China 2015

Here is the basic overview of my time in China.

KMG Rehab Center

I arrived in KMG around midnight on Tuesday June 30^th.  I slept a couple of hours (jet lag is the worst) and then went into the rehab center where I did speech/language evaluations and training for the next week.  The evening of July 1^st I went out to meet with a family from the States whose preschooler I worked with last year.  This family adopted a little girl from China who had a cleft lip and palate.  She has had the needed surgeries but didn’t have them until she was two years old and needs speech therapy.  I worked with her last year and also skyped with the family a little bit when I came home and sent them practice materials online.  They ended up finding a speech therapist from the States who lives close to them and agreed to work with her.   I brought some materials from home for them to practice with and also wanted to catch up.  It was great to see them and also hear her speak… I can understand her much better than at the beginning of last year!  My time at the clinic went well.  A week is not a lot of time so it was rushed but hopefully I’ll be able to support people from afar.  The rehab center in KMG consisted of mostly kids with cerebral palsy.   China is just beginning to recognize the need for rehabilitation so there are not a lot of people who are truly training in therapy.  The clinic has a young lady who was trained by a physical therapist from the states who lived in China for about 2.5 years and comes back in the summers.  They don’t currently have a speech therapist (they had one who recently left) or an occupational therapist.  I worked with the rehab director who is going to take on the responsibilities of a speech therapist.  While I was there, I evaluated the kids and adults that they identified as needed services, wrote up a very basic treatment plan and showed the rehab director how to do the therapy.  This clinic is difficult because they tend to have people with pretty complex need.  The speech and language needs of children with cerebral palsy are complex and then they also had two adults who suffered from strokes and two children with hearing loss.  I would love it if the organization could get their hands on an audiologist.  There are a lot of kids with hearing loss and it seems to me that there are not adequate hearing services.  There is one kid who is definitely Deaf and the doctors in China put hearing aides on her.  They obviously aren’t working and I fear that the family was charged a good bit of money for something that didn’t work.  They are talking about doing cochlear implants, but my experience is that the surgery is conducted without appropriate counseling of the parents and no follow-up or therapy.  I can’t even imagine how much the surgery cost without the help of medical insurance and it’s a shame that it doesn’t seem to work the way that it should.  I was also happy to meet one of the new staff members that has come to China (from the States) since I left last year.  She has her undergraduate in speech therapy and masters in early childhood/special education (I think).  It was nice to talk to her and I think that I’ll be able to provide her with resources from home.  It can be hard to communication with the local staff from home because of the language barrier.  Especially when you are wanting to send resources that have a large amount of technical jargon in them.  I’m hoping that this new staff member will make for easier collaboration.

Over the weekend, I got to have breakfast with the women who I lived with last year.  I absolutely love her and it was nice to catch-up with each other!  April and I also went exploring, which was fun. 

WS Rehab Center

Next April and I took a car to W.S.  I LOVE W.S!  I love the way that, despite a pretty tough language barrier, I feel like I’m a part of their team : )   This is my third year there and it was nice just to catch-up with everyone.  I’ve worked with one of the therapist for the past three years and it’s been really cool to watch her go through life’s stages… the first year I was there she was single and living with a group of girls, the second year she was married and this year she has a beautiful baby girl!  The team remembered that I was getting married soon after I came home last year and they were interested to hear about the married life… there were also lots of jokes about me bringing my baby next year J.  One thing that I really enjoyed this year was just getting to hangout with the team.  I felt a lot of pressure to get a lot done last year and I feel like I may have prioritized the task at hand over the people around me.  This year I only had one week which was frustrating but also allowed me to do what I had time for but also fellowship with the team.  We played Ultimate Frisbee one evening, had dinner with some of the team members and I also went to their weekend meeting.  It was interesting to sing songs in Chinese (April was a great friend and she translated the gist of the song), play games and listen to a teaching with the team.  This year, W.S. has a new team member.  Her name is Whitney and she is a special education teacher from the States (kind of, she’s lived all over the world).  Whitney is planning to be in China for three years and so we decided that I would talk to her about the long-term speech goals of the center (we focused on the children with autism) and I am hoping to give her ideas that she can slowly teach to the team.  I also had the opportunity to meet up with one of the foreign families (who I met last time as well) and talk to them about their foster child.  He has autism and has no speech.  We discussed the concept of him using some pictures to communicate and I’m sending them some materials on how to start implementing that.   

