One Week Today.....

MONDAY, 23 AUGUST 2010

I feel a little better today - apart from having eaten too many peanuts, which seem to be my main source of nutrition at the moment! Today it is one week since the children and I arrived in China to start our new life here. My husband, Matthew, came ahead four months earlier.

When I say I feel a little better, I mean emotionally.......but only a little! Yesterday I felt desolate; desperate to pack mine and the children's bags and get on the first flight out of here! Back to the UK, back to familiarity and normality........back to my old life that didn't take much planning or thought in order to carry on the everyday business of living. You know, things like going to the store; being able to read labels on the goods there, or ask some-one advice, or to buy food that you actually want to eat. Just simple things like that.

Yesterday I stayed home all day, not able to shift my gloom, or my derriere from the sofa. Then, at last, late into the afternoon, Matthew, and my empty stomach persuaded me to go down to the local greasy-spoon cafe for something to eat. There we bumped into another new arrival to the city of Nanchang, a foreigner like us, whom Matthew had met a week or so previously. They had hit it off, comparing notes on their new home-town as well as sharing "finds", whilst both waiting for their wives and families to arrive. I'm not certain, but I think ours is the first western family here........you see up until now there has been no international school here in Nanchang, so whilst there are some foreign men working here, their families, if they have one, stay in Shanghai and the children attend school there. Our new friend relayed stories of his first experiences here, and in spite of myself my spirits started to rise and I felt better about my new situation. It's somehow reassuring to know you're not the only one who is finding it difficult to re-adjust. Then we were invited to see his new apartment. The grounds and lobby of the newish building are a lot tidier than our place, the lift and corridor a lot cleaner and better maintained than ours. But once inside, I felt so much better than I had previously! Whilst this other apartment was very nice, I felt very lucky in my husband's choice of our apartment. The grounds of our apartment could be very nice with a little care, probably once were.....but now they are quite shabby, with unkempt grass, the odd pile of dog poo littering the walkways, open-topped overflowing bins on the stained paving leading up to lobby doorways. And then our building's lobby, with one enormously tall glass door missing, a gaping hole in the marble tiles which once held it's stainless steel mooring. And the lift buttons, which have never been wiped, ever, and look as though many alien illnesses and diseases could be caught from touching its once stainless steel face, but now black, sticky surface. And the dark lift itself, once protective-plastic peeling from its treacherously fast-closing doors. More stains, dirt and grime.....more unknown organisms lurking there. And then on the 10th floor is our apartment, at the end of another grimy corridor. The front door with it's bordering red Chinese banners welcoming us to our new home in golden characters opens up to spaciousness and light.

It has two large balconies on either side of the building which lets through a most welcome and vital breeze, giving much needed relief from the very hot and humid climate of Nanchang. Our view is the one you see at the top of this page. The furniture is large and comfortable......it is clean; since Matthew and the ai yi(cleaning lady) scrubbed everything; and in good condition. The rooms are large and airy and there is lots of space for all of the children's toys, shipped over with the boxes of clothes and bedding. There are 3 bathrooms, 2 with western-style lavatories and 1 with even a bath!

Yes, today I actually feel much better!