I sat next to a middle-school girl for the flight between Vancouver and China and she was very cute. I bravely did not cry as I rewatched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II on my little screen so I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of her. Just kidding! I cried about eighteen times haHA! I also watched “The Day the Earth Stood Still” which was not only a magnificent example of convergent evolution, but also got “Science Fiction Double Feature” stuck in my head. I liked it though. And then, as you can imagine, watching Lady and the Tramp in Spanish was the only possible solution for my next movie. The girl next to me also decided it was a good idea to watch Lady and the Tramp. But the flight was sooooo long.
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| In the airport with Tiktaalik and the Bog |
And when I arrived in Beijing, after the airplane sank through the dense yellow fog, I had to clear immigration, pick up my checked back and go through customs, re-check it, go through a security line, and find my gate in an hour and a half. I was overjoyed when I made it to my gate just in time and had a second to buy some TCBY strawberry frozen yoghurt in a dish and eat that to cool off and calm down. Although the Beijing airport repeats everything in English, they usually give more extensive and frequent announcements in Chinese and then add something in English as an afterthought, so be prepared for that if you ever fly through.
We sat on the tarmac for an HOUR once I was on the plane to Haikou, but China Air had good service and they gave us water to drink while we waited. By that point, I thought I would have to throw up from exhaustion. The man next to me on that flight was very kind – he has a pet turtle and his daughter also dances, so we had a lot to talk about – and he also made sure that I got picked up by someone at the airport before heading off to his hotel.
The someone at the airport that picked my up was “Jesse,” a volunteer for Sea Turtles 911. He was holding up a neon green ST911 shirt like a beacon of light that made me feel much better. We took a cab into the city (terrifying) and it poured harder than I’ve ever seen it rain in my LIFE! The city is full of flashes, honks, and pounding music at night and most of the stores are open in the front. Electric bikes and scooters motor all over the place, and in some places people just drive their bikes right into the hotels or restaurants.
I had dinner with Jesse at a tiny restaurant, which was very tasty, and then we scurried back through the storm to my hotel to find the organization’s director standing there next to a lime green bucket with a teeny tiny sea turtle in it. I should have insisted on going to bed when he asked if I was jet-lagged, but he wanted to talk to me about my plans so I went to get tea with him and another volunteer who took notes on our conversation. He’s an intense person and the extensive interview was way too much for me after twenty four hours of travelling with minimal sleep.
The first night went bad. I was freaking out and my room didn’t even have a window so it was one of the most disorienting nights of my life.
The second day went much better, although I was still exhausted. Jesse took me to get a go phone and run some other errands, and then we met the director and another volunteer for hot pot lunch. It was so tasty! I also visited Hainan Normal University and met one of the professors and some of the turtles. It feels good to be around people who share my passion for conservation and are also patient with and encouraging of my Chinese.
On the way back to my hotel, Jesse treated me to a pineapple on a sick situation from the street. The seller pulled one out of a jar, dipped it in water, and put plastic over it. I was dubious at best, but when I bit into it, the sweet, juicy flavor overcame my mouth with bliss. Jesse got me a new room on the seventh floor, which is approximately eighty-five times nicer because it has a window and a great view. Then I went to sleep around five pm. It’s almost five am now, and I can hear roosters crowing from down below. The honking has quieted down though.
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| A nicer view of the city! |
I want to thank everyone who has been supportive and kind to me in the last seventy-two hours, because I really really needed it.
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