No matter where you go, it seems that most people are the same. We want to love, be loved, be with our families and give back to our world. In my second class with one of my engineering sections, I had them write a short essay describing their home town. They were to identify any historical significance of their town, talk about the natural beauty, and what they enjoyed about growing up there. Some of the essays were unremarkable – “my town is beautiful and I like it very much”. That’s a decent sentence for a non-native speaker but perfunctory. Here are some of the essays I got that I found more inspirational – or representative of the changes that China is undergoing.
“I am from Hebei province. My hometown is not very beautiful but I love it because the people are kind-hearted and they teach me how to face my future. I will study hard and build it more and more beautiful and rich. Welcome to my hometown.”
“I was born in a small village in Hebei province, the town is about 200 kilometers from Beijing. When I was a child, my good friends and I always go fishing and swimming in spare time, but now the loved river besides our village has been dry out. It is a unfortunate thing! There are lots of trees around our village, kinds of. The people there are very friendly and they most have never seen a foreigner.”
“My hometown is a small village of Henan province. There are lots of mountains and rivers around it. In my childhood, I usually climbed the mountains and swam in the rivers with my friends. Sometimes we went fishing too. However, great changes have taken place in the past four years. Now a highway comes through it and the people of our village live a happily lives and many of the children have the chances to go to university in my village.”
“My hometown is Tieling which is in the north of Liaoning. It is called the bigger city. I like my hometown very much. When I come back from school, I want to go home. My hometown is not beautiful and rich, but it is my root, is the place which I grow up. My heart belongs to there.”
Now if I were in Chinese class and trying to write an essay in my beginner Chinese about my hometown in Pennsylvania, I doubt I could have written such things. I could have said it was “hen mei” (Very beautiful) but that’s about it. I’m impressed with how these students are observing the changes observing in their lives. You can see that this is a hopeful time for them. And how could someone who worked with these students see them as enemies? China brings many challenges to the United States but what Americans must never forget is that thousands in China are being brought up out of poverty every day by the tremendous economic growth. We’re all people and we all want a decent life for ourselves, our families, and our communities. We must help Chinese understand that about Americans as Americans must understand that about Chinese.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Monday, August 21, 2006
Day 2
Day 2 was pretty good overall. The day began with a tour of the DMU campus where we met all of the other new foreign teachers. There's several people from the US that are the same age as C and I, including a guy from Indiana and one from Colorado. There's also a retired Aussie, a retired Dane, and an early 30s guy from the UK. It's an interesting group. A few of us decided to get some lunch and the fellow from Colorado walked us to a Muslim noodle restaurant he had tried.
We had a number of additional errands to run including getting some allergy medication for C, getting a copy of our apartment key, picking up some bed foam, and buying a printer. Our student volunteers Sylvia and Molly took us on a long bus ride to a main shopping district in Dalian. We hit an electronics store named Gome, and I got to see the huge Carrefour. Carrefour was my first taste of real Chinese crowds. It was packed to the gills with people. Every aisle was a fight to get through. Despite this, I didn't find the tremendous rudeness and shoving that I've heard existed. It was no more rude than New York City. When there's a lot of people in a small space you are going to bump people, there's just no way of getting around that. And it can be very frustrating but there's not much you can do but accept it.
We took a taxi back to our apartment for 20 kuai ($2.50) because there was no way I was going to try and hold on to a printer in a packed Chinese box. From here our student volunteers took us out to a Chinese dumpling restaurant. It was very good...I even enjoyed the pork dumplings which is a rarity for me. We went to bed at 9pm....our sleep schedules are still totally crazy but at least we are getting some sleep now.
By the way, I am sure people are wondering where the pictures are. We are working on it - without DSL in our apartment yet it's difficult to upload them at the internet cafe. They will get up there eventually.
We had a number of additional errands to run including getting some allergy medication for C, getting a copy of our apartment key, picking up some bed foam, and buying a printer. Our student volunteers Sylvia and Molly took us on a long bus ride to a main shopping district in Dalian. We hit an electronics store named Gome, and I got to see the huge Carrefour. Carrefour was my first taste of real Chinese crowds. It was packed to the gills with people. Every aisle was a fight to get through. Despite this, I didn't find the tremendous rudeness and shoving that I've heard existed. It was no more rude than New York City. When there's a lot of people in a small space you are going to bump people, there's just no way of getting around that. And it can be very frustrating but there's not much you can do but accept it.
