It started as a faint idea 4 months ago,
My son had arrived to Teach in the same school as me, and I was looking forward to working with him and having some company for the first time in 6 years.
After he had been here nearly 1 month and was enjoying it, one evening we started discussing Teaching in other countries. A friend of mine had been telling me about China so we discussed that possibility and decided to test the water,
We put our CV’s out on the web, and BANG we were inundated with offers in one week.
We spent some time deleting the ones we were not interested in. Both of us had taught Children in the past and we were not keen to go down that path again. I was tired of teaching Children, and Dans experience in Thailand had scared him to death…50 Children in a class all aged between 4 and 6.
We spoke to a really nice guy who made us a great offer and we debated. It was high school ages, but after further questioning, he admitted there maybe around 40 children in a class. We declined.
Finally we settled on one and started the process.
We made a date of the 1st August for leaving Turkey.
This gave us some time to try and save, and to make sure everything would be in order for my small dog.
The school do refund flights etc, but not until you have worked for them for 3 months.
So the process began.
For a month we were sending scanned documents back and forwards by emails. Contracts arrived and were scrutinised. Everything was on track.
Then the school casually informed us that to get a work visa, we would have to return to our home country.
This was right out of the question. The cost and the time was not feasible.
I rang the Chinese Embassy here in Turkey and was assured that, providing the school in China, named Turkey on the top of the application papers, there would be no problem.
In the following weeks I phoned them on 4 separate occasions to keep checking that was still the case.
We had some work to do ourselves to get the visa.
We both had to have full medicals, which was not a cheap process. We had to make sure the dog had all her jabs up to date, including rabies, and also a Health Certificate for her. My Vet was an angel where all this was concerned.
There were forms coming every week via email for us to sign and photos to be added. Then they were sent back to be readjusted.
It was a good job we had allowed this time period.
As July drew nearer I started to get little panic sessions, but my son has a solid head on his shoulders, and was a great support. The problems I kept throwing up, he talked through and made them seem irrelevant.
Finally the Work permit papers and Invitation papers arrived by Fedex from China.
Believing now that this was finally happening, we found some very cheap flights to China, and decided to book them, as flights were increasing daily in price, as the time drew nearer to August 1st.
We booked a flight to Ankara to go to the Embassy,completely confident everything would be OK.
The early morning flight to Ankara saw us both excited and nervous. But we had checked and double checked with the Embassy website, and we had all the papers they required and even more.
Having never been to Ankara, we decided to take a taxi from the airport to the Centre. Big Mistake.
The taxi driver saw us coming, and took us on the ring road all around the outskirts of Ankara. My heart sunk lower and lower as I watched the meter climbing to ridiculous amounts, but there was nothing we could do, as we were on a main highway with nowhere to stop,
As soon as he turned off the highway into a built up area, I told him to stop, threw some money at him (Not the full amount of 250 lira on the meter) swore at him and we walked off.
Where to now! We were in Ankara somewhere, with not a clue how to get to the Embassy. We assumed the taxi had actually brought us to an area near the Embassy so started to walk. Asking a few people where it was, we eventually found it 1 hour later.
We handed our precious papers over, and our passports and Turkish residency books.
The girl checked everything and then made a phone call. She asked us to wait.
About 30 minutes later we were ushered into a small room.
They had a problem! I needed a paper from my present school to say I was working. This was not possible as I had no work visa. I spoke calmly to the man and told him, I am here on a long term tourist visa, as shown in our residency books. He would not budge. He said we would have to come back next week with the original document. I explained we had booked flights etc, and we brought everything that was on the website, and also that I had discussed this a few times direct with the Embassy, but he would not budge. He said, even if we came back the following week with the paper, they would not be able to process it for at least 5 days. Another 2 weeks!
We left the office and my legs buckled.
I sat a few minutes thinking, and then we made our way to find a café for food. I had one mouthful of my omelette.
We found our way back to the airport by bus, and had 4 hours to kill. We both just sat for a while in silence.
Then we started to talk about our options.
By now we had told our landlady we were leaving, and the “For Rent” sign was hanging from our balcony, we had handed our notice in, and some of my things had been sold, to be collected later.
The job thing was not a problem. We could have stayed and continued to work for them. I know they would have been pleased by that.
The apartment was a problem, as she had now let it for the 1st August.
So if we stayed another 2 weeks, we would lose a lot of money changing our flights, and be homeless.