We also went to the orphanage.  The orphanage is a tough place to visit.  Last year, I went there a ton and I cried every time I came home.  I waited for a day when I would be numb to the situation, but it never came.  I guess there are things that it’s best we not become numb to.  I will say that its nice to go the same location over a course of a couple of years because you get to see God working even though there is still a lot of brokenness.  I’ll take you through the last three years.  On year one the orphanage was not eligible for international adoptions.  The local Chinese are beginning to adopt more than in the past (praise God), but they tend to not adopt special needs kids which I have heard is about 90% of the kids of the kids in Chinese orphanages.  Since most of these kids are special needs kids, it seemed that they were never going to get out.  Year two: the orphanage had just begun to allow international adoptions and their first child was being adopted by a family in the States : )   Year three (this year): the orphanage started allowing one of the foreign families to foster children who were at risk for not making it and also ones who are close to being adopted.  This family has a child with cleft lip/palate-these babies tend to not make it in orphanages because they are difficult to feed and they end up starving.  They also are fostering four other kids, one of which is being adopted soon!  Their foster child with autism was from a different orphanage and was severely abused and it’s redeeming to see him with a loving family.  Despite all of this, it’s still tough to go to the orphanage… there are still so many kids that need homes and the environment is pretty bleak. 

That basically sums up my trip.  I’ve been asked the question by others, and have also asked myself… what next?  I don’t really know.  I’ll admit that I was worried about going to China for a short trip because of the emotional drain of coming home.  There’s a lot of need in China and it always breaks my heart a little to leave there and not be able to offer what little help I can.  But, I remind myself over and over and over again that there’s also need here, it’s just different.  I continue to pray for clarity on what’s next for Bill and I and trust that answers will come in the right timing.  That’s all!

To and Fro

To and Fro

I’m writing this blog on my horrendously, unnecessarily, unexpectedly long journey from China.  Part of me feels that I can’t complain too much at the moment as I am sipping a coke and sitting in a comfy chair at Beijing international airport.   The other part of me feels that I can complain, I can complain a lot…  If only China had a suggestion box on how to improve their traveling standards… I could fill the box right now with my complaints.   My travels have entailed delayed flights, grumpy taxi drivers, eye witness accounts of a iced tea box hurled in anger, a lost phone and the list goes on and on. 

I’ll start at the beginning.  My older brother sweetly bought my ticket using his airline miles so he always knows what is going on with my flights.  He contacted me the evening before I left for China to let me know that my first flight leaving Pittsburgh was delayed.  This was great because it let me sleep in a little longer and I still had plenty of time to make my connecting flight in Chicago.  From Chicago I boarded my long (14 hour) flight to Shanghai.  I was fortunate and there were only two people in the three person row so we had some extra leg room.  My luck ran out in Shanghai.  For reasons unknown to anyone, the flight from Shanghai to Kunming was delayed about three hours.  One thing that is really stressful here is that when I am traveling I’m pretty unconnected.  I have a “china phone” but can’t get the simcard into it and working until I get to Kunming and someone helps me.  That means that I’m without a phone.  I sometimes have internet, but at a lot of airports you access the internet by putting in a phone number and receiving a text with a code… which circles us back to my original problem, I don’t have a working phone.  SOOO it’s really stressful when plans fall through and I can’t contact people that are meeting me.  The organization that I am volunteering with sent a driver to pick me up, but I couldn’t call her and she doesn’t speak English and I don’t’ speak Chinese.  I arrived in Kunming around 11:30 pm feeling really tired.  When I first arrived the driver wasn’t there.  That’s when I started to panic.  The airport is about an hour from where I’m staying, I don’t have the address to where I’m staying, the buses aren’t still running and I have no phone and no internet.  When I panic I like to play “worst case scenario,” to calm myself.  This basically involved running through the worst that can happen in the given situation.  At home in the States this works well.  It reminds me that my fears are generally ridiculous and I regain my composure.  In China I tend to have a little less luck.  Sometimes the worst case scenario becomes something to the tune of “the taxi driver will kidnap me and traffic me across the border to Vietnam where someone will sell my internal organs on the black market and it will take my family days to even notice I’m missing (everyone is used to not hearing from me for awhile because of poor internet connections).   Yep, the “worst case scenario” game is not really a great idea when you’re traveling.  Praying for a miracle (or at least peace of mind) works better.  In this case however, I reminded myself that I could always sleep on the floor of the airport and take a bus the next day to the organizations office.  Just as I was scoping out where I could sleep and considering trying to figure out the public phone system, my driver appeared (all of this was probably only about 30 minutes, but it felt longer)!    The driver took me to the hotel where I ran into another issue.  They didn’t seem to have my booking information.  The booking was done through my organization and the hotel doesn’t give you confirmation or anything so I had nothing to prove that I had a reservation.  This is when I met my travel buddy for the first time.  There is an occupational therapy student named April who was also volunteering with my organization and we shared a room for the duration of my trip.  She had come in earlier that day and had already checked into our joint room.  Using my best Chinese, I try to explain this to the hotel manager.  I said the sentence “my friend is here” in Chinese and that’s where my language skills tapped out.  The manager spoke a little bit of English so he started asking me questions about April.  April and I had emailed back and forth a couple of times but I realized that I didn’t know that much about her.  He was asking what her Chinese name is, where she is from, what time she checked in and what her phone number is.  My answer was “Wo bu zhidao” (I don’t know) for every answer.  He was probably questioning what kind of friend I am!   We ended up called my friend who was making the arrangements and then calling April.  At this point its about midnight.  April answered the phone and I explained to her what was going on.  She is from Hong Kong and speaks mandarin, so she was able to assure the manager that I was with her.  And that’s how April and I met!  She was a gem from the very start to the very finish!