We took a taxi back to our apartment for 20 kuai ($2.50) because there was no way I was going to try and hold on to a printer in a packed Chinese box. From here our student volunteers took us out to a Chinese dumpling restaurant. It was very good...I even enjoyed the pork dumplings which is a rarity for me. We went to bed at 9pm....our sleep schedules are still totally crazy but at least we are getting some sleep now.
By the way, I am sure people are wondering where the pictures are. We are working on it - without DSL in our apartment yet it's difficult to upload them at the internet cafe. They will get up there eventually.
Our first day
After waking up (can you do that when you didn’t sleep?), we talked for awhile and then showered in our shower curtain less bathroom. The bathroom is interesting – unlike in the US, there’s no separation between the shower stall/tub and the rest of the bathroom. Needless to say we had to be quite careful where we pointed the shower head. We might have flooded the whole apartment otherwise! After getting dressed, we headed down to the internet café in the first floor of our building. That’s where I posted the previous 3 entries describing the travel to Dalian. Thankfully our families had received our emails from the night before letting them know we were ok.
After our café visit, we decided to take a stroll in our general area to see what’s what. We didn’t go out for long before another student volunteer was coming to help us get acquainted with the area an accomplish some of our initial tasks. Our apartment building is just south of Dalian Maritime University on a little road. Just west is another apartment building. Our building and the other apartment building have a number of little shops and restaurants on the ground floor. There’s a water bottle supply place (no one drinks from the tap in China), a phone card store, and we haven’t figured out the others yet. To the southwest of our building about a quarter mile is the Dalian Maritime University West Campus, which is beautifully laid out. We ventured that far and then came back to meet Sylvia, the student volunteer.
Continuing a trend, Sylvia was very sweet to us and a huge help. We went through our list of todos and items we needed and she helped us plan out what we could get Saturday and what would need to wait until Sunday. Our first destination was the local police station, where foreigners are required to register within 30 days. It seemed to take some prodding from Sylvia to pull the officer on duty away from his TV, but he eventually filled out the required forms while smoking a cigarette. C was a little offended that he ashed his cigarette in her passport.
From the police station which was just across the road to the southeast of our building, we caught the number 10 bus to take us to a shopping area. Each bus ride costs 1 RMB no matter where your final stop is. I was impressed with the bus driver as the bus was a stick shift! I would hate to operate the clutch in their traffic. We stood in the bus and as I held on I noticed there were handles you could grab that had the McDonalds logo and the ubiquitous “I’m Lovin’ It” tagline. The bus also had a strange feature – live Chinese TV. No one seemed to be watching the TV behind the driver’s head but I guess it’s a plus if you have a long ride.
After four stops we got off at the first commercial district we've seen in Dalian. We noted there was a Popeye’s Chicken next to our destination, “Trust mart”. TrustMart seemed to be one stop shopping as they had everything from groceries to electronics. It was a large, well laid out store and we picked up some more bottled water, coke, ramen, silverware, chop sticks, garbage bags, and some hangers. By this time, my 1 hour of sleep in 36 hours had started to get to me. I got really woozy and felt like I was going to pass out. Because I wasn’t feeling well we had to abandon our plan to have a Sichuan Hot pot lunch with Sylvia. Instead we grabbed Popeye’s and headed back to our apartment on the bus. Yes, I know – my first eat out meal in China was an American fast food chain. What can you do…
To close out the day, we walked over to the DMU administration building at 2:30 to meet with Flora, our Foreign Affairs liaison from the School of Foreign Languages. She gave us our class schedule and helped answer a lot of our questions about how the process works with teaching.
Finally, we went back to our apartment and started doing some schoolwork. I was brainstorming for my first class morning and making up a week by week schedule. Around 4:45, both C and I just crashed. We went and laid down and didn’t wake up until 10pm. Then we went back to sleep and didn’t get up until 5am the following morning. Hopefully we are finally starting to overcome the jet lag.