Time to go home and re think.
Plan B
We were both very depressed and we could have given in I guess, but I have not struggled in Turkey alone for 5 years without learning some survival techniques.
So, after some calculations, it was decided that to lose the flights would be crazy, to change them, out of the question as our home had now been let again for the 1st August, so the decision was made to go. To use the tickets to get to Shanghai as planned, then to go onto Hong Kong, where we could get a Chinese Tourist Visa for 1 month, fairly easily.
The school were in agreement with this plan, and assured us once we were here on a tourist visa they could easily get it changed to a work visa. So I booked a cheap hotel online in Shanghai.
As UK Citizens we can stay in Shanghai on a 72 hour visitor’s visa. Our plan was to stay in a hotel in Shanghai, as we would arrive on a Friday (Nothing was open Embassy wise until the Monday) and then travel onto Hong Kong on Sunday.
I arranged an agent online who told us the visas could be done in one day.
If we had them there at 8.30 am Monday, he could return them at 1pm, at a large cost of course. But we needed to get this done quickly and get back to Shanghai, so we agreed.
So plan B consisted of:
Flight to Shanghai (as previously booked)
Drop dog into Shanghai Quarantine for 7 days. (Already planned)
Stay in a cheap hotel near the airport for 2 nights (Booked online)
Fly to Hong Kong Sunday afternoon (Booked online)
Hotel in Hong Kong for 1 night (Booked online)
Visa papers to agent at 8.30 am Monday morning.
Kick heels around Hong Kong until Monday afternoon
Find a way back to Shanghai
More expensive than our original plan, but do-able.
So after selling everything we possibly could in the apartment to raise any extra cash, we left Turkey in better spirits.
The flight from Adana to Shanghai is around 14 hours. A long time for a little dog, but I had faith that if she was with us, she would cope. She behaved wonderfully in every airport, and we did not have to confine her to her travel bag until we were boarding.
She stressed, but only I knew this, in so much as she would not drink any water and slept and slept. We sneaked her in between us on the seats in the plane, when the lights went down. As soon as we arrived in Shanghai, I opened her box and she walked through the airport with us, tail wagging.
Shanghai Airport was a pleasant surprise. Large and modern, with great signs to direct you.
Arriving at the customs area, I found an Officer and told her we had a dog with us. We were then fast tracked to the front of the Immigration queue for the visa. The Immigration officers were polite but non talkative, and in a few minutes we had our 72 hour visa stamp.
Then the Agricultural Customs Officer showed us the way to her Department. The Vet on duty was very helpful and polite. It took around 10 minutes to book my little girl in and then she was gone. And I was left with 3 slips of paper that said to collect her in 7 days.
This was a relief actually as we had some awkward travelling to do, and to take her to Hong Kong was impossible.
Tired and very weary, we went to the nearest Money exchange booth, who informed us they didn’t change Turkish Lira. Bit of a blow, but we had a little English money which we changed for Chinese Yuan, imagining we could get a currency exchange in Shanghai City later that day.
Leaving Shanghai Airport you are accosted by all the usual touts.
We took one of the touts’ taxis and within 10 minutes pulled up at a very strange looking motel type building in the middle of nowhere. Nothing like the ad on Booking.com!
The rooms were filthy. Sticky dirty carpets, but the beds were clean. We left a bit of Coffee in a cup overnight, which attracted Cock Roaches!
The Hotel kept asking for payment and we told them we needed to change money first.
Showered and changed and really not wanting to move at all after travelling for nearly 1 day, we made our way to a bus stop to go into the City Centre. The bus driver would not accept the note we had, so he let us travel for free and dropped us at the Metro. We learnt the ticket system, and caught a train, with no idea where to get off. I suggested we get off when a large amount of people did, as it should mean a busy area. We found ourselves in the centre, near Peoples Square, and started the hunt for an exchange office. It was now 8.30 pm and we asked some Australian Tourists, who told us most big Hotels would change money. We tried 3, only to be told on the third attempt, that no one in China would accept Turkish Lira! Great. All our money was in Lira. We grabbed a cheap bite to eat, and so tired we could not think anymore, headed back to the hotel. It was 10pm now.
Again we managed the Metro, and actually felt a little pleased with ourselves. Then suddenly the Metro stopped, nowhere near where we wanted to be, and everyone got off. The Metro closes at 10.30 pm!