That night, I panicked and wondered how I was going to make it in China for another two weeks when the first day and a half had been so tiring.  Luckily, I have the experience under my belt to remind myself that the first day is always the hardest.  Traveling is stressful for people who appreciate control and reliability and sleeplessness never helps any situation.  As I sit here now, I can’t believe that I’m already on my way home, with the exception of the trip there, and this section of the trip home, it went by so fast.    Now for the saga of the trip home….

I guess I’ll start with the car ride back from W.S.  On Wednesday afternoon I began my car ride back to KMG from W.S.  The ride went well, it was just a little squishy.  The ride is generally between 3.5-4 hours and we rent a driver.  The driver charges by the person so he likes to fill up the car to make the trip worth it for him (which makes sense-he drives round-trip and it’s a long day for him).  He picked me up at about 2:30 and it was just beginning to rain.  I was a little nervous because the car trip can be scary.  The seat belts are normally not accessible in the backseat and the driver goes pretty fast.  Also, two lane roads manage to become three lane roads and I’ve frequently thought that we are going to have a head on collision with oncoming traffic (also not a good time to play “worst case scenario”).   The addition of the rain made me anxious.  Also, there were four of us in the backseat this time… one person was a kid but he was about 10 so there were still four bodies in the backseat for a long time.  Our first hiccup was an accident… The road was blocked and traffic was at a standstill.  It was interesting to watch because it was exactly like at home… first people just sat in their car and then they start migrating out to look up the road to see if they can see anything.  Eventually we were able to get through.  Then we hit KMG traffic.  All in all it was about a five-hour trip I think? 

Thursday, I began my trek back to the States.  The day began with a lovely lunch with one of my friends from last year… It’s been great catching up with people!  I also stayed at her house on Wednesday, which was a blessing!  It’s really encouraging to talk with the folks working in China full-time and hear what they are up to.   My trip to the airport went smoothly… my friends elevator is broken so I/we had to drag my stuff up and down her ten flights of stairs with was not the greatest thing ever but it was a good reminder that I really need to learn how to pack lighter : )  

