I promise I'll get better at this sort of thing...

Not the greatest of photos, but this is the airspace while flying over the grand pacific ocean. I actually really, really enjoyed the flight to Japan from Detroit. I had just finished school on Sunday, packed Monday/Tuesday, came back to school for a little, finished my Grad App, hung out with friends, and then Friday morning, was on a plane, so there wasnt a whole lot of time to savor being done with school and to relax. So a 12 hour flight where I could sit, read, sleep, and watch Arrested Development was a welcome change of pace. Plus there was an empty seat next to me on the way there, which made it all the more comfortable (thanks mom!)

This is our decent into Japan. I still cant figure out what all those segments of land are. I thought they were grass when descending, but the closer I got, the more barren they looked, and the more they looked like they were made of rubber. Maybe there were rubber farmers? I keed, I keed.

So this was the first exciting thing that happened. We landed in Japan, and then we pulled in towards the terminal where we would start getting off the plane. However, when we got there, the pilot comes on the intercom and says "Sup Passan-Jarz!" (didnt happen, but thought id spice it up. Anyway). "We are currently pulling into the terminal, and I have been instructed to seal off the aircraft. So please pull down your window covers." Strange, never had that happen before...

So at this point, we have all pulled down the  window covers so no one can see out of the plane. Then, just like in the movie E.T., people with complete biohazard suits come on the plane and treat us like we are all potentially inflected (someone say, swine flu?). They didnt have the cheap face masks either other passengers had on the plane. They had full-on, 3M dual valve masks and goggles, to boot. It was so, so bizarre. This was the closet I have ever felt to being a leper. They were coming around and checking if anyone was sick or somehow noticeably infected. I was scared to even cough. For every tickle in my chest, I had to wait until it was safe to let a little "eh eh" out. They even had infrared cameras to check people's temperatures, so you could only hide so much. They gave people red dots who were to report to quarantine after everyone was let off the plane, and luckily, I didnt have to go to quarantine (yet!).

So no problems yet. Got off the plane from Japan, and boarded the plane for Shanghai after a small relay. On the plane to china, we had to fill out customs sheets regarding where we staying etc., and it also had the questions "Have you been in contact with anyone who had influenza in the last week" and "Have you had contact with swine in the last week." Both those were no, so I checked the "no" box. I need to preface this with me being very groggy and irritable at this point in the flight because I had been more or less awake for 16 hours and the baby behind me was doing a marathon cry session for the flight to china, so I cant be confident that I could properly check a yes/no box. 

When we landed and got to the last line of immigration checks in the airport, where we had to give our customs sheets to the officers there. I handed them my sheet, and by observing everyone else's interaction with the officers, expected him to look at the sheet, look at my passport, and then let me by. However, he looked at my sheet, looked at me, looked down at my sheet, turned to his left and spoke something in chinese to the officer next to him, then turned the sheet around so I could read it and pointed to the yes/no questions and said "Are you sure you were in contact with someone who had influenza?" I looked closer and saw I said yes to the question. "Shit" I thought to myself. "No, no. I meant to put no for that box. I was tired when I filled that out. I meant to put no. I havent been near anyone with the flu." Not even sure why he asked me the question because he again conferred with the officer next to him in chinese, and then told me I have to go to quarantine. "Double Shit!!!" I thought.

Sleep depravation and knowing you have to go to quarantine does not equal a fun time. I didnt give the possibility of getting sent back to the U.S. a chance before, but now its odds have increased. So I went into quarantine, which was just a small room with a bed and a chinese official. I could make this part of the trip seem extremely over dramatic, but it began with him taking all my information, passport number, etc., and then ask if I had been in contact with someone who had influenza. It was useless me saying I made a mistake filling out the questionnaire, but still tried it anyway. They took my temperature after 10 minutes, said I was ok, and let me on my way, so no deportation! Hurrah!

I finally made it out of the airport, and started to document the beginning of my chinese adventure, starting with the photo below of the hotel outside the airport where our pickup was at. 

This is the group of kids who arrived with my on my flight as we waited to get picked up.

So we drove ~30 minutes from the airport to the University, which was around 11:30 pm there time, but I think it was closer to 6 am our time. Actually I have no idea what time it was in comparison to back home because I think we are actually a day ahead, but needless to say, I was extremely disoriented and hit the hay right when I got to the university.