So that people know I'm alive...
China!
The trip started out alright, but it progressively sucked. The good thing was I had no trouble making any of my connections. In fact, on the flight from Detroit to Narita I was fortunate enough to have 3 seats to myself (even though the plane was actually pretty full), and I got some sleep. At Narita, I had a little over 2 hours to play around with, and I more or less walked the length of the airport and soaked in Japan. I got a Japanese dinner, too. Oh, that was good.
However.
The three hour flight to Shanghai became a 7 hour flight. We flew all the way to Shanghai and we were in out final descent when we started hitting some nasty turbulence. There was a huge storm - lighting all around the plane. The plane was shaking pretty violently, and after a minute or so, the captain made the decision to head back. We flew back 50 minuted to an island off of Korea (my first time in Korea!) and landed. Because the airport wasn't ready for us, we had to stay on the plane. Luckily, everyone was pretty calm, and the stewardesses allowed me to lie flat in my back in the back of the plane in their kitchen area (where I got a little more sleep). I was trying not to worry too much, but I didn't know when we'd leave, or if we'd even leave that night. Luckily, about 2 hours of waiting and we took off again, made another 50 minute flight to Shanghai, and got the heck off the plane. Even though it was all due to weather, we all got 25$ vouchers from Northwest. It took another good 40 minutes or so to get through immigration and customs. Then I waited maybe 10-15 minutes for luggage. I wasn't even sure if anyone was waiting for me anymore! I didn't have a cell phone or any numbers to call, so I was just a little freaked out, but knew that things would work out okay somehow. (There wasn't use worrying too much... I was too tired to worry anyways.) Sure enough, I got my luggage and pushed my little cart out of the international arrivals area, and sure enough, poor poor Andy Hu from Scholastic was waiting there for me with a sign. It took a good 10 minutes to get a cab, and then the cab ride was something like another hour and 20 minutes or so. Got to the hotel, had to show them my passport and get processed, finally got to my room, and although I was dead tired I took a shower and did a little unpacking and reading, and THEN went to bed. It may have been 4 AM.
Then, for some reason, I woke up at 8am on the dot. I got up, got dressed, and went to a Lawson's convenience store and got some milk and some kind of bread for breakfast for around 7 yuan.
I'm a little slow, but actually quite awake. Pretty soon I'll head over to the Scholastic offices down the street.
It's interesting, because while in many respects, Shanghai looks like any other city, there are some definite Chinese elements that make it decidedly not Western. It's different from Japan, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I guess it most reminds me of Bangkok. It's not really dirty, but it's not that clean either. In that respect it reminds me very much of Bangkok. It's not "eww, this is gross" dirty, but just little things here and there that don't really bother me anyway - some things look a little older and worn. That's all.
So far, the Chinese people in my hotel have been very nice and very helpful. My key card didn't work, so they fixed it all up, and on my mini-venture out for breakfast, people would pause to say ni hao to me.
Actually, I'm in the Scholastic office right now. I signed my contract, looked over some other paper work, and everyone's really nice. Apparently I'm on my own for the next few days, except that I might be coming in tomorrow to observe some classes.I'm supposed to be going to Beijing on Tuesday after my required health exam. I'm not sure how this is going to all work, but it's out of my hands, anyways, and I know someone is taking care of it.
The trip started out alright, but it progressively sucked. The good thing was I had no trouble making any of my connections. In fact, on the flight from Detroit to Narita I was fortunate enough to have 3 seats to myself (even though the plane was actually pretty full), and I got some sleep. At Narita, I had a little over 2 hours to play around with, and I more or less walked the length of the airport and soaked in Japan. I got a Japanese dinner, too. Oh, that was good.
However.
The three hour flight to Shanghai became a 7 hour flight. We flew all the way to Shanghai and we were in out final descent when we started hitting some nasty turbulence. There was a huge storm - lighting all around the plane. The plane was shaking pretty violently, and after a minute or so, the captain made the decision to head back. We flew back 50 minuted to an island off of Korea (my first time in Korea!) and landed. Because the airport wasn't ready for us, we had to stay on the plane. Luckily, everyone was pretty calm, and the stewardesses allowed me to lie flat in my back in the back of the plane in their kitchen area (where I got a little more sleep). I was trying not to worry too much, but I didn't know when we'd leave, or if we'd even leave that night. Luckily, about 2 hours of waiting and we took off again, made another 50 minute flight to Shanghai, and got the heck off the plane. Even though it was all due to weather, we all got 25$ vouchers from Northwest. It took another good 40 minutes or so to get through immigration and customs. Then I waited maybe 10-15 minutes for luggage. I wasn't even sure if anyone was waiting for me anymore! I didn't have a cell phone or any numbers to call, so I was just a little freaked out, but knew that things would work out okay somehow. (There wasn't use worrying too much... I was too tired to worry anyways.) Sure enough, I got my luggage and pushed my little cart out of the international arrivals area, and sure enough, poor poor Andy Hu from Scholastic was waiting there for me with a sign. It took a good 10 minutes to get a cab, and then the cab ride was something like another hour and 20 minutes or so. Got to the hotel, had to show them my passport and get processed, finally got to my room, and although I was dead tired I took a shower and did a little unpacking and reading, and THEN went to bed. It may have been 4 AM.
Then, for some reason, I woke up at 8am on the dot. I got up, got dressed, and went to a Lawson's convenience store and got some milk and some kind of bread for breakfast for around 7 yuan.
I'm a little slow, but actually quite awake. Pretty soon I'll head over to the Scholastic offices down the street.
It's interesting, because while in many respects, Shanghai looks like any other city, there are some definite Chinese elements that make it decidedly not Western. It's different from Japan, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I guess it most reminds me of Bangkok. It's not really dirty, but it's not that clean either. In that respect it reminds me very much of Bangkok. It's not "eww, this is gross" dirty, but just little things here and there that don't really bother me anyway - some things look a little older and worn. That's all.
So far, the Chinese people in my hotel have been very nice and very helpful. My key card didn't work, so they fixed it all up, and on my mini-venture out for breakfast, people would pause to say ni hao to me.
Actually, I'm in the Scholastic office right now. I signed my contract, looked over some other paper work, and everyone's really nice. Apparently I'm on my own for the next few days, except that I might be coming in tomorrow to observe some classes.I'm supposed to be going to Beijing on Tuesday after my required health exam. I'm not sure how this is going to all work, but it's out of my hands, anyways, and I know someone is taking care of it.