departure

I didn't sleep the night before my flight. I like to think it was because I was acclimating myself to the Beijing time zone but the reality is that I'd procrastinated all my packing to the last minute. I used my last hours wisely though and when the town car rolled up at 6:30am my luggage and I were ready. Because I'd packed 2 suitcases I decided to put my laptop in a backpack -- making my hand luggage actually hands-free luggage. At SeaTac I learned I'd been selected for extra security screening -- not unexpected since I was traveling on a one-way international ticket. Fortunately the whole process was more like V.I.P. service -- they treated me to my very own security line where there was zero wait time and the required pat-down was the only negative (actually a positive if you're familiar with studies indicating that human contact improves overall happiness). Once at the gate they paged me to confirm I'd gone through the required screening and as a thank you they upgraded me to an exit row seat. I wish I could be selected for extra screening every time!

After the 40 minute hop to Vancouver I decided to load up on my western foods while I still could. An A&W Papa Burger and two Tim Horton's donuts later I was deeply satisfied. I was disappointed to find that the plane was an older model 747 which meant no individual screens and the seats were so worn they offered less support than a bag of dung. The young lady in the seat next to me offered me a stick of gum and we got to talking; she grew up in Eastern Washington and has been teaching English for the past 5.5 years in a “small” town (half-million people) called "WooHan". For some reason I could not remember the name of the town and she repeatedly corrected me as I kept calling it the wrong thing... including (but not limited to):
JohnLong
JungLang
YoungLan
YoungHan

That last one I'd even created a memory mechanism for – it was like “young Rayhan but without the "Ray" -- causing this incorrect version to be even more pronounced in my head. Eventually I recalled the Busta Rhymes song where he exclaims "Woo! ha!" and that helped. I was shocked to learn Becky makes 4000 RMB (about $550) per month and still lives comfortably. Anyways I was very excited when she told me there is a store in China called Metro that is exactly like Costco!

After collecting my bags I found the driver holding a Microsoft sign with my name on it. He seemed like he was in a rush and literally drove [his minivan] like a race car driver – pulling maneuvers I would only ever try in a video game.

When we arrived at the office I went up to the reception where security was sitting. Their English wasn't so good so I gave a name of someone to contact. They dialed her phone and handed it to me. She told me I wasn't supposed to arrive until tomorrow but I corrected her – weird because she was actually the one who had arranged for the driver for that day. In any case, she called the cleaner who met me and took me to my apt. I looked around the place and verified that the numerous roach traps were doing their job. I was exhausted but it was only 6:30pm so I watched the Weatherman DVD Zameer had given me. At 9pm I passed out.