Actually IN Jinhua (Finally!)

I had not previously been on a flight that exceeded 4 hours in duration until yesterday; the things I would do now to make my flights only ever be 4 hours long! Sitting on a plane for 14 hours is awful; not necessarily more awful than I thought it would be but I had never felt that kind of boredom before. Luckily I was sitting aisle seat (LOVE aisle seats, window seats are awkward!) and I was sitting beside a nice man who happened to be from Coburg; him and his wife were going to Korea for a funeral and to visit their son. He liked to chat so I watched tv while he slept and and we talked in between and while we ate; his wife was pretty quiet though.

Sitting for that long really takes a toll on your body; I got up several times throughout the flight but even today I feel just all around NOT GOOD. The food on the way to Seoul was pretty decent; would never be mistaken for anything but airplane food but 100% edible. I tried my best to sleep on the plane but probably dozed off for about an hour in total; should have taken some drowsy gravol. 

The 4 hour layover in Seoul wasn't THAT bad, but still, I could have done without it. I bought some food at the airport, and ate probably 1/4 of it, since I had no idea what it was; some of the stuff I just ate without knowing, it is probably better not to know sometimes. The flight from Seoul to Shanghai was a heck of a lot shorter, but was still kind of worse than the 14 hour flight. It was crammed and I unfortunately had a window seat (Ughhhh!). I just hate how awkward it is to get in and out; so I just refused to get up during the flight despite how badly I wanted to. And the guy beside me was all elbows and must have hit me like 15 times and NEVER acknowledged it. Then we got served our meal; I honestly have no idea what they thought it was; it looked awful and smelled like it had gone bad so I avoided everything except for the crusty bun and the butter.

I tried to sleep on this flight too but thanks to Mr.Elbows and a bumpy ride; I didn't. THEN there was quite the drama because a woman on the plane was sick at the end of the flight (no one I spoke with knew what was wrong) but they kept paging to see if any of the passengers were doctors and one was. He hooked up an IV and gave the woman oxygen and stuff; it was scary. 

Then I was at the Shanghai Airport; it was about time. Going through customs was pretty painless and both of my bags were there; so I was happy. Then I walked out into where people are greeted with their rides and I was not sure what to expect. But standing there as I scanned the crowd were two people with a sign that said COLLEEN YOUNG in big letters (yes, JUST like the movies; everything in life is ALWAYS like the movies lol). So then we went on our merry way to commence our five hour drive to Jinhua. People had warned me both personally and in things I read on the internet that the roads here are CRAZY (worse than Quebec one person stated). They said that the cars do not stop for pedestrians, even if they have a red light; I'd like to see how that would go over on Queen's Campus, sometimes I think it would be appropriate to yield to pedestrians less at Queen's. This was 100% true! I never really feared for my life per say; but I had my eyes clothes a lot of the time (TRYING to sleep AGAIN). There was a lot of swerving and honking and driving on the shoulder of the road or even part way through exit ramps to pass on the inside. 

Then the car stopped and I was jolted out of my daze I was in for the majority of the car ride and the girl who met me at the airport said she was going to use the washroom and asked if I wanted to go; so off I went, extremely drowsy and looking as bad as I felt. Then we walked into the place and I soon realized that this is probably one of those places I had heard about; a place with a hole in the ground to pee in and no toilet paper, and yes, that it was. I am amazed that being as tired and disoriented as I was that I did not fall into the hole and I am still thanking God that I didn't. I think the drowsiness helped me deal with the situation better though because wide-awake-me probably would have freaked out; half asleep me just went with it, no complaints. Then we came out of the place where we were using the washroom and this guy was staring at us from across the street and started to rush over to us and kept yelling "HELLO HELLO HELLO" and the more I just smiled back the more he said it; so finally I said, "Hi," and then it was the same series of events except with "HOW ARE YOU" so I just got in the car. Two or Three hours later we were FINALLY at the school in Jinhua. A couple people helped me with my bags (thank God; I have never been known for packing light) and then all of a sudden I was alone in my apartment at 2 am having had no sleep in the last two days or food for a very long time.

I puttered around my apartment for a bit, trying to be productive but really getting nothing done. I decided I didn't want to put anything away until I had cleaned the apartment; which is my goal for tomorrow. So finally I went to bed. It was the same as my attempts earlier that day, no sleep came! Then I finally dozed off for a half an hour and was awoken by a sound that I still swear came from my make-shift closet. I had opened all of the doors prior to going to bed so I know it MUST have been in my head, but it was bugging me so I got up turned on the light and made a whole bunch of noise and then went back to the bed. Ten minutes later, I heard another sound that sounded like something moving around in my closet, so I did the same thing. Finally ten minutes later I just decided to get up. I then proceeded to take a shower where I was joined by a millipede; not a very welcome guest (I HATE bugs). So I screamed and ran out of the bathroom and finally got the courage to go back in after a minute of standing in the hallway. I then proceeded to spray the bug with raid and hit it with my shoe; then i picked it up and threw it in the toilet (with a kleenex of course; my crazy friend Amanda is the only person who kills bugs that big with her bare hand).

After this whole ordeal I went to see one of the teachers I had met before because I knew her room number. She gave me some boiled water for tea and then showed me to our office we all share and the classroom that I will be teaching in starting on Monday (crazy)! I then called home and talked to my parents and my older sister; that was nice! I haven't been very productive yet today though as far as lesson planning and getting myself setup, but I did of course find time to blog (I'm the QUEEN of procrastination) so I should probably go get on that!