China 2007July 3Arrived in Changsha after flying from Beijing. Our guide Susan Ma greeted us at the airport and drove us to the Dolton Hotel where we had stayed in 2004 when we adopted H. We had lunch and then went swimming – noticed that there were a number of older adopted kids there. Some were with families who were adopting another baby and at least one was an older kid being adopted at the time. Later we went to see about H getting her hair permed but she thought it was too expensive. R had her hair trimmed for about 30 yuan ($5.00USD). We went to a market and picked up some spicy snacks that H likes. Also, we will send some to our friend in Oregon who was adopted from Chenzhou as an older child and misses the spicy food. July 4R and I took an early morning walk. There were a lot of people out exercising, doing tai chi and ballroom dancing (very popular). We walked behind the hotel where there were some narrow streets and fewer cars. Found some places to buy buns and other street food. At 8:30 am we met Susan and a teacher from the Changsha School for the Blind and Deaf in the hotel lobby. We got in the van and headed for a department store to buy tape recorders for the school. The store wasn’t quite open when we got there so we sat in the van and asked the teacher about the school. Did anyone go on to university? – Yes, they were very proud because two of their students were going on to university that year. There are only 4 colleges in China that accept blind students. The Changsha school is the only one in the province for blind or deaf students. Ironically, there we saw our only Chinese blind person (outside of the school and a couple people who were begging) on our trip – a man who was by himself using a cane, not the standard white cane used in the US but more like a broomstick. With the donation money we got about 15 nice tape recorders. We went to the school where we met some staff and talked to them for a while. Most of the students there learn a vocation (massage is popular). One teacher asked if H was learning a vocation. I said, “No, she’s going to college.” The staff seemed to think that the blind kids could learn something that would earn them a living but they saw the deaf students as having a bleaker future. The school was started by a German woman in 1908. It includes blind, deaf and developmentally disabled students but we didn’t see any physically disabled kids. There are mostly boys. According to the staff, families in rural areas tend not to send their girl children to school if they are disabled. We visited some classrooms. I didn’t see any Braille typewriters or computers although there is a computer teacher. The students use a stylus to Braille. Some 6th graders were encouraged to try their English skills with us but were very shy. One boy finally blurted out, “My name is ____!” They did come up to the front of the class when H wrote her name in Braille using the stylus, which she had a little difficulty using as she is more used to using a computer. The classrooms were pretty basic, not much more than worn desks and stacks of Braille books by each desk. The dorm rooms each had six beds squeezed into them – barely enough space to get by. After the school visit, H wanted to get her nails done. The manicure she got ended up being free because, according to the shop manager, I was a “good mother.” We couldn’t quite understand him at first, then he wrote on his hand with his finger – F-R-E-E. As it turned out, we got a number of discounts because of H being blind or me being a “good mother” or “angel” in one case. Walking in Changsha is a bit nerve-wracking. Walkers share the sidewalk with motorbikes, bicycles, cars and sometimes cows. There’s a lot of honking and bell ringing going on. While in Changsha, we usually would eat the free breakfast at the Dolton Hotel, which is very good and has a large variety. H usually went for the congee with spicy pickles and watermelon. R would have “tea eggs” - hard boiled eggs soaked in tea - and fruit. I would go for the fruit and cereal or bread. We soon discovered that other meals at the restaurant were way too expensive ($40 for the 3 of us), so we usually would cruise the streets in the evening for steamed vegetable or meat buns or sidewalk noodles (noodles stirred in hot oil with spices) or sidewalk veggies and rice (usually a total of $5 for everyone). July 5We left at 7:45am to drive to Anren, where we would be meeting H’s foster grandmother. We drove for about 2 hours on a main highway – mostly farmland and brick and tile houses. Then we turned off on a more rural road, lots of giant potholes at times. It’s a coal mining area and there were piles of coal along the road as well as a lot of trucks, the likely source of the bumpy road. Drove for about 2 more hours before we reached Anren, a large town, where we met Grandma’s sister. She gave us a quick tour of Anren, then we went to visit the first orphanage that H had stayed in (for about 2 years). This orphanage was pretty small. The staff remembered H and had fond memories of her. There was one older girl that we saw, who had mild CP who also remembered H. More driving on a country road, then we arrived in the small village where H’s grandma lives. Grandma and her husband (who died in October 2006) adopted H soon after her birth and she lived with them and their adult disabled son until she was 8.5. They also have 3 other birth