My true adventures began at the KMG airport.  Anyone who doesn’t have a soft spot for McDonalds has probably not spent a significant amount of time eating rice.  I LOVE Chinese food, LOVE IT!  But, coming from home, where we have such as varied diet (Mexican, Chinese, Italian, American), I need a break from rice or noodles for every meal.  McDonalds generally beckons to me like a lighthouse in the midst of a hurricane.  The golden arches call out my name and I answer.   I was looking forward to getting a hamburger and some fries for dinner so I went to McDonalds to eat before boarding the plane.  The café version of McDonalds that is on the departure floor has a limited menu so I could only get chicken, which was sad, but ok.  The problem was that either I got the wrong persons order or my order got lost in translation and I ended up with a spicy chicken sandwich and a spicy chicken leg, no fries : (   By the time I opened my bag, it was too late to take it back so I tried to eat it, but it was really spicy so I ended up giving up on dinner and heading to my gate.   As I went through security, I was by a group of about 25 elementary school kids wearing matching shirts, hats and had name tags around their necks.  I watched which line they were going in and made sure that I didn’t get behind them (I’ll admit it, I’m very judgmental at airports—I have certain people that I don’t really like to be around and children and dogs are really high on my avoidance list).   Well, as luck would have it, I ended up sitting on the floor of the Kunming airport with those same kids for FIVE HOURS waiting for the plane to board.  It truly was the most absurd airport situation I have had.  The airplane was there and all of us were sitting or standing in line and they just weren’t boarding the plane FOR FIVE HOURS.  The communication barrier is generally not too bad while traveling via plane.  Airports have the signs in English and Chinese and announcements such as “don’t leave your bag unattended” are also translated.  The problem comes when there is a problem.  In this situation, the airline worker behind our desk would make an announcement that pertained to our flight, everyone would groan and I would look around confused.  In theses situations, I figure out early on who is on my flight and keep my eye on them.  This is where the kids came in handy… there was no way that I wouldn’t hear 25 elementary school kids boarding a plane.  As generally happens, a kind soul took notice of me.  The airline guy started talking to one of the female staff members and was pointing at me.  I gathered that she was the resident translator and she came over to me (at this point everyone is standing in line with their tickets still in hand) and said that the flight is delayed for an “undetermined amount of time” and that I should go and sit down and take a rest.  I thanked her for letting me know and sat down on the floor (the gate that we happened to be at didn’t really have any seats near enough for people to see the gate so everyone was congregating on the floor).   I sat there for a long time.  Then I saw the drinks come out.  I’ve learned that once free stuff arrives you’re in it for the long haul.  The crewmember came running over to me with free snacks, which again was so kind!  The scary moment was when they made the free snack announcement and I realized that I was between the kids and the iced tea.  I really thought that I was going to be trampled!  I was on the floor sitting against a sign-post and the herd of hungry, excited children ascended on the snack area.  Picture Simba from The Lion King during the wildebeast scene.  One of the kids was so close to my body that his name tag was hitting me in the nose.  I didn’t know if it was safer to stay still or try to run.   The next bit of excitement was the fight.  A women threw one of the free iced tea boxes at the crewmember behind the desk!  I dodged it so it didn’t actually hit him, but it was pretty dramatic.  Then he said sometime back to her and her husband/boyfriend picked up an apple and raised it up like he was going to stone the guy.  I watched in amazement as a crowd gathered around and everyone yelled.  At this point I REALLY wanted a translator!  There are more foreigners in China then there used to be, but there are still few enough that you notice them when you’re out and about.  I had noticed two other foreigners in the airport.  One was a white guy traveling alone and the other was this white guy and his Asian girlfriend/wife.  Jackpot!  Someone who most likely speaks English with someone who most likely speaks Chinese!  I went over to him and asked if he know what was happening.  He told me that he wasn’t sure but his wife was going to ask.  After another hour or so the second round of free drinks came out.  NOT good again.  Then the ultimate dagger…. The blankets.  I’ve never made it to the blanket stage.  When an airline starts handing out blankets like you’re in an emergency shelter, you’re going to be there for a while.  Let me just make a comment about the kids.  They filled me with a roller-coaster of emotions.  Sometimes they drove me nuts… they got bored and started racing each other on the baggage carts.  This was fun to watch but we were in a tight space so it was also a little annoying.   They also noticed my presence in their vicinity gradually.  I love the statement of the obvious, I heard the sentence “there’s a foreigner” about ten times that evening.   There were also a couple of giggles as kids dared each other to come say something to me in English, I heard them rehearsing “hello, how are you?”  But I loved watching them when the blankets came out.  They loved it!  They gathered up their circle of friends and made little beds on the floor of the airport.  Childhood gives us the blessing of making the best of the situations that us adults throw iced tea boxes over.   At some point they finally told the public that we were delayed because there was nowhere to land in Beijing.  The plane was there on time… why was there nowhere to land in Beijing?  After getting my blanket, I went over to curl up in a corner by the electronic charging station.  Then finally, it was time to board.  The other foreigner was also charging his devices and he told me (they didn’t announce anything).  Once again, I love how sweet people are, the women married to the foreigner saw me and said “oh good, you heard, I just sent my husband out to find you so you didn’t get left behind.”  There are angels all around and may I always look for opportunities to be one as I have been blessed soooo many times : )   