We piled out of the station besides a busy highway, along with 100’s of others, to be greeted by a mayhem of Taxis. The Taxi system in Shanghai consists of 2 types, private and metered.
We were approached by a private, told him where we wanted to go and he quoted a price. We started to walk away and I suddenly turned back and offered him half. He argued a bit, and agreeing on a price we got in. Lesson : Chinese private taxi drivers can be bartered with.
We didn’t know if it was fair, if it was a rip off, but we were both past caring. The little English Money we had managed to change was disappearing quickly.
Back at the Hotel, we camped in the room. No water, no food, in very dire circumstances, we tried to sleep.
The next morning we contacted some friends to see if somehow we could send this money back to Turkey in exchange for a deposit of same amount into our Turkish Bank Account which appeared to be working in China.
Drawing a blank with that option, the only other option was the Ex. My son contacted him, explained the situation, and he immediately agreed to deposit £250 into my sons Bank Account in the UK. Finally a little hope. We waited for 3 hours until the money showed online in his account, and once again headed into the Centre to find an ATM.
When we got the cash, I think we were both just so elated we grinned like Cheshire Cats for 1 hour.
We tried to get back to the Metro in a decent time, but again, we got turfed off at 10.30. We made our way, again by taxi, to the Hotel and paid the room bill.
The tickets for the flight to Hong Kong had been paid for before we left Turkey, so early in the morning we got up to catch breakfast at the hotel before making our way back to the airport. As breakfast was included in the price of the room, we thought it would be good to try, as we overslept the previous day and had missed it.
Breakfast Chinese Style. Not to be repeated ever. The buffet consisted of noodle soup, hard boiled eggs, fried things which may have been vegetables, and hot water.
I took the boiled eggs, and proceeded to shell them, only to find the egg yolk inside was green. Breakfast was not eaten!
The Hotel took us to the airport, and we had already planned to leave our oversized suitcases in the airport, and travel with hand luggage only. What a great idea it is to be able to check your bags into a secure room and leave them there for as long as you want. The cost was minimal and it gave us the freedom of not having to pay excess baggage charges on the “internal” flight.
Neither of could enjoy the airport, as we both had the same thing on our minds..Please God, let them change Lira in Hong Kong. 2 people had told us they wouldn’t and we really didn’t know what we were going to do if that was true. Another important part of all this travelling is finding Wifi to keep in touch with family and also to keep the school advised on our whereabouts. For this, Airports are useful.
We caught the “internal” flight from International Departures! Scrutinised by the Chinese Immigration now, we sighed with relief when the plane took off.
Hong Kong :
As the plane approaches Hong Kong, you get some idea of the beauty of the place. Incredibly green, and mountainous, with long white scattered beaches.
The Pilot was British. A taste of things to come!
The first thing I saw as we were waiting for a bus to take us to the baggage collection, was a small Money Exchange Bureau. Heart in mouth I approached, and asked him if they changed Turkish Lira. Without looking up from his PC, he said, “Yes, how much”
The young man behind that desk will never know how near he came to being slobbered all over by an elderly woman and a young skinny guy!
Finally I felt my body began to relax. Yes, we could do this now.
Hong Kong airport is the most confusing airport I have ever been to.
Seemingly miles and miles long, it took us forever to find an exit to have a cigarette.
Then back into the airport again to try and find the coaches that take you to the various hotels.
We spent nearly 2 hours walking round looking for the right place.
Finally on a coach we left the Airport and began to take in this amazing City.
We had decided before leaving Turkey that as we had booked a very cheap hotel in Shanghai, we would spend just one night in a better quality hotel in Hong Kong. We had pre booked a hotel in the centre of Kowloon and it was better quality. Definitely no Cockroaches in this room!
The view from our room on the 13th floor was amazing.
We showered and left the Hotel and turned a corner to find ourselves right in the Heart of Kowloon. What an amazing place. For shopping it is to die for. We spent lots of time window shopping the amazing Gold shops and huge malls.
The other surprising thing about Hong Kong is its “Britishness” So much is still left over from the colonial days. The traffic signals, the crossings, the obedient behaviour of everyone! Everything was written in English and Chinese. Almost everyone spoke reasonable English, and were generally friendly and helpful.
Frustrated by not being here with expendable income, we ate some real Chinese food, had a beer, and returned to the hotel.
We had to be up very early to make our way to some Metro Station to meet the agent at 8.30 am. A bit cloak and dagger’s !
