September 2008

I finally made it to Qingdao. I am incredibly thankful for the seamless trip. Although it was a long one, all of my flights were on time, I easily made all of my connections, and I had absolutely no problems getting through customs. And when I came out of customs, there was my babe with a huge bouquet of gerber daisies. The perfect ending to a great trip. I am safe and sound with Bo (at last) and now we begin this crazy adventure together.

I have some photos of my first day in Qingdao, but I’ll have to post those in the next couple of days.

For now…Do Not Disturb…

I had to skip LAX because the international terminal didn’t have Wi-Fi (can you imagine?). Remember how I was supposed to sleep on that flight? Well, the infants, toddlers, and kids on board outnumbered the adults by about 3-1. And they were all screaming! And the 6 year old sitting behind me thought it would be fun to kick the back of my chair for 4 hours. Needless to say, I was ready to get off that plane!! Right after take-off, this was my view out the window… thankfully, beauty like this (and an iPod) can take the edge off most tense situations…

The layover in LA went by fast, although I was REALLY tired. Once I got on the flight to HK, I was so hungry that it helped me stay awake until they served dinner (at 4 a.m. my time!). After the meal, I went to sleep, and pretty much slept the whole way to China.

So here I am in Hong Kong, in an airport that looks more like a shopping mall. The walls are all glass, so there is a beautiful view of the mountains, ocean, and city that surround the island airport.

I am finally here. And already the culture shock is setting in because I can’t find the Starbucks!!!

I can’t believe the hardest part is over. Now, just one more flight, and I’ll be with Bo after way too long apart.

Qingdao, here I come…

Let me start by saying that I feel really sorry for the people who sat near me on that first flight. After a very tearful good-bye with my family, I pulled myself together, picked up a Starbucks white mocha, and boarded the plane. But about 5 minutes after take-off, the floodgates opened and I cried (the ugly kind) for almost the whole hour. It was pitiful. I’m sure everyone assumed I was afraid of flying. I felt really bad, too, because there was a little kid across the aisle from me who was obviously really scared, and I am pretty sure that my hysterics freaked him out even more. Anyway, I’ve dried it up, and I am doing much better now. I am so excited about seeing Bo tomorrow, but saying good-bye to my family was SO hard. I am going to miss them so much. *sniff, sniff* 

I made it to ATL about an hour ago. I was starving, so I hit Atlanta Bread Co. (appropriate, huh?) and parked myself in a cozy booth where I will be sitting for the next 3 hours. My next stop is LAX. I should arrive there at about 11:00 p.m CST, and that is when this day is really going to get interesting.

Since I have never been on an international fight before, I wanted to be sure I chose my airline carefully. And since Bo had such a fabulous experience flying to China on Cathay Pacific, I booked my flight with them as well. However, I was also somewhat choosy about the domestic flight, but more because of price than luxury, so I ended up having to purchase 2 separate tickets, one ticket from Mphs to LA and one from LA to China.

All this to say that once I arrive in LA, I have to go and claim my massive pile of luggage (with no help), take it to the international terminal (which is in a separate building), check my bags in (again), and then take another spin through security. Fun times!!

Once I get the baggage situation under control in LA, I will settle in for a LONG night. I need to get my days and nights reversed during this trip, so I plan to sleep on the way to LA (with a little help from Tylenol PM), and then stay up ALL night. My flight to China leaves at about 4 a.m. CST, so I am thinking I will need to prop my eyelids open for about 3 hours after take-off. Then, lights out for the remaining 11 hours until Hong Kong.

But for now, I am going to read the newspaper. I missed the debate last night (I had a good excuse, okay?), and I feel like I don’t know what is going on in the world.

More later…

I have to type fast because they just announced that we will be boarding the plane soon. I am at the Memphis airport, and I plan on live-blogging this trip for the next 36 hours.

As for the packing, I pulled it off…

NEXT STOP…ATLANTA…

Yes, it is almost 4 a.m. and I’m still packing. As you know, the airlines allow you to take two 50 pound bags (even though you have to pay for the second one), a carry-on and a “personal item.” Even under normal circumstances, I have trouble constraining myself to these limits, but considering that I am packing for years, not weeks, this is a huge challenge for me.

