LAX --> PVG

Because I need to go through proxies to access my regular blog site, I have moved house for the time being.

Friday Aug. 22: Hello, I am currently at LAX’s Tom Bradley International Airport Gate 105’s waiting area. Waiting to board my plane from LAX --> PVG (Pudong, Shanghai, China) as evidenced from the title of this entry. Surreal that I’m going to be leaving the good old US of A for 10+ months. I’ve never been away for so long. I should treat it as if it were just a long vacation.

I am also low on lappie battery. And I’m too cheap to pay t-mobile to use their airport wifi. So this entry will be posted up onto the Internet (granted the Great Firewall of China does not block LJ, though from what I’m hearing from people already there, it is blocked.) when I’m in China. I’ve never been to China. This will be an interesting experience. I wonder if it will be everything people say it is, or whether it will be everything I think it is. And at this moment, I’m not entirely sure what I think about China. I’ve heard the horror stories and I’ve heard the stories of good fortune. People either seem to love or hate China. I hope I don’t hate it.

China Eastern’s gate is near a bunch of other asian airlines as well. We are currently next to Korean Air’s. They just put a broadcast out calling for final boarding and they are still looking for a passenger named Kim Ji Yong. But in reality, it sounds more like they are saying “Kimchee Ya!” The hilarity of this is ... hilarious. There is also a fat baby in the aisle next to and in front of mine. He is a fat baby. Huge face cheeks. I wonder if he is a product of the One Child Policy.

Ok lappie off for now.

Later on the plane...

I believe I am now a little bit more than halfway to Shanghai. As typical of international flights, they watered us and fed us about an hour into the flight. Then they started dimming the cabin lights as a subtle message to us that we should now sleep. I have a side aisle seat which makes bathroom breaks a lot easier.

A couple hours into the flight, a page comes over the intercom with the cabin crew requesting anyone with some medical knowledge to identify themselves to the crew as a passenger needed medical attention. This was a couple minutes after I had read an article in the airline’s (China Eastern) magazine about a cabin member performing CPR and saving the life of a passenger who had suddenly become unconscious. Turns out that fat baby mentioned earlier in this entry kept crying and crying. I know this because I am a few rows behind the family. A guy (I presume a doctor of some sort) and then later on two more guys (I am assuming more doctors) determined that the baby was having a stomach problem and since he is too young to say exactly what is wrong, he just kept crying. So as typical of Chinese people everyone wanted to know what was going on and a few middle aged - elderly women offered their advice on how to make him stop crying. Flight crew was also all gathered around offering things. So far, fat baby with stomachache has been more interesting than turbulence.

Ok I take it back. A flight video just came on right now as I was typing of the flight crew teaching passengers how to loosen up our muscles. Such effective movements like: rolling head/neck in a circle, using arms to pull head to the side (and now the other side!), place hands into prayer-hands and then open and close them in a clapping style, place hands into Buddhist prayer style and raise to the sky, and half of the Macarena (I made the names up, but it’s descriptive!). And other great movements. The best part? Half of the passengers are doing the movements. I was typing the movements as they came onto the screen and when they got to the Buddhist prayer to the sky movement, I looked up after typing it out and I think all of the Chinese women in my section had their hands in the air. Now, more and more people are joining in on the exercises. This kinda reminds me of when I see crowds of old Chinese people on TV doing synchronized exercises in a town square. LOL! Now there is a movement that is a bit like cross your legs, raise your arm up and over your head and twist. I think I will call it, the be-a-hussie move. One thing I don’t understand though, is why they show the flight crew demonstrating the move, and then will show plain clothed people (flight crew in disguise) in a park doing the same movements. Are they telling me that these exercises are not limited to the flight crew but that I, as a regular person can be successful in muscle loosening as well? What a great collectivist society!

Since this is my first time to China, this is also my first time on a flight with the majority being Mainlanders. So it’s interesting to observe and hear all the different dialects going on around me. Also, I have never seen so many people wanting to buy duty-free goods. Seriously, when a flight attendant came down my aisle about 6 people around me immediately called out to her saying they wanted to order some duty-free. She had to make multiple trips to get the products and the monetary change. In addition, as we were at the waiting area back at LAX, they wheeled a shopping cart in and called out names for people to pick up their previously ordered duty-free products. I am assuming the Mainlanders are bringing these luxury goods back for people. Since it is a bit cheaper and it’s duty-free.

I brb. I have about an hour until I land and I need to fill out a form to let the Chinese government know that I am a US citizen. 13-14 hour flight almost over! Maybe I’ll read until I get there. Yup, getting ahead in class already!