Summer over?

Sigh .... our intention was to try to post weekly, now we're hoping we can at least post seasonally!

One of our summer activities is giving the dogs their haircut. Well, we should say, getting our pal Janet to give the dogs their haircut. They always look several years younger and happier once the process is done, but getting them to hold still and get their long coats combed out is an exhausting process for the dogs, and until this summer, for Jim. Again, thanks to Janet, grooming got a lot easier for Jim. Janet pointed us at a little device that keeps the critters from scooting, sitting or otherwise making it difficult to get at areas they'd rather we didn't. The harness Nellie and Bingley wear below, which we're able to anchor to stair rails, has a loop to go around the head and another to hold the body up. We have to watch placement of the back loop on Bingley, or it is hump-a-rama :-)




So what did we do this summer? We started summer with a visit to Erie. Then we spent a lovely weekend with our pals Scott and Andy to celebrate Scott's birthday. Then the start of tennis mania: Jim and pal John spent several Saturday mornings this summer wearing themselves out playing 5 sets of tennis. Besides John, we had many other summer visitors, including Dick's sister Nancy, friends Fred and Joan and Marilyn, our pals Lee and Mary Anne, and the birthday gang for Dick's birthday. We subsequently spent another birthday weekend at Janet and Rusty's, took Rich and Clay to Great Adventure, and will finish the summer with a day at the US Open and a Labor Day trip to Erie by way of the "Grand Canyon of PA".

This summer also saw us switch yard duties a bit; Dick took over for the pool, Jim took on a lot more of the yard work chores. We got a lot cleaned up, and Jim is eager to continue trimming back some of our more overgrown spots.

A nice story in NPR about the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding.

Let's hope the earthquake's devastation and interruption in tourist travel does not result in too much hardship for these pandas!

California

Although we don't want this to become a political space, it would be, well, completely cowardly of me to NOT write this. Here goes.

Well, naturally we're pretty happy about the California decision, an excerpt of which states:

We therefore conclude that in view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship, the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians ...

"Family" -- that puts the emphasis in the right place and perhaps will answer the questions of people who have difficulty comprehending why this matters so much.

Sichuan and Burma

We seem to have just missed two catastrophes that would no doubt have affected our trip (Nargis's affect on Burma, the earthquake today in Sichuan province).

Please keep all the people suffering in these regions in your thoughts and prayers.

UPDATE: Our national guide, Nuse, received a text message from our local guide in Chengdu, Cherry, that all was well with her.

Let Jag

Both of us started stirring at 1 am this morning, slept fitfully a couple more hours, and at 3 am Dick was very much awake, while Jim was able to doze on/off until 5 am.

It is a sunny day today, so hopefully that will stimulate our bodies to get on the clock again.

It's hell, I tell you, hell.

We're back (and why we hate flying right now)

OK, so yes, airlines do useful things like get us to/from wonderful places like China, but, damn, it ain't a pleasant experience in-process.

So, we started traveling (left hotel) at 8:30 am China time Saturday (8:30 pm Friday US EDT). We boarded at 11:15, sat on the plane for over 2 hours, finally getting out of Beijing 1.5 hours later than we were supposed to. We arrived in San Francisco, worried about the short amount of time we'd have to catch our flight from SF to Newark. After waiting insufferably long to get our bags and racing thru customs to get the bags checked for our connecting flight, we learned our worries were for naught. You see, United had canceled our SF -> Newark flight, and rebooked us to catch a later flight for Washington DC (Dulles), with a puddle jumper getting us into Newark at 11:15 pm US EDT, 4 hours later than our original plans.

(NB: The United Express service out of DC was about the most disorganized, chaotic thing we've ever experienced. It was only by sheer luck and repeated questioning that we got the information that our flight was boarding and we were supposed to board. Another couple, trying to get to Allentown, missed their flight even though they asked the gate attendants several times about whether it was time to board the flight. No announcements, multiple flights leaving out the same gate. Really just sad that United has sunk so low.)