My carry-on will contain everything I need for the 36 hour journey to China: Change of clothes, toiletries, slippers, etc. And my “personal item” is my laptop that I am strategically packing into a rolling case with plenty of storage space for my books, iPod, camera, phone, etc. Then I am taking a large suitcase and a rolling duffel, which both reached the fifty pound mark a couple of hours ago. Yikes!

I admit it. I am a spoiled American, and I am likely going to experience a huge reality check in the next few months. But tonight, I am struggling to cope. I am leaving behind a ton of stuff, and with each item that I reluctantly add to the “leave” pile, I have to remind myself that my 2 bags will probably contain way more than many of the people in China will own in their lifetime. But it is still hard. I mean, I know I can survive without my Huggable Hangers, but I don’t want to!

Here is a peek at my progress. Notice that my suitcase is already overflowing and my duffel is getting close to max capacity. Everything on the floor still needs to be packed, not to mention the two-and-a-half loads of laundry that you can’t see. This is like putting 10 pounds in a 5 pound bag. But I’m determined, and I’ll let you know how it turns out… in the morning.

One-way plane ticket to China… $1200

FedEx 8 a.m. next day delivery for visa documents… $64 

“Priority-Super-Duper-Express-Plus” Rush service for passport stamp… $300

Seeing him on Monday instead of Tuesday… Priceless.

This weekend was the first holiday that I’ve spent away from Rebecca in seven years. For the last three days, China has been celebrating the Mid-Autumn festival, which is also known as the Moon Festival. This is one of the two most important holidays for East Asia. It falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month of the Chinese calendar, which usually is around mid- to late-September. This year it happened to fall on September 15, which marks the seven year anniversary of the first date of Rebecca and I. Seven years ago to the day, I drove from Memphis, Tennessee to Jackson, Mississippi on a Saturday night to meet her for our first date, and what a date it was!

Last night as I was taking a little stroll down the coast, I was thinking: little did Rebecca and I know on the night of our first date, as we sipped coffee at Cups and talked about music and movies, that seven years from then to the day, I would be in China desperately waiting for my wife to join me. But that’s the way life is. You have your own plans and your own intentions, all to be thwarted by what lies waiting for you around the corner. For Rebecca and me, life couldn’t be any more unpredictable than it has been. But we wouldn’t have it any other way. There are those who prefer predictability and those who prefer spontaneity. Rebecca and I without a doubt have always fallen under the latter category. So, though we have had to pay a three-month price for our willingness to step into the unknown, our excitement for what lies ahead and our confidence that this is the right move overshadows any temporary hardships we’ve had to endure. But that doesn’t mean that this hasn’t been difficult for us. We’ve cried together and we’ve poured our hearts out to each other, but our waiting is finally coming to an end. Tomorrow, I pick up the last document that she’ll need for her visa. I’ll then express mail everything to her and she’ll quickly have the visa stamped onto her passport.

I cannot wait until I meet Rebecca in the airport and we get to begin the next seven years together. Who knows where we’ll be then. I can’t even begin to imagine. Today, as over a billion Asians are celebrating with their families and friends and admiring the bright mid-autumn harvest moon as they entertain stories of folklore, my reasons for celebration are closer to those of the Chinese farmer’s. On this day, he celebrates the end of the summer and the coming of a brand new harvest. My sentiments exactly. And my new harvest begins when I meet Rebecca in the airport. (Hey, the Chinese can be poetic. Why can’t I?)

Whether it’s my adaptability, my co-workers’ graciousness, or a combination of both, I’ve fit in very well at my new job from day one. I’ve made some really good friends here. Not a week goes by that there isn’t some type of function outside of work where we all just hang loose, lay back, and enjoy each other’s company. My colleagues have made it a point to welcome me. And one of the best ways they have done so is by making it clear that however and whenever I need help with my Mandarin, they’ll help me any way they can.

