I heard one man in the airport security line ask in a stage whisper why it was that one passenger was allowed so much extra luggage.
“I don't know,” his traveling companion replied. “Maybe she thinks that she is special.”
Their faces showed upset and anger. I decided to confront them to lighten their mood.
“I'm moving to China for a year, so I had to break the rules to accommodate all that was coming with me,” I said with a friendly smile.
“Oh!” they replied.
“That really is different,” one of them said.
Suddenly, all the other passengers around me began to smile and they assisted me by pushing and prodding me along toward the line in the Dulles International Airport, the start of my three-day journey to Liyang City.
I thought about the many other times that I had been similarly judgmental in lines in airports. Not all rule breakers live their lives in the law breaker lane. Sometimes we just have to switch lanes when necessary.
My trip had already been made easier by angels along the way, including my two kids. The next angel came in the form of a very kind TSA agent who actually helped me instead of scolding me for all my carry-on luggage.
And the next agent guided me to go through the body screen, the new kind that shows your entire person. I was feeling a little exposed.
I was so flustered by the thought of what he might see that when he asked me if I had anything in my pockets that would set off the monitor, I just smiled and said, “I really don't know - shall we find out?”
This response was not something he had heard before, and his blank, serious police face broke into a big smile. and he started to howl with laughter.
I always appreciate a good belly laugh, and we both doubled over for a moment of mirth.
“Okay!” he said. “Let's have a look!”
The flight to L.A. had yet another angel on board, this time in the form of a flight attendant. I ordered breakfast and handed over some dollar bills, only to be told that cash was not an acceptable form of payment. Since I didn't have a credit card, I simply handed the sandwich back to the attendant and thanked her for the effort.
About a half an hour later, another attendant arrived with a hot sandwich, letting me know that it was a gift from a flight attendant who didn't believe it was fair that cash was unacceptable.
“We don't want you to starve,” said this kind man.
The world is full of wonderful people when we are open to meeting them. I've never understood the folks who travel and complain about all the mean ones. There really are so few curmudgeons in this world.
More often, one finds kind people who are empathetic to one another everywhere we go.
* * *
Once in Los Angeles, I got a glimpse of my next airplane through the window just prior to boarding. It was owned by a company whose name I did not recognize.
The attendant near me must have seen the look on my face and said, without prompting, “This is a United staff, but we are using another carrier's aircraft.”
No kidding.
This plane from the 1990s frankly looked like an albatross that might not be able to lift itself into the air. Truly. Every single one of the 452 seats was packed.
As we took off, the elderly Chinese couple next to me wished to get acquainted. They were visiting the L.A. area for the past six months as their son had produced their second grandchild. Their Visa expired, they were required to return home.
The man was a retired Chinese teacher who also spoke enough English to haltingly tell me a little of his personal history. We spoke about our mutual memories of when President Richard Nixon visited China in 1971 and the changes that came as a result of that visit.
He told me that I would receive a great deal of respect in China, first because I was an American who was willing to work and live there among its peoples and, secondly, because I am an older person who is here to help others. He also mentioned that being a teacher was one of the more revered occupations within the culture.
I wish I could remember the name he told me that my students would call me behind my back in Chinese. It had a comical sound to it, a kind of rhyme. It means “tall, redheaded person.”
He mentioned that in Chinese cartoons if a person was being characterized as a silly person, they are often drawn with red hair. This made me laugh heartily.
Clearly I will fit the bill.
* * *
“Welcome to China,” said “Jim,” my supervisor at the Shane English School, when he met me at the airport in Shanghai, home to 23 million people. I've never seen a bigger city.
About halfway through the two-hour journey to Liyang City, we stopped for dinner along a rest stop off the highway. As we walked into the building, I was able to see the kitchen. By Chinese standards, I imagine it was pretty clean; by Western standards, it clearly would not pass an inspection.
When I sat down at the table, I could see dried food on the rice bowl in front of me. Jim got hot chrysanthemum tea for all of us. The rule book of what to eat and what not to eat had to be thrown out, or I would offend my host. If I had been traveling alone, I would have ordered a drink that came in a sealed bottle.
Oh, how I tried to enjoy the fabulous taste of these delicious foods, but I secretly worried about how polluted the lake might be. Jim had ordered the meal especially for me, and I simply could not refuse it.
We started with bamboo shoots that were cooked in a sweet sauce and served with peanuts. Next came rice with cooked egg beside it, with a big dish of bok choy and mushrooms. Next, a huge bowl of hot soup arrived, thickened with some kind of arrowroot. In it were strips of silver fish, a white fish available only in this region of China.
The food kept coming. Next came pork knuckles, then a tomato-and-egg dish with a sauce and, finally, a tofu dish.
As it ended up, the food was just fine, and my stomach has been happily fed with no nasty after effects. I've learned not to worry, simple be cautious and careful and then enjoy the meal and let the worry go.
* * *
After another hour's drive, I was brought to a local hotel, as my apartment would not be ready until the following morning. Mr. B, the man who owns my school franchise, was there to greet me. (Can you imagine the owner of your company showing up at a hotel at midnight to greet the new teacher?)
