Hurry Up and Wait!

Well, Saturday morning I was wide awake at 7:30 AM and hurried up and waited. I quickly got dressed, finished repacking my suitcases, looked at the clock, and had about another 2 hours before needing to head out the door. A little before 11:00 AM I checked in at the rehearsal hall at the School of Music. We had a quick Jimmy John’s lunch, loaded our baggage onto the busses, and headed for the airport at 12:00 noon on the dot. We arrived at the airport at 12:30 and waited. Since we loaded the busses in alphabetical order, I was very near the end and was one of the last to get through check-in and security. I arrived at the gate at 2:30 and had about an hour to wait before boarding the plane. I made sure my computer and IPod were charged and made some last minute calls. We started boarding the plane a bit late, at 3:40, but still were able to depart on time as the gate pulled away from the plane right at 4:20. As we taxied out to the runway the pilot announced over the loudspeakers, “Sorry for the delay folks. We aren’t waiting for the traffic to clear; it’s just that the plane is a bit too heavy and we need to burn off about 20 minutes of fuel before being able to take off.” That felt quite reassuring.

We took off at 5:00 and slowly made our way up into the sky. I spent the first hour and half pondering, then the attendants served dinner at 6:30. I had chicken with BBQ sauce, sweet potatoes, green beans, a small salad, bread, and a brownie. I bet it doesn’t surprise you that the brownie was my favorite part! The plane was still pretty lively and I spent the next hour standing up and stretching. The seatbelt sign went on and I spent the next few hours doing a few random time-consuming jobs. Then we had our midnight snack. I don’t know if it was the plane ride or what, but the apple I had was one of the best apples I’ve ever eaten, despite the fact that it was without peanut butter. The sandwich and cookies were quite good as well. I spent the next two hours standing. Surprisingly, the time seemed to go by a lot quicker when I was standing then when I was sitting. The seatbelt sign came on and I spent the next hour working on the computer. Then I spent the next couple hours standing. Then the seatbelt sign came on again and I spent the rest of the trip in my seat. I had chicken pasta, bread, and fruit for breakfast U.S. time and dinner China time. There was a salad of peppers, but I couldn’t make myself eat that.

From now on I’m going to put all times in China time. Which means you will have to knock it back 12 hours for your time, I think. The plane touched down in Shanghai a few minutes before 7:00 PM Sunday (which would be your 7:00 AM Sunday), but we didn’t get off the plane until about 7:30. We then spent the next hour waiting for baggage and going through customs. This means while most of you spent the morning preparing for Mother’s day, we spent the morning/our evening hoping our luggage didn’t get lost. We planned on customs to take several hours, but we walked right through without a problem. Loading the busses took over an hour, though, and we didn’t leave the airport for Hangzhou until 9:50 PM. We had a sandwich and water on the bus and continued on to the hotel. By this time I had gone 26 hours without sleeping and was finding it hard to focus and stay awake. But I did manage until we arrived at our hotel at 12:30 AM, which would be your lunch time Sunday.

It was odd when we pulled out of the airport and everyone was looking out the windows talking and taking picture of all they saw. Even though I’m super excited to be back, having been here four years ago I’m used to the “normal” busy traffic, tall crowded buildings, and intricate road systems. Since I am not mesmerized by these sights this time around, I’ll be more focused on taking pictures of historical landmarks and not just everything I see! One cool thing I notice about the roads so far that I don’t remember noticing last trip is the advertisement system along the highways. At first glance the billboards look just the same as the one in the U.S., but once your mind clears and you actually try to focus you realize that you can’t understand a thing on the boards because it’s all Chinese characters. Not that it really matters; it just struck me as odd that I assumed I could understand the signs until I actually tried to read them. That probably had something to do with not sleeping for over 26 hours!

By the time we got everything figured out at the hotel and were in our rooms, it was after 1:00 AM. Then I was able to get internet and Skype. We found out we are able to use gmail, but no facebook. I finally crawled into bed at 2:00 AM, but was so wound up I was wide awake for about another half hour. But then I did konk out and slept until 8:30 AM, which would be your PM Sunday, I think. So, I’m now functioning on 6 hours of sleep after going 31 hours without. I surprisingly feel pretty good, but I’m not sure how that will change later on tonight.