5 Joining the squad

Before Jolande does anything, she had to get rid of the organism at the back of her spine. As it turns out, these are only the symptoms of having the organism, Sarah said — the two are in contact together.

Jolande asked Sarah for what to do about the organism, but Sarah was not sure, but she thought that someone might help her - they had to go to China as soon as possible, so Jolande had introduced Sarah to her parents.

After an hour of introducing her, Sarah called Lisa, and convinced her that she should allow her daughter, Jolande, to follow Sarah's instructions to 'fix' her. Sarah talked about everything in detail and eventually Lisa ended up agreeing; she agreed to let her daughter go with her to China, and Sarah promised to cover all the fees, but Lisa refused, Lisa will cover the costs of her daughter.

Sarah and Jolande were relieved, Jolande will return to normal and was excited about visiting the Chinese culture. This was one of the few times Jolande was so happy, but she isn't normally afraid of death, she wants to prevent this from happening any more, saving the lives of innocent people. She doesn't know how many people also ingested the white crystals, which she still knows absolutely nothing about...

Flights were booked, on the 1st of September, they both decided to stay in the Shaolin Monastery for forty days, in China. Sarah decided to keep all the trip and plans secret, because "This is like a story, and I'll be spoiling it. She won't go there clueless, I'll make sure to narrate everything".

Jolande informed her friends about her departure, to say goodbye, ask them for school material while she's away and other stuff. Heid and Leoni asked to come with her, but Jolande apologised saying, "Sorry, you can't come". She informed Sarah about what Heid and Leoni said, and what her reply was, but Sarah was not happy with it, but rather invited them, because "Training is more fun with friends, and more motivating".

The four prepare their clothes, bags, items and most importantly, prepared themselves emotionally and mentally. Heid chose to come with Jolande because she wanted to learn the martial arts, and she's willing to fight alongside Jolande, she knew about what's happening to Jolande, and it needed to be solved. On the other hand, Leoni chose to come with her, with an unknown goal, but she still wanted to train, and learn from her trip.

Sarah then changed flights, and she booked four seats in the same plane. Sarah advised them to bring a handbag only, containing a phone, and their wallets ready. No need for creams, such products would be provided by the monks there from natural sources, as well as clothing, they should bring only something to go and return with.

After three ordinary days passed, Heid started preparing her bag, she decided she'll only bring a phone and her kimono. Heid Barz, half-Chinese, her mother is Chinese, while her father is German. Heid is a smart and strong girl, she withstood harsh training from her coach at the age of eleven, she was a kick-boxer, her stamina was greater than most teens her age. She speaks Chinese, Japanese, as well as German and English. She's a daughter of a wealthy Chinese family, Siu Mei Lin is her mother, a daughter of affluent merchants from China. While her dad, Benedikt Barz is an ordinary businessman, he runs a business in Cologne, 60 kilometres away from Aachen, he is a father of three, Heid and her two little brothers.

Heid gets triggered when someone mocks Chinese culture, people usually used to bully her for being a Chinese, waving arm cat, anime girl. All mentioned was very offensive, because anime is mostly Japanese, and the waving arm cat is shared in East Asia. She would get tripped into water ponds and people mock her saying, "Ching Chong". She couldn't stand this any more, so she trained kick-boxing for two weeks as a child, with a tough coach originating from Africa, they developed a strong bond, and he even says Heid was probably his best student.

Leoni prepared her bag, but she was not sure what to bring, because the temple will provide them the clothes, so she thought of going with nice shorts, a shirt, a hair ribbon and sports shoes. Leoni isn't that kind of shy person, she's open-minded, and likes to always be the best. Leoni's father doesn't live with them, but her mother does.

Two years ago, her mother was injured, a car suddenly hit her while she's back from work, as a result, she is temporarily disabled; she doesn't leave bed too much, and doesn't train like normal. She keeps her blood in motion by training limbs one by one on bed, currently she is recovering from it, this will take at least another year.

Leoni's mother can't control what her daughter does most times. Luckily, Leoni is loyal to her mother; she cooks and usually aids her in walking to the toilet, or anywhere. Leoni, as a kid, wasn't bullied, because of her cute face and blonde hair. People wouldn't harm her or annoy her.

Jolande, is planning to go with her black pants and shirt, with shoes, the amulet, the microscope, her iPAQ and the charger. Sarah brought a few items with her, she will be going there with a hanfu. She also prepared a small inflatable tent because they'll sleep at the airport in China and finally, she brought four mobile phones that work by satellites transmitions, just in case something happens.

