The last stop before the US...Shanghai.  It's the main international gateway for most incoming and outgoing flights in China.  I had to fly from Wenzhou to Shanghai, had a 23 hour layover and then a flight straight to Detroit. 
I arrived in Shanghai on Sunday afternoon and ventured into the city for a relaxing dinner and some final people watching.

Monday morning, I did a little extra souvenir shopping for my peeps back home, but not too much as I'd purchased some during the Dragon Boat Holiday.  After getting coffee, walking around and some shopping, it was back to the hotel to shower and go to the airport.  My flight was at 4:30 and I was flying China Eastern Air, according to my itinerary through Orbitz I was to go to Terminal 1 and check-in.  However, upon arriving at the check-in counter I was told this fight was through Delta and I had to go to Terminal 2...Oye Vey. 

I get to Terminal 2, and instead of trying to search myself I decided to ask the Information Desk where I should check in for the Delta flight to Detroit...she nonchalantly said to me, "Ohh, that flight doesn't exist...it's been cancelled."  I said shockingly, "I'm sorry what?!"  She repeated it again...I said, "I know what you said, I just don't want to believe it!"  She directed me to the counter where after about 40 minutes I proceeded to talk to 5 different people, me attempting to infusing Chinese and English is harder than you can imagine!  Eventually I gathered that if I could find another airline that had a flight to Detroit, Delta would cover the costs.  After a semi-tearful call to my sister, (sorry Char I know 3am phone calls aren't exactly the greatest!) I found a possible flight to Windsor...I could just get a car and drive across.  However, they couldn't understand why I wanted to go to Canada, they said, 'I thought you wanted to go to the US?!'  I attempted to explain that it's right next to it...instead the counter manager (who spoke English quite well) found something even better, it was a 4:00 flight to Chicago then a transfer to Detroit...I said okay and the craziness continued.   As the flight was at 4:00pm and it was now 3:45pm.  So I literally had 15 minutes to check my bags, get a ticket, go though security and checkpoints and get to the gate.  Sounds impossible, yes?!  We ran over to American Airlines, they took my passport and luggage, did some magic then I had to get though the two security checkpoints...luckily the counter manager, ran with me through everything VIP and then ran to the gate.  I was literally last one through the doors!  As I was running through the terminal and through VIP checkpoints etc...I was thinking, "This is the stuff that happens in movies!".  The entire time, I never even looked at my seat number...I got onto the plane and the attendant greeted me, took my ticket and said, "Ahh, welcome Ms. Calvert, please go to the left you're seat 1G and look at the menus to decide what you'd like after take off"  My internal thoughts, "Holy cow, first-class bitches!!!"  I sit down, at this point dripping with sweat...did I mention that Shanghai was incredibly hot this day, the felt like temperature was 108!  The flight attendant came to greet me and introduced himself to me as Kevin, said, 'Hello, looks like you've had a good day. Can I get you anything before take off.'  Internal thoughts, 'A shower, a towel and some really cold water', instead I just said, 'A glass of water please'.  I got to relax with a seat that not only reclined but also turned into a bed if I wanted.  I got to relax with a few glasses of wine and a couple of movies.  The flight was a bit bumpy, so even with a bed I was only able to sleep about 4.5 hours.  But the best part was having first-class all the way! 

I arrived in Chicago and only had about 45 minutes to get through Customs, grab my luggage, to go through Exit & Entry Inspection, recheck my luggage and run to the other terminal via shuttle.  Luckily, when I got off the flight the crew was stating that people who had short turn over to their next flights were getting bright neon orange tags.  With that orange tag I was able to bi-pass most people and get through rather quickly...VIP check point for customs and baggage claim.  After I ran through all of that, I run to the correct terminal via the shuttle...only to have my flight delayed again!  This seriously was a scene from a movie...all the running around through VIP checkpoints was like being in some kinda spy movie, where everything is already set up and you just have to run through it all...so crazy!  After having the gate changed 3 times (not kidding!), I finally boarded the flight to Detroit.  It was just a short 45-50 minute flight aboard a puddle jumper plane.  After landing, went to the baggage claim to pick up the luggage...looking around and didn't see any family around.  Internal thoughts, 'Uhhohh, did they get confused at the times, since I called them 3 times and only told part of the story I'm sure I confused them...sometimes, easily done...'  I turn around and I hear...'Patty!!!'  There's mom, big grin on her face...and a big ole hug!  :)  Then comes sister and pops...it's nice to be around familiar faces who give great hugs.  <3

Around the world and back again, glad I did it and saw all the things I'll never forget but also very pleased and happy to be back! 

Here are more unseen photos from my journey abroad! 

Thanks again for all of your support and love!

~Patricia~

You'll never guess what Van (the school principle) tried to get me to do this past week…forge the new foreign teachers signature on an employment contract!!!  Crazy right?!?  It started off simply enough, he said, ‘Hey Patty, come to the other office we have a problem.’  At first I thought he was going to tell me that my new assistants had quit again. But rather, he looked at me all serious face and said, ‘Listen.’ Then put his hands on his hips, ‘We need you to sign this.’ and pointed to a group of papers.  I said, ‘What is this for?’  He said, ‘It’s a contract.’  Me, ‘Well I already signed my contract, are you wanting a revision?’  Him, ‘No, it’s for Edwin.’  (who’s the new foreign teacher coming from the UK)  I laughed and said, ‘I’m not signing that.’  Again, he got all serious and said, 'Why not?'  Me, laughter, 'Because it's not mine.'  Him, ‘If you don’t sign it then he can’t come, we need an original signature for paperwork.’  I said, ‘Well, that is not my problem.  Mail it to him and have him sign it and mail it back if you need an original copy.  I’m not signing someone else’s contract, that’s illegal!’ His retort was ridiculous and literally made me laugh at him, ‘It’s not illegal in China, just sign it.’  I said, ‘Well it may not be illegal in China but I’m still not signing it.’  He looked at me again and said, ‘We need a signature.’  I said, ‘You better get yourself a pen because I am not signing it!’ And I stormed out of the office and called him a dumbass while walking back to my office.  OMG right?!  And this folks was just the beginning of my ridiculous week!

