I woke up the morning of May 18, 2000, with a terrified feeling in the deep pit of my stomach. I was completely petrified about going to China. All of this trip preparation had seemed to be a dream to me.
It had started on February 14th when I applied for my passport. I was doing this “just in case” this planned trip to China worked out. I didn’t expect that it would work out…something would go wrong, such as not getting a passport, not getting my Chinese VISA, or not getting a cheap plane ticket. However it all seemed to work out in the end.
After I got my passport back in mid-March, I called up a local travel agent to check on plane ticket prices. I gave the lady the days I was thinking about going. She said that she would check on it. After about an hour she called me back and said there was a great deal with Northwest Airlines for $695. I wrote to Mark over the weekend to ask if this date was okay. It was okay with his schedule, so I bought the tickets the following Monday. After getting my tickets, I applied for my Chinese VISA by going to the Chinese Embassy webpage and printing out a VISA application form. I followed the instructions exactly. After only 2 weeks, I got my VISA back. So after that, there was nothing stopping me from going.
Still, this all seemed like a dream to me on this morning. I told my dad that I was scared of going. He assured me that I would have a great time. My mom was away on a business trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas. I called her up telling her of my concerns. She said I didn’t have anything to worry about and that I should go and have fun. She suggested I take some aspirin to calm me down. Since it was my sister’s birthday, I had planned to call her up and wish her a happy birthday. I also told her that I was apprehensive about going to China. She also said I had nothing to worry about.
At around 6:25AM, my dad and I left for the Nashville Metropolitan Airport for my 8:45AM flight to Detroit. After the drive I seemed to calm down a bit. I got on the plane to Detroit at approximately 8:30AM CST.
My flight to Detroit was relatively uneventful, except at the very end. There were thunderstorms around Detroit. The airport closed temporarily. We were forced into a holding pattern for about an hour. After we finally landed we were 55 minutes late. My flight to Detroit was scheduled to leave from a gate way across the airport terminal. I sprinted across the terminal. I arrived to the gate right on time – 12:30PM EST. Still it wouldn’t have made much difference since the flight to Shanghai left almost an hour late. They were waiting on everyone who was delayed by the weather.
Feeling a bit confused, I asked the girl sitting next to me “Is this the flight to Shanghai?” She said “yes,” in somewhat of an annoyed voice. I decided to keep quiet for the rest of the trip.
I like to take this opportunity to point out that the gateway to China does not start in Shanghai. For me it started on the plane to Shanghai. Almost 80% of the people aboard were of Chinese origin….either Chinese Nationals or Chinese-Americans flying to China to see relatives. Most of these people were speaking Chinese. The announcements being made on the plane were in Chinese mostly, with a few being made in English. I asked a stewardess what the flight time was. She said about 15 hours. It was clear that I had a long flight ahead of me. I had come prepared with a Gameboy, a Discman CD Player, and some books to read. I found out that they were going to be showing plenty of movies to keep us entertained.
During the trip they showed a Frasier episode, a documentary on the Eiffel Tower, “Galaxy Quest,” “The Straight Story,” a couple of Chinese language movies and “Man on the Moon.” Except for “Galaxy Quest” and “Man on the Moon,” I didn’t watch much of the movies, opting instead to sleep as much as possible.
Sometime during the flight, as I was filling out some Chinese customs documents, the man next to me introduced himself. He had been touring America with a group of 30 other Chinese students. I told him I was going to Shanghai for 8 days. He said that it was much too short of trip. I was surprised by his friendliness.
After what seemed like an eternity, we finally landed in at the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai at around 4PM Shanghai time, May 19. I found some Americans on board who were experienced with Chinese customs. They said it was not a problem and that I could stay with them while I was going through customs. The American were a couple of college students from NYC. Contrary to what I expected, the guy and girl were obviously not romantically involved. The girl kept mentioning her husband who was not present (perhaps back in America). The guy was a Caucasian American, and the girl was a Chinese American with a Chinese Passport.
After going through customs….which was a breeze, I got my bags and saw my friend Mark. I was glad to see him. One of my fears was getting to the Airport and not seeing anyone I knew in this foreign city. Accompanying Mark was his friend “Ruth” who was a Chinese citizen and a student at the university.
We got on a bus to Shanghai. I kept noticing how Shanghai was like any other city and looked like America. The cars were slightly different, but for the most part it was the same. There were plenty of Volkswagen cabs, some Toyota cars, and a few Fords. There was a haze hanging over the Pudong Airport area and on the way to the heart of Shanghai. Mark blamed it on pollution. We got to the middle of Shanghai where I noticed it was very much like any other American city. The only difference was that the signs were in a different language.
The bus dropped us off at a hotel near the university where Mark taught at. We got my bags and started a walk to the university.
After entering the gates to the university, Mark saw a few people he knew and said hello to them. We got to the guesthouse inside of the university. Mark had reserved a room for me 2 months earlier. It turned out that these rooms had been taken because some important university officials were visiting. This upset Mark. This didn’t seem to phase me much since I had seen the same thing happen in America at my own university.
They put me in the foreign students’ dorm. To get there we had to leave the university and walk on the streets. The head resident put my suitcases on his bike and helped carry them over. It was a couple of blocks away. If it had been on a weekday, some of the gates would not have been closed and I would have had a shorter walk and wouldn’t have had to leave the school.
Inside the dorm, I had a room to myself with a bed, a TV, a desk, and a wardrobe. Mark was glad to see that I had brought some of his mom’s homemade brownies. While I was unpacking Mark received an emergency phone call. Mark and Ruth left to check on things. After several minutes Ruth and Mark returned. With them they had brought an American – Chris from Chattanooga. Chris had been teaching Math and Science at a prestigious school in Taipei, Taiwan. He had come to Shanghai to see “Ann” who was a sister of his good friend in Taiwan. Ann was away in Beijing, so he called Mark, and acquaintance of Ann to see about finding a room.
I mentioned to Chris that I had some Little Debbie Fudge Rounds Snacks. He was very interesting in them. I could tell that he had not eaten any Little Debbies in a while, so I offered them to him. Little Debbies are made in Collegedale, TN, near Chattanooga.
We sat around talking about things until it was time to go to sleep. Mark told me that he would call me at 9AM if he hadn’t heard from me.
Due to the jet lag, I didn’t have too much trouble getting to sleep. I did say awake for about an hour while I heard some commotion outside. The light from the hall which was shinning in from above my door also kept me awake.