Saturday, August 30, 2003
Our plane trip to Beijing was much more complicated than we had ever imagined. Our troubles began at Pearson, where it took over two hours to get the plane from the hangar to the loading dock -- don’t ask me why! An Air Canada mystery. With over a two hour delay here, the rest of our connections quickly disintigrated. No plane headed for Beijing in Vancouver -- it had left without us. Instead, AC rebooked us to Tokyo, promising a connecting United Airlines flight from there to Beijing. Once in Tokyo, we learned that the UA flight had left without us, too.
Instead, we stayed overnight at an airport hotel, with free meal vouchers for dinner and breakfast. A good generic hotel, an appetizing Japanese meal, and a buffet breakfast with anything you could imagine. Back at Narita airport, we found the check in booth, secured our boarding passes and actually got on a very modern ANA plane headed for Beijing.
Instead of arriving here on Thursday August 28 at 3:05, we landed on Friday August 29 at 1:30 pm.
We were a hardy group of travellers by this time -- about 20 of us, all exasperated by ACs cavalier treatment of its passengers -- so many playing markers on a game board. We had lots of time to visit, and found that we were travelling with a very interesting and diverse group of people. A family of Chinese returning from their jobs at the UN HQ in Bagdad, still shocked by the bombing of their building two weeks ago, but very busy keeping their youngest, an 8 month old boy, happy through the many time changes and schedules. A professor of animal nutrition Ming, from U of G, a Canadian Chinese, on his way to a conference in Southern China. A business man from Barrie, acting as the intermediary between Chinese manufacturers and N. American retailers. His specialty was hoses and connectors. A Chinese mother who lives in Toronto, returning to pick up her 16 year old son, in time to begin school next Tuesday in Toronto. A man in his twenties, on his way to Taipei to take up an ESL teaching job at a small private school. His last ESL job had been in Spain.
Ken & I were met by a very relieved delegation from the school, all very happy that we had finally arrived. They had waited for us the day before until after 6:00 pm, without knowing that we had missed that flight. Mrs. Gao, the school’s administrative co-ordinator, thrust a huge bouquet of flowers at me, effectively preventing me from shaking hands or doing anything else for the walk from the airport to the parking garage. The Vice Principal, Mr. Gao (no relation to Mrs. - there are only about 100 surnames in China, so it’s likely that any group will have more than one person with the same last name.) drove one van with Keyan and us in it. Mrs. Gao went with the driver of the other van, carrying all our luggage.
Once in Huairou, we began our inspection of hotels to determine the one where we would stay. Keyan was most insistent that we look around, and not accept the very shabby choice the school had made for us. We inspected 4 in the immediate area of downtown Huairou and the school, settling on one which is set in its own rose gardens and vegetable gardens, neatly tended and trimmed. It’s on property off the main street, and gives the feeling of being in the middle of a small park. It’s also right next door to the school, and a huge gymnasium which has just been constructed. At present (Sunday morning), there’s some sort of youth military rally going on there, with lots of singing and exhorting and military marching music. We feel we’re listening to the modern Chinese version of Hitler’s Youth Movement! We have a standard twin bed version of a room,with air conditioning and a small fridge and water cooler. Our bathroom has a drain in the floor because the entire room is the shower, when you turn on the tap! Very wet, but efficient, once you get the hang of it.
Last night, we had dinner at a dumpling restaurant with the principal, Mr. Lee, the 2 unrelated Gaos, Keyan, another teacher and two members of the Party. Conversation was rather limited, but there was lots of good will and many toasts to our success, the school’s success, everyone’s health, and of course, to Norman Bethune (a sure fire toast at any Chinese gathering, we find.) We were home by 8:30, tired but feeling very positive about our first part day here.
