So this is officially the first entry written from my new temporary bed. It's actually one of the two beds in my room that I could choose one from. Haha, well, I chose one and my dirty clothes chose the other ;-)
After almost 30 hours of travel across half the globe, I finally arrived in Chengdu, China yesterday evening. Flight went pretty smooth, I can really recomment Etihad Airlines, just not their chicken congee - gosh, I never ate something that reminded me on throw up both formally and tastewise that much. But besides the food fiasco (which wasn't too bad as they had plenty of other stuff on the plate), the experience there was really smooth. But I tell you, flying in an airplane with mostly Chinese people you better be on that plane fast, as I had the feeling that they robbed all the duty free shops at Abu Dhabi Airport and tried to make EVERYTHING fit into those overhead bins. Which should actually hold my luggage. But luckily those bags of mars and snickers bars aren't as sturdy as my suitcase. So I won that battle. Ha. Still, those people either pretend to overhear what the stewardesses say or they really don't understand it (even though there was a Chinese translator), but, still rolling into our parking position at Chengdu Airport, those dudes get up and try to drag all their squished duty free conquests out of those bins again, and trust me, they don't care about being shaken all over the place and they certainly don't give a **** about falling into someone. Poor stewardesses trying to make them sit down again. No success.
Anyway, first thing I noticed, trust me, the very first thing when I exited the aircraft was this awesome smell of food. Haha, isn't that a sign that my first experience of China is the smell of good food. It has to be!
After passing the passport control (without any problems) and spotting my checked suitcase on the belt (thank God!) I happily walked through a little labyrinth right into the arms of my waiting hostfamily. First row, hostmom waving her hand like crazy right infront of my face and saying my name about 5 times to make sure it's really the right girl (too cute!). I was so happy to see them all (besides hostdad, but he was on a business trip), especially to see my first pictures of the family back home matching with the people infront of me in real life. What a relief! Becky, my hostmom, hugged me right away and the kids' faces were lit up, even though still shy. Just what I expected.
At home there was the nainai (grandma) and canjie (nanny and cook) waiting for me, welcoming me warmly as well. Both only speak Chinese, so I tried my best to communicate. Not too bad. No real conversation, but we will get there. Slowly and with a lot of effort from my side, but we will. After showing me around a little, and ending up in my room, I said goodnight to the kids and the rest of the family, treating me to a much needed shower. As I wasn't even a bit tired, I used the rest of the evening to get settled in my new room, putting away all the things I brought. I have to say, there is not a whole lot of room, and sharing a bathroom with 2 other women certainly doesn't give me the right to claim the whole counter (which I would have needed for all of my stuff), so I ended up storing some things in my suitcases and under the bed. No big deal.
Not feeling any more fatigue, I decided to read some more in my new and comfy bed (as if I haven't read over 6 hours that day yet) when I eventually turned off the light and the fan, and pushed some more buttons on this hightech control on my wall. As Becky took a day of Monday to introduce me to the whole situation, both job and house wise, we agreed on meeting in the morning at 10am to start our first say together. And guess what, I slept like a baby in this bed, feeling way too tired to get up when my alarm clock rang at 9am :-)