today, I have been in China for one month. I'm definately in the honeymoon stage of culture shock still, because everything is still new and fun. I love this place, though. Language classes went really well this week...my teachers are really good, and it's helpful to be able to see the language while I'm hearing it, because I learn a lot faster and more acurately that way. I'm starting to meet some people, too, and really enjoying that. It's very motivating to study more diligently, too, so that I can better communicate with my Chinese friends. I wish I had more time to tell you more of the things that are going on, but it's late here. Sometime I'll write about eating some crazy foods (the special food this week was lung!), or getting my bike :), or spending time with my friends.

I love that I can leave the city and be in the mountains in an hour! Last week I went to a nong jia le, sort of an addition onto a farmer's house that has been turned into a bed-and-breakfast type place. It was so refreshing to be out of the city and see the mountains, and to hear the bubbling creek just outside.

The mattress was pretty much nonexistent...just this little moldy pad of something - I don't really know what it was.

my apartment in China...that's weird to say!

So I wrote this earlier, but those of you who emailed me know that my internet is still up and coming...oh, good old China :)

August 3, 2007

I have so many thoughts running through my head right now. I don’t know where to start, but let’s see…

I signed the papers on my apartment this morning, and handed the couple, my landlord and his wife, a huge wad of cash (¥14,400, or just less than $2000 U.S.) for a year’s worth of rent. My place is really sweet, actually. It’s small, which makes it hard to arrange furniture, but it’s cute, and really clean and fun to decorate, which is what I spent the rest of the afternoon doing.

I started the pictures from the room that is farthest away from my front door...hopefully there's enough overlap to kind of get the idea.

Shopping is sometimes really fun, but always really tiring. It was fun to think about how to decorate each of my rooms. I spent 3 or 4 hours at this store getting kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom stuff for our places. The thing that I hate about shopping is feeling like I have to make a decision, because I feel pressure, and I hate that pressure. I also hate feeling like people are waiting for me, which is hard to avoid when I need people to read and speak (Does make me sound like a little baby or what?!). Needless to say, I made it. I survived.

I took my new belongings back in taxis. Taxis are cheap here…I can get almost anywhere for about 10¥, which is just over $1 U.S. I threw my stuff in my room and we looked around a little more before my mattress arrived. Dinner was consumed at this restaurant that had outdoor tables right outside our apartments, and had my favorite food so far: Lamb kabobs. It was the best meal I have had here, even though the other food has been amazing. These kabobs came right off the skewer into my mouth, the spices making the meat so tender and good. The bread was hot, obviously fresh out of the oven and delicious. All five of us ate 50 mutton kabobs and 8 huge things of bread, plus drinks and a couple side dishes for 48¥, or $7! I can definitely see myself frequenting that restaurant in the coming days and months. The atmosphere was great, too, because Xi’an cools down enough in the night that we could eat outside and have a cool breeze the entire time…so relaxing. It hit me that I’m living in China, and I loved it today. I’m sure that there will be days when I hate it, but sitting right there at dinner, eating those kabobs and bread, relaxing outside and talking with good friends: that’s the life.

I've taken some other pictures of sites, but I wanted to get those up for you, Mama! I'll post pictures of the Big Goose Pagoda, the wall, etc., later!