New Beginnings

I made it to Yantai in one piece yesterday. After watching the Eagles' game, I went home and tried to get some sleep but I was too restless, thinking about the game and the upcoming move. I ended up cleaning my apartment and running a few last-minute errands in the afternoon.

One of these errands was meeting up with my landlord to get my security deposit back. He kept asking if I needed help getting my stuff to the subway (to the airport). I consistently refused, but he would not give up. And, so, the last person I saw in Shanghai, was one of the people I knew the least. On our way to the subway, I said to him, "Other people probably think you're my father because you're helping me and we look the same, both real handsome."
"No, no, no. I don't have much hair," he replied.
"Ha ha, neither do I!"
Our conversation was a good one and I found myself wishing I'd spent more time with him. I can't really blame myself there though. I mean, how often do you hang out with your landlord?

My colleagues, Nora and James, greeted me at the airport on a frosty Yantai night. The weather here will be consistently colder, similar to Philadelphia and Chicago. Nora is Chinese, from the Sichuan province while James is from England. Nora is one of the owners and James is the manager, but he'll be leaving next month. After dropping some stuff off at the apartment, I grabbed a fried-rice dinner with James and another colleague, Jason (Delaware's finest, but he's a Baltimore fan).

And now it's 5:30 a.m. and I'm wide awake. I can't sleep, mainly because of a cold coming on and a musty smell in the apartment. But, I cannot complain. The place is much bigger than the one in Shanghai, with two bedrooms and a living room. In addition, the buildings are constructed differently so the insides are much warmer during the winter (than those in the south). So, even though I moved to a colder climate, the days of sleeping in sweatpants and a sweater while a space heater hums in the background seem to be over. All in all, the Yantai Experience is off to a solid start.