Today is the first opportunity for Judy to meet some of her colleagues at BISS.  We wake up around 4:00 am. and straighten up a few things.  Around 6:00 am, I head out for breakfast, and to try out an ATM.  I’m very curious if we’re going to have a cash flow problem after yesterday’s issues with Visa.

Tried several ATM’s before I found one with some instructions in English.  It worked.  We have access to money!  Relief flows over me.  I grab breakfast at McDonalds and head home.

At 8:30 am, we meet a BISS staff member outside our apartment.  Several other new teachers are in the same complex, and we all head out to meet the bus.  Bus shows up and we are off on a Beijing adventure (actually just a shopping trip).

The BISS new teachers are interesting.  Three are from Australia, one from Spain, two others from the US, and one from Japan.  Like us, they’re new to the city, and anxious to get settled in.  We arrive at Metro supermarket.  It’s a big-box store similar to Sam’s or Costco.  Cash only.  We have an hour to shop.  We start scrambling for mops, brooms, cleaning supplies, rugs, towels, misc. kitchen utensils, and even some food.  Two full carts later, we push out the door, and head to the bus.  Bus drops us off on the wrong side of the apt. complex, and we have a long walk with tons of stuff to carry, too much for one trip  Complex guards watch our stuff, and we start shuttling it to the room.  A few sweaty trips later, it’s all in.  We quickly eat a bite, and head back down to meet the bus for the afternoon trip.

The afternoon trip is to a “wet” market, where they sell fruits, vegetables,  meats, etc.  We buy a few items, fruits, and some sausage for sandwiches, and head back to the bus.  We are returned to the apt. with instructions for how and when to get to dinner.  We put away our purchases, continue to work on organizing the apartment, take a short nap, and get ready for dinner.

We meet downstairs with our other UHN (apartment name – 10 buildings, all shaped like either a U, H, or N.) new teachers and walk to the restaurant for dinner.  It’s fairly close to the apartment, down a few alleys, and we’re there.  It’s a genuine Beijing restaurant, serving Peking Duck.  BISS has large room for all the new staff and families, and the administrative team.  Adminstrators are from India, US, New Zealand, Australia, Maylaysia, Greece.  Everyone is introduced and welcomed, and we eat a GREAT dinner.  It’s served like a family buffet with bowls and plates on a lazy susan in the middle.  So much food!  The duck is actually eaten on a small dough pancake.  It reminds me of a soft taco.  It’s really good.  Kung Pow Chicken is my favorite.  After dinner, we walk back to the apt. and begin to prepare for our first weekday activities.

Before bed we begin to experiment and discover that Facetime works, so it’s lots of fun to begin to make contact with everyone back home.  Our phones don’t work yet in China, but BISS gave Judy a temporary cell to use for the first month for local contact.  It’s nice to see familiar faces.

Woke up at 4:30 am.  First thought was hunger and where to get food.  Judy is taking stock of the apartment and how we’re going to organize our stuff. After showering and getting my bearings in the apartment, I headed out to find breakfast.  I walked out of the apartment building and out the gate of the complex (two guards on duty at all times).  Walked several block with no sign of food, then found a street vendor deep-frying dough.  It had some kind of vegetables in it.  My interpretation – a vegetable doughnut (sans sugar).  I bought two for around $1.50, and headed back toward the apartment.  Walked past the gate and continued passed some closed up shops (5:30 am).  Found another street cook with a little different shape, but the same product.  Bought two and wandered into a small shop with essentials for sale.  Bought some large water bottles and even found some diet coke.  Headed back to the apartment.  Judy was up and full-scale unpacking is taking place.  We enjoyed our sugarless doughnuts and water.

Unpacking our luggage is an arduous task.  Judy knows where she wants it, so I try to help, but mostly get in the way.  I try to figure out how to set up our computers and all our electronics.  Contacted our housing agent, Lisa, and scheduled internet installation for later in the day (yes, the same day, not sometime next week).