After our café visit, we decided to take a stroll in our general area to see what’s what. We didn’t go out for long before another student volunteer was coming to help us get acquainted with the area an accomplish some of our initial tasks. Our apartment building is just south of Dalian Maritime University on a little road. Just west is another apartment building. Our building and the other apartment building have a number of little shops and restaurants on the ground floor. There’s a water bottle supply place (no one drinks from the tap in China), a phone card store, and we haven’t figured out the others yet. To the southwest of our building about a quarter mile is the Dalian Maritime University West Campus, which is beautifully laid out. We ventured that far and then came back to meet Sylvia, the student volunteer.
Continuing a trend, Sylvia was very sweet to us and a huge help. We went through our list of todos and items we needed and she helped us plan out what we could get Saturday and what would need to wait until Sunday. Our first destination was the local police station, where foreigners are required to register within 30 days. It seemed to take some prodding from Sylvia to pull the officer on duty away from his TV, but he eventually filled out the required forms while smoking a cigarette. C was a little offended that he ashed his cigarette in her passport.
From the police station which was just across the road to the southeast of our building, we caught the number 10 bus to take us to a shopping area. Each bus ride costs 1 RMB no matter where your final stop is. I was impressed with the bus driver as the bus was a stick shift! I would hate to operate the clutch in their traffic. We stood in the bus and as I held on I noticed there were handles you could grab that had the McDonalds logo and the ubiquitous “I’m Lovin’ It” tagline. The bus also had a strange feature – live Chinese TV. No one seemed to be watching the TV behind the driver’s head but I guess it’s a plus if you have a long ride.
After four stops we got off at the first commercial district we've seen in Dalian. We noted there was a Popeye’s Chicken next to our destination, “Trust mart”. TrustMart seemed to be one stop shopping as they had everything from groceries to electronics. It was a large, well laid out store and we picked up some more bottled water, coke, ramen, silverware, chop sticks, garbage bags, and some hangers. By this time, my 1 hour of sleep in 36 hours had started to get to me. I got really woozy and felt like I was going to pass out. Because I wasn’t feeling well we had to abandon our plan to have a Sichuan Hot pot lunch with Sylvia. Instead we grabbed Popeye’s and headed back to our apartment on the bus. Yes, I know – my first eat out meal in China was an American fast food chain. What can you do…
To close out the day, we walked over to the DMU administration building at 2:30 to meet with Flora, our Foreign Affairs liaison from the School of Foreign Languages. She gave us our class schedule and helped answer a lot of our questions about how the process works with teaching.
Finally, we went back to our apartment and started doing some schoolwork. I was brainstorming for my first class morning and making up a week by week schedule. Around 4:45, both C and I just crashed. We went and laid down and didn’t wake up until 10pm. Then we went back to sleep and didn’t get up until 5am the following morning. Hopefully we are finally starting to overcome the jet lag.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
A Grief Observed (Dalian Airport to our Apartment)
Once we gathered our bags, we were met by two lovely students from Dalian Maritime University. I will call them S and E. S was a fourth year student studying marine engineering and E was a fourth year tourism management major. They were really sweet to us and their English was quite good. They corralled a couple of taxis (we needed 2 because the tiny Volkswagens used as taxis couldn’t hold our bags and 4 passengers) and we headed south to DMU. It was getting dark so it was hard to draw too many impressions but Dalian has very diverse architecture and a very interesting landscape. Our drive featured different types of buildings ranging from sparkling new to tiny and dingy. It seems to be a very sprawling city, but unlike American sprawl the “suburbs” of Dalian are filled with multi-story buildings. After about a 25 minute ride, we arrived at our apartment building, which is just south of DMU. It shouldn’t take us more than a couple of minutes to walk to any of our classes.
When we got to the building, S and E directed the taxis to drive up onto the brick walkway in the back. I don’t think this was intended to be a road, but the taxi drivers gladly obliged. Talk about door to door service. We haven’t seen it in the daylight yet but the building has three entrances. We are in door number 2. To be honest, the stairway up to our fourth floor apartment is dimly lit and a bit dingy, but the apartment itself is pretty nice. C and I probably have more personal space here than we did in our apartment in Jersey! S and E showed us how to use all the different appliances and answered a lot of our initial questions. Later, the Foreign Affairs Officer of DMU stopped in to say hello. They were very attentive to our concerns but being exhausted we forgot to ask if we could dial internationally from our phone.
