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Next Step of the Trip

Upon Arriving in Chicago we took advantage of the last few American amenities that we would have, getting some Dunken Doughnuts and some candy from the gift shop. We made some last phone calls to friends and family and then were off and on our way. Once getting settled in to our seats it dawned on us that we were in for a long haul. 14 hours in small steel tube with little more that water and ham sandwiches to sustain us. Were developed a friendship with one of the flight attendants which allowed us to stand in the back of the plane where the food is prepared. She told us many stories of her travels and regaled us with her conspiracy stories such as green tinted bears that had eyes with human emotion in them? Outside of Edwards Air Force Base. As we traveled farther east skipping a day ahead in the process we started to become friends sharing stories and jokes.
As our dreams slowly became reality landing in China after nine months of anticipation, waiting, and excitement we got our first blast of China. The captain came the loud speaker to inform us that we would not be allowed to exit the plane until we had been cleared by the Chinese health officials. We didn’t think much of this, thinking no big deal take a few minutes and then will be off and on our way. And boy were we surprised when we see six people walk on to the plane in full bio-hazard suits. They were making their way through the plane checking everyone temps making sure that no one had the Swine Flu. As they made their way back through the plane everyone was secretly worried that they might in fact have a fever which would lead to seven day government mandated quarantine. Fortunately for us no one had anything that was deemed worthy of detainment. We quickly and excitedly grabbed our bags and headed off the plan go through Customs and collect our bags.

Our bags came off the plane quickly and no one had lost their bags, we proceeded to leave the closed section and enter the main airport. We quickly found Ms. Alison Wong who was picking us up and also would be doing our initial training. She led us out to the van for the five hour van ride from Shanghai to Nanjing. As we pulled out of the parking lot everyone was glued to the windows in order to get the first glance of China. However after the first few minutes we were all quickly consumed with exhaustion, having already been traveling for well over a day. In what seemed like just mere moments we were pulling in to a rest stop for dinner and a bathroom break. If there is one thing that I had not missed about China, it was most certainly the squatty potties. We sat down to our first real authentic Chinese meal that contained a lot of food that we didn’t recognize and tasted nothing like we had eaten at home.
After our first adventuresome meal we got back in the van and finished the last hour on the drive to the Jinling River Conference Center. This was to be the location that we would be quarantined. As we pulled up we were surprised to see that it was not just hotel rooms that we were going to be staying in, but a three bedroom villa. As we groggily got off the van and made our way to the house we were met by the majority of the Jinling staff that would be our support group, Dr. Cai, and Michelle who had arrived 6 hours earlier that day. We got a brief introduction to all of the personnel and what would soon be happening but the only thing that was on anyone’s mind was going to bed as soon as possible. For myself it had been 42 hours over the course of three days and thousands of miles, I was ready to collapse in the first bed I saw and sleep as long as possible.
On the 26th of June we had our first full day in China. It was designed as a rest day in order to combat the jetlag and also get a bit acquainted with the area. However the only area we could visit was the outside area of the hotel because they didn’t want us spreading any potential illnesses. So we walked the lush green grounds of the resort to find a tennis court and an empty swimming pool. After taking some photos we went back to the house where we hunkered in for a three day haul. We set up the TV and watched first of many movies.
After resting most of our first day we got up the next morning to our first day of training. Alison was there to show us the ropes, and answer any questions that we may have had. We went through much of the Jinling history and learned much information about the hotel its self. We also had photos taken for our upcoming trip to the health clinic. We finished the day with another movie and started to get to know each other better and better. The next day was more training; however this was a little less interesting than the day before. We had heard this type of info before many times in class such as how to treat guests, and what was and was not appropriate to talk about with guests. We watched some videos on Nanjing and the Jinsue province giving us many ideas on places that are close to the hotel that we will want to visit. The next day we are looking forward getting out

Posted by alexhershman on 2009-06-29 19:03:42 | Rating: