Exit Strategy

Here's the plan.

Tomorrow I will wake up at 4:00 am (which is 5:00 pm in Shekou).  I will shower, pack my toiletries and head of to KCI.  After checking 3 bags through to Hong Kong, I'll settle in for some coffee with my folks and most likely, think of all of the things that I have forgotten or left undone.   

(Just a thought- Have you thought about how horrible an airport KCI is when you have to say goodbye to people.  You have your tearful goodbye, you muster enough courage to get through security and then turn the corner to see through the glass panels the people you just tearfully left... agony!)

I have a three hour layover in Chicago (long enough to find a Cinnabon) and then board a plane to Hong Kong.  I have NO EARTHLY IDEA how long the flight is and to be honest I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!  I plan to sleep as much as physically possible without getting blood clots in my legs. I will land in Hong Kong around 5:10 pm on the 1st.

From the airport I will catch a ferry to Shekou where I will finally be reunited with my three suitcases and at long last meet my 'buddy' Claire, a co-worker at SIS. The school's driver will be there to take me to the hotel that I will stay in for a few days while I find an apartment. That evening I will get settled in and catch dinner with Claire. 

Then the real fun of reviving from jet-lag, finding an apartment, furnishing it, prepping for five new classes, meeting new co-workers, learning a new grading system, preparing a classroom and finding my way around begins... In China.

Or at least, this is the plan.  Let's see how well this exit strategy works.