To start off, a short story about the trip. After an emotional farewell, during which I received the book, on through customs and the endless waiting. Incidentally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have contributed. The book is wonderful!

I was told that there were too may bookings, but, of course, no-one informed me of the possible consequences of this. So, full of tension, as if I wasn't stressed enough yet, I waited for the check-in. And waited ... and waited some more... Schiphol is not the centre of the world's entertainment, so, apart from browsing through very expensive shops and look into all the books in the bookstores, all one can do is wait...

Then: the check-in. Standing in line with 150,000 Chinese people, all shimmying towards the check-in. there, digging up of the ticket and passport from the little secure bag located under the pants, under the sweater, under the jacket. Then, through the security check and also taking off the shoes now. Some Chinese were taken to an obscure curtain, but I am convinced that my very cute and innocent smile defines me as a lost tourist and saved me from further humiliation. With my shoes, jacket, two bags and my sweater, I got out of the way quickly, towards the actual check-in lady. She looked at me rather sharply, I thought mainly because of all the stuff I was holding, but, as it turned out, she gave me an upgrade! Because there were too many bookings, economy was full already, and as I am quite tall, she decided to upgrade me to business class! Blessed are the ground stewards of KLM.

The rest of the trip went (mostly because of this) very well. My traveling companion was a cheerful Chinese guy who had studied German in Germany for a year, in preparation for studying at a German technical college next year. He spoke approximately 5 words of German, of which he was aware. (fortunately) He said he always hung around with his Chinese friends and had not al lot of practice. (moron!) That won't happen to me, I thought, I'm going to try my Chinese skills on everyone I meet!

After a pleasant journey (I can recommend business class to anyone!) we all arrived in Beijing. Here, I finally had the opportunity to meet the other Dutch guy in business class (Niels, very tall, in the photo with the Chinese guy, far right). He also participates in the program and is a great guy. He's always smiling and I think he will be a great teacher. At the appointed place, where the TTC people were to pick us up, I also met Sven and Helen (NL and UK, more about these two will be said later), and there was instant chemistry...After picking up a few others, we set off for: the UIBE campus!