When they left, I went to call my parents who I am sure were very eagerly awaiting our call to make sure that our pickup panned out. Unfortunately the phone card that I purchased (eCallChina), apparently does not work from our phone. It claims you can use a particular toll free number in any city in China. Well that may be but we started to panic because we couldn’t contact our families and let them know we got here safely. There’s an internet café in the downstairs of the building so we did make it down there and pay for a few minutes of time to send emails. But as of this writing we don’t even know if they were received so we hope we have not given our parents heart attacks.
After doing some unpacking, C and I eventually decided to go to bed. You would think that having been up more than 25 hours, it would have not been hard for us to fall asleep. Unfortunately it was quite the contrary. I have to say that of all the nights in my life, this was probably in the top 10 of worst sleeping nights ever. Both of us got hit badly with missing our families. We got to see them more in the last two weeks then probably in the preceding 6 months but that actually made it worse. We were just there with them, enjoying the family life. I miss being with my parents and my brother. They were so good to us before we left and it was so nice to get an extended visit rather than just a weekend blip. And we worry about our families. Generally everyone is in good health but our parents are getting older and we don’t want to lose them. All of these feelings came out last night as we felt powerless and unable to call anyone. We spent a lot of time sobbing and holding each other. Finally we tried to get to sleep but it was a pretty fruitless efforts. I think C got 3 or 4 hours and I probably got 1 hour.
When you’re in a new place and you don’t speak the language, don’t know how to dial a phone, or buy food, or do anything that is so simple back home, you panic. That combined with missing our families made it very hard. But here we are – we eventually made it through the night. And yes we’re exhausted and need sleep (which God willing we can get tonight with our body clocks adjusting). The daylight is bringing new possibilities. Instead of being sick with grief and worry, we’re making a list of things we need and we’re about go out and explore campus. Later, some more student volunteers are coming by to help us shop and get acclimated. Right now honestly it is a struggle, but rather than the torment of last night it’s turning into the growth experience we hope this trip will be. Who knows – perhaps we will never get past our homesickness and end up coming back early, but we are going to give it a go the next few days and see what happens.
When we got to the building, S and E directed the taxis to drive up onto the brick walkway in the back. I don’t think this was intended to be a road, but the taxi drivers gladly obliged. Talk about door to door service. We haven’t seen it in the daylight yet but the building has three entrances. We are in door number 2. To be honest, the stairway up to our fourth floor apartment is dimly lit and a bit dingy, but the apartment itself is pretty nice. C and I probably have more personal space here than we did in our apartment in Jersey! S and E showed us how to use all the different appliances and answered a lot of our initial questions. Later, the Foreign Affairs Officer of DMU stopped in to say hello. They were very attentive to our concerns but being exhausted we forgot to ask if we could dial internationally from our phone.
When they left, I went to call my parents who I am sure were very eagerly awaiting our call to make sure that our pickup panned out. Unfortunately the phone card that I purchased (eCallChina), apparently does not work from our phone. It claims you can use a particular toll free number in any city in China. Well that may be but we started to panic because we couldn’t contact our families and let them know we got here safely. There’s an internet café in the downstairs of the building so we did make it down there and pay for a few minutes of time to send emails. But as of this writing we don’t even know if they were received so we hope we have not given our parents heart attacks.
After doing some unpacking, C and I eventually decided to go to bed. You would think that having been up more than 25 hours, it would have not been hard for us to fall asleep. Unfortunately it was quite the contrary. I have to say that of all the nights in my life, this was probably in the top 10 of worst sleeping nights ever. Both of us got hit badly with missing our families. We got to see them more in the last two weeks then probably in the preceding 6 months but that actually made it worse. We were just there with them, enjoying the family life. I miss being with my parents and my brother. They were so good to us before we left and it was so nice to get an extended visit rather than just a weekend blip. And we worry about our families. Generally everyone is in good health but our parents are getting older and we don’t want to lose them. All of these feelings came out last night as we felt powerless and unable to call anyone. We spent a lot of time sobbing and holding each other. Finally we tried to get to sleep but it was a pretty fruitless efforts. I think C got 3 or 4 hours and I probably got 1 hour.