I’m also way over the fact that I feel like I’m camping on a daily basis.  A few weeks ago, I came across a very large and gross cockroach walking around in my house.  Being the girl that I am, freaked out and grabbed the closest thing that I could spray on it and went to town!!!! Granted it was only mosquito repellent but it got it wet enough to slow it down and I was able to grab a small bowl/cup and put it on it and then shove the whole thing into a plastic bag and take out the trash!  It was disgusting!  I found more cockroaches a few days after this.  I hate bugs of most shapes and sizes…I’m okay with them being outside…but once the threshold is crossed that’s a whole other thing, I become a freaked out girly girl who finds herself on top of chairs and spraying cockroaches with mosquito repellent!  But this week, ohh my, this week, this week…ugh, this week was a yucky week indeed.  There was a leak under my sink in the kitchen, the hose which in the US is usually made up of PVC or metal, in China they’re made up of plastic tubing.  The tubing that looks like a toothpick could break it.  Anyway, there’s a leak right and the cockroaches were under the sink because the cockroaches here love the humid and stinky spots…and they weren’t small. Look at your thumb, that’s about how big these things were!   I mean, put a saddle on these things and people in Hollywood would bejewel them and wear them as jewelry….uggghhhh!!!  GROSS!  I say,’ were that big’, because my ass marched to Wal-Mart and grabbed the two largest bottles of Raid I could find, along with rubber gloves and the little roach motel things to kill the smaller ones.  I sprayed the apartment so much, I’m pretty sure I have neurological damage from it all! This whole situation sounds funny, but I have to say…I cried a little.  Bugs really gross me out and to see how many big, big fellas were under there…it was a bit much!  The leak was fixed by this teacher at the school who I’ve come to call Mr. Helpful because he helps with everything.  (Thank goodness!) 
 
The fact that he’s been telling me another teacher is coming next month, ‘Maybe…Probably at the end of next month.’ is annoying!  He’s been saying this phrase since the middle of February and it’s now almost June and I’m still the only foreign teacher!  I’m doing all of the lesson plans, scheduling and post-class reviews for 11 different classes that includes 5 different language levels.  It’s a lot for two people, let alone just me and now he’s trying to add times during the summer months because of the children’s summer break…so, Ugh!

My Contract: I’ll break it down for you, my contract has me working 6 days at 7hrs each day,  my weekdays Tues-Fri at 2pm-9pm, on the weekends I work 8a-11:30, 2p-5p, 6p-9p (aka I work 9.5-10 hrs).  This is called OT hours to most of the foreign expert population in China and they get paid…Well, I’ve been told to add it up and they’ll pay me or I’ll get vacation time.  However, now that I’m 4 months in, I haven’t been paid and I haven’t had but the holiday times off.  I’ve now accumulated about 12 days off of OT hours.  Sunday, I had a discussion with him regarding the new schedule for the summer. Because he told my assistant that we’ll be adding in two more classes Tues-Fri during the day because of the break times for school.  This now is time that I would be doing lesson plans, reviewing different activities, doing post-class reviews on students and generally get ready for the next weeks classes. But adding in two more classes during the time I’d be doing this would basically require me to come in during the morning, again accumulating more OT hours… I do not want to work in the mornings, I wouldn’t have a life!  I wouldn’t get to explore, I wouldn’t get to do anything but sleep and work…thus basically making me become a
workaholic!  
 
The photo is of the new schedule, where Van wrote all over it.  Saying different things like,’ excellent, brilliant teachers have anywhere from 80-110 students at a time, okay teachers have 70 students’, ‘you work over time and you’ll get 8-10 days holiday at the end of the summer’, ‘each student must come twice a week to get enough to cover the schools costs’, ‘we all must work really hard to get students to stay’ (like I haven’t been or something!?!) Then the blackmail quote that I had to laugh at and I literally called him CRAZY to his face, because let’s face it, he is!  ‘If we don’t get enough students and the schedule stays the same the teachers would only make from 6000-8000 RMB’ During the middle of this conversation, I basically stopped talking because I was so pissed off!  I didn't want to say something that I'd get myself into trouble for.  

And 8 more months of contract, living like I’m camping…and not the fun, ‘let’s go out and roast some marshmallows’ kinda camping.  The, ‘Holy crap! I think I just saw a bear over there, let’s stash the toothpaste in the car so he doesn’t mall us’ kinda camping!  

After the week I’ve had, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m SOOO not living in Wenzhou for another year and old homes in general are out of the question!  I get some time off in June for the Dragon Boat holiday and I think a trip to Shanghai is in order.  My friend Mrin said that of all the cities in the world that she’s visited, and that’s been a lot, her favorite is Shanghai.  So, I’m going to check it out, see if I like it and start preparing my resumes for a new job in hospitality, Mrin said it’s pretty straight forward to get out of the contract and find a new job…so the search begins…where I can hopefully get a good paying job that will allow me to rent a clean place with no bugs allowed and a boss that doesn’t try to get you to do illegal things and blackmail you into working to death! 

But the one funny thing that did happen this week…went out with friends and saw a toddler at a dance club. All that came to mind was a quote from Sweet Home Alabama, ‘Look at you, you have a baby… in a bar.’  Child abuse much!  Where were her parents you may ask, ohh they were holding her up on the stage, trying to get her to dance with them!  Crazy Chinese! 

It's also going to be really hot and muggy again this week...yippee!!