Advertisement
Published: August 18th 2011
I have started to assemble this travel blog even before leaving Canada and I am glad I didn't wait, because I have to say, that even being quite proficient technically, it is a bit challenging! I am VERY excited to be going to China to teach English and I have purposefully chosen a short-term contract, 10 weeks. I anticipate being there for at least 12 weeks, including a bit of travelling at the end of my stint there after the teaching has ended. My visa will be valid for 90 days, and for 90 days, I hope that I will be fully immersed in my Chinese experience.
Trip preparation has been quite a bit of work! I have had vaccinations for typhoid fever, hepatitis A and tetanus. I have purchased 3 months worth of health insurance ($$) and amassed a lot of prescription drugs and an arsenal of over-the counter preparations to help me cope with any "little" medical emergencies while I am there. Personally, I am having trouble thinking of diarrhea as a "little" medical emergency, anywhere, never mind while I am somewhere that I cannot read a stitch of the language. I have completed and couriered the paperwork for my visa to a Vancouver agency helping me with this part of the process and also with my plane travel. I have arranged for my provincial electoral ballot to be sent to me in China. That involved 3 trips to the returning office. Yikes. I endured over an hour on the phone with Rogers making sure that it was indeed too monetarially onerous to use my Blackberry there. It is. I won't. Throw-away cell, here I come! HA! It will be interesting to see how well I survive without my favourite little gadget. I will, however, be taking along a notebook so that I can use it with the wi-fi in the apartment that I'll be staying in. For those who SKYPE, I will be using that as my primary means of communication, for both telephone calls and also video calls. And, given the +16 hour difference for my family and friends in Manitoba I am thinking that that piece will be the most challenging, but hey, what part of life isn't? I'm worth losing a little sleep over, ain't I? Ha ha ha. Here's hopin'. 😊
I have started compiling a little binder of important papers with addresses and telephone numbers of embassy locations and telephone numbers, photocopies of important documents, other important documents, health information, contract pages, and well, many little pieces of paper with various addresses and notes. I have started throwing items into my VERY large suitcase. I plan to buy another in China for all the presents I plan to bring back for Aiden. He has asked me every day what I plan to bring him back. Son, your mom will be on the lookout for all sorts of wonderful and unique things to squish into her suitcase just for YOU!
So far, the plan is to leave Thompson August 20th and drive to Winnipeg (8 hours); fly to Vancouver (August 25th) (3 hours); fly from Vancouver to Hong Kong (August 28th) (14 hours) and the final leg of the journey is a tiny hop, skip and jump over to Xiamen, and about 1.5 hours of flight. Sigh. I am gonna be tired when I arrive, I think. Luckily, with the time difference, I'll be right in time for bed when I arrive, so I will try not to sleep on the plane. Yeah, right. We'll see how THAT goes. I have a couple of days to try to sort myself out and that's a good thing because I need to make some purchases right away. I cannot WAIT to see the Chinese Walmart. I am taking my camera. LOL They tell me that I will need an umbrella, for the typhoon season. Typhoons? WHAT THE HELL? I traded mosquitos for wild weather? Hmmmm. Didn't think that through! Ha ha ha. An iron. Yes, you read that right. Apparantly our apartments will have clothes washers but not dryers and we will hang everything. I am not wearing un-ironed cotton. It is just WRONG. Maybe with all the humidity the wrinkles will fall right out. Ha! I would only BE so lucky. I'll keep you posted on that one.
Tomorrow will be another busy day packing, and delivering gifts to people I won't see for awhile. Registering with foreign affairs, paying bills, preparing my camera and paraphenelia, buying a microphone so Harley and Aiden can SKYPE with me on our PC. Laundry, cleaning. Sigh. No rest until I hit the road with Jo-Anne and her boys on Saturday. I can't WAIT. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.035s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 7; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0181s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Gail
non-member comment
Good Luck On Your Journey
This sounds like an incredible journey Carolyn...it will fly by and before you know it, you will be home again. Enjoy my friend, this is a huge opportunity for you.