The young driver, Jim, and Mr. B all helped bring my luggage up to my room. It was rather strange to have three men helping me so that I didn't have to carry anything at all. These men were all small, 5-feet-6 or shorter, and they were wrangling with my suitcases that clearly weighed almost as much as they did. The four of us squeezed into a tiny elevator with all four of my bags. It took us up five floors.
The next morning, after a blissful sleep, Jim arrived, followed by two women. Kylie, 23, a teacher's assistant, speaks accomplished English. The other, Miss Fey, the school administrator, is around 35 and petite with a kind smile. Her English is passable, but her large heart easily makes up for what I don't understand; she had already stocked my refrigerator with some bread, milk, and chocolate.
They brought me to my apartment just around the corner, and once again, I was not allowed to carry any of my bags - and I live on the fifth floor in a building with no elevator. These kind and brave people hauled this heavy luggage up to my apartment, which is incredibly well designed, spacious, and high end for Chinese culture.
I have a tiny kitchen and two bedrooms. Surprisingly, I have a queen-sized bed. The other room has a twin bed in it. Apparently when you move, you take your mattress with you, so I'm saving some money to buy one. Until then it's a little like camping out on a hard shelter floor. I sleep on top of a very hard box spring.
The windows look out to the sun porch. The bedroom also came equipped with a 1990s desktop computer and an HD television. I get only one station, but it's interesting to watch.
My guest bedroom has a built-in desk and a large twin bed and more storage space. The door at the end leads to the sun porch. Almost all the doors in the apartment are pocket doors. This saves space and keeps the air moving.
Through the door of the guest bedroom, one comes to a long tiled area with a washing machine and racks high in the air for drying one's clothing. It is very, very hot out there, and the humidity is about 70 percent, so it will take a long time for things to dry.
The other end of the sun porch also has a built-in desk. When it gets cold this winter, I'm sure I will enjoy this southern exposure with a hot cup of chrysanthemum tea and a good book.
* * *
The Shane English School occupies the third floor of a building within a 10-minute walk. The school was in session. I was able to visit my desk, my classrooms, and the teacher's area, which are loaded with curriculum materials, DVDs, photographs, flash cards, and lots of books.
The school has many branches all over Asia, Poland, Taiwan, and England (where it teaches immigrants), but this location has only been open for a year.
The school is looking to expand, and its management hopes that the unusual skills I bring will help build the student population. I will work only 15 hours per week the first few weeks so that I can learn more about where I am living, and I will have the time to settle in and write lesson plans.
As more students come to the school, I will increase to no more than 25 teaching hours per week. There will also be office hours and prep time in there, but I don't get the impression I'll ever feel overworked.
I will have a special class with two people from a local company who want to learn business English. They hope these two students will bring more people from their companies if they are pleased with what I provide.
I will also be doing a one-on-one tutorial with a 16-year-old boy who will be going to boarding school in Canada in January. I will also have a class of young children, 4-to-6-year-olds who are new to English (heck - they are pretty new to Chinese, too); a class of 7-to-14-year-olds; and another group of 7-to-9-year-olds who are less experienced with English, though all these kids learn it at school every day.
* * *
By 3 p.m., Jim decided that we should go take a walk in the park next to the river and that then I could go home and unpack my bags.
It was a very pleasant walk along very crowded streets. A big bicycle path runs beside all the roads for the many walkers and bikers, protected from the cars by cement barricades.
In the park, we strolled through a small library built in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.). This was the very center of the city in its earliest days over 1,000 years ago.
The river surrounding the area was used as a defense for the city. Jim told me that as a boy, he was often sent by his family to the river to get their drinking water. The steps that are built along its banks have been used for 1,000 years to wash clothing, gather water, and to fish for supper.
Now the water is too polluted to be used for anything other than transportation. I'm told goods are floated along this river to the cities east and west. While I didn't see anyone washing clothing, several people did bring their mop water down the stairs to dump and to wash out their mop heads.
I also saw a grandmother squatting on the sidewalk in front of the park, holding a baby who was quite contentedly peeing on the sidewalk. I'm told the younger generation has put a stop to this practice, but everyone walking in the city stays away from any standing liquid.
Inside the park, plenty of people sat in groups. Elderly men were playing chess; elderly women, cards. Children were climbing ancient stones and a nearby ice cream stand was doing a steady business. Other people sold treasures laid out on blankets. Jim cautioned me about purchasing from any of these stands unless I had a local person with me.
“It is easy to see that some of the old coins are fakes,” he said, winking at me.
Within a half-hour taxi ride, I can visit a beautiful park which holds a home for panda bears in a large bamboo forest. It also has a big mountain with stairs and a cable car to the top.
Jim also suggested I start thinking about where I would like to visit on an upcoming eight-to-ten-day holiday. He suggested a city not too far from here that has a great deal of history and some wonderful museums.
“I will try to help you learn all the Chinese history you wish because I have a love for it too,” he said. “I can tell that you like to learn and that history pleases you.”
Indeed.