Shunde Life

We’ve been living in Shunde for about a month now. It seems like we only left Yinchuan a day or two ago. I guess that’s always how quickly time flies. Since my last entry, we have been adjusting to our new job, life, etc in Shunde.

I celebrated my birthday a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, it was on a Wednesday, which is my busiest day of the week. Needless to say, but the evening I was pretty tired. Kenny and I had talked about going to Guangzhou for dinner on my birthday, but I simply didn’t have the energy to go into the city. I thought about what was nearby and suitable for a birthday dinner. Then, I remembered that in the nearest shopping center (a 5 minute cab ride away) there was an interesting sushi restaurant. For those of you that know me, you probably remember that every Wednesday we would go to Beluga for half price sushi. That was the last time I had eaten sushi (yeah, since December). I have to say, my expectations were high for the sushi restaurant.

We walk in and it has such a fun atmosphere. It reminds me of a diner a little. Most people sit at the wrap around counter. In the middle there are a few sushi chefs, making food. They put the sushi out on a conveyer belt that rotates around the counter and you can just take whatever looks tasty. There is a picture menu, so you can match up the sushi to the picture in case you don’t know what one of the rolls are. The plates are color coded by price, so you don’t get tricked into eating an expensive one. Most of it was actually sashimi, rather than sushi rolls. If there is something in the menu that isn’t on the conveyor belt, you can place an order (which I did for the tuna rolls). It was a really great birthday dinner!

We had seen an advertisement for a wine tasting that took place the weekend after my birthday. For the equivalent of $40, you could drink as much as you wanted from 3:00-7:00 p.m. Wines from many countries would be available to drink. Since we rarely found a decent wine for the last 9 months, it was an easy choice to attend. The tasting was in the courtyard of this upscale condo complex. There were tables for each region of wine. Some representatives of the various wineries from around the world attended to talk about their wines. I shouldn’t have to tell you, but we drank a lot. I even got more familiar with decent wines in China. There was a raffle too, and Kenny won a magnum sized bottle of Shiraz. We bought a super Tuscan from an Italian winemaker, who actually was at the tasting. As a complimentary gift, everyone got a free champagne glass.

The week after the wine tasting we took it easy and tried not to spend a lot. We had been having some problems with the apartment the school provided. Our washing machine hadn’t worked since the day we arrived. The motor is basically broken, and since it is a costly repair, or the whole machine should be replaced, the school was dragging its feet. Doing laundry was quite an event. (Bad washing machines seem to be our curse in China. See my first blog entry.) Then, the colors on the TV stopped working, so you could only see black and white. Additionally, the bed was not even a double bed. The mattress might be as old as I am. The space is also really small, especially for two people.

The school gives 800RMB for each teacher if they choose not to live in the provided apartment. Our friend, Joe, gave us a contact to his realtor friend, Chris. We spoke to Chris about what kind of place we wanted to rent. Within a day, we viewed a few apartments and settled on the one we like the most. It is located on the east side of the gated community. We have to use the free shuttle to get to school, but that is the only downside of living here. We have two spacious balconies, two bedrooms, and a bigger kitchen. The rooms have hardwood floors and the furniture is also wood. It is beautifully carved. Living here is much more enjoyable and it is close to the east gate of the community which is near a fun little neighborhood that one can explore. We haven’t been living here even a week, but its been great thus far.

I found an article about wine bars in Guangzhou, so this weekend we are planning on going to one, or two. Whoever wants to come and visit us is more than welcome. Now that we have a big second bedroom, it could be a nice escape from the Ohio winter. It has been in the 70s and sunny for about two weeks.