Before departure date, they had to go to their SIM card providing company, because they need some internet there and a mean of communicating with their families. Shortly afterwards, they successfully enabled roaming outside Germany for their SIM cards. Before the last step, Sarah had to inform the school that they're leaving in ten days, Sarah told the principle that she's only taking Heid and Leoni with her, excluding Jolande from the party.

The principle agreed, and signed papers with her, but as soon as she said, "Uh, I forgot to mention Jolande is coming with us, so please be informed", he changed his mind, but he can't do anything now that she already signed a paper, and she wrote three children instead of two, which the principle didn't notice. She left his office and headed to the three girls waiting at her house to inform them about the good news.

They finally do the last step, which is obtaining a visa, it's easy to obtain a visa, all you need to do is some short tasks and wait a couple of days, from one week to one month. 'The squad', didn't have enough time to wait for a week to obtain the visa. Heid, luckily, doesn't need one, she is half-Chinese, which made things easier.

Sarah, Leoni, and Jolande applied for a visa, they had to pay an extra cost to obtain it faster. Sarah then met her old friend while applying for visas, she works there, and she promised Sarah the visas will be out in four days or less.

On the 1st of September at midnight, they all met at Sarah's house, visas were ready, their handbags were with them, and finally an extra luggage Sarah brought. Jolande came with her neat black clothing that matches the situation, Leoni with her modern dressing, Heid wearing a kimono, and finally, Sarah wearing a hanfu. They headed to the airport, with their passports, money, and everything ready. They later board into the plane, and it's not the first time being on a plane for anyone of them, so they weren't afraid, nor anyone got nausea.

The trip went like this: They left Aachen and head to Cologne Central Station, 60 kilometres away. They left from Cologne Central Station via train to Frankfurt Airport, the travel time was about one hour. They had three hours of layover in the airport, it's always recommended arriving at the airport five hours prior, to have enough time for shopping, security checkpoints, etc. The squad went together, shopped at the airport, and had fun.

At 5 o'clock, they validate their tickets, board the plane and wait about fifteen minutes before take-off. As flight length increases, more services are provided; free food, TV, larger seats and foot rests. Luckily, their first plane is eleven hours long, and they're flying via Bhutan Air. They provide a good space to walk often in the plane, a selection of meals, they also provide cotton sleep masks, ear plugs, chopsticks, a 'traditional tissue' and lots of other cosmetics. But they can't sit for eleven hours, it's unhealthy, and Heid suggested a solution for it; they didn't sleep for the last twenty-four hours, not even a nap, to make them sleep in the plane. Fortunately, the only thing behind their seats is the wall; they could rest leisurely without hearing complaints from others.

16:15 o'clock the same day:

They arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport, and waited another seven hours and forty-five minutes, this was a night sleepover and stay up till their next flight which is at midnight.

The flight was two hours long to arrive at Zhengzhou airport. They slept during the flight and in the airport after arrival. They slept in the tents Sarah brought till it was dawn — sleeping in Asia in public is safe and considered okay, especially in the airport, people usually take naps on the streets.

Furthermore, they now face a problem called 'jet-lag', jet-lag is because of the time difference between two countries, like Zhengzhou and Cologne, it's a six hours difference. This causes a disruption in the biological human clock and as a result, it may cause insomnia, fatigue, and headaches.

The squad slept peacefully inside the tent, preparing themselves to go on a one-hour trip to the Shaolin Monastery from the airport. It was 5 o'clock, and Jolande woke up on an alarm, forcing herself up to start her daily routine. She carried some food with her from the plane, and she started stretching on the ground, this is very normal because this is what everyone coming to China should do — stretching helps people with jet-lag. When Jolande finished, she woke up the others and started looking for a bus from the airport.

They were waiting for a bus to pick them up to the temple. The bus informed everyone that it will take him around one hour to return to the airport. They didn't want to waste time, so instead, they roamed in the airport, ate in a restaurant, bought some souvenirs and had lots of fun.

The bus arrived, and they mounted in, sat, and waited forty minutes to finally arrived there. In the meantime, Sarah told them a lot about where they're going and about Chinese culture, "Never point at someone, don't give gifts and don't get annoyed seeing someone spit in public or eat loudly, as well as…". Sarah explained the culture differences to fill the gap and make sure everyone's having a safe experience.

Upon arrival, the bus ticket was only 200 Yuan, equal to 24 Euros, Sarah paid everyone's ticket, and made sure she doesn't tip, tipping in China is frowned upon, because it shows that the person isn't getting enough income.

They arrived at the Monastery, at 6 o'clock, they didn't expect it to be 21 degrees Celsius, but it didn't matter, the landscape was green and mountains filling the landscape, and how tranquil the place is. Jolande was so astonished, this place is out of this world, she even thought, "if I die, bury me here", this place is really worth a visit.

To Be Continued

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