Around 11:00 am we get hungry again, so I went out on another walk.  Found a McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Starbucks, and a Pizza Hut.  They were part of a huge mall (Capitol Mall), 5 floors up and 2 basement floors below.  Grabbed some McDonalds and headed back home.  I guess it’s about a 10 minute walk, maybe ½ mile?  Enjoyed the chance to relax a little and eat.

Internet guys (looked like teenagers) arrived around 2:15.  Don’t understand English, and we had fun trying to communicate.  It took forever for them to understand that the Apple Wireless Extreme wasn’t a router.  Finally, after much gesturing and phone calls, another guy walks in with a router, and we finally get hooked up.  Cost is 1080y (yuan) for internet for a year, and the router was 300y.  Exchange rate is $1 = 6y, so I divide everything by 6 to get a dollar equivalent.  Translation – internet was $180 for a year, and the router was $50.  Felt kinda weird paying four teenagers 1380y cash, but it all seems ok, according to our agent.  Internet is running and we’re feeling like we’re back in touch with the world.

I trekked back to the mall for dinner – Pizza Hut.  They have a full menu with many items, burgers, dinner plates, etc.  I order pizza and decided to try my Visa card.  It doesn’t work.  I spent so much time making sure all of our bank cards would work before we left, and now I can’t use my Visa?  I’m irritated!  I pull out the cash, and head home for dinner.  We eat and spend the rest of the night unpacking and making lists for what food and household items we need at the store the next day.  I also spent an hour on the phone with Chase Bank and after speaking with several different levels of management, finally solved the access problems with our banking cards.

THURSDAY, JULY 25 – FRIDAY, JULY 26
2:30 am – up and at ‘em
4:00 am – catch airport from hotel to airport
4:30 am – load up two luggage carts at airport with our 10 bags + backpacks
5:00 am – Check-in at Alaska Airlines
5:20 am – Security check (I dropped my passport, but a TSA agent got it back to me before I left the area. (almost a disaster)
5:40 am – get to the gate and find a place to settle. Grab breakfast
7:45 am – begin loading the plane (late due to some maintenance issue)
8:30 am – Flight departs DFW
PACIFIC TIME (2 hours behind central)
10:20 am – Arrive Seattle, flew in over Mt. Rainier.  Wow!  Move to our new departure gate (3 different trains to move us to the correct terminal.)  Find a place to eat lunch and wait for departure.
1:20 pm – Begin boarding procedures for Beijing Flight on Hainan Airlines
2:10 pm – Flight departs Seattle.  Flight is full.  Mostly Chinese on board. Flight attendants speak some English and are very efficient. Meal is served 2 hours into the flight, beginning with warm towels.  Food is decent.  Choice is beef/chicken/fish, with rice and steamed vegetables.  Dessert also.  Very filling.  Another meal was served about 3 hours out from Beijing.  Similar options.
FRIDAY, JULY 26
4:45 pm – Arrive Beijing.  (3:45 am CST, almost 12 hours).  Flew over the “timeline” somewhere between Alaska and Asia.  Sleep was intermittent, very cramped seating.  Plane unloaded down stairs to tarmac.  Pretty interesting after sitting for 12+ hours.  Not as spry as I used to be.  Boarded tram for a very long trip to the terminal.  More walking at the terminal to big room where passports and visa were checked.  More walking to baggage claim and started wrestling all our bags again.  Push luggage to customs area, nothing to claim, but self-serve unloading to exit scanner, and loading back up on the other end.  Beginning to dislike luggage!  We’re both pretty sweated up by now.  Move out into a large waiting area and wait for BISS to arrive.
5:45 pm – BISS contact arrives (traffic issues).  We begin the trek pushing our luggage out to parking garage.  Lots of hustle and bustle. Luggage fell off one of the carts, and almost collided with a taxi.  Finally arrive at a van and loaded up.  Van was for people, not luggage, so no luggage area in the rear.  All bags had to be handed in the side of the van and lifted over seats to get to the back.  Tight fit!
6:30 pm – Drove out of the airport.  Traffic ok, about like DFW area.
7:45 pm – Arrive at the apartment.  It’s a large complex with 10 buildings.  Call housing agent for a keys.  She arrives (Lisa), and we begin ferrying luggage to the elevators and moving it to the 25^th floor.   Lisa gives us a quick tour, some instructions, and departs.
8:30 pm – (7:30 am CST, 29 hours since alarm in Irving hotel) Home sweet home!  Finally!  Very glad Judy had packed sheets for the king bed.  Especially glad she packed toilet paper.  Could have been interesting.  Ate some snack bars and water we bought at the airport.  Defined a plan of attack for the next day.  Unpacked a few necessities, made the bed, and finished off the day.
9:45 pm – Heads hit pillows and ……….

