9.03.2011

Shock and Awe........Our Arrival In China


We arrived at Quingdao Airport on August 13, 2011 and it has been a fast few weeks since we got here.

The trip its self was very fast, just an hour flight.
 One of the headmasters from the school met us at the airport and  took us back to Dongying.
Mr. Leo , not  to be confused with the other headmaster called Mr. Leo, was very helpful.


We were so blessed to have such a good flight. We had our dog, Chara, which could have made things really complicated. But our time at the quarantine office was very short. They looked at her, looked at our paperwork and then they let us go. Easy as pie. Note: We have heard that this is only easy when flying into Qingdao airport specifically.


 It was a three hour car ride from Qingdao to Dongying. Chara was very good and slept like a baby. On the way, we got to see some rural land of east China.

When we arrived at the school in Dongying, we were in for a surprise! It was not prepared at all for us coming. All the doors and windows were open. Everything was covered in dust and the bathrooms...oh the bathrooms! Pictures to come to tell that story. We cleaned for 4 hours before it was even close to being clean. When the headmaster dropped us off, he apologized and then took us to dinner.

We had dinner with both headmasters that evening. After dinner, the other Mr. Leo took us to the grocery store to buy a few things ie. cleaning supplies and dog food.

We were asking everyone about dog food hoping they would understand this simple English. Heather was acting out walking a dog, petting a dog, saying "Ruff!Ruff" and "Wong!Wong" (the Chinese way of mimicking a dog bark)
Nope! It looks like we're not in Korea anymore!

We quickly found out that gestures, as well don't work.

In a later conversation the headmaster told us, he thought we wanted Tofu!
He kept saying, "Tomorrow.Tomorrow. We come back tomorrow."

Finally one of the girls, with a stroke of genius, said "Ohhh! Dog Food!" (yes...that's what we've been saying!) and put her finger in the air ! Like "Ah ha!"

So we finally made it back to the dorms and the cleaning began again.....
Priority #1, learn Mandarin....

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