children, all adults when H was adopted. Grandma lives in a modest brick house next to some farm land. The house is connected to other houses in the neighborhood. There are concrete floors. As you come in there is a large room, where a table with lunch was set up. There were 3 other rooms plus a kitchen. There also was an upstairs that we didn’t get to see. We sat in one of the other rooms with all the neighbors crowding in and talking excitedly (or peering through the windows). It was an emotional meeting for grandma and H. Grandma explained why she had sent H to the orphanage – that she felt H would not be able to earn a living farming because of her vision and she wanted her to learn a vocation or get an education. She explained that H had stayed at the Anren orphanage for a while but that her chances of being adopted from there or getting educated were slim so they transferred her to the Chenzhou orphanage, which had just set up a pre-school program. We had lunch with all the neighbors watching. Then we talked for a while again. Grandma said she doesn’t have to worry now that she knows H is in a good family. She hadn’t known who had adopted H. The sister showed H a photo of her grandfather who died. We left for Chenzhou, where we stayed at the HuaTian Hotel. It has a computer in the room that can be used free of charge but you have to pay to use the swimming pool. July 6We met the orphanage staff in the hotel lobby at 9:30am, then went to a department store where they bought 2 TVs with our donation. We went to the orphanage and chatted with the director a little in a conference room before he had to take a phone call from someone in the government. The older kids and other staff came in and we distributed gifts from their friends and families. There were some staff members who remembered R (MingLiang), who we adopted in 1999. We took a tour of the orphanage. In the baby area there was a nanny for each baby. They were playing on the floor with them. We then asked to meet H’s friend ChunChun, who was sitting out in back of the building with a teacher or nanny. ChunChun is 17 years old and uses a wheelchair, probably due to polio. Wang Mama said that ChunChun wanted to go to school but they need money to send her. Later I asked how much – 1500 yuan (about $200USD) per year. I said I would pay but they said I had already donated a lot and wouldn’t take it, so I said I would ask the other families. I later emailed the family that was coming in a week and they said they would donate the money for the first year (it later turned out that another girl who was adopted as an older child and also uses a wheelchair, wanted to make the donation). ChunChun also needs a better wheelchair. She now uses an old rusty one, which is too big for her and falling apart. July 7We took the older kids from the orphanage to the park and out shopping. The park had a playground and some rides but the teacher would not allow the kids to go on the rides – “too dangerous.” Instead they made plastic “stained glass” windows by squeezing paint into a raised line drawing, then having it baked in a microwave. ChunChun gave me her finished product. We had lunch at a fast food buffet called “Toms.” Not great food but the kids liked it. Then took the kids shopping for shoes and clothes for ChunChun. AiAi and XiaoTing (two of the oldest girls) came back to the hotel with us for a while. I showed them some photos of the other girls from Chenzhou who are now in the US and they played some Chinese internet game. We went for a walk in the big plaza across from the hotel. July 8Susan Ma took us to SuXian Mountain, which is a very pretty park. We hiked to the top – there are lots of signs (“sweet prompts”) along the way explaining the health benefits of hiking up the mountain. There’s a temple at the top and a museum about the general who the mountain is named after. We took a sky train down the mountain. We had a lunch scheduled with Dr. Zhang, the former director of the orphanage, who was there when both R and H were – H has fond memories of her, as do many of the other older girls. We bought some flowers for Zhang then went to her apartment, which was very spacious and nice. She was very excited to see the girls and talk about other girls she had known there. She asked us questions about the US education system (a number of people were surprised to hear that H went to a regular school). We had lunch with her family – husband, daughter and son-in-law and granddaughter. After lunch, Zhang took us to visit another nanny of H’s that she was very fond of. She had retired so we weren’t sure how to get a hold of her, but Zhang took us the apartment where she thought she lived and she was there. The nanny was very happy to see us – first time I was hugged by a Chinese person there. Back to the hotel and then dinner at a restaurant, hosted by the orphanage staff. Director Shi talked a lot about H, how everyone liked her and wanted to find a family for her. They said there was one other family with two girls from Chenzhou. July 9Went to the orphanage for a short time. We got some information on the last two older kids who need homes – one boy 5 years, one girl 10 years (looks younger). There are 3 girls over 14 (past the age limit for adoption), two girls being adopted in July and one who will be adopted in the fall, leaving the two younger ones. The orphanage would like to see if anyone is willing to