When you’re in a new place and you don’t speak the language, don’t know how to dial a phone, or buy food, or do anything that is so simple back home, you panic. That combined with missing our families made it very hard. But here we are – we eventually made it through the night. And yes we’re exhausted and need sleep (which God willing we can get tonight with our body clocks adjusting). The daylight is bringing new possibilities. Instead of being sick with grief and worry, we’re making a list of things we need and we’re about go out and explore campus. Later, some more student volunteers are coming by to help us shop and get acclimated. Right now honestly it is a struggle, but rather than the torment of last night it’s turning into the growth experience we hope this trip will be. Who knows – perhaps we will never get past our homesickness and end up coming back early, but we are going to give it a go the next few days and see what happens.
Been in China 5 minutes and already got fleeced (Beijing Airport to Dalian Airport)
After getting off in Beijing, we headed up the escalator and down various long hallways to China Border Control. There was one additional entry form to fill out and then we got in, er attempted to get in line. Apparently all the international flights had landed at once so the lines for “Foreigners” as the neon signs read were snaking around the room. This of course caused a mass stampede of various nationalities aiming to get into China first. Fortunately they opened a few additional “Foreigner” lines (each of which caused an Ellis Island style immigration to the new line) which limited the chaos and allowed C and I to operate with more polite queueing methodology. Getting through customs was easy, I think all they cared about was that you had a valid Visa and checked “No” on each “do you have anything to declare” box. My name was spelled wrong on my Chinese Visa so it was with no small amount of trepidation that I took my turn at the desk but he didn’t give it a second thought. STAMP.
After you clear the customs desk and pick up your checked baggage you have to drop off a baggage customs form. What’s strange is that there’s no real sign or line or roped off area directing you to this desk. If you try to go past the desk one of the Chinese women will politely ask you to drop off your form but they could eliminate a lot of confusion with a couple of signs and a rope line. Finally, you have to pass your checked bags through an x-ray machine before you finally escape all the customs procedures. I amused the X-ray attendant by trying to ask where Terminal 1 was (the location of our connecting domestic flight to Dalian). Well “terminal 1” apparently doesn’t mean anything in Chinese so I tried asking where “zhongguo nanfang” (China Southern – our domestic airline) was. This produced a laugh and no further information so C and I headed out to the jungle that is Beijing Capital Terminal 2. We knew that we needed to get to Terminal 1 but there was a major shortage of signs even mentioning Terminal 1.
Keep in mind as you read this next section that C and I were hauling around (without the assistance of a luggage cart) 4 bags total, each weighing about 50 lbs. Had we been traveling a bit lighter I have no doubt in my mind that we would have figured out where to go and would have successfully checked in by ourselves. Unfortunately this was not the case and we were both quite stressed carrying 100 lbs each. I was sweating like a pig and C was struggling to roll her big bag with the duffel on top. We picked an area that seemed to take us towards Terminal 1 and a uniformed man (probably in his 20s) stopped and asked what airline we were flying. I showed him our tickets and he told us to go to Terminal 1, which we knew. He realized we had no clue how to get there and he started leading the way. We were so stressed we followed him and he led us down a long corridor that connected the two terminals. Along the way he picked up a luggage cart which simplified the trip. He also spoke decent English. C indicated to me that he was going to expect a payment for his assistance so I dug out 20 RMB (about $2.50). He definitely deserved a good tip because he took us a long way and at that time we were in no condition to figure all this out ourselves. He even took us right to the China Southern ticket counter in Terminal 1 and helped negotiate our greater than 20kg bags onto the plane. We were afraid we would have to pay more so avoiding this was great news. Finally, he lead us directly to the security checkpoint. By this time I had pulled a 50 RMB note because I felt he deserved extra for all the trouble he went to. When I went to hand it to him he said “too small, try 200 RMB”. Now 200 RMB is almost $25, which is extremely steep even for the amount of help he gave us. I tried to resist a little but I was soaked in sweat, exhausted, and he was holding our passports. Reluctantly I gave him the 200 kuai and he went on his merry way. Yes, we got taken but this was not the time to practice our negotiating skills in the Chinese marketplace. To be honest, we may have even saved money as he talked the China Southern attendant out of charging us for our heavy bags. Nonetheless I felt like a complete idiot for not standing my ground. As C and I walked away (and I must warn my sensitive readers of an upcoming offcolor remark), I muttered “I’ll tell you what’s too small”. A moment of a weakness for a weary traveler – surely our readers will allow me that.
