December 09, 2007
Welcome to the Motherland!

I have officially moved to Beijing. Finally. My contract is for one year, but in my mind ... this is the beginning of a new adventure and I have yet to decide where I want to be at the end of it.

I do have several goals in mind - the biggest of which is to become fluent in Mandarin. Smaller goals include playing ultimate frisbee better, finishing the website for my mom's charity, and trying to work out what I want to be doing in a year.

In light of that - it seemed a reasonable time to start up my blog again, and to document the trials and tribulations of moving to Mainland China. However, to my disappointment (?), my move thus far has gone exceptionally smoothly.

There was the minor frustration of having to register myself at the local Security Bureau twice because they got my name wrong the first time, but I hold myself responsible for not checking all my documentation carefully. Then of course there was the difficulty of getting my Mac connected to the internet, but a small investment in a wireless router seems to have solved my problems. It doesn't answer the question - "Why does Apple equipment (Macbook & Airport Express) not work with China Netcom?" but at least I'm on line. Finally, there was my minor bout with food poisoning on my birthday, but luckily Adam was in town for the weekend and was lovely enough to take care of me.

As for living arrangements, I took over the lease for a friend's apartment since she moved back to HK and the place is great. It has two bedrooms, a decent kitchen, a balcony (although it's been too cold to go outside) and best of all, heated floors.

It is centrally located, close enough to work and tucked away in a side street away from all the noise. I bought a bicycle over the weekend, and am excited to start biking to work to avoid the rush hour traffic jams.

Open call for visitors at this point!

Posted by nicki at December 09, 2007 10:14 PM
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