So two weeks ago on Saturday, I went to Qufu's youth hostel with two other teachers and we met some English speaking friends who were studying kung fu in Qufu. It was really nice to have coffee and hang out with people who spoke English. We all went out to dinner as a group and then went back to the hostel to have a few drinks. That day we had heard that someone in the physics department had swine flu and everyone on campus was wearing masks. The clinic was also selling masks for a short period of time but then it was roped off. Our new friends in town had even heard about the "outbreak". Then our one Chinese friend called and said that instead of teaching on Monday and Tuesday the school was dismissing everyone to leave for break early. We called our bosses and they confirmed it so naturally we decided to leave the next morning at 7.
As we left the next morning it really seemed like everyone was itching to leave, anxious with their small suitcases and cloth masks. We left campus to go to the other side of town to meet the other teachers. Once all together we got a cab to the "illegal" bus station. The bus station in town was shut down because of National Day/swine flu and the other one was far away. This "illegal" one is on the edge of a rotary and regular buses stop there with some empty seats and you bargain for a seat. Luckily our Chinese friend was with us so we easily hopped on a cheaper bus to go to Jinan, the province capital.
On our other bus rides it became clear that this "illegal" bus riding was pretty common. You don't even have to buy a seat, you can just pay to sit in the aisle on a little stool. I can now say that after 10 straight days of traveling in China on bus I fully understand any questions I ever had about Fung Wah.
Just as we were talking about how it really felt like we were really fleeing Qufu even though we weren't scared of the swine flu, one of our bosses called. She wanted to know if we had left yet and if we could come back. We were gone and could not come back. At the last minute they thought it would be a better idea for the foreign teachers to stay in Qufu to potentially be quarantined. They also said that there was a chance that we would still need to be quarantined when we did come back. We had been back and forth so many times about having a break or not having a break, being able to travel or not or only certain places that we were adamant on traveling and not going back. It seemed to be ok because we were staying the province and not really going too too far or to anywhere outlandish.
cliffhanger! I want the next installment.
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