The school, Huairou Number 1 Secondary School, is very large -- 2300 students and a staff of 220. As its name states, it’s the #1 school in the Huairou District. Students have to obtain very high marks to attend, and they come from all over the district. There are residences for those from a distance. The academic building, which we toured last spring, has been torn down and a new one is rising in its place. It won’t be finished until next year, so space is rather crowded. We aren’t sure what that means, but will find out tomorrow when we tour the school with Keyan.
Instead, we stayed overnight at an airport hotel, with free meal vouchers for dinner and breakfast. A good generic hotel, an appetizing Japanese meal, and a buffet breakfast with anything you could imagine. Back at Narita airport, we found the check in booth, secured our boarding passes and actually got on a very modern ANA plane headed for Beijing.
Instead of arriving here on Thursday August 28 at 3:05, we landed on Friday August 29 at 1:30 pm.
We were a hardy group of travellers by this time -- about 20 of us, all exasperated by ACs cavalier treatment of its passengers -- so many playing markers on a game board. We had lots of time to visit, and found that we were travelling with a very interesting and diverse group of people. A family of Chinese returning from their jobs at the UN HQ in Bagdad, still shocked by the bombing of their building two weeks ago, but very busy keeping their youngest, an 8 month old boy, happy through the many time changes and schedules. A professor of animal nutrition Ming, from U of G, a Canadian Chinese, on his way to a conference in Southern China. A business man from Barrie, acting as the intermediary between Chinese manufacturers and N. American retailers. His specialty was hoses and connectors. A Chinese mother who lives in Toronto, returning to pick up her 16 year old son, in time to begin school next Tuesday in Toronto. A man in his twenties, on his way to Taipei to take up an ESL teaching job at a small private school. His last ESL job had been in Spain.
Ken & I were met by a very relieved delegation from the school, all very happy that we had finally arrived. They had waited for us the day before until after 6:00 pm, without knowing that we had missed that flight. Mrs. Gao, the school’s administrative co-ordinator, thrust a huge bouquet of flowers at me, effectively preventing me from shaking hands or doing anything else for the walk from the airport to the parking garage. The Vice Principal, Mr. Gao (no relation to Mrs. - there are only about 100 surnames in China, so it’s likely that any group will have more than one person with the same last name.) drove one van with Keyan and us in it. Mrs. Gao went with the driver of the other van, carrying all our luggage.
Once in Huairou, we began our inspection of hotels to determine the one where we would stay. Keyan was most insistent that we look around, and not accept the very shabby choice the school had made for us. We inspected 4 in the immediate area of downtown Huairou and the school, settling on one which is set in its own rose gardens and vegetable gardens, neatly tended and trimmed. It’s on property off the main street, and gives the feeling of being in the middle of a small park. It’s also right next door to the school, and a huge gymnasium which has just been constructed. At present (Sunday morning), there’s some sort of youth military rally going on there, with lots of singing and exhorting and military marching music. We feel we’re listening to the modern Chinese version of Hitler’s Youth Movement! We have a standard twin bed version of a room,with air conditioning and a small fridge and water cooler. Our bathroom has a drain in the floor because the entire room is the shower, when you turn on the tap! Very wet, but efficient, once you get the hang of it.
Last night, we had dinner at a dumpling restaurant with the principal, Mr. Lee, the 2 unrelated Gaos, Keyan, another teacher and two members of the Party. Conversation was rather limited, but there was lots of good will and many toasts to our success, the school’s success, everyone’s health, and of course, to Norman Bethune (a sure fire toast at any Chinese gathering, we find.) We were home by 8:30, tired but feeling very positive about our first part day here.
The school, Huairou Number 1 Secondary School, is very large -- 2300 students and a staff of 220. As its name states, it’s the #1 school in the Huairou District. Students have to obtain very high marks to attend, and they come from all over the district. There are residences for those from a distance. The academic building, which we toured last spring, has been torn down and a new one is rising in its place. It won’t be finished until next year, so space is rather crowded. We aren’t sure what that means, but will find out tomorrow when we tour the school with Keyan.
All text and photography © copyright Harkaway, 2003 - 2004
