Judy has two assembly performances today. Every grade level performs at the elementary assembly, and the choir performs at the secondary assembly. It’s a full morning. They are great (of course).
Hard at work!
Gotta concentrate on those tone chimes!
Ringing in the holidays!
Reindeer Dancing
It’s a half-day, so as soon as the kids are gone, she hurriedly cleans up her room, and get’s things in place for her January return. We both arrive back at the apartment at the same time, around 1:30. We finish up the final packing and grab a taxi to the airport around 3:00. It’s a cold day. It was 18°F when I walked to the train this morning. It didn’t seem that cold because the wind wasn’t blowing.
We arrived at the airport around 3:45. I had forgotten how big this terminal is. It’s a new terminal, and less than one year old. We find the Air China check-in counter, and start to get in line. A uniformed-looking guy with a nametag seems to be facilitating the crowd. He looked and acted like he worked for Air China. He takes our flight info, pushes up to an open counter, and starts getting us checked in. Then he helps get our bags checked, hands me back our passports, and walks us to the security entrance. I don’t know why we’re getting the VIP treatment? Just before we arrive at the entrance, he turns, and in broken English, asks for 100rmb for all his help (he’s still holding our boarding passes). He’s running some kind of a scam. I hand him 20rmb and grab our boarding passes. I would have written down the name on the nametag, but I couldn’t read the Chinese characters. It probably said “Welcome to China, sucker”.
We get to the gate with 2 hours to spare, so the long wait begins. When we finally start the loading process, we’re led to a bus, and then driven out to the plane on the tarmac. Since we’ve been in China, we’ve loaded and unloaded planes 12 times, but only twice through an elevated ramp. All the other times, we’ve been bussed and then climbed up and down stairs to board or deplane. That’s more times than all the rest of the flights in my entire life. I guess it’s just the luck of the draw. What would someone in a wheelchair do? Forklift?
The flight is smooth, but it’s a long 4 hours. It’s just warming us up for the 14 hours we’ll spend on a plane next week coming back to the US. It’s 73°F when we arrive. The humidity definitely feels like the tropics. If you haven’t looked at a map, Sanya is at the southern tip of Hainan Island, about halfway between Hong Kong and Vietnam. It’s the southernmost point in China. We’re staying at the Sanya Marriott Yalong Bay Hotel and Resort.
As we walk out of the terminal, we are swarmed by guys who offer transportation. They want to barter the price. The line to get a regular taxi is really long. I had read what to expect to pay to get to our hotel, so I barter with them a little, but finally decide we don’t want to take a chance on an independent driver, so we get in line for the regular taxis. As soon as we get a block away, the driver pulls over, switches off his meter, and hands me a calculator, asking me what I’ll pay. I punch in my price, he nods agreement and we start driving again. That wasn’t in the info I read.
It’s about a 40-minute taxi ride. We arrive safe and sound. The hotel looks beautiful. It’s midnight, and we’re ready for bed. We’ll scout out the layout tomorrow.