No Permanent Residence
I was initially planning to stay in Nanjing and gain some weight, but I figured I should take advantage of my five days off. Since no one would help me transport my belongings to my new school until after the holiday, I decided to book a train to Chongqing. Then, in a stroke of brilliance, I thought I should probably arrange my return train to Nanjing. The management wants to send my things on February 5, but can you believe every train is fully booked for that day? So, I ended up booking a train for February 7, arriving in Nanjing on February 8. If they have an issue with it, they can just deal with it, I suppose. This meant I had to hurry and pack everything since I had no idea what the cleaning crew would do on February 5. I informed my boss that the bags were packed in my room, except for some laundry I did on the day I left (another mistake). I still haven't heard back from her about that.
It was excessively warm.
We spent two weeks in Beijing. The day after our arrival, we visited Chao Yang Park (Sun Park) and rented a duck boat. It was quite slow, but we enjoyed navigating it around the lake.
If China can provide rapid and efficient rail service throughout its extensive territory, there's no reason the US can't do the same! Oh, I forgot! US automobile and gas companies hire lobbyists to influence our congress and politicians to persuade the public that it's not feasible or cost-effective.
I was very let down by my location once more this semester. It took me 2.5 hours to reach the train station on the teacher bus and then 3 hours to return from the train station on the light rail. Not to mention the 1 km walk back to my apartment from the train station. It's just as bad as it was last semester, if not worse, because there are no longer any trees or stray cats. It's simply a vast dusty campus on flat ground, with a lot of wind and currently, the sun is quite uncomfortably hot.
We spent two weeks in Changde. It rained nearly every day, which limited our exploration more than we had hoped. We enjoyed playing at arcades, engaged in Township (a game on our phones and tablets), and went go-karting three times. The go-karts were fully electric and located inside a mall. Logan and Lizzy have been playing Township for over three years and taught Jenny how to play during a two-day stretch of continuous rain. She enjoys the game because it allows her to garden digitally while we travel. They also introduced Lutao to the game, so now the entire family plays Township together.
No Permanent Residence