So, it was only the prospect of reunion with our beloved Aussie shepherd Bingley that was keeping us going as we approached home at 1 am.

Those who know poor Dick's problems with jet lag will be sad to know that he was up at 5 am this morning. We're hoping he'll have a better night tonight.

Anyway, we are very glad to be home, very satisfied with a trip full of highlights and amazing stories, very much looking forward to getting back into our usual routine (Jim has missed his morning runs with his pal Astry), and very tired.

Goodbye (for now) to China

Oh, we'll still be posting a lot about this trip in the coming weeks, so keep on checking us, dear readers and fellow travelers.

But there is wonderful symmetry for Dick and Jim that they started the trip with the natural beauty of sky, tree, water and rock, and they are ending the trip that way. (We are eager to forget the not nice hotel we stayed the last night in Beijing - cramped room, small beds and inadequate air conditioning!!!)

This shot of Clay, actually on the bus trip back from the orphanage, pretty much sums up how exhausted but happy we are. (Notice that he is clutching that almost-lost-but-happily-found-thanks-to-good-hunting-by-Kathy-and-Val panda, Wafa.)


So, with no further adieu (and mostly because we have to get out of here by, sob, 8 am) here is the crazy-beautiful Zhangjiajie:

The Changsha experience.

Cities in China have terrible air quality. We were immediately aware of it when we arrived in Beijing and as we traveled from city to city it didn't change: until we got to Changsha. The air or smog in Changsha was truly the worst. Hence Val's hospital visit. Besides Val, two other units in the collective were operating at below acceptable parameters.



It proved to be a real discomfort for several of the party

Of course the visit to the orphanage was the high spot of Changsha and the essential reason we were there. But we had a wonderful interaction with lots of Chinese people one morning when we went to the park along the river. It was filled with people, mostly older retirees but not all. When we got there we found a large group of people listening to two older men playing erwus
(two stringed instruments _'er' meaning 'two'), while two other old men sang along.

Joy and Jane (our local guide) both tried a hand at playing the instrument and did quite well. Of course Jane plays the erwu and Joy plays several instruments. It happens that we have a very musical group which has added a lot of fun to traveling together.

Further down the promenade there was a man playing a flute in a small pavillion. We stopped to listen. We were soon surrounded by curious people and several women were very curious about Clay and made quite a fuss over him. We sang our Chinese lullaby that Nuse taught us and then everyone in the pavillion joined us for a second go around. It was a lovely moment.

Cleo and Emily were also very popular, with many people asking to have photos taken with them. But we were all the center of much friendly curiousity. We agreed that we really felt that we were in China and not just another big city.

The Hospital Story [Joy]

Courtesy of Joy (Vickie's sister, also known forever more as "3 Yuan Water Lady"), here is her story of a "thru the looking glass" trip in China's health care system, all started thanks to Changsha's particularly bad air, which hit our friend and fellow traveler Val pretty hard.

(NB: Vickie and Jim were able to find a China gov't website listing daily air quality for Chinese cities that confirmed that Changsha's air quality was markedly worse than the air in Beijing and other cities we visited; sadly, it was far from the worst. We were also able to find cheap tickets on direct flights from Changsha to Zhangjiajie that would allow Val to avoid a 4 hr bus ride, should she wish to just get out of the air as quickly as possible. The beauty of the internet!)

One of our party was having serious breathing trouble, so after some consideration she decided to go to the local hospital in Changsha for, hopefully, a nebulizer treatment and an inhaler. As this was Sunday evening, her option was the emergency room. Nuse [our tour guide] drove us there, Jane [our local guide for Changsha and Zhangjiajie] met us there. First stop was the Registration/Cashier line, and Kathy and Jane waited in line, paid about 5 yuan (less than a dollar) and got a little plastic credit card for Val. We all followed Jane down the hallway to a small room with two small wooden desks with computers, with a physician at each. The female doctor was available, Val sat down, Nuse and Jane translated, and the doctor took a history, checked lungs and heart, and listened to Val’s explanation of her symptoms, her previous experience with the same symptoms about 6 months ago, and the treatment she received for it from her home clinic.