We got to the rendezvous point at the bottom of the escalators by McDonalds. I was disappointed not to see a James Bond look alike, but a large Chinese man whose English consisted of “yes” and “ Money”
In front of us were a guy from Ireland and a guy from the States.
We waited our turn, and gave him the papers and passports. I asked him where we would meet him that afternoon to collect them, only to be struck dumb, when he said, “No afternoon today, Afternoon Tomorrow” I tried to explain we had been promised a same day return, but he just kept shaking his head. Defeated, we left the passports with him and returned to the Hotel.
Another Dilemma! We had not allowed for an extra night stay in Hong Kong.
Reluctantly we went to reception and asked to stay another night, only to be told, there were no vacancies that night! Could this really get any worse?
Then it dawned on us we also had no passports to check into a hotel! That would have to be dealt with when we found a room.
Temperature outside was 42 degrees. My dear Son decided to walk around the City to try and find us somewhere, after exhaustive Internet searches were coming up with no availability. I parked myself in the Hotel Reception with the bags, and he set off into the City. I took the opportunity to make use of the hotels laundry room, as by now we were both running out of clean clothes.
2 Hours later he returned, exhausted and soaked to the skin.
The only available places he could find were either a flea pit run by a dodgy Indian Guy, with stained mattresses and obviously a place for taking ladies of the night, or an upmarket one around the corner, which had 1 room left. It was much more expensive than we could have imagined, but we seemed to have no choice. So we dragged our bags around the corner, and checked in. They accepted the Photocopies of our Passports.
Feeling very deflated now, and extremely tired, we spent the evening in the room watching a movie online.
After checkout in the morning, we had to kill time until 3.30 when the visa guy would return.
Not wanting to waste anymore of our money, which was rapidly disappearing in this wonderful but expensive city, we made our way to the Railway Station to wait for the visa man.
We sat on benches and discussed our options for leaving Hong Kong that night. We had to leave that night, as there was no way we could afford another night here.
We checked flights, but they were coming in as very expensive for that night, and arriving in Shanghai at 1.30 am, when no one would be around to meet us.
We decided on the sleeper train, as it was a lot cheaper, and although takes more time, would get us into Shanghai at a reasonable time, even if a day later.
Therein followed another problem. The one Sleeper a day left Hong Kong at 15.15. Our visas were not coming until 15.30. A begging phone call to our mystery agent, brought no joy. 3.30 pm no earlier!
OK, we thought some more. Checking online we discovered it was possible to pick the Sleeper up the next day in another city. So we decided to take a train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou, spend the night in yet another cheap Chinese hotel, and pick up the train there to Shanghai.
The visa man came as scheduled, and visas in hand we went to book the trains.
The woman shook her head and said not possible, I asked her calmly to please check her computer, which she did shaking her head. Then she smiled and said, “you lucky, 2 sleepers left, but expensive”. We knew the price and had allowed for it, which was a lot cheaper than the plane. We knew the expensive sleeper consisted of a room with just 2 beds and a toilet attached. We smiled, sighed and bought the tickets. We reserved a cheap hotel online, and set off for the platform.
As we would be leaving Hong Kong and entering China, this part of the railway station is actually an emigration department, exactly as you would find in an airport. Once on the train, it has no stops, until it reaches Guangzhou…leg one of the Journeys.
What greeted us when we descended to the Platform took my breath away. A double decker train. We were shown to our seats on the upper deck, and during the 2 hour journey, we received refreshments and snacks from hostesses. I have to say this part of our journey, really impressed me. The train was comfortable and very similar to the layout of a plane, except a lot more room.
We pulled into Guangzhou station feeling rested and more optimistic. This was to be short lived!
Taking a taxi, we realised that the hotel was very near the station. As soon as we checked in we also realised immediately it was in a red light area. But the room was large, with A/C and clean.
We showered, changed and went to look for somewhere to eat.
Walking a short distance, we passed a few girls on the street under street lights, and the whole area had a bad feel to it. We saw a large upmarket hotel on the other side of the highway, and went into the lobby. We asked if there was a restaurant, and were shown to an upstairs room, which had quality. The food was excellent, and reasonable, and we made friends with one of the waitresses. I think they were all in awe of 2 foreigners. We felt they did not get many foreigners in that area.
Making our way past the girls again and now some dodgy looking characters who accompanied them, we returned to the hotel.
