(20 June) Last posting on this page. I will try add some photos in later.
The next posting will be in the Shanghai Tab.
20 June, 2011
We made it! We are in Shanghai, we made it through customs, most of us got some local currency (but not me! My bank card isn't on the same network as the banks in the airport. Prof. Meng thinks that other banks may be of use.) Prof. Meng met us at the airport and had a bus waiting for us. It took a while to load. Many of the students brought two large suitcases each, which made packing the bus difficult. We quickly filled up the storage compartments down at street level and then filled about four seats with the remainder. Shanghai is really, really, really big. It is soooo big that a trip into Chicago seems like a walk to the corner drugstore. (A tip of the hat to Douglas Adams.) We drove for a long time before reaching the part of tow where we are staying. On the bus, Prof. Meng informed us that we will NOT be staying in the dorms at the Conservatory and the little bus took us through a glitzy shopping district and then into an alley that took three tries to fit the bus into it. And there, just in the alleyway is this little hotel. It's nice. And it feels real. The kind people at the desk were able to find an Ethernet cable without my saying a word and the connection is at least as good as it is at home. I promise to post some pictures to go with some of the things I have described, but it is 10:15 PM here and, believe it or not, I am thinking that bed sounds like a great idea.
20 June, 2011 (6:00 PM Shanghai Time, 5:00 AM CDT)
The captain just announced that we are about thirty-five minutes from touchdown at Pudong Airport. I have slept only in catnaps since we left Detroit around 14 hours ago (at about noon EDT). As I mentioned, I have not been able to see out of the windows and the few times I could see anything out of one, it was just glaring white light. It didn’t look like it was much of a view. The odd thing is that despite the feeling that I have sat awake through the night, it never got dark outside during the entire trip. I have now watched three movies in a row, plus an episode of Glee, Big Bang Theory, and some lame show called “The Middle.” I have moved about a third of my way through my book (The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje) listened to music on my iPod, made two new play lists in the process, eaten three meals and chatted with my neighbors. The cabin crew has been attentive and kind throughout. I am, frankly, a little surprised by this since this is one of the largest planes I have ever flown on and the longest journey. They’ve had a loooong day, too, only they’ve been working the whole time, or nearly so.
For anyone who has seen the English Patient, but not read the book, the prose is lovely and the story different in significant ways.
19 June 2011
Somewhere over northern Canada. Our route will take us to the edge of Hudson Bay and on north to the north shore of Alaska, then across the Bearing Strait and then down the east coast of Asia. This would be an awesome if I were a) sitting anywhere near a window and or b) able to see the ground through the clouds. On the plus side, I am sitting in the middle of the plane between a musician from Beijing who has been helping me with my Chinese musical terminology as well as charming conversation and Lawanda, one of the teachers at the Thea Bowman Leadership academy whose kids are part of the Chinese Instrumental Ensemble. I thought that I would have a WiFi connection on the plane, but as you can guess, it was not to be. However, the food was surprisingly good and there is free beer and wine with the flight. As I write, we are watching the first in-flight movie offering, “Just Go with It.” Not something I would pay money for, but with two beers and a glass of wine in me, it’s pretty funny.
Even though I paid a special 24 hour subscription price for using the internet while flying, I did NOT find out on the Delta website and DID find out form the very nice flight attendant that that service was only available on domestic flights. Sigh. Like I needed it for an hour-long flight.
19 June, 2011
As is my habit, I slept terribly the night before my big trip. It is my little psychological tradition to lie awake worrying about what I have forgotten to pack or, more commonly, to worry that if I don’t get to sleep soon, I will over-sleep in the morning and miss the bus, the plane and the entire trip. This has not ever actually become a prophesy self-fulfilled, but it is certainly one of my least productive ways to spend a night.
Just crossing Thornton Quarry on I-294. Thornton Quarry is a HUGE hole in the ground where the very large earth-moving equipment looks like little toys.
For better or worse, most of my anxiety about traveling happens before I get on the bus. Once ensconced in a seat, the journey is no longer in my hands. I become existential or slightly fatalistic about it all. I am not in charge of driving the bus. Nothing I can do will make me arrive safely or on time or not. It’s not my job and all of those other issues are somebody else’s problems –or SEPs, in the labeling of Douglas Adams in his Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. And that goes double for the plane. In a pinch, I could figure out how to drive the bus, but I wouldn’t have a hope of flying a multi-engine aircraft. Is it simply SEP and nothing for me to worry about. It’s a very calming state of mind.