The doctor said lungs and heart sounded fine, and she wanted a blood test to rule out infection. After careful consideration, Kathy & Jane went back to the Registration window to pay, then we all trooped down the hall to a little “window” in the wall. It was framed in stainless steel, with a shelf at about waist height and a chair in front, and the technician sat within. After waiting our turn, Val sat down, put her hand on the shelf, and watched as the technician spread hand sanitizer on his gloves (note: did not change his gloves).

He pricked her finger, extracted her blood through a pipette and into a test-tube, and handed her a little square of folded brown paper towel to press on the puncture. We moved off to the chairs set against the wall of the hallway to wait. I found a band-aid and hand sanitizer, Val applied both and hoped for the best.

This is about the time we decided it would be better not to look at the floor. Nuse had previously explained that the appearance of the hospital would be not up to our standards, but that HE trusted the medical care there. As we trusted him, we had made the leap of faith. Now, the professional intake from the doctor was balanced with the dubiousness of the sanitary facilities. The floor was filthy. The small trashcans along the hallway seemed to be a place to aim. Litter and (some) dead bugs were everywhere (no evidence of medical waste, however); it was a motley collection of papers, cigarette butts, food and drink containers.

We carried on.

The results of the blood test came back and we returned to the intake room. (Thank goodness for Nuse and Jane who knew the system!) The doctor said the blood test was ok, and she asked about the medicine used in the prior treatment. Kathy used her cell phone – called information in the States and got connected to their medical clinic. The information was quickly obtained and the doctor found the reference for the medicine on her computer. She then wanted an EKG, as heart symptoms mimic the breathing symptoms Val was experiencing, and the medicine for the nebulizer could make a heart condition worse.

Our little group took the elevator (“Don’t look down!”) up to the 5th floor, went down the hallway to the EKG room. Again, very quickly, Valerie was done with that, and we took her heart printout back to the intake room.

Finally the doctor had enough information to prescribe the treatment Val was looking for, but alas, the personnel were not available and the treatment would have to be completed the next morning. Val accepted this disappointment, and we made plans to come back in the morning. Before we left the hospital, Kathy and Jane paid for the treatment, the medicine and the inhaler, Nuse picked up the medicine from the hospital pharmacy, and Val and I stood outside the door watching a little boy pee in the entrance way of the hospital (assisted by his dear ol ma).

Total time: about 1 ½ hours.
Total cost: less than $30
Outcome: no treatment that evening, but one promised for early the next morning.

Val slept ok that evening, and she, Kathy and Nuse returned for another adventure the next day.

[Which happened as scheduled, and Val soldiered on, bravely!, to Zhuzhuo. No way was she going to miss that! (paraphrasing her). Happily she got to feeling better, and the day afterward, she was able to do a rather strenuous walk in Zzj that involved climbing 168 steps.

Photosmagoria

We are blessed to have some creative people using Jim's Macbook as a clearing house for photos. What follows are some great pictures from Val; we're still waiting for her, Joy and Kathy to write up the hospital story (don't worry; all well now, but it was a scare for a day.)

On that tantalizing note, enjoy the photos, courtesy of Val.

One of many "cute kid" photos, this boy flies a kite in Chengdu's "People's Park"

Sichuan Opera, Chengdu

Rich's birthday, Chengdu

Val does some heavy petting (photo by Kathy)

So does Kathy ...