In the morning we checked out and decided to walk to the station, as it was not far. Unfortunately we took a wrong road, and in the ceaseless heat, pulling bags, decided to give in and hail a taxi.
We had just started to wave at cars when a Rickshaw motorbike pulled up. We looked at each other and were so hot and fed up, I just said, Oh to hell with it. Jumping on, we both squeezed onto a small seat. When it was turning corners, it was a heart in the mouth feeling, but he got us to the station quickly and cheaply.
We located the platform for the sleeper, and I was so looking forward to a relaxing journey, where we could sleep and wake up in Shanghai.
On boarding the train, we were shown into a compartment with sleepers consisting of 4 berths. We looked puzzled and showed our tickets again to the steward, who nodded and pointed to a four berth. Again we had been misled!
Very very disappointed now, we sat on the bottom bunk and waited. 10 minutes later a young Chinese couple came in with a very small, sick baby! No sleep tonight then!
Daniel took the top bunk as did the Chinese man, so that left me lying opposite the woman with the baby.
At around 7pm a man came along selling meals. We ordered 2 after seeing the Chinese couple order. It was edible, but I later discovered it was not meat cubes, but cubes of blood.
Everyone on the train went to bed after this meal, which was around 8pm. We were a little lost at this point, and lay top to tail on the bottom bunk talking, but soon realised we would have to leave if we wanted to chat, as they were sleeping.
We wandered around the train for a bit, but every carriage was the same, people in bed! Some in 6 berths, and some 4 berths.
Daniel took his laptop into the top bunk and listened to music. I actually lay down and tried to sleep.
By now my stomach had that feeling that something was seriously wrong. I tried to ignore it, and must have dozed a little. I woke suddenly to the knowledge that I was going to throw up. I ran to the disabled toilet (The cleanest one) and projectile vomited for around 10 minutes. Feeling extremely sorry for myself, I climbed back into bed and tried to sleep. Every time I was drifting off, the baby would wake, and then the whole process of heating water for the bottles and changing nappies began.
By the time people were waking up in the morning at around 6.30 am I was exhausted and still feeling unwell.
I sat on the bed and looked out of the window as the sun rose on China and the countryside swept by, and I was seriously beginning to doubt our decision at that stage.
Finally the train pulled into Shanghai station and we disembarked, dishevelled, tired and utterly fed up.
We caught the Metro back to the airport to collect our suitcases, and sent a message to the school to say we would be at the airport for 12 noon for them to pick us up.
I had been in contact by mail most days with them, keeping them informed to our whereabouts.
The message came back that they were surprised, and it would be at least 3 hours before anyone could collect us. Almost ready to catch a flight home now, we made our way to some chairs, and began the wait.
Daniel managed to sleep sprawled out across the chairs and bags, I just sat and reflected.
Finally two young girls appeared to take us to our final destination. We piled into a taxi, and they tried very hard to make polite conversation with us, but by this time, Dan was in a deep sleep in the front, and I kept dropping off.
Finally we arrived at a Hotel as promised by the school.
It was pleasant and we had a room each for a change!
The girls were insistent that they had to take us out for a traditional Chinese meal, which had my stomach making strange sounds again. We tried politely to explain how tired we were, but they were not to be budged. So we washed, changed and walked to a large Restaurant.
I think they ordered nearly everything on the Menu, and although we were probably hungry, we were too tired to eat a lot.
Finally they left us alone, and we made our weary way back to the Hotel. Saying goodnight to each other, I fell into bed. My eyes had just closed when the room phone went. It was Dan. Telling me that his room was haunted because a light kept coming on and off in his wardrobe and bathroom, and he was coming to sleep in my room. He turned up at the door with his quilt and pillow, and made himself a bed on the floor.
I laughed and laughed at this point. How ridiculous the whole situation was!
At exactly 9.30 am my phone woke me from a deep sleep. It was my new Boss telling me she was outside my door, and sure enough she started to knock on the door. Nearly tripping over a sleeping mass on the floor I opened the door a fraction, and had to put my foot in the way to stop her barging in!
My initial reaction was, how the hell do I explain Dan asleep on the floor, when he has his own room!
I asked her sleepily, to give me 10 minutes. She reluctantly agreed to wait in the Lobby and I closed the door.
Frantically waking Dan, I told him to go back to his room, and get dressed. He stumbled out of the door, wrapped in his quilt, and I prayed that no Staff saw him!
