Visa Process for Shanghai = More difficult than the process for Sichuan + Pandemic Restrictions!

Finally good news in the Very-Alt Universe of Chinese Work Visas: I found a good visa agent.
thepassportandvisacompany.com/
Some of the document requirements changed and I wasn't aware of this until a few days ago, so I have to get another background check, but I can get that done through Colorado and have it apostilled here as well. Once I receive this and and the other apostilled certificate I'm waiting on back from the Colorado Secretary of State, I'll send both to the visa agency in Austin... then ...

1. They'll send my apostilled background check and TEFL certificate to the Chinese embassy in DC. After a week to 10 days I should have the required Chinese authentication stamp on those documents.
2. I'll send photos of the Chinese authentication stamps to my school's HR Department, where they will begin the process of applying for my work permit and pandemic entry authorization letter (PU Letter). Visa processing takes about 3 weeks. PU Letter processing can take two weeks to two month.
3. HR will email me the work permit authorization and PU Letter, which the visa agency will then send back to the Chinese Embassy in DC, along with all other required docs (apostilled University diploma, background check, TEFL cert; and passport),  Within a week, I will have a work permit.
4. In the meantime, the FUN part begins:  figuring where I will be allowed to fly out of the USA, learning the entire procedure for departure from the USA and entry into China, if I have to take a non-stop flight, where I have to get COVID-19 tested in the US (the Chinese Embassy designates which clinics and where-- as of now, the only clinics are in LA and DC), how to get the special QR Health code that allows me to board a flight to China... and then once all that is set and I actually arrive in China... 
5. I'll arrive in China, most likely, AFTER school starts on September 1. I'll have to spend 2-3 weeks quarantining in a hotel. At minimum, 2 weeks, but in a hotel of my choosing, for the most part.  The third week depends on various factors that are unknown to me; I might stay in the same hotel, or be able to to self-quarantine in my apartment--which I have no idea how I will select an apartment, or another hotel, or who knows!  Once quarantine has ended, I'll be searching for a place to live and getting phone, wifi, electric, water, etc. set up with the school's help while teaching! 

I'll be teaching a completely new-to-me curriculum based on the UK's Design Thinking/Technology curriculum.  Luckily for me, it's simply a version of project-based learning with a focus on science, reading, and art with the goal of creating compassionate global citizens who utilize critical-thinking skills in day-to-day life (the PERFECT fit for me!!).

For today, I'm just gonna do what I can do and try to be less anxious about this process. I will get my background check process started, send that paperwork of to the Secretary of State, run some errands, and prepare to leave for my next house sit in the San Juan Mountains of SoCo.  I depart on Saturday for another 7-hour, twisty-turny, s-curve drive south.  In the meantime, I will try to maintain what little sanity and the keep-on-keepin-on-ness determination that I have left.

​It's stressful AF but I'm doing the best I can!