I am finally starting to get my rhythm in Nanjing. I have friends. ;o) I found food that I like. ;o) Coco and Willow made it safely here and that helps the house not feel so empty during the day.
Overall....Life is good. We live in a kind of subdivision that houses mainly expats from America, Europe and Australia. But there are wealthy Chinese who live here as well. Since there are so many expats living here, there is a nice network built up to help you connect with each other and the city.
Even though we are on the other side of the world these days, it is funny how small the world is. I have a good friend back in the US...Liv. Her husband, Bart, has a good friend from work and that friend's brother just happened to be living in Nanjing already. So Bart gave Michael and I the guy's info and he actually works at the same company as Michael. So we met up with him and his wife and their cutie pie son and we have become fast friends. I have to say in the expat community you become fast fast friends.
So Angela was the first girlfriend I met here in Nanjing and she was truly a God send. She knows all the good places to eat, drink and shop! ;o) She speaks the language really good. She does not give herself enough credit for how great she speaks Mandarin! ;o) And she connected me into the many networks here in Nanjing, the Nanjing International Club being one of them. I am an official member now! ;o) Through her I met another wonderful gal, Carol. She is a doll.
Her and I went to cooking class yesterday and had a great time. We made hot and sour soup. Well, not actually. The instructors made it and we ate it. But they showed us how to make it. So that counts right?
We have another girl that we have met here named Rita. And she is Italian like Michael. Her mom is in town visiting for a few months and she came with Carol and I too cooking class. I went over to her during class and showed her my pot stickers and was like, "Carms, don't these look like mini Calzones instead of pot stickers?" Being Italian I knew she would appreciate that. One of Michael's favorite foods is Calzones. Carms and Rita are going to be making us an Italian feast in a few days and Carms and I said wouldn't it be great to make mini Calzones for appetizers! I think we might have come up with something.
This week I also met Michael's team from work. We took them out to dinner. They chose the place and it was awesome. I guess it is one of the places for the best roast duck in town. And it is walking distance from our house, so I am definitely going back. You eat the thinly sliced roasted duck on little crepe like pancakes with spring onion, cucumber and hoison sauce. YUMMMMMY! It tasted so good.
I felt like a queen that night because it was me and 5 other guys. And they were all adorable. They are young guys with fun personalities. I was asking them all about their love lives and what they do for fun. They were laughing at all my "jokes." ;o) And making me feel very welcome.
One of the most HILARIOUS things that happened during the dinner conversation was when one of the guys was telling me about his hobbies. One of the things he loves to do is sing karaoke. No surprise there. Karaoke is an Asian way of life. ;o) So he proceeds to tell us what type of music he likes to sing. Things like American pop, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, etc... He also said he liked singing American country music. Now, I have to say these guys spoke excellent English. One thousand times better than my 5 mandarin words. But of course it is still a bit broken and things always get lost in translation. But back to country music...he started naming the artist he likes. And he proceeds to say he likes the Dick Chicks. I was dying because he kept saying, you know those Dick Chicks. He obviously meant Dixie Chicks. But it was just so funny.
Needless to say, Michael loves his team and now so do I. They are young and eager to learn. They are warm and welcoming and funny. I can't wait to spend more time with them.
Overall....Life is good. We live in a kind of subdivision that houses mainly expats from America, Europe and Australia. But there are wealthy Chinese who live here as well. Since there are so many expats living here, there is a nice network built up to help you connect with each other and the city.
Even though we are on the other side of the world these days, it is funny how small the world is. I have a good friend back in the US...Liv. Her husband, Bart, has a good friend from work and that friend's brother just happened to be living in Nanjing already. So Bart gave Michael and I the guy's info and he actually works at the same company as Michael. So we met up with him and his wife and their cutie pie son and we have become fast friends. I have to say in the expat community you become fast fast friends.
So Angela was the first girlfriend I met here in Nanjing and she was truly a God send. She knows all the good places to eat, drink and shop! ;o) She speaks the language really good. She does not give herself enough credit for how great she speaks Mandarin! ;o) And she connected me into the many networks here in Nanjing, the Nanjing International Club being one of them. I am an official member now! ;o) Through her I met another wonderful gal, Carol. She is a doll.
Her and I went to cooking class yesterday and had a great time. We made hot and sour soup. Well, not actually. The instructors made it and we ate it. But they showed us how to make it. So that counts right?
It was extremely yummy...sour, sweet, spicy. The pic does not do it justice Then we made dumplings or pot stickers. And we did make those by ourselves. Mine were kind of a hot mess, but I had fun making them.
We have another girl that we have met here named Rita. And she is Italian like Michael. Her mom is in town visiting for a few months and she came with Carol and I too cooking class. I went over to her during class and showed her my pot stickers and was like, "Carms, don't these look like mini Calzones instead of pot stickers?" Being Italian I knew she would appreciate that. One of Michael's favorite foods is Calzones. Carms and Rita are going to be making us an Italian feast in a few days and Carms and I said wouldn't it be great to make mini Calzones for appetizers! I think we might have come up with something.
This week I also met Michael's team from work. We took them out to dinner. They chose the place and it was awesome. I guess it is one of the places for the best roast duck in town. And it is walking distance from our house, so I am definitely going back. You eat the thinly sliced roasted duck on little crepe like pancakes with spring onion, cucumber and hoison sauce. YUMMMMMY! It tasted so good.
I felt like a queen that night because it was me and 5 other guys. And they were all adorable. They are young guys with fun personalities. I was asking them all about their love lives and what they do for fun. They were laughing at all my "jokes." ;o) And making me feel very welcome.
One of the most HILARIOUS things that happened during the dinner conversation was when one of the guys was telling me about his hobbies. One of the things he loves to do is sing karaoke. No surprise there. Karaoke is an Asian way of life. ;o) So he proceeds to tell us what type of music he likes to sing. Things like American pop, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, etc... He also said he liked singing American country music. Now, I have to say these guys spoke excellent English. One thousand times better than my 5 mandarin words. But of course it is still a bit broken and things always get lost in translation. But back to country music...he started naming the artist he likes. And he proceeds to say he likes the Dick Chicks. I was dying because he kept saying, you know those Dick Chicks. He obviously meant Dixie Chicks. But it was just so funny.
Needless to say, Michael loves his team and now so do I. They are young and eager to learn. They are warm and welcoming and funny. I can't wait to spend more time with them.
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Yay! I love reading all this great news. So glad that you're finding your rhythm and your friends! I want to eat all of this delicious food, too. Mmmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteThose expats don't even know how big they scored getting YOU as a friend. It is so great to hear about these awesome updates.
ReplyDelete