The flight went well with the exception of the fact that EVERYONE was grumpy, except the kids!  They ooooed and awwwed as the flight took off.  When we got to Beijing, it was about 4:20am.  China doesn’t have time zones despite it’s size which is nice when you’re traveling because it makes for easy math, but it means that the sun is coming up early somewhere… I think that somewhere must be Beijing.  The sun (well there isn’t really any sun in Beijing, the pollution is soooo thick that you can’t seen the sun but you can see the light coming from the sun) was already up as I made my way to the taxi stand.  Oh the taxi stand, another stressor of traveling alone without much language.  I’ve learned the hard way that it’s not actually worth it to book the $7 hostels in Beijing.  Mostly because they are in obscure locations that no one knows and you end up driving in circles as the meter rises almost as quickly as my blood pressure.  That’s when I start fearing for my kidneys.  This time I booked a hotel that is really close to the hotel and looks big enough that the taxi driver might know it.  I also made sure that I had the address in Chinese characters and the phone number.  Even with these precautions it was still stressful.  First of all, a guy that I thought was a taxi driver came up to me and tried to get me to come with him.  This isn’t my first rodeo so I realized that he was one of the unmarked cars which makes me uncomfortable (honestly, he was probably fine, but I try to respect the rules of the airport which requires taxis to be licensed).   I turned him down and then went to the marked taxi.  That guy really didn’t want to take me.  I don’t always understand what is happening in these exchanges.  Basically, the taxi driver generally doesn’t want to take me and then the police come over and force him to take me.  I think part of it is because I’m a foreigner.  I feel like foreigners were desirable passengers when the taxi drivers were setting their own prices because we are less likely to know the going rate and more easily tricked into a more expensive rate than a local person.  Now they make the taxi drivers run their meter so foreigners are just a pain to deal with and don’t result in any additional money.  Also, my hotel was so close it was probably not good business.  Whatever the case, this guy was not happy.  I showed him the address and he told me that he didn’t know it.  The police came over and told me to get into the car.  I asked the police if the taxi driver knew the hotel, the driver said “no” the police told me that he does and that I should get into the car.  I’m proud to say that this all happened in Chinese and I understood it!  Then the driver is driving and asks me to call the hotel.  I have the number but am trying to explain that my American phone won’t work in China.  I ask him to call using his phone, he says “no” and we continue to drive.  I pray instead of thinking about “the worst case scenario” and we arrive at the hotel in a couple of minutes.  It’s now 5am and I am checking into my room.  My original plan was to get to the hotel at about 11:30, get a good nights sleep and then enjoy a slow morning of solitude, quiet reflection, relaxation and prayer before my trip home.  AM I NEW HERE?  Quiet reflection, relaxation, solitude?  China is a lot of things that I love, it’s exciting, it’s beautiful, and it’s filled with amazing people but I should know by now that its lacking in the solitude and quiet reflection arena!  I finally fell asleep and slept for about four hours before making my way back to the airport. 

The free shuttle from the hotel to the airport was nice and I met a man who spoke English on my way.  He works for United Airlines and assured me that the airlines are delayed all of the time.  Great.  Well he was right because I got to Beijing airport, went through security and found out that there is a 6.5 hour delay on my flight to the states.  And here I sit.  If anyone ever has any questions about the Beijing airport, ask me. I know it all.  I’ve been to the advertised “reclining chairs” by gate E 24.  They are amazing but there are only two, so get there early and stay late.  If you leave to go to the bathroom, someone will take your chair.  The wifi works on my phone but the VPN won’t work… meaning I can only go on websites that China doesn’t block which doesn’t do me any good.  There is a beautiful pagoda should you want a selfie.  I almost watched the short film about the imperial dynasty but haven’t reached that level of desperation yet and need to save activities for the next couple of hours.  Don’t buy the tea sets, they are extremely overpriced.  Finally, it’s always worth trying to get into the VIP lounge.  I’m flying on my brother’s air miles and so I might be allowed in the lounge and I might not be.  It’s kind of a grey area.  I try every time and it’s about 50/50.  They always ask for the gold card which I don’t have.  This time I showed them a number on my receipt that may or may not be anything and asked if they could look it up.  She glanced at it, made a phone call and said “yes, I think it’s ok.”  Really all they are giving up is a can of coke and I’m gaining access to the luxury of padded chairs, free beverages, outlets and a really clean bathroom, so I appreciate that I was allowed in.   I think her sympathy was extended when she looked at my ticket and saw that I was delayed for six hours.  She commented that it’s a long time to wait.  I concurred.    So here I wait.  Hoping that I don’t have to reopen this document and extend the story.  I’ve already missed my connecting flight but there are a lot of flights from Newark to Pittsburgh so I’ll just be a day late.  I miss Bill and its time to be home so hopefully the rest goes as planned. 

Update:  I missed my connecting flight but the airline booked me a hotel and I was on the 8 am flight home to Bill : )   Bill picked me up at the airport and we drove about 20 minutes before I started looking for my phone and couldn’t find it.  Bill called it and someone answered it saying “Hello, this is the Pittsburgh International Airport.”  That answered that question—back to the airport we went.  That ends my travels for this time.  I love to travel but after this one trip I’ll be happy to stay away from airports for a little bit : )

Beijing Airport!  The bottom right is my view from the reclining chair!

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KMG airport.  The top left is the luggage cart system.  It has an ipad attached to it.  It seems like a good idea for a second until you think about a million people all looking down watching TV as they walk through the airport!  The top right is one of the groups of kids.  The bottom two are the campers on blankets.