We’ve been busy since the last post.  We enjoyed some relaxation and visits with family and friends up through the July 4th weekend.  After the 4th, activity picked up.  Judy attended a week-long session of IB (International Baccalaureate) training in Austin.  She has learned enough to be dangerous. I made a same-day roundtrip to Houston (rode the Megabus), and picked up our visas.    Later that week I drove out to Canyon / Clovis to visit friends and mentors.  When we returned home, the tedious task of packing began.

Since our “shipped” items can’t arrive until we have our residential permit in Beijing (sometime around Sept. 15), we have to pack everything we need to live and teach for 6 weeks.  That is a lot of stuff.  Clothes, teaching supplies, shoes, a coat or two, musical instruments, computers, ……….lots of stuff.  We had to make it all fit in 8 checked bags, and 4 carry-ons.  Everything else would have to ship.

On Friday, July 19, movers arrived and packed the items we’re shipping to Beijing.  It’s gone!  We’re going to be a sight when we head to the airport with all our luggage.  We’ve been adjusting our bags, making sure they’re not overweight, and there’s more adjustment to go.  Movers will arrive Tuesday, July 23 to load all furniture, etc., remaining in our apartment.  They’ll pack it and move it to join the rest of the furniture we stored when we moved out of Arlington in April.

The flight goes out at 8:00am, Thursday, July 25.  We’ll need to be at the airport at 5:00 am, 4-hour layover in Seattle, and then 12 hours direct to Beijing.  We’ll arrive in Beijing on Friday evening around 5:00 pm (Beijing is 13 hours ahead of Central time).  We’ll be met by BISS representatives and taken to our apartment.  This is going to be an exciting week.  I’ll try to check in sometime next week, after life settles down (if it ever does).

Chinese Consulate

Traveled to the Chinese Consulate in Houston to apply for Judy’s “Z” visa (the visa needed to work in China).  Arrived early so we could get the “rush” service and pick up the visa later the same day (according to the Chinese Embassy website).  After a quick trip to a Walgreen’s for copies (needed copies of some of the documents sent from China to Judy), we were able to complete the process and told we could pick up the visa the next Tuesday.  When we tried to pay for the “rush” service, according to the embassy website, we were told it no longer existed, and hadn’t for a year.  Guess I’ll return in a few days, when my paperwork arrives, and pick-up Judy’s visa, then I’ll get to travel back again when my visa is completed (assuming my paperwork arrives in time).  The Megabus and I are about to get well-acquainted.

Extra fun moment of the day:  When we finished, we drove next door to Einstein Bagels.  As we left, we decided to walk back to the Consulate and get a picture at the front door.  Took two quick pictures, and walked back the 1/2 block.  When we arrived, our car was in the process of getting towed.  Apparently when anyone walks off the parking lot toward the embassy, someone is watching a camera and contacts a waiting tow truck.  We were gone 3 minutes.  Driver unhooked us and turned us loose.  Whew!  That was close!

Gordon

School is out and we have officially retired from teaching in Texas.  It was mentally and physically exhausting to close out our classrooms and say goodbye to colleagues, and for me very sad.  Beckham Elementary has been my home for a long time and I will miss seeing my friends.  I couldn’t believe I was walking out of the music room for the last time!

We are both relieved to have a small break from school duties, but there is still a lot to do to get ready for our move.  Getting the proper visas involves quite a bit of paperwork, but our schools in China are helping us with it.  There are also lessons to prepare and training to attend.  In spite of all that, we plan to relax and enjoy living in downtown Ft. Worth for the next few weeks!

