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Published: October 1st 2006
Calgary Airport
so glad to be home My mom brought to my attention that I never wrote anything about the KTV bar that we went to to with the other foreign teachers in China. Singing is a very popular thing to do, people are always asking us to sing a song. The KTV bar that we went to was in a private room. The only food & drinks that were brought were what we asked for so if a group doesn't want any alcohol then they just order other drinks. I can't sing & the English songs that they had on the computer were so old that most of them I had never even heard before, but it was fun anyways. We had a few Chinese people with us so it was nice to hear them sing too. The other thing that my mom suggested that I mention was the people in pictures making what we know as the "peace sign" with their hand. In asia a lot of people put two fingers up as if they were signifying the number 2, for pictures, it means "yay" or "good times"... that's all.
My last day in Daqing, Sept 24th, I woke up at 6:30am to
give Colleen a good bye hug before she headed off to work. I was nervous to be heading home all alone that evening however once I was on the train bound for Harbin I was completely calm & I knew that prayers for confidence were answered. I was checked into the Harbin airport by 9pm only after being cheated 10Y by my taxi & waiting an hour for my bus. I arrived in Beijing at midnight, completely bombarded by people trying to rope me into their fabulous hotel deals. My next flight didn't leave until 12 noon the next day so it was a long night. Finally a guy brought me to a restaurant with some small benches to lay on. But he told me I had to pay him 30 Y just to stay there. Once that guy left, the restaurant guy told me that that I had been lied to & that I actually needed to buy a drink to stay there - another 10 Y. Never the less, the 3 hours of interrupted sleep that I got were much appreciated. During the 12 hours in the airport I was kept well occupied...mainly by walking. I was confused by where I was supposed to be & nobody seemed to understand my questions. I never felt desperate, although by 9am I was just sitting on a bench crying "I just wanna go home". There was really no justification for that reaction other then the fact that I was sooo tired. I just knew if I kept walking & asking the same questions something good would happen. To my disgust I was never able to put my luggage in storage so I had to lug it around with me which only added to my exhaustion. It just turned out that I couldn't find the Aisana Air counter because there was none until two hours before my flight & I couldn't figure out how to get my new paper tickets with Singapore Air because I didn't need any. Once on my flight to Incheon Korea, my worries vanished & it was a mere day & a half longer before I arrived in Calgary. My dad was standing there with a camera to take my picture & mom had a chocolate airplane all ready to be eaten. I had been gone for 3 months & it was definitely time be home.
Thank you to those of you that were praying for me & also for those that took the time to keep in touch with me, it was greatly appreciated. I'll let you know when I'll be ready to head out on another trip. :P I don't think it's going to be for a while though, I'll be drinking in the goodness of being home for a while yet!
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Ina
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So glad you're home safely. However, will miss having another update about Anna and her adventures to enjoy vicariously.