adopt them before sending their files to the central agency. Feng is 5 - he had some problem or injury to his head but they think he is ok now – still has a little trouble with language. Have medical report but need to get it translated. Neither seemed to have major impairments and were pleasant children. The drive back to Changsha took about 4-5 hours. July 10Spent one more day in Changsha. Went to Martyr’s Park and R mostly rode on some of the scary rides. She and I went on the hamster, which was a small rickety roller coaster that I was sure was going to fall off the track. July 11We did a little shopping in the morning to make sure we had enough spicy snacks. Went to the airport around 11am and took an early afternoon flight to Beijing. Hou Lei’s brother, Hou Ying met us at the airport. We took a long (2 hours maybe) taxi ride to the train station (traffic is really bad in Beijing). Beijing looks much newer and cleaner than it did when I was there in 1995. The cars also look newer and less polluting. The train station was very busy and confusing. I was glad we had Hou Ying with us. We ate some dinner – noodles and veggies and soup, then boarded the train around 9pm. There were rows of bunks 3 high but no separate rooms in this car. The beds were clean and cozy. Only problem was that we were right next to the bathroom where everyone smoked and coughed. July 12In the morning on the train we traveled through a grassy tree-less farming area with occasional villages of mud houses. We arrived in Baotou at 10am and a friend of Hou Ying’s picked us up at the train station. Baotou is slightly less crowded, cooler and dryer than Hunan. There are lots of nice parks and squares. Hou Lei has a spacious 3-bedroom apartment connected to her brother’s (and parents’) apartment next door. Her brother is married with one 6-year-old girl. His wife runs a day care out of their apartment. Grandma has fixed up a nice garden in the courtyard outside the apartments with a shady spot where Grandpa sits and reads the paper and smokes (when he’s not unclogging the toilet for us). Everyone pretty much treats the two apartments as one house. We had a delicious lunch of dumplings and fruit, then went to a Mongolian “theme park” – grasslands with wildlife, yurts, a Mongolian temple and horseback and camel riding. There’s also a nice paved road for bike riding. H tried a camel but then got immediately off. R rode the camel and the other kids rode horses. After that we went to another amusement park. We had dinner with some of Hou Lei’s friends at a Mongolian Hot Pot restaurant. It had a playground on the 1st floor. On the way out, Hi got her nails done, since a woman was doing them for free. After I taught him the word “manicure,” Hou Ying told me that they hadn’t been very common until recently. Then Hou Ying took us to a square with some fountains that people played in. It started raining and the wind was blowing pretty hard so we headed back to the apartment. July 13The whole family piled into the van to drive out to the country. A friend of Hou Lei’s – who has the same Chinese name as R (“Ming Liang”) – is a bank manager and wanted to show us where he grew up in the country. He was the only one in his village to go to college. He didn’t have any shoes to wear there until his sister bought him some on the bus – she wore the shoes herself until she got there. We saw his childhood home, the kids played with a donkey next door and we picked some wild Goji berries. Ming Liang took us to a restaurant on the Yellow River – it was the only place for miles around – for traditional Mongolian food – cold bean sprouts, bitter greens, fish from the Yellow River, yellow rice, cucumbers with a special sauce, and “white wine” (very strong). We ate in our own yurt. No bathroom there so we went behind an old tractor out in the field. Then we walked on a bridge across the Yellow River. Bought a bunch of watermelons from a man passing by in a truck. That evening we went to Hou Lei’s English class with her. There kids about H’s age. They were very shy about using their English but a few of them asked or answered questions. My kids wouldn’t talk either. A young girl that Hou Lei knows came over for dinner. She said her American name was “Yumiko” and insisted it was American even when we said it sounded Japanese. July 14We all drove to the Gobi Desert to see the famous singing sands but since it had rained recently, they weren’t singing. We rode in a large jeep-like vehicle to the top of the dunes where there was a yurt and some camels, which the kids rode. They also had surfboards you could slide down on but we just slid down on our butts. The sand is very fine and wasn’t too hot. Hou Lei slid down in her wheelchair with the help of her brother and dad. Had lunch in a nearby city. The restaurant had one of the ickier restrooms. Saw an employee walk out without washing his hands. May be where my stomach bug started. Houlei’s dad took R and me to a “nursery” – a giant store that went on forever. It had some nice local crafts. We had dinner at a Western style restaurant owned by a friend of Houlei’s. Food wasn’t great but Hou Ying and Grandpa finished everything off. Around 10pm, Ming Liang and his wife came by and wanted to take us to a teahouse. It was a very nice place. The tea master preformed a traditional tea ceremony with pu-er tea, which was not supposed to keep us from sleeping. He used a carved