I arrived in China safe and sound.

I left Bangkok,Thailand Wednesday night and arrived in Shanghai on Thursday February 28th after spending the night at Hong Kong airport. My stop over was nearly 9 hours. Hong Kong airport is very impressive. If I had a long stopover again this is the place. They have comfortable cushioned chairs and also I discovered sleeper chairs where one can sleep. It is a huge multilevel airport but it is well labeled so it isn't difficult to find your way around.

At the airport I discovered the bag I had sent directly had not arrived. They forgot to put it on the connecting flight in the morning. The young man at the lost baggage counter tried to tell me "Don't worry it will come." I let him know I hear him but that is not acceptable with me. So they had me file claim papers and promised to have it delivered to Gateway Language Village which on the bus took me over 4 hours to get to. It was delivered the next day. I let the young man know that I used to be a travel agent and was not going to wait two hours at the airport for my luggage.

I was so happy Sandra Lee had written instructions in English and Chinese for me to catch the bus. An older woman from Denmark(later learned she is 58 yrs old) heard me say I was going to Hangzhou so asked if she could go with me. She had been in China every year for the last four years,but didn't speak the language. She was no help although she had been to Hangzhou before. Without Sandra's specific instructions we would not have made it to Hangzhou.

Fortunately for her and me when we got to Hangzhou we met a young man from Pennsylvania who teaches English in Korea,but loves Hangzhou,and returned and had reservations at a hostel near West Lake. The lady from Denmark had not made any reservations anywhere, but said that she had stayed at one of the hostels before.

There is a shortage of taxis(I didn't know this,but wondered why they didn't stop when we flaged them). The boy from Pennsylvania got one and we all hopped in. The lady from Denmark said she will go with the boy. After dropping them off at the hostel near West Lake(Hangzhou is famous for its' West Lake...there are about 39 West Lakes.)after a price was negociated the taxi man took me to Xiaoshan about an hour away from Hangzhou where GLV (Gateway Language Village school) is located.

Taxi's like to take short cuts,but the short cut he tried to take was being used by heavy equippment trucks due to many new developments so the road was full of ruts and very bad. After swearing something he had to turn around before continuing. Sandra did mention that GLV was inside a hotel/amusement park complex so I will see a huge ferriswheel and a hotel with a face of a huge Egyptian Sphynx(spl). As soon as I saw them I knew I was on the right path.

The school is in a hotel. They rent the space. Before Sandra Lee came to China seven years ago to work at GLV in Zhuhai,China we both worked in the same department at Child & Family Service,a non profit social service organization on Kauai. She had a masters degree in Social Work and was our team leader. Lorna Santos,formerly Lorna Shimada of Waimea,was the other member of our team.

Sandra was asked to get this new branch ready to house the staff and students as well as countless other tasks and also teaches classes in English. She used to manage bed and breakfasts on Kauai and is very good at this. Therefore I have a lovely apartment to stay in. It is beautifully done with a beautiful view of a lake out my window. I feel so privileged and lucky to be here. I Thank God for all his many blessings.

I will write next time about the school and its' many extraordinary people.

Aloha Nui Loa.....Joanne