so this was pretty much the sight that greeted me as the train pulled in to Xi'an.
Quite impressive for my first home in China!
The train pulled in to the station around 2 in the afternoon, I'd had to turn my phone off because of battery issues and so I got a lot of messages from my best friend Giliam as soon as I turned it on.
Once it was determined that I was ok, we arranged where to meet in the station. Being Giliam, he did not stop calling me till he saw me at which point I got the biggest bearhug of the year.
I was finally here! With Giliam was Tracy the head of HR at Giraffe and Michelle who would become my Sifu, a fun and quirky lady with a great sense of humor. My principal Max had arranged for a driver for us for the whole day and the first stop was my new house to drop off my bags.
I had seen the apartment in photos already but it's never the same and so it was great to get to see first hand my new home for the next year. I live on the tenth floor of a building in Paofang road which hosts one of the oldest temples in Xi'an. our apartment is apparently quite large by Xi'an standards, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a lounge, kitchen and study.
Shed of luggage we headed straight to Giraffe to say hi to Max, and meet the other staff, and then we went for some lunch across the road at Sparrow restaurant where they "make bloody brilliant hamburgers" in Giliam's words. We sat and caught up and just enjoyed being in each others company again and then got a ride back home as there was more to do, bedding needed to be bought so I could sleep in comfort and this was our last mission for the day, before heading out to start meeting the many people Giliam wanted to introduce me to.
wow so much already and only day 1, I need to think on it a little but I'm pretty sure we went out that very night, no rest for the weary, but I'll get to that next time
Laters
G
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