wood tray and poured the first steep of tea over two strange animal figurines. Then he poured the tea into tiny glass cups. We each had about 25 cups (H counted). The adults also drank red wine. The served snacks – nuts, chocolate and microwave popcorn. There was a table to do calligraphy. R did her Chinese name in characters and gave it to MingLiang. The tea master also did R’s name in calligraphy and gave it to her. Upstairs in the teahouse there were more rooms, including one with an automated mahjong table. You pressed a button and the center section rose up so you could push all the tiles into a hole. The tiles were shuffled inside the table, then rose up in neat little walls. There was also a dice cup that spun the dice when you pushed a button. We stayed until about 1am. The kids were getting very punchy (no surprise). July 15In the morning, Hou Lei’s cousin and her daughter took R, Hou Bi and me to the “nursery” store. There was a section where they sold puppies and dogs, which the kids loved. We got some gifts, including a jasmine-like plant for Hou Lei’s mom. We had lunch at a hotel buffet with Hou Lei and her friend, the Mongolian policeman, who wanted to talk politics with me. He likes George Bush because he’s “honest and a good husband.” After lunch he took me and the kids for a ride in his police car. He turned on his siren a lot but people mostly ignored it. He ran all the red lights (like every other driver there). The girls and I went to the mall, which I was not impressed with. Really loud music blaring from every store. The sister and cousin prepared a big meal for us, then we went to another of Baotou’s lovely parks – this one had a big lake with fountains in it. The whole family came to the train station to see us off, except Hou Lei because the van wouldn’t start and we had to take taxis. We waved out the window at them – the girls were crying – not sure if it was because we were leaving or because they wanted to ride the train. It was hard to leave Baotou – Houlei’s family was so kind and generous to us. One this ride we had a private room with four beds. There was an older woman in the other bed. July 16Arrived in Beijing at 10am and took a taxi to XiHai Hotel in the hutong district. This is a great area of Beijing. It’s the old section that still has some character. The hotel was not fancy but decent, especially for $30/night. There was a nice commercial district nearby that R and I explored. Later we all went out and I got a $5 haircut that took almost 1.5 hours. The kids were complaining but they were the ones who had suggested it! We did a little shopping. Got some Chinese fast food and also stopped at MacDonald’s (although I try to avoid them) for R. I have some kind of stomach bug. Had to race to a public restroom at one point, which I discovered was just four squat toilets in a row – no privacy screens. After eating in the hotel room, we went exploring in the hutong area. We took a ride in a bicycle rickshaw. Wasn’t sure if we walked in there without a guide that we’d be able to find our way out. July 17ZZ, the director of Half the Sky in Beijing, met us at our hotel at 11am. She had a hard time finding it. We chatted for a bit then drove by the Olympic area, then to lunch with her and some other HTS staff at a Hunan restaurant near their office. Traffic was still horrendous. We visited the Half the Sky office which is very nice. ZZ drove us to the Confucius temple where we had hoped to do some stone rubbings but no luck. The giant Buddha was very impressive though. Took a taxi back to the hotel. R and I walked through the hutong to HouHai Lake. We rented a paddle boat and cruised around the lake for a while. It’s a very trendy area with a lot of night clubs with cushy couches. Also a lot of pushy rickshaw drivers. Fortunately, they understood me when I said in Chinese, “We did that yesterday.” Otherwise they would keep bugging us. We had dumplings for dinner. Wandered around and found a cool hutong area with lots of shops with more crafts and some avant garde stuff, as well as the usual souvenirs. Got some more presents and I got a very reasonable glass tea pot/cups and some pu-er tea. There was also a very interesting looking hutong hotel. July 18This is our last day in China. We went to the Great Wall at Badaling. The stairs are very steep and the steps are uneven. It was harder going down than up. Fun and great views, not too hot. H had trouble with her full skirt in the wind though, until I found a belt to tie it down with. After we got back to the hotel, we went on a tandem bike at HouHai Lake – it had a little seat on the back for R. The kids liked it but it was hard to handle and there were a lot of people, cars and motorbikes to avoid. So we returned it early and took an electric boat on the lake – R had fun driving and we only crashed into another boat once. In the evening we tried to find a CD store – H was looking for popular Chinese music. We walked for quite a ways down one street someone had pointed us to. We went into a nightclub to ask and a young woman pointed us back to the hutong. We started back and stopped at a small market. Then the same girl came in and said she would take us to the store. (It was a different hutong than I thought). She took us to an alternative music store where some guys were drumming on bongos. I thought it was kind of neat but it was not the type of place H was looking for. |