(Sandy)April 10
The last few hours in China! What a strange day…I think we are all feeling a “healthy ambivalence” about getting on a jet to fly home. No doubt, of course we are all missing our families, friends, pets and yearning for normalcy, but it is also sad to say goodbye to a magnificent adventure. Each day brought new insight into the daily living and personalities of those we have met, daring attempts at consuming a pastiche of exotic foods, unbelievable ancient and contemporary sights that many only get to view in books, new sounds of the repetitive city noises and the rural quiet of the farmland, new friends and our homes away from home, and new customs of hospitality that sometime make very independent people a bit uncomfortable…like having someone always wanting to hold your backpack and packages, people always asking if you are tired and need a rest, always being led like a child or being told to “sit, sit!” It is all a bit surreal.
Alex and Cassie decided to get up this morning at the crack of dawn to take a taxi to Tiananmen Square for the daily 5:45 am flag raising. I did this on my first trip to China and found it to be a thought-provoking experience. You quietly stand in an enormous crowd of Chinese, some waving their flags, while the Chinese color guard performs and the Chinese National Anthem is played very loudly through the many speakers which are set up high all over the square. You can’t help but think about our own great country, the freedoms we enjoy, and the reality of being thousands of miles away and politely watching hundreds take part in a ceremony for a system that we may question.
At 9:00 am we all checked out of the hotel and headed by van to Mao’s Mausoleum. The weather was great…good day to stand in line and a good day for the flight home. The wait line to view Mao was about a mile long and began at one end of Tiananmen and wrapped its way snake-like to the mausoleum. It took about an hour and a half to work our way through the roped and patrolled line. During our wait, three men tried to jump ahead in the line. They were caught by the traffic control guards stationed every few meters and moved back to their original locations…one was escorted away…there’s no messing around with the rules in China! Our walk in line was also peppered with creative alternative scenarios should we be turned away at the entrance. Why, you ask? Our guide told us that absolutely nothing was allowed inside the mausoleum, so we left all our bags and our IDs in the van. Eventually we reached the entrance and were asked for our IDs. They accepted our excuses, waved us through and all was fine. Our Mao viewing was about 30 seconds and I will add that he looked less real than the wax figures we saw at the Tibetan Museum the day before.
Once reunited with our guide we let her know that we wanted to go straight to the airport. We all preferred to be early to be sure that our many pieces of luggage, some over-sized and some overweight, would be successfully checked-in. It was very difficult for her to understand our needs…”It doesn’t matter” she would often respond. We persisted and got to the airport…long story short…if we had listened to her, we’d still be in China instead of at our current altitude of 31105 feet and nearly 500 miles into our 7000 mile trip home!
Hours later…although to this point, we’ve had a really good flight to Newark, I knew I was in trouble when during the landing the person sitting next to me began frantically searching my seat pocket for a sick bag! I moved as far into the aisle as possible to shield myself from the obvious trouble this poor traveler was experiencing! This made our imminent arrival to the good ole USA even more attractive than usual. After traveling to exotic places, stepping onto US ground always offers a renewed sense of appreciation for the common, the familiar and the security…this landing was particularly welcomed! We rechecked the luggage, claimed a comfortable spot to wait for our connecting flight and one by one headed for Starbucks for REALLY cold drinks…a missed commodity in China. Our connecting flight turned out to be a tiny “Lear Jet” type of craft…always a fun ride that allows you to truly feel like you’re flying. We had another good flight and an even greater arrival with all our families, Ms. Viz and spring tulips to welcome us home.
In hindsight, I would say that we had a very successful trip. The DS community should be very proud of its students. They represented themselves and the USA very well …made new friends…I hope made some great memories…and we never missed a blog day!! We hope to see you all at the banquet!
Thanks to all, Sandy
No comments:
Post a Comment