August 2023

1st August sees many international educators post on the professional networking site of LinkedIn that they have jobs at pastures new. I was among them, changing my title from “On Sabbatical” to House Mistress, College Counsellor and Life Skills teacher at Harrow International School, Shenzhen. The changing of my LinkedIn was exciting but daunting. It realised that the 4 suitcases packed full of clothes, toothpaste, contact lens solution, deodorant and mementoes collected along the way of our 7 months was really real and that our amazing time in the UK was at an end. Only 4 Starbucks mugs were packed – my parents are thrilled at the two left behind but this is only on the basis that when we go back to visit Eleanor and I require a bucket of tea.

Deodorant – Eleanor has discovered Akt – a deodorant balm that limits sweat and the smell. So we stocked up on it. Toothpaste – because I don’t know if the toothpaste in China has fluoride in it and contact lens solution – I can get the storage solution in China – but not the one that keeps my eyes moist at night.

2nd August the suitcases were loaded into the car, I missed Martin at this stage as he has an uncanny ability to pack suitcases as if was playing an expert level of Tetris. After a tense few minutes we were all packed my Dad drove us to Dublin.

99kg of bags despatched, and with no need to pay for extra luggage, Eleanor and I boarded our flight in Dubin after some teary goodbyes.

However imagine our delight when after everyone was boarded we were told there would be 2 hours of waiting for a takeoff slot. However, that was quickly changed to 40 minutes and after the delayed start to the Qatar flight we landed in Doha, ran through the airport to our Doha-Hong Kong flight, out of breath but relieved at making the connecting flight. We settled in for the second leg of the journey very thankful that Martin had been extremely generous and upgraded us. This joy meant that we had as much luggage as we did without paying for excess and it meant a flat bed for the second leg. After a glass or two of champagne for me, and Eleanor’s third meal of the day, we slept.

Some 16 hours after leaving Dublin, we landed in Hong Kong. I have refused the HK landing card as we were not going through HK immigration. Instead, once we had landed we followed signs for the Ferries. School had already booked the ferry tickets for us for 6pm. We landed at 3pm and I was hoping we could make the 5pm boat to Shenzhen, but sadly that wasn’t to be. We made it to the ferry hub at 3:30pm and as we had luggage we were told that we couldn’t change the ferry to an earlier departure. We exchanged a QR code on my phone to a physical ticket and went to sit down.

A handy 7-Eleven meant I could purchase drinks and snacks and with wifi and a plug socket, everyone was happy. I also purchased a bottle of Welsh whiskey for Martin (under instructions as to exactly which one was bought!) and for those wondering what was purchased… it was a bottle of finest Welsh whisky, a Penderyn (Sherrywood) from Wales’ first whisky distillery in over 100 years. Don’t worry – this whisky is at home with three others – one is a 21 year old Bushmills whiskey, distilled at the world’s oldest licensed distillery in Northern Ireland, a Red Bush and the final one is a Smokehead, a single malt Islay whisky.

5:30pm rolled around and with no announcements to remind us of the imminent ferry departure Eleanor and I responsibly made it down to the ferry departure point. At 6pm we got on the ferry and 30 minutes later we arrived into Shekou ferry terminal.

On the boat we had to complete a health check questionnaire for customs and in order to complete this thoroughly and honestly Eleanor and I had even subjected ourselves to our FIRST self-administered rapid antigen tests – negative!

After a tense quarter of an hour of immigration for Eleanor and I, (only because the fingerprint computer wasn’t connecting with the main computer) we collected our suitcases and finally had our long awaited reunion with Martin!!! The joy of getting the ferry from Hong Kong is that immigration for foreigners is really quick. There were only 6 of us on the boat and had it not been for a computer glitch we would have been reunited sooner!

There were two other reunifications on Thursday 3rd – one at home with our rabbit, Hattie and the other with our good friends, Peter, Erin and Ben at an Italian restaurant with Prosecco of course!