Rich's panda in profile

Joy, Cleo, Emily, Clay and Rich at the Panda Institute

The Red Panda


Grandpa and grandson at park in Changsha
(Xiang Jia river, photo by Kathy)

Changsha Park - Group Photo

Changsha worker

Clay reunited with one of his "Aunties"

Liu Yan Xia and Auntie

Clay watches Vickie's "Gotcha!" video at Zhuzhou

Clay and Liu Yan Xia at lunch

Clay and Liu Yan Xia go shopping

Kathy and new friend

Watching the "Gothcha!" video

Auntie can't get over how much Clay has grown

Afterthoughts on Chengdu

Chengdu is yet another big (several million people) city. The capital of Sichuan Provence, it is close to the Tibetan border. For me the interesting thing about the city is that most people use bicycles or battery driven motor scooters. Internal combustion powered scooters are not allowed for environmental reason since the city sits in a large bowl (like L.A.). When the light changes a thousand bikes move.




Besides spending time with the pandas we had a really fun afternoon in 'the Peoples Park' which is sort of Chengdu's version of Central Park. What was fun was the crowds of people all involved in different group activities such as line dancing, badminton, ballroom dancing and most important of all, having tea at the tea house. We joined them for this.


Kathy actually challenged one of the badminton players and held her own

Xiao Yan Zi (Chinese lullaby)

Nuse, who has a wonderful singing voice, taught us a traditional Chinese lullaby, and he was right: every Chinese person we've talked to about things musical knows this song.

So, if you want to impress your Chinese friends, learn this song!

An Amazing Journey (so far)

Today was the day, the reason Clay and so many of his family traveled to China. Today, Clay returned to Zhuzhou City, where he spent the first three years of his life. Zhuzhou City is (confusingly) in the Zhuzhou region of Hunan province, a region that encompasses several counties including the county of Chaling, where Clay was found by policeman and brought to Zhuzhou.

It feels less like a circle being closed and more like a spiral moving onwards and upwards, returning to a friendly and familiar place, only from a different altitude and perspective.

From 2000 are faces that have stayed with us:


And, now it's 2008:



In the pictures above are Clay's teacher (whose name is Liu Yan Xia', where "a'" is the rising tone "a") and his "auntie" (caregiver), whose name alas we could not get written down and I am not going to attempt a faulty reconstruction purely from poor memory. With them is the director of the orphanage, who was a vice director back in 2000. All remembered "Xiao Xiao" and his auntie could not stop marveling at his height and his muscles.

In the background, you can see Jiu-Jiu (Jim) fussing with the computer. We had the video Vickie made that included footage of them on Clay's "gotcha!" day, and they giggled and smiled to see and hear themselves from 8 years ago. We all marveled at how a haircut can make a person (Liu Yan Xia') seem much older than she is.

We met in the same reception area that Vickie, Clay and Jim met children from Zhushou in 2000, with the *exact* same furniture.

The director allowed us to visit the top floor of the main building, and Clay could see his old room again.


While much looked the same as before, and Zhuzhou families will be happy to know that Jim saw the same warmth coming from staff toward the children (and more importantly, from children toward the staff), and saw that many of the improvements Zhuzhou Families have helped make (decorative tiles with cartoon characters thruout, air conditioning, a nice-looking play area in the back, equipment for basic physical therapy) are making a difference.

It was a school day, and many of the children were at school, so we saw some adorable toddlers and children unable to go to school. As before, we were all touched by various children that we got to meet. While Nuse indicates that Chinese families are adopting many, many more children now, it is also clear that there will always be children who will be difficult to place, and the heart breaks to think of it.


Liu Yan Xia' came to lunch with us, and then helped us shop for things the orphanage really needed. Per Clay's desires, we bought food for the babies (a large supply of formula) and clothing for the toddlers, as well as a simple boombox-style CD player that Yan Xia' said was really needed.

Clay was given a very nice certificate of donation from the orphanage, and he fell asleep upon getting back onto the bus, holding his new prize as well as the toy (stuffed) panda bear "Moffa the hiding panda". The rest of us reflected on an amazing day.

A Night At the Opera

Interestingly, the little "Sichuan Opera/Face Changing" show that we saw (thoroughly enjoyable, if inevitably tourist-y) allowed video recorders, and most people in the audience were happily taping away. Alas we left ourselves with a full tape for the