Getting through security was very easy and Terminal 1 was reminiscent of a small US airport a la Buffalo or Rochester. It was very clean and modern just like Terminal 2. We bought a bottle of water and hung out until our flight left for Dalian. It was a half hour late but overall not a problem. The announcements were in English as well as Mandarin so it was easy to navigate. To my surprise there were at least 5-10 other non-Chinese on our flight to Dalian. The flight itself was very quick, about 45 minutes. They served a brief snack that consisted of an imitation American hot dog. And we got to speak our first Chinese words to a Chinese person on the plane. The flight attendant actually said “ni hao” instead of “hello”. I must say, it’s a little annoying when everyone speaks English when your purpose for being in China is to learn Mandarin. The flight attendants wore snappy red Chinese dresses (the type where they button high along the neck) and the seats were dressed up in a bright blue fabric with a pattern that seemed to design to evoke a Chinese motif. I guess China Southern is going for that “river boat on the Yangtze” feel. It was a good flight though and our bags were ready for pick up on the conveyor within about 10 minutes. Overall a thumbs up for China Southern, Terminal 1, and clever English speaking entrepreneurs wearing fake uniforms.
After you clear the customs desk and pick up your checked baggage you have to drop off a baggage customs form. What’s strange is that there’s no real sign or line or roped off area directing you to this desk. If you try to go past the desk one of the Chinese women will politely ask you to drop off your form but they could eliminate a lot of confusion with a couple of signs and a rope line. Finally, you have to pass your checked bags through an x-ray machine before you finally escape all the customs procedures. I amused the X-ray attendant by trying to ask where Terminal 1 was (the location of our connecting domestic flight to Dalian). Well “terminal 1” apparently doesn’t mean anything in Chinese so I tried asking where “zhongguo nanfang” (China Southern – our domestic airline) was. This produced a laugh and no further information so C and I headed out to the jungle that is Beijing Capital Terminal 2. We knew that we needed to get to Terminal 1 but there was a major shortage of signs even mentioning Terminal 1.
Keep in mind as you read this next section that C and I were hauling around (without the assistance of a luggage cart) 4 bags total, each weighing about 50 lbs. Had we been traveling a bit lighter I have no doubt in my mind that we would have figured out where to go and would have successfully checked in by ourselves. Unfortunately this was not the case and we were both quite stressed carrying 100 lbs each. I was sweating like a pig and C was struggling to roll her big bag with the duffel on top. We picked an area that seemed to take us towards Terminal 1 and a uniformed man (probably in his 20s) stopped and asked what airline we were flying. I showed him our tickets and he told us to go to Terminal 1, which we knew. He realized we had no clue how to get there and he started leading the way. We were so stressed we followed him and he led us down a long corridor that connected the two terminals. Along the way he picked up a luggage cart which simplified the trip. He also spoke decent English. C indicated to me that he was going to expect a payment for his assistance so I dug out 20 RMB (about $2.50). He definitely deserved a good tip because he took us a long way and at that time we were in no condition to figure all this out ourselves. He even took us right to the China Southern ticket counter in Terminal 1 and helped negotiate our greater than 20kg bags onto the plane. We were afraid we would have to pay more so avoiding this was great news. Finally, he lead us directly to the security checkpoint. By this time I had pulled a 50 RMB note because I felt he deserved extra for all the trouble he went to. When I went to hand it to him he said “too small, try 200 RMB”. Now 200 RMB is almost $25, which is extremely steep even for the amount of help he gave us. I tried to resist a little but I was soaked in sweat, exhausted, and he was holding our passports. Reluctantly I gave him the 200 kuai and he went on his merry way. Yes, we got taken but this was not the time to practice our negotiating skills in the Chinese marketplace. To be honest, we may have even saved money as he talked the China Southern attendant out of charging us for our heavy bags. Nonetheless I felt like a complete idiot for not standing my ground. As C and I walked away (and I must warn my sensitive readers of an upcoming offcolor remark), I muttered “I’ll tell you what’s too small”. A moment of a weakness for a weary traveler – surely our readers will allow me that.
