Update on my wife and our separation due to COVID and her Green Card part 3 (Thx BtA)

Well, it's been quite a few days.

Tuesday, I left Hong Kong, got my 10th COVID test in seven days (overkill much?) and bored my Cathay Pacific plane from HKG to Nanjing.

I was terrified because of the fractured relationship between the US and China, I would be denied entry into China the same way my wife was denied in Seattle. I didn't sleep for two days except for an occasional short nap that I was jerked awake in cold sweats.

I get the immigration counter. They take my passport and start asking questions, like why I have a Q (family) visa instead of a Z (work), X (student), or L (tourist) visa. Thank God I can speak fluent Mandarin.

I told them I went home because of family and health issues. My wife was denied her American Green Card three times and about what happened at SEATAC. I told them I just wanted to return to the wife I hadn't seen in 26 months.

They were shocked at what I said, told me my Chinese was amazing, asked me if I would be staying with me wife, and if I understood the quarantine policy. I answered yes to all their questions.

Then the entry stamp came in and they stamped me in. I exhales relief. They handed me back my passport, smiled, and told me to enjoy my time with my wife in a week.

I walked in, got my bag, walked into the bathroom and sat in a stall. I pulled out my passport, looked at the entry stamped and openly sobbed for almost five minutes. I was back. . .and it was only a short time before we were back together.

I am now 40 miles from her in quarantine. They put me in an apartment and, respecting my Kosher and diabetic concerns, have gotten me my three squares a day. It is currently day three of seven. The meals are Chinese and are more than I can eat at one time. Today I had Lan Zhou La Mian, which is all beef, lamb, or chicken and Halal.

Four more days and I am done with this. I go back to my wife and prepare for our move to Beijing where I will be a social studies teacher at one of the most posh and prestigious high schools in the country, run and sponsored by the #1 university in China, Tsinghua University. This school is a place Americans are told by the embassy to send their children when they are in China and is 50-50 Chinese/Foreign mix, with students from 26 countries. They will give me a two bedroom condo on campus, a base pay of $75K a year gross, and almost $15K in benefits, including gifts for my marriage and childbirth, performance, longevity, retirement plans, health insurance for my entire family, travel, relocation, and shipping allowances, and opportunities to publish my novels as there is a publishing company through Tsinghua.

It's all over. Thank you, BtA, for updating DU. My next post about this will be reuniting with my wife and pictures of our reuniting.

DU has helped me more than I can say. You've helped me get back her and get back my sanity. Words cannot express my undying gratefulness for all of you.