My first hours in China were tired ones. Me and my grandfather, Papa, arrived in Shanghai at 2:30pm; 12:30am USA time. We were exhausted from lack of sleep. Tired also from the long, boring, plane ride, which actually wasn't that bad until i got served some sort of egg substance (picture below) that was unrecognizable and was so hungry that I forced myself to eat it...! We got off the plane and went straight to health check, which is where you hand in your Declaration of Health sheet that you filled out on the airplane. I had a cold, but did not check the boxes that stated 'stuffy nose', headache', or 'sore throat'. I didn't do this because entering a communist country with even a cold could cause authorities to send you straight to the police office to stay a couple nights, or worse,... back onto the plane for another round of UIE (Un-Identified Eggs)!
After Health Check, Papa and I went to Foreign Immigration. There, police check your passport and 'Arrival and Departure' papers. This indicates how long you plan to stay in China. On the Arrival paper, there is a section for the address of the home, hotel, or place you will be staying. I didn't fill that part out because I didn't know Aunt Pam and Uncle Mark's address. This was a problem. The lady told me that she needed an address. I explained that I was staying with my family here, and I didn't know their address. She rolled her eyes and called over a uniformed man. I was nervous that my China trip could be on hold for a few days...but then she turned to me and said that I could go. WHEW!! What a relief! Papa and I headed for luggage claim. After a few minutes of confusion of where to pick up our bags, we found our 3 large suitcases. We then headed to the exit, where we had to basically parade out of the building. When you go out the exit doors, you go through sort of a line, with bars on either side, and people are behind the bars waving signs for the people they are waiting for. ALL ASIANS!!! They stared at me and papa and pointed, like they had never seen an American! This is a common response, I later find out, when the Chinese see what they call 'Westerners'. A Westerner is basically anyone not from China, Korea, or Japan (aka someone without squinty eyes).
Anyways, while walking down the parade ail, Aunt Pam calls to me and we quickly find our way to her. We walk back to where the car is, and we meet Nikki, the Stasney's driver. We are very tired and doze during the trip from Shanghai to Suzhou, which is about a 2 hours car ride. FINALLY we arrive at the house. It a gated community with a guard, who recognizes Nikki and Aunt Pam and let's us go in. We drive right by a playground, where we see 10 children come running towards us bowing!!! Uncle Mark had told them to do that as a 'welcome gesture'. It was very funny! Kate, Alex, and Annie were very happy to see us...and Ben was probably happy too, but he ran away instead of giving us hugs :)
The kids gave me a quicky tour of the house. It has 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms, 2 living rooms, 2 kitchens, and an eating room on the side of the kitchen. I dump all my stuff into Annie's room, which is the room i will be staying in for the next few months. I have a feeling that I will become spoiled here, because there is a bathroom connected to my room, and I never have to clean my room or make my bed!!! That is because we have Ayi (Eye-EEH), which means aunt in Chinese, but who is really our house keeper/cleaner. I have not met her yet, because she comes Monday-Friday.
One of the suit cases I brought was full of clothes and stuff for me. The other bag was full of things for the Stasneys. Things like fruit snacks, Little Debbie Cakes, Muffin Mix, cozies, mini-wheat cereal, and Fun-Dip cannot be found or are very expensive in China, so i brought them over. You might be thinking, "well aren't you irritated that they took up your packing space with food?"? But I'm not. Aunt Pam knows many places where i can buy cheap clothes that usually exported to the USA and are relatively expensive when in the department stores. I plan on buying lots of clothes, jewelry, purses, and souvenirs, and I'll need room to bring them back!
As a conclusion to my first day, Uncle Mark went and got some dumplings and I took a much needed shower. It was a tiring, yet exciting day, and many more are to come!
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