Getting through security was very easy and Terminal 1 was reminiscent of a small US airport a la Buffalo or Rochester. It was very clean and modern just like Terminal 2. We bought a bottle of water and hung out until our flight left for Dalian. It was a half hour late but overall not a problem. The announcements were in English as well as Mandarin so it was easy to navigate. To my surprise there were at least 5-10 other non-Chinese on our flight to Dalian. The flight itself was very quick, about 45 minutes. They served a brief snack that consisted of an imitation American hot dog. And we got to speak our first Chinese words to a Chinese person on the plane. The flight attendant actually said “ni hao” instead of “hello”. I must say, it’s a little annoying when everyone speaks English when your purpose for being in China is to learn Mandarin. The flight attendants wore snappy red Chinese dresses (the type where they button high along the neck) and the seats were dressed up in a bright blue fabric with a pattern that seemed to design to evoke a Chinese motif. I guess China Southern is going for that “river boat on the Yangtze” feel. It was a good flight though and our bags were ready for pick up on the conveyor within about 10 minutes. Overall a thumbs up for China Southern, Terminal 1, and clever English speaking entrepreneurs wearing fake uniforms.
Pennsylvania to Beijing Airport
Well, it’s 5:23 AM on Saturday, August 19 in Dalian, PRC. This entry probably won’t go up for a bit due to our lack of internet access but I wanted to write before I forget the details. I am also splitting the entries up because otherwise this post would be enormous and no doubt encourage our loyal readers to seek greener blogging pastures.
We got up at 6 AM in Pennsylvania and enjoyed a delicious breakfast prepared by my mother – turkey bacon, cinnamon roll bites, and fruit. A very good way to start a day of international travel. It took about an hour and a half to get to Newark from Bucks County. There was a little stop and go traffic on US22 but not bad. My dad pulled up to Continental departures at the C terminal and we got out and said our goodbyes. It was terribly hard as it always is. The current plan is to be here for a year and I know that moment of hugs and last minute declarations of love and concern is burned in my head for the duration. There’s something about saying goodbye that heightens your memory and allows you to relive those last few seconds with loved ones (and thus experience the heartache all over again). I know it was hard for my family to see us go to China so it was very tough. C went through the same thing a few days earlier when she left her parents in Buffalo.
After the tears got jerked away during our farewells, we went inside and checked in with our bags. We checked four total and our two biggest ones just sneaked in under the 50 lb mark. Actually they topped 50 but the attendants let us check them without an extra fee anyhow. We made it through security in about 10 minutes – it was a cakewalk. Everything logistical went well on the trip. As a tribute to leaving our homeland we sought out a Starbucks (iced grande coffee for me and a soy chai latte for C), and then wolfed down some Dunkin Donuts. Chances are we will lose 20 lbs in China so we indulged a bit. The flight boarded around 11:25am EST and took off around 12:45pm EST. The night before when we checked in online we were able to snag seats in row 16 – which is the first economy class row. We had seats up against the bulkhead meaning we had a terrific amount of leg room compared to most of economy class.
The food in economy class was so-so. Our meal choices were sirloin steak and salmon for lunch, then for our pre-landing snack it was dim sum or an omelette. C and I both went for the steak and the dim sum. The actual meat wasn’t too bad but the accompanying salad was a bit brown around the edges and the dim sum was unremarkable. The biggest refreshment issue was the availability of liquids. The current security situation of course prevented us bringing a bottle of water on the plane and we were constantly harassing the attendants for more.
We didn’t sleep a wink of course – it doesn’t matter how much leg room I have if I can’t lay flat. To pass the time we monitored our flight status on the heads up display, watched Mission Impossible 3, enjoyed each other’s company and pretended to sleep. Oh and C went bonkers without her lip gloss available. That’s one of life’s little conceits for her so she was quite angry at TSA for outlawing it in carry-ons. Otherwise the flight was unremarkable and LONG. Once you’re flying over Siberia you’d think you’re almost to China – wrong – another 2500 miles! We did okay for the first 8 or 9 of 14 hours but the remaining 5 seemed interminable. It was also the 8 hour mark where C developed motion sickness and spent much of the remainder doubled over in her seat. She’s proud that she didn’t lose her lunch though!
The plane landed smoothly in Beijing around 1:45 PM China time. Maybe it’s in my head but the bigger planes (like our 777-200) seem to land effortlessly, while the smaller A320s and 737s feel like they will shake apart. We had filled out the 2 available customs forms on the plane, and grabbed our carry-ons and disembarked – we were in Beijing Capital Airport, but not to Dalian by any stretch as my next entry will describe!