Judy

Here are some pics from our two moves:

Arlington house sold! Moving temporarily to Ft. Worth.

Packing for Move #1

Loading truck for Move #1

Our condo on 7th Street in Ft. Worth:

Love living in Museum Place

We have a balcony that overlooks the Cultural District

Packing Arlington house for storage:

Protecting the furniture

Organizing for storage

Boxes piling up

Everything must fit into this truck!

Empty house

Good-bye to our house in Arlington!

Timeline Of Events:

SEPTEMBER 2012 – Decision made to seek overseas employment as teachers.  Submitted info to an online job search company.

JANUARY 2013 – Judy accepted a position as a music teacher, grades K-7 at Beijing International School (B.I.S.S.) in late January.

FEBRUARY 2013 – We began the process of selling our home in Arlington.  Attended a job fair in San Francisco, and heard several Beijing school presentations.

MARCH 2013 – Began Mandarin lessons, hoping to learn a little before making the move.

APRIL 2013 – Busy month, Gordon hired part-time at Beijing #4 High School to teach Music Appreciation and sponsor an after-school instrumental club.  We move to a small condo in Fort Worth (practicing for apartment life in Beijing).  We move everything else we own into storage where it will stay until our overseas careers are finished.

Gordon

We will be living very close to the Forbidden City.  It was home to twenty-four emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

We can’t wait to take a walk on the Great Wall.  It is over 2000 years old and 4000 miles long.

We’re moving to Beijing!  We will be here in Texas through the month of July, and then we’re off to China.

SATURDAY, 6/6/15

Today’s plan is to begin the sorting of clothes. We need to make the final decision on what is actually going into our suitcases, and what will be shipped. It’s certainly easier for me than for Judy. Cambodia and Thailand involve mostly summer touring clothes and beachwear. The cruise complicates things because of the need to have a few nicer clothes for dinnertime and the evening shows.

We do get a nice break in the evening. Alexis, one of Judy’s closest friends at BISS and her husband Scott are celebrating 15 years of being together. They dated long distance for 6 years (New York/Chicago, China/Chicago, Spain/Washington DC, then DC/China, and several other variations) before marrying. She’s been at BISS for 5 years, and he’s a screen-writer and novelist (as well as a “trailing spouse” like me).

They had a party at their apartment for several of the BISS faculty. As with so many of these get-togethers, I’m amazed at the variety of countries and cultures represented.

SUNDAY, 6/7/15

There was still some more packing planning and moving stuff around, separating the suitcase stuff from the shipping stuff. Judy had an appointment with several of her friends for a visit to Lily Nails. I decided to head over to the TT park for a workout. We got into another doubles match, and I played with several different partners. Someone went over to a nearby store and brought back some ice cream bars. I keep thinking back to what I thought two years ago I would be doing in Beijing. It wasn’t sitting around eating ice cream and playing table tennis with the locals. If I could speak a little Chinese, I’d be a real member of the group, but language is still a struggle between us.

Back at the apartment later, Judy and I scrambled to get ready to meet James and Erica for dinner. James is Canadian, and Erica is from Korea. They’re summer plans included Singapore, Bali, and eventually East Timor, before they travel to their homes for visits before returning in August to Beijing.

What a great evening with James & Erica at TRB!

They took us to “Temple Restaurant Beijing”, or TRB. They had a driver arranged who picked us up, and delivered us to the restaurant. We traveled down several back alleys and eventually arrived at a dead-end where the restaurant had been remodeled out of a courtyard hutong. It was gorgeous, with an art gallery and some interesting art objects in the outer courtyard. Inside, the restaurant was the nicest we’ve visited in our time here in Beijing. The service was impeccable! The food was great, with several courses, and more “samples” brought out from the kitchen than you can imagine. We ordered some desserts to share, but they kept bringing us samples of some of the specialties and then there was a dessert “wagon” with several other items for us to sample. As we left, they handed each of us a small box containing a mug with TRB emblazoned on it. A gift for eating at the restaurant? I’ve never had that before. I wish we’d found this restaurant earlier in our stay here. It’s an experience not to be missed.