Kathy & Paul's Adventures Abroad

We were supposed to fly out of Nanaimo at six o’clock in the morning on September 1 so we got up at four thirty(Yawn!) and Marie and Joe drove us to the airport. However when we got there we were informed that the flight had been overbooked and that we would have to leave at seven thirty. We thought it would have been nice to know that the night before so we could have slept in longer but Air Canada did give us a voucher for two hundred dollars each which we can use anytime in the next year.  That made the waiting a little easier.

The flight to Vancouver is just fifteen minutes so we still had a lot of time to wait before our flight to Beijing at 12:00 noon. We got some breakfast at Tim Horton’s (they’re everywhere), and I was able to use my computer in the airport because they now have free wireless connection available. Paul was able to grab a little nap on one of the seats and at 12:00 we boarded the Air Canada flight to Beijing.

First we flew north over Alaska and then over Russia and then south to Beijing, so it was quite a long flight – eleven and a half hours. I guess considering we went half-way around the world that’s not so long!! We passed the time by watching movies and napping, and were served two meals on the way.

Because Beijing is fifteen hours ahead of Vancouver it was 2:30 in the afternoon when we arrived. I thought it was going to be a long process to get through customs and security but we were at the carousel looking for our luggage in a bout a half-hour. Outside the exit gates a representative from York Region Board of Education, Shaouling Shi, along with Crystal from the school were there to greet us and take us to the hotel attached to the school.

Beijing airport is a massive facility! In comparison to Toronto airport I would think it is twice if not three times the size. Our drive from the airport to the hotel was about forty minutes long since the school is located in the outskirts of the city.

So by 4:30 we had arrived at our final destination – Beijing Foreign Languages School ! It is a very large private school with a student population of 1200 students, most of whom board at the school. There are about 100 teachers and it accommodates students from pre-school to the  end of high school. It is so large that it has a hotel attached  where many of the staff  live.

Paul relaxing in the living room

Kitchen