We got up at 6 AM in Pennsylvania and enjoyed a delicious breakfast prepared by my mother – turkey bacon, cinnamon roll bites, and fruit. A very good way to start a day of international travel. It took about an hour and a half to get to Newark from Bucks County. There was a little stop and go traffic on US22 but not bad. My dad pulled up to Continental departures at the C terminal and we got out and said our goodbyes. It was terribly hard as it always is. The current plan is to be here for a year and I know that moment of hugs and last minute declarations of love and concern is burned in my head for the duration. There’s something about saying goodbye that heightens your memory and allows you to relive those last few seconds with loved ones (and thus experience the heartache all over again). I know it was hard for my family to see us go to China so it was very tough. C went through the same thing a few days earlier when she left her parents in Buffalo.
After the tears got jerked away during our farewells, we went inside and checked in with our bags. We checked four total and our two biggest ones just sneaked in under the 50 lb mark. Actually they topped 50 but the attendants let us check them without an extra fee anyhow. We made it through security in about 10 minutes – it was a cakewalk. Everything logistical went well on the trip. As a tribute to leaving our homeland we sought out a Starbucks (iced grande coffee for me and a soy chai latte for C), and then wolfed down some Dunkin Donuts. Chances are we will lose 20 lbs in China so we indulged a bit. The flight boarded around 11:25am EST and took off around 12:45pm EST. The night before when we checked in online we were able to snag seats in row 16 – which is the first economy class row. We had seats up against the bulkhead meaning we had a terrific amount of leg room compared to most of economy class.
The food in economy class was so-so. Our meal choices were sirloin steak and salmon for lunch, then for our pre-landing snack it was dim sum or an omelette. C and I both went for the steak and the dim sum. The actual meat wasn’t too bad but the accompanying salad was a bit brown around the edges and the dim sum was unremarkable. The biggest refreshment issue was the availability of liquids. The current security situation of course prevented us bringing a bottle of water on the plane and we were constantly harassing the attendants for more.
We didn’t sleep a wink of course – it doesn’t matter how much leg room I have if I can’t lay flat. To pass the time we monitored our flight status on the heads up display, watched Mission Impossible 3, enjoyed each other’s company and pretended to sleep. Oh and C went bonkers without her lip gloss available. That’s one of life’s little conceits for her so she was quite angry at TSA for outlawing it in carry-ons. Otherwise the flight was unremarkable and LONG. Once you’re flying over Siberia you’d think you’re almost to China – wrong – another 2500 miles! We did okay for the first 8 or 9 of 14 hours but the remaining 5 seemed interminable. It was also the 8 hour mark where C developed motion sickness and spent much of the remainder doubled over in her seat. She’s proud that she didn’t lose her lunch though!
The plane landed smoothly in Beijing around 1:45 PM China time. Maybe it’s in my head but the bigger planes (like our 777-200) seem to land effortlessly, while the smaller A320s and 737s feel like they will shake apart. We had filled out the 2 available customs forms on the plane, and grabbed our carry-ons and disembarked – we were in Beijing Capital Airport, but not to Dalian by any stretch as my next entry will describe!
Thursday, August 17, 2006
The "undiscovered" country
Well, this is the last post before we head off to China. The bags are packed, the power of attorney is signed, the health insurance is purchased, the cars are sold, and the farewells have begun. It's with no small sadness that we leave for China, but we go believing that a tremendous adventure is awaiting us. The way things have worked out the last few days I can only attribute it to Providence. We are truly blessed and fortunate that we can take this trip. I hope we can take these upcoming experiences and not just internalize them but use them to give back to the world. If you have resources, you must use them wisely and I believe that understanding China and its people and bridging a gap between our two societies is very much worthwhile. I hope that we can change the Chinese people we interact with, just as we allow ourselves and our view of the world to be changed by them. I know this entry is overly optimistic but I hope we will not allow this trip simply to be a vacation from the real world, but the opportunity for personal growth in our faith, marriage, and future careers.
To our friends and family in the US - we love you and will miss you tremendously. Thank you for your tremendous support of our adventure and may this be a wonderful year for all of you as well.
To our friends and family in the US - we love you and will miss you tremendously. Thank you for your tremendous support of our adventure and may this be a wonderful year for all of you as well.
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