Life for foreigners living in Nanjing has become a lot better with the opening this week of the Nanjing International Community Clubhouse, which combines café, gift shop, library plus a service and activity centre under one convenient umbrella.
Based in the British School of Nanjing in the city’s Jiangning district and operated by SinoConnexion Ltd., the Community Clubhouse aims to help with some of the challenges posed by living in, what is for some, a very foreign environment. Still in its soft-opening phrase, but already staffed by expats with considerable China experience and locals with “in-the-know” as it relates to the expat community, it is hoped that the Clubhouse will over time expand to be a focal point for the foreign community.
While the Clubhouse is undoubtedly best placed to assist parents of children attending the British School, Operations Director for SinoConnexion, Angela He points out that, “the Clubhouse is open to everyone; after all we know how difficult it can be for foreigners to find things in Nanjing such as greetings cards for Easter and a whole host of other occasions; typically those that are hard, if not impossible, to find in China.”
In the Clubhouse Library, members can choose to borrow from a fascinating selection of China related books, while the Clubhouse Service Centre can help with the little, essential things in life such as buying train tickets or those little goodies on Taobao; errands that pose difficulty to those with limited Chinese or without a national identity card. The Service Centre is also the place to talk to for advice on travelling in other parts of China, sourcing an ayi, looking for jobs or dealing with mobile phone and computer issues.
When it comes to activities, a wide range of offerings are planned. In addition to obvious choices such as crash courses in Chinese language and orientation for new arrivals, look out for wine tastings, mahjong, the Dad and Daughters’ Kitchen, lifecoaching China style, day trips and a whole lot more.
Matthew Shepherd, Headmaster of the British School of Nanjing, said, “BSN is proud to support initiatives such as the Community Clubhouse. Not only does it bring great benefit to our students and their parents, we believe it can ultimately be a very valuable resource to Nanjing’s expat community in general”.
To find out more, pop into the Nanjing International Community Clubhouse on the third floor of the Pagoda Building in the British school of Nanjing or email clubhouse@sinoconnexion.com.
