Jonna's China blog: May 16th - Arrival

After years of dreaming, months of talking, weeks of planning and days of counting down, I have finally made it. China - the heart of Asia - I am here!

It wasn’t painless though, can tell you that much. I had some nervous moments the days before leaving and when I finally got on the plane I was seated next to 2 guys that didn’t understand the words silence and respect. I spent 8 long hours listening to their chat about some presentation that they were obviously doing in Beijing the following day. Maybe they were nervous too, as they, during their chat, had to consume an impressive number of 9 mini wine bottles... each! Neither earplugs nor mp3 player could save me that time. The sound might have concealed their loud chat but it sure didn’t put me to sleep.

So, a tad tired, I arrived, 7 am local time Beijing (2 am local time in Finland where I came from). For some reason, things became really hard when I had to get up from my plane seat and get moving to collect my luggage and stuff. My 20 kg bag felt like at least 50. The line to customs was without doubt 15 km long. And waiting in the line took me a little under a lifetime.

And then, I was in. “Heavy eyelids” is an understatement. But off I went. My kind pick-up driver took me to the flat where I was going to stay (In north Beijing, very nice area), I did some primary unpacking (meaning: gathered my equipment, and trying, and failing, to access the internet) and off we went again. I had an interview at 11 am at the Swedish embassy so no time for resting! (God knows what was in my mind when I planned that one?!)Beijing was Jonna's first stop. (Image: Radio86)

The embassy went smoothly, if you don’t count a minor misunderstanding where my driver took me to the Finnish embassy rather than the RAY DIAN one that I had written down on the paper I gave her. But hey, nobody is perfect! And I did a very efficient interview, cramming in my 20 questions in an impressive 20 minutes (rather than the expected 1 hour I was going to have)! Even the Swedish ambassador looked impressed when he wished me good luck and insisted, for the fifth time, that I call him if I run into any kind of trouble. (Like… what could that be? I only told him briefly about the embassy misunderstanding to break the ice... and to explain why I was a bit late, of course!)

Anyway, after my last ‘hejdå’ for many days, I went to China Radio International’s (CRI) office together with Panda, my CRI contact that had been assigned the glamorous task of babysitting me during my stay in Beijing. Oh, and to make things clear. Panda is not a four legged thing - it is actually just a nickname of a normal, Chinese girl. Very sweet, kind and polite in every way. The first thing she asked me was if I wanted to eat. And I mean, come on! How great is that?! Someone that is concerned about my health and energy level! My mom would have loved her!

The food was well needed, despite the fact that the chopsticks kept slipping out of my hand, and that the food was so spicy it literally made me sweat. But I still felt one million times better when we left the restaurant and headed to CRI.

Hmm …this is where memories becomes a bit vague. I only remember being hit by a wave of tiredness, so heavy, that I could barely stand, see, breathe or exist. I just had to close my eyes.. just for a litttttttle moment! I know I took part in an introduction and that I was very polite and handed out chocolates to everyone, making a whole office chant with delight to this Finnish treat.

Then I remember asking Panda if we maybe could go home sometime soon, as it was becoming hard to stand up (really!). And then I was in a taxi. – And a moment later in bed. And then, oh the joy - o holy sleep!