Where is Nathan??

I’m back!!!!

I have had the Internet in my apartment for about 7 minutes, and what is the first thing I’m going to do with it? Of course, I’m going to crank up the post machine once again to tell you about how excellent and exciting life is here in Nanjing China!!

Well, at this point there is too much to tell but I’ll try to at least group the last month into certain categories.

***tech section warning***
[if you don't want to hear about computers skip this section]

So the update on my Internet situation is as follows; my computer was in bad shape. The DVD drive on my laptop has almost given up the ghost and refuses to read about half of the disks I own (including the 3 Windows install CDs I have) so this is how the problem started. The battery has also started complaining by flashing an orange light on the front of my machine constantly. Luckily by design the battery is not required to run off of AC power on this model laptop so really it’s not a problem so much but now I have some disco lights going as long as it’s plugged in. Also some non-problems included a loose network jack (not really a problem with no Internet) and a loose stereo jack for my headphones.

So the to start solving my problems I tore my computer down to scrap parts which included removing the monitor and taking the case down to the mother board. I gave everything a thorough cleaning and was able to fix the headphone jack connection, but the net jack and CD were pretty much a black box. So I slapped everything back together and went out in search of some parts.

Now Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) is of course like Christmas except that it lasts 14 days. And so for the first four or five days nothing was open. And so I decided to forget about it for at least a week. After I started to see signs of life again I went down to the computer district (luckily I live a block away) to see what I could find. After about an hour I had almost given up hope when I wandered up to the fourth floor of some random computer mall. It looked like a museum of outdated hardware. Everything was in glass cases and the lighting was poor, half the room was mid-nineties CRTs and beige cases from leftover office cubicles. But as I was blowing past fossil after fossil my eyes fell on a USB 1.0 portable CD drive. Which is exactly what I needed. I think I found the only in the city of Nanjing.

So I snapped it up as fast as possible and ran home with it and it was exactly what the doctor ordered. I backed up everything from my system and installed a clean new copy of Windows XP over the whole disk. And so ladies and gentlemen, I’m back in the corporate corruption of M$ Windoze. But really since I’ve been away for so long its easy for me to see the strenth of Windows (which is its ubiquitous platform) but I still realize all of its weaknesses. So for all of my fellow Linux deciples, I’m not forsaking the way I’m just taking a break.
***end of tech section***

So back to Nanjing. This has been a very strange month. The days have been flying by and yet it seems like years since I left Hangzhou. I got a message from smAshley the other day and I was like “Oh yeah, how’s Hangzhou doing?” Most of the month has just been adjustment, getting used to my neighborhood (which is awesome), walking around a lot and getting a lay of the land, and enjoying a steady flow of bars, clubs, and meeting the enormous pool of friendly foreigners here in Nanjing.

Hmmm, well I really wish I had more to tell but I’m rushed as usual. Elizabeth started teaching today and I will start teaching next Monday. Which means this week will be getting back on a sleep schedule, preparing classes, catching up on reading all the websites I’ve missed for the last month and laying down the framework for one of the most structured semesters I’ve had probably since college. But now I do leave you the promise of further content. we have been taking pictures and I will keep posting so look forward to that. To my faithful readers, welcome back.

_nathan

Ok, I’m on a computer at work and I only have a second to post. There is a lot to say so I’m going to make this as short as possible. Here we go:

I’m (of course) still in Nanjing. I’ve found a really really sweet apartment that I will go on about later and explain what makes it so sweet. Here’s a preview: 14th floor over looking the city, convenient location, across the street from my bank, in the same building as a super market, spacious, clean, giant television.

I’ve started working, sort of. As soon as I signed my contract I came by the campus to have a look around and introduce myself and as they grew closer to test week they found work for me. Today I’m here grading papers, coaching kids on HTML, and maybe giving tests later. Thus far, the job seems more like real work, but I must say I like it much better.

Elizabeth has also started her training. She goes by the office for most of the day where they make sure she’s not completely inept. She is of course bored (being probably one of the most qualified teachers at the school), but is making new friends (she’s starting with 7 new Canadians).

I am having considerable computer problems at the moment. Money is starting to get tight, which means we’re fine but we don’t have the extra cash to buy Elizabeth a computer as we planned. I don’t have the Internet in my apartment (long story) so I may not be available for a while. I’ve been searching the city to try and find some wireless access, but so far I’ve been unsuccessful. My new attempt is Starbuck’s. I’ve asked Jared (my awesome brother) to fill in by making as many posts in the meantime as he likes. So we can all look forward to a diversion for a bit while I get things sorted out.

I don’t really have time to express how awesome I find Nanjing, so I’ll just say that I’m enjoying it a lot. The shine is starting to wear off of it, but in return it’s starting to feel a lot more comfortable. I’m also having to walk a lot more than I have in a while so that’s good excercise, I guess.

Ok, I’ve got to jet, but good luck to everybody in the (Chinese) New Year.