Sleepover at the Beijing Airport!
Stuck for two and a half days at the Beijing Airport.... the food was delicious and the company was great! We said we wished we could stay longer and enjoy more Chinese food, but we didn't mean it literally!
Sunday January 3rd, we packed up early, had tea with Alice, and made our way to the Airport. To our surprise, the night before it had snowed a few inches, which in fact, was the most snow Beijing has had in over fifty years. We made it to the airport after having several difficulties on the subway. Basically, the doors were frozen shut when we arrived at the airport and someone had to pry them open with a hammer! It was quite an unique experience!
Stuck on the subway. Laura and I listening to Bob Marley's song "Don't worry about a thing" while the subway went back and forth on the tracks.
Jenni with her angry eyes trying to focus on the basketball game on the TV instead of getting frustrated.
Man sweeping the snow with a broom! There weren't any snow plows in Beijing.
After arriving at the airport, we found out that all the flights going out of Beijing Airport were canceled for the day. It was hard trying to figure out what to do next, especially, with the language barrier. We were told to go to many different lines and every time we reached the people at the counter, they would direct us to another line. Actually, throughout all of this wandering around aimlessly, we made a number of friends whom we kept connecting with sharing new information. In a really special way, that is the beauty of having difficulties like this, because strangers can come together, lend a hand, offer kind words, and work things out. :-) That was kind of fun!
"Are you serious!?!"
Finally, after getting a ticket for an early flight, we ate a scrumptious dinner~ I love Chinese food~ and made our camp in a "less crowded" area near the bathrooms. It was quite hilarious, but at least we were more comfortable. Many people would literally pause mid step to stare at at such strange, western girls sprawled out on the floor. Ha! Children would wander our direction to get a better look. It made a lot of people laugh! If only we had a video camera set up! We felt as if we were living there like Tom Hanks in the movie, "The Terminal."
Making the most of waiting in line by cracking jokes and jamming to music.
Our setup on the airport floor next to the women's bathroom.
To keep ourselves occupied, we started reading the book, "Precious" out loud together (thank you, Kristin for sending it to me!). It was perfect to share and talk about as a group. I love the way it's written and it's a great story. We all were emotional together and it made our situation of being stuck in a foreign country, much more bearable. Precious Jones, you are very precious.
Poor Laura! That isn't face lotion, it's face wash!
On the morning of Monday January 4th, planes started to go out again, yet, China Southern didn't have a plane available for us. This was the day we were all supposed to be back in South Korea teaching! Yikes! People were outraged at the situation. The China Southern boarding crew was surrounded by people who were telling them off left and right! Everything was in uproar! People had work obligations, family emergencies, one man's wife was going to have surgery that day ... it was awful! I even felt bad for the China Southern workers, because they were at the bottom of the chain and had no idea what was going on yet they were taking all the beating! Thankfully, we found an English speaker who could translate. It was sad, because there were other non-English speaking foreigners who were at a loss at what was going on and had no one to translate. This situation ended up on the news! Whew... even our bosses in South Korea saw what was happening. I think I heard it was broadcast over in the US, as well.
In the end, we were given a hotel room for the night and thankfully, a flight directly to Seoul the morning of January 5th. After a four hour bus trip, we were back at our home base in Gwangju. Our bosses were happy we were back and our heads were still whirling from the exhilarating and totally worthwhile trip!
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