Flight plan and arrival in China!

Salutations from China! I have arrived safe and sound and am taking in the grandeur of everything.  My flights went smoothly with a couple of delays, my first flight out of Medford was delayed because of the fog in San Fran, so I was wait listed for an earlier flight because I was flying internationally and they were worried that I would miss my China connection.  I was able to get on the earlier flight to San Fran and made it with 10 minutes to spare before I boarded the plane for Hong Kong.  I have never been on a plane that big before and I couldnt believe the amount of people that could fit onto it.  Also to top things off, there was a school group on the plane with us that were going back home to China, so we were surrounded by middle school aged kids who were quite the chatter boxes the entire flight.  The students behind me were constantly kicking the back of my seat and the one to my left was playing a game on his phone and he was trying to get whatever it was to move faster and smacked me in the face a time or two.  It was a very long flight, but for the most part it went quickly with the distractions of movies, books and sleep. 
Once we landed in Hong Kong it seemed to be a mad dash off the plane and now I know why.  Once you arrive you don't just proceed to the baggage claim, you make a run for the document station where you wait to show the government officials your passport and receive various stamps and documents to fill out.  The airport was huge and I had no idea where to go, so I followed the crowd and ended up on a train that took us to a whole other part of the airport where the document station is located.  Thank goodness I followed the right crowd or I would have ended up who knows where! Unlike the Medford airport where there is one baggage claim, in this one there are thirteen.  The doors that lead you into the baggage claim bring you right up to the first baggage claim and I was looking for number 13.  After a long walk, I retrieved my bags and headed to the arrival hall where I found the men holding signs with the school name and my name.  I met 15 other staff members who had just arrived, and we all chatted and waited for the cars to come so we could be on our way. 
Once we got in the car we had to fill out some paperwork and keep our passports with us because we had to give them to the police to register our being in Hong Kong.  A 45 minute drive and we were now at the border patrol to get into Shenzhen, and we had to fill out more paperwork in order to be allowed into this part of the country.  The police officers came up to each of us and held our passports to our face and scrutinized over whether we were the person in the photograph or not. Passing through the gates we were then stopped by more police who had us get out, empty our van, put our bags through security again and then allowed us to proceed into the city.
Another 45 minute drive and we got to the Meilin campus where we were escorted in and were introduced to all the staff members.  We then all ate pizza and had a staff meeting as to what to expect at our apartments and the following day.  I found out that I will be teaching at the Nanshan campus which is about half an hour away from the Meilin campus.  After the staff meeting, we loaded all our stuff onto a big van and went to the Nanshan school and got to walk around and see the classrooms.  The preschool classrooms all are covered from wall to wall with colorful decorations and fun toys.  Once I saw the classrooms I was able to take a deep breath and say to myself, "You can do this Jones."
My roommate, Elise, is not arriving for another few days, so I am staying with Ling a gal who works for the school in the admissions office.  Her apartment is so cute and bigger than I expected, I hope mine is similar when I get it.  The water in China is undrinkable even for the Chinese, so we all have jugs of water in our apartments to drink. Also, there are cockroaches everywhere! Walking down the street they were just hanging out scuttling around. 
Now that I have arrived and met my coworkers, I feel a whole lot better and confident that I can do this.  Later, we are going shopping to get what we need for our apartments, I will definitely be getting a foam pad for my bed, because my mattress is as hard as a piece of plywood, along with cockroach spray!

I am here safe and sound and appreciate all thoughts and prayers for continued safety and encouragement while I am here.

Ni hao and wanan from China!