The first two or three weeks with the company, different people would help me with my language skills after work. There would be some type of rotation between four people, but it wasn’t consistent or organized. The help was very much appreciated, but I still felt like I needed lessons that were on a much more consistent level.

One day, my friend Rolland and I were talking and he told me that he arrives at work every morning about 45 minutes early and would be happy to meet me the next day. Rolland is very nice guy. He’s what we in the west would call a “go-to guy.” He’s been with the company for a while and whenever the general managers need something done, he’s the man they call upon. He has a lot of experience, a lot of know-how, and is fluent in English. Rolland spent five years in Ireland for the same reasons I’m in China – to learn the ways of a completely different culture – but his primary intention was to learn English. His story is very encouraging to me.

Rolland told me of a friend of his in Ireland who always went out of his way to make sure he was comfortable at work. After all, he was a Chinese person who didn’t know any English whatsoever but worked in an Irish office (he also went through the same thing in Hungary before he lived in Ireland). I can imagine the difficulty. But his friend worked with him until he had a good understanding of the language. Now, Rolland is fluent in English and speaks the language better than anyone I’ve met in China.

So, having the exact same experience as what I’m going through right now, Rolland has been very sensitive to the fact that I am a foreigner working in a foreign company. He has shown his empathy through many gestures, including inviting me to the Kylin Hot Spring Resort and toasting to my braveness and courage in front of many co-workers.

But the most valuable thing he is doing for me is for the past two weeks, he has been meeting with me every morning to help me practice my Mandarin. And what a big help it has been. He’s a great teacher! In fact, he used to be teacher. Gee…what a coincidence!

I feel blessed to have crossed paths with someone like Rolland. And I am thankful that one of the most important parts of me being here (language training) will be easier because of good friends.

My Dad and I drove 1302 miles yesterday. While the rest of my family will be flying into Corpus Christi, TX next week to visit my grandparents, we hit the road early and drove ALL the way here with a truck full of power tools to help prepare them for hurricane Ike.

So although it is a gorgeous, sunny day here on the coast of Texas, and although there are no visible signs of impending doom (yet), we are boarding up windows, putting batteries in flashlights, and (of course) making that last second Wal-Mart run.

I’ll let you know what happens…

It took two weeks and a day to get here, but it got here. A two page love letter, written by my man, on plain notebook paper and mailed with Chinese stamps that cost 6 yuan (less than 1 USD).

Due to modern conveniences such as Skype, Facebook, and email, Bo and I have been fortunate to enjoy frequent and cheap communication during our time apart. However, when I sat down to read the handwritten letter, I must confess that I got a bit more emotional than I typically do during our daily chats. 

Knowing that this tattered little envelope travelled across the world just for me, and knowing that my precious husband took the time to write it, stamp it, and mail it rather than just dropping me a line on Facebook, made me feel so special and loved. And it made me miss him more than ever.

Never underestimate the power of small gestures to make a girl swoon.

Good News: My visa paperwork has been processed and my work permit has been issued! Yay! I can finally book my flight and make my travel plans. But wait…

Bad News: When Bo went to pick up my paperwork from my employer so that he could Express Mail it to me from China, he discovered that there was one important document missing. Grrrrrrrr. Now he has to go through more red tape to locate the missing document.

Good News: The missing document has been located and although it will take an extra 3 days to get here, the paperwork should be on its way. The work permit was the really time-consuming part, so at least that wasn’t missing.

Bad- well, Good News: With those extra days of waiting, my projected flight date falls smack-dab in the middle of a vacation trip that my entire family has been planning for over a year. Thinking I’d be long gone by now, they had no clue that they would all be in Texas during my big send-off. Well, considering that I may not see my family for over a year, I have decided to postpone my travels for yet another week so that I don’t have to tell myself good-bye at the airport. And as an extra treat, I am tagging along on the family trip to Grandma’s house in TX (that’s the good news). I’ll probably be heading to China around the 23rd.

I’ll keep you posted…

Here are some pictures to go along with that last post…