Peekaboo

Auro and I have been in Belgium for one week now and we have recovered from our jetlag (one day for every hour of time difference). Tomorrow, Auro and I fly to Bologna where Remo should be waiting for us. From Bologna we will drive to Genoa. The coming week(s) we will be very busy looking for an apartment, so it might take a while before I will write here again. But, as soon as we have found our place (and an internet connection) we'll be back!

10 things I won't miss

Ten things I will NOT miss
1. the cockroaches with which the whole apartment building seems to be infested (on average, we 'catch' 2 or 3 per day... and this is with all the possible holes they could come out of securely taped up!)
2. the dust/sand everywhere (Changchun really is just one big eternal construction site)
3. the 'aggressiveness' of people in crowded supermarkets
4. the spitting (actually more the sound that goes with it)
5. the 'collecting' of garbage on the streets
6. the smell of most taxis
7. the fact that 'they' occasionally switch of the electricity/water/internet
8. the tiny little sink in our kitchen
9. the fact of having the complete bathroom wet when you take a shower
10. being behind the Great Chinese Firewall (no Facebook, no Bebo, no Blogger, no Youtube!)

10 things I will miss

We have not lived here that long, but here are 10 things I will miss when we go back to Europe.
1. the size of our apartment (about 120 square metres)
2. the amazing variety of fresh fruit and vegetables in the supermarkets (great for vegetarians like us!)
3. the extremely child-friendly environment (the Chinese simply LOVE babies!)
4. the relative cheapness of things (we could easily live on one salary)
5. the short distance to the university (and therefore to work.... about 10 minutes on foot!)
6. the fact that Remo can be at home a lot
7. the crazy driving style of the taxis in Changchun
8. the sunshine throughout the whole winter (it might be freezing cold outside, but there is always a blue sky!)
9. the amazing internet downloading speed ;-)
10. the feeling of being safe in any part of the city

Packing

Two more nights in our apartment and we are leaving Changchun! And this time we are not leaving on a holiday. No, we are MOVING to Italy! Remo found a job in Genoa (that's northern Italy, west coast) and he has to start working one week from now. So, we are packing once again (sigh). Luckily Auro is helping out ;-)

Bribery

Usually Auro is not too fond of being held by people he doesn't know. And so, when this lady asked if she could hold him, I was sure he was going to let out a cry worthy of China's National Day. But, he didn't! Why? Because this nice lady had a beautiful red flag (with no less than 5 stars on it) that was flapping in the wind ;-)

Red

On October 1st in 1949, the Communist Party of China declared victory in the war against the forces of Chiang Kai-shek. So, today, the Chinese celebrated the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (=China's National Holiday) and therefore Changchun was red with Chinese flags. For days now, every other car in the city has been driving around with a small red flag attached to it's bumper or antenna. Today, we even saw a man holding 2 flags out of the window while driving! Not just the official buildings are proudly showing of their biggest flags, you can also see many flags draped from windows of the poorest looking apartment buildings. Really quite amazing for a Belgian like me. I honnestly don't think I have ever seen so many flags in my life. I mean, I have never owned a Belgian flag in my life and the only time I remember ever holding one, was when I was in primary school and the nuns in our school made us wave one when the king visited our town!