I made it home. I'm not exactly sure how, but I did it. Liz and I left the school at 7:45 Thursday morning. We took a bus to the bus station, a bus to Guiyang, and a taxi to the airport. We got to the airport around 10, and my flight didn't leave until 12:50. Since I didn't have enough time to get my luggage and go through customs and make my flight to Denver, I only took carry-on luggage. I bought a (fake) Coach shoulder bag for 20 kuai, which is a pretty good indication that the quality is...awful. One of the handles broke right after I made it through security. I had to go through security twice, actually, because I forgot that I'd need a boarding pass. I made it to Beijing and hung around for four hours. They have a lot of duty-free shops, but even so, things are ridiculously expensive. You know it's bad when the prices are only in US dollars.
Over the course of my 3 flights and 17 hours of flying, I ate three airplane meals. In fact, that's pretty much all I ate yesterday. Two of them were beef with rice which was passable. One was a "Western" breakfast--scrambled eggs, something that I think was supposed to pass as hashbrowns, some suspicious-looking white sausage, and one broccoli floret. However, on my way to China, we had club sandwiches with ham and tuna and turkey and a Hershey's bar, so I guess I can't really complain.
Once I arrived in LA, I had an hour and a half to get through customs and make my connection. We arrived at the same time as 2 other 747's, so the line was long. Two of the people from my flight knew I had to hurry, so they helped me scoot forward in the line. I don't think I would've made it without them. I got through customs with half an hour to get on my flight. I had to change terminals, and the security lady told me to wait for the shuttle. After 10 minutes, the shuttle still hadn't come by, so I went over to ask if it would be faster to walk. She yelled at me to get back under the shuttle sign and I'd make it, but another guy told me I'd better walk. I sped walked to terminal 7. I got in trouble for trying to cross the street without the "walk" sign--a clear indication of my status in China--but I made it with 15 minutes to go. I made a record-breaking bathroom trip and flew through the gate in a sweaty, panting state of glory. Oh, I also sacrificed a belt I bought in Paris to LAX security. They made me take it off and it didn't go in the bin with the rest of my stuff, so in my frantic state, I forgot about it. However, it was worth giving up a 5 euro belt to be home.
I've gotta run because I'm making my family re-do Thanksgiving dinner, and then I get to open Christmas presents that are in my stocking! It's all the holidays rolled into one! More later on my experience in the States...
Hello! I've been out of touch due to the earthquake in Taiwan. Our internet and phone lines were down for almost a week, but things are back to semi-functioning now. I gave my last two final exams yesterday. So far, I've only caught one case of cheating out of 200 students, so things are going pretty well. I will be leaving for the States in 8 days. Here is how my day of traveling will go:
7:45 a.m. (Jan. 11) take a bus to the bus station
8:15 take a bus to Guiyang
10:00 arrive in Guiyang
10:15 take a taxi to airport
10:45 arrive at airport
12:50 p.m. take a flight to Beijing
3:40 arrive in Beijing
8:15 take a flight to LA
4:15 p.m. (still Jan. 11) arrive in LA
6:00 take a flight to Denver
9:30 arrive in Denver
...at least in theory. I have recently been told that I don't have enough time in LA to go through customs and make the connecting flight, so I might be getting in as late as 9:30 a.m. Jan. 12. Because of the time change, in Mountain Standard Time (or whatever time zone CO is in), I leave at 4:45 p.m. on Jan. 10 and arrive hopefully at 9:30 p.m. Jan. 11. Thirty hours of traveling! Whew! It's good I'm traveling alone, because I'll probably be pretty cranky by the time it's over. Traveling for a long time has a way of doing that to me. It makes my sister cranky too--that's why we're great traveling buddies :)
Anyway, before I leave, I have to grade my exams and turn in the grades. There are very specific instructions for this. I must grade in red and record the grades in blue, unless a student fails, and then the grade must be recorded in red. I have to give the participation grade, exam grade, total grade, number of students who passed, number of students who failed, and number of students who didn't take the test. Furthermore, if a student fails the class, I have to give him or her a make-up exam. I have one student who is definitely failing, and beyond that, I'm not sure. The student who is failing is a freshman who has been absent for 7 of the 13 classes, including the review for the final exam. Oops. Better luck next semester, dude...
