AMAZING Momma Came to Town!

My mom came to see me this weekend! She arrived on Thursday and left on Sunday. It was great to see her but I wish she could have stayed!

After class Thursday I took the shuttle to the Nanjing airport to pick her up. When I saw her I started crying... who know "hellos" could be emotional too? I thought it was just goodbyes! I guess I hadn't realized how much I really missed family and the familiar until I saw her. 

We ended up taking a taxi to our hotel which was more than double the price of the shuttle bus, but we didn't want to wait the extra hour in the airport. I'd say the money was well worth it! We also got to see the country part of Nanjing/Ma'anshan. 

Of course checking into a hotel isn't easy. I didn't have my passport because it's been with the police for the past week since I am getting residency in China for the year. But anyway, long story short.... they kept saying "The police need a copy of your passport" and I kept saying... "THE POLICE ARE THE ONES WITH MY PASSPORT!" Eventually they let me "off the hook" and I gave them my passport the following day. 

Once mom and I settled at the hotel, we went to campus with my suitcase full of exciting things: towels, MY BED LINENS, rugs, new perfume, etc. 

Before and after!!! 

We unloaded, began cleaning a bit and then called it a night for the dirty, bug infested apartment. We had dinner at the hotel on the 27th floor overlooking MY lake. Yes, I now call it my lake. I spend enough time there and the other "lake goers" recognize me and smile when they see me. 

Side note... I forgot to mention on Monday the foreign teachers applied for China residency and then I went and bought two 7lb weights that I now walk with when I go to the lake. I get a lot of stares and laughs. Apparently me carrying weights while I walk is weird... but there is NOTHING weird about them hitting rocks with their bare hands or doing taichi with swords... of course not. So I am pretty sure when they see me they think to themselves, "Oh there's that ridiculous foreigner again with those weights." Soon they will be saying... "DAMN, how can I get a pair of those toned arms." I'm convinced by the end of the year at least one Chinese person will have a pair of weights with them while they are walking.

New addition: my toaster/convection oven

Enough with the side note... We chose to do the buffet at dinner, which ended up being great once we realized there was more to the buffet on the other side of the restaurant. 

Friday and Saturday consisted of cleaning, shopping, more cleaning and more shopping. Shopping isn't easy here as you have to carry everything you bought. You can't just throw your cart full of stuff into your trunk and leisurely bring it into your home. 

My mom seriously works wonders! She turned my red, ugly couch into an awesome, cozy, blue/cream couch. I LOVE it and it makes me so happy. She also did wonders by deciding we were going to take the construction tape off all the windows. WHAT A PAIN. They left this tape on all the windows for like 2 years, so it was almost impossible to get it off. But we did it and it looks marvelous! 

My apartment seriously feels like home now. I have all the essentials to make dinner, my office/TV room is cozy, my bed is amazing with an extra mattress pad and a pretty duvet cover, my bathroom is newly furnished with a toilet paper holder (mom's favorite purchase, I have to say it is pretty great). We also found some Chinese draino, so now when I shower the water actually drains and doesn't go ALL over the bathroom floor and into the kitchen. It's the little things that make a HUGE difference here in Ma'anshan, China. 

Another exciting purchase was my new plant. I always feel like once you have a plant in a place, it really is home. So I've officially marked Ma'anshan as home for the next year/10 months.

Saturday I officially became a resident of China and I received my TEFL certificate! It's been a big weekend.