GHE China Team Update #1
Few things have been going according to plan, but everything has been a blast so far! We left LAX at 2am on Wednesday the 18th and it was about a 13 hour flight. We landed in Beijing at around 6am on the 19th. It took us like 28 hours to get here thanks to the time change. Our first flight was late, so we missed our second flight to Changchun! We were stuck in Beijing for the day so we got to see a lot of the city and go to the Forbidden City. We had a taxi driver, and she had no regard for the rules of the road so that was quite the experience. We checked into a hotel and got up at 4am the next day to catch another flight to Changchun. Then our luggage got left in Beijing, so I didn’t change my clothes or put on deodorant for 3 days, so that was pretty fun. Putting on fresh socks was the best.
That day we had our first seminar at Cedar Nest and Maggie got to speak about Autism. While she was speaking we got to play with a couple kids and entertain them while their parents listened to the lecture. We already got to assess some kids and check out their behaviors and motor skills. One of the kid’s mom pretty much asked me, “Can you figure out what problem he has?” We met up with Maggie to talk about this kid and we are going to meet up with him and his parents again later.
At the end of the seminar, there was a mother who wanted Maggie to evaluate her daughter DoDo. We got to meet the girl and her mother, who were both so precious and sweet. We got to see what kinds of questions Maggie asked to get to the root of the problem and figure out what needed to be done about it, and we even got to give a couple of our own suggestions. At the end, DoDo handed us all a gift — bananas! She was delighted to give them to us, and her smile was the cutest thing.
We have all had such a fun time with each other and the people we have met. I have been learning so much about the culture and the history of China, which has been a blast. Some of the facts are shocking: like the fact that there are 64 million vacant apartments because they have to keep building in order to maintain the economy. I am also learning helpful information about Occupational Therapy, sensory integration, autism, etc. We love being here, and the Chinese people love having us — they are constantly looking at us and taking pictures and videos (with flash).
Nathan stayed with the Joshua family last night, and all the girls stayed with Paul and Vicky. Joshua and his wife Christie have 7 kids and they live on the 6th floor of a building. Paul and Vicky live nearby in another building on the 18th floor, so hopefully the elevator keeps on truckin’ while the girls are there. They live in the same community as Cedar Nest which is where we’re working with the kids. Right now we’re on a 4 hour train ride to Qinhuangdao with Paul and Vicky and we’re staying there for five days, then heading back to Changchun.