Respectably washed and dressed we made our way to the Lobby, looking like we hadn’t slept for a week, and made our introductions.
She was a busy, efficient person and had our day organised. Not quite what I had in mind for today. We were going to the school, and then onto to look at some apartments.
Still in a daze, she checked us out of the hotel. At this point something kicked in, and I did politely ask her what happened to the week in a hotel we were promised, to allow us time to view some apartments. She smiled and said “but the hotel very expensive, we will find apartment today, and tonight you will be in new home”
I lost my ability to smile at anything then.
So after a quick coffee in Starbucks, we were bundled into a taxi, and her HR manager gabbled on the phone in Chinese to someone for ages. We arrived in a street that looked like something from a horror movie. All windows had bars, and electric poles carried wires which were hanging in a precarious way. We waited at the side of the street for ages. When I asked what we were waiting for, I was told “Agent, with Key”
About 10 minutes later a small old woman pulled up on a scooter, and the 3 of them carried on a nonstop conversation in Chinese.
We walked a while in unbearable heat, and then as we turned a couple of corners, I realised the area was getting poorer and dirtier. I stopped and told my Boss; no way could I live in this area. She smiled and said, “just look, we have 3 to look at”.
Reluctantly I followed them up some stairs of a dark, dingy apartment Block to a place that I have no words to describe.
As soon as we walked in, I told her “No way”
She argued with the agent for a while, and all this time the temperature was increasing.
After much raised voices, we marched back down the stairs.
The woman left on her scooter, and we got in another taxi.
There followed another short drive, to another area. A bit better than the last one.
We entered the apartment Block and again I was dismayed to see how dirty the stairwell was and no lights. She took us up five flights of stairs, and arriving breathless and soaked to the skin, I looked around, and started to cry. I guess it was a combination of tiredness, and disappointment. I could not speak to anyone, so my son spoke for us. He made it very clear that this was not what we wanted, and please take us to a hotel, and let us stay there for a few nights to give us time to look.
Again there were many raised voices, and we were told over and over that this was good and cheap!
The HR manager was adamant that this was the amount of money they were prepared to front us, for deposit etc. The agreement had been made earlier they would front the deposit etc
So we left again, and this time we were taken back to the school. We were abandoned at this point, and sat drinking water in a daze.
After lunch, My Boss came to us, and said there was one more in a better place, but more expensive than they had planned. That would be OK, if we agreed to take the money as a loan, and pay the school back. I would have agreed to anything at this point, so we said Yes.
Back in another taxi, we pulled down a back street that was undergoing a lot of road works. I sighed again, but after getting out of the taxi, we walked around the corner and in front of us was paradise!
Security gates with 2 guards allowed us through, and we found ourselves inside a large site, with gardens, trees and brand new low blocks of apartments. Some were still being finished off. My spirits lifted a bit.
Then another wonderful surprise, a lift.
We got out on the 5th floor and walked into heaven.
Brand new, everything was dusty, but immaculate.
I didn’t think twice. Agreeing immediately, everyone smiled and money began to pass hands.
2 hours later, we collected our bags and returned to the apartment.
There was no A/C and the landlord was out of town for 2 days, although over the phone he had agreed to install it on his return.
The next day he came to see us, and another nice surprise, he spoke English.
True to his word, the next day 3 A/C units were installed and a new fridge freezer appeared.
The next day, we caught the coach to Shanghai, and then a bus to collect the Dog from Kennels.
It took us all day, but as she was beside herself to see us, it made it worth it.
The following day, Sunday, I had hoped for a quiet day to unpack and clean a little, but we were inundated by the Landlord, My Boss and some workman, tying up loose ends. After the contracts had been signed, the Landlord and his wife took us for a meal, and he even took us to a large shopping mall to buy some small bits.
My Boss had agreed to give us Monday and Tuesday off and our first working day would be Wednesday.
Monday morning we were summoned for a “Training Day” 9am to 5 pm!
Tuesday morning we were summoned for our medicals at 9am with nil by mouth since the night before.
Finally Tuesday afternoon we were free!
I feel as if my feet haven’t really touched the ground since leaving Turkey, and I realise it is going to take this old body a while to catch up on all this, but things seem to be OK now, even if I have my doubts about the truth behind the apartment business.!
The next saga is the Work Visa, which she has casually dropped into conversation, that we MAY have to go to Hong Kong for!
To be continued….