“Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore”

                What a week!  We finally made it to Guangdong Country Garden School, but not without some adventure.  We left for Sacramento on Sunday to pick up my brother.  We spent the night in Sac and then left to spend a couple of evenings with the Mulkerrins.  We had a wonderful stay visiting with them and waiting for our papers to arrive from China.  The papers came Tuesday morning and we promptly went to the Chinese Consulate to hurry up and wait.  Because of the Memorial Day weekend the Chinese Consulate was busier than usual.  Cecelia and I waited in line for four hours, to finally get our paperwork turned in so that we could pick them up the next morning.  The next morning we arrived at the Consulate at 8:15 and  got our visas at 10:30.  We were excited, because we were then rushing off to the airport to get on a plane to Hong Kong.  But, hold on a second we couldn’t have a plan without some flexibility.  When we arrived at the airport to buy tickets, they wouldn’t let us buy the cheap tickets because we were inside the four hour window before the flight.  Who knew such a rule existed?  So, we spent one more night near the airport in San Bruno.  At least we had a nice meal at a Brazilian steak house near the hotel.  The next day we had a leisurely morning and then took our 500 pounds of luggage to the ticket window.  There was some time spent transferring clothing between bags so that we didn’t get the overage charges on the bags.  At this point we received our boarding passes and passports and made it through security.  My brother and I were still too superstitious to say that we were actually on our way because we still had two hours to wait for our plane.  The two hours went quickly and we finally arrived at our seats in the Cathay Pacific 747.  As the plane lifted off the runway, the five of us gave each other high fives to commemorate the fact that we were finally in the air to Hong Kong.  The 14 hour plane ride wasn’t too bad in the coach seats.  The flight wasn’t full so we had the opportunity to move around to other seats.  Despite the move it was still difficult to sleep across two seats.  I think I slept for half an hour.  There was a lot of game playing and movie watching to kill time.  We arrived in Hong Kong at 6:20 in the evening and then made our connecting flight to Guangzhou.  After the connecting flight and our 1 hour drive we finally arrived at The Country Garden School.  The interesting thing about the trip is that when we arrived in Hong Kong and Guangzhou we felt like we hadn’t really left the states.  The airports are clean and modern.  They weren’t what I expected.  Even the highway in which we drove to get to the school was wide and well lit, much like driving in LA without the traffic.

Claire and I eating pastries on the streets near our home.

The family waiting for the bus near our home.  No driving for a year!!!

                The next morning is when I felt for the first time like I was in China.  The smells of exotic food mixed with the septic system and then the 130% humidity slapped me in the face and made me realize for the first time where I really was.  It is a rather surreal feeling when taking a walk and realizing that everything you know as familiar is completely gone.  Even the 7-11 at the entrance to the community couldn’t ease those feelings.  I walked down in hopes of getting a nice cup of coffee and the familiar coffee bar was completely gone.  What a strange world I have thrust my family into.  (By the way, the Starbucks at the Hong Kong airport served me a latte that tasted exactly like the one in Oakhurst.  It only cost me $8 dollars.)  After my walk in the morning I said to my family when I returned, “Despite the smell, the humidity, the trash and the abandoned houses I love it here.  I am so looking forward to becoming part of the community.  The next step is finding an apartment.  Stay tuned for next week’s adventure.  By the way, starting next week I am going to categorize the blog into three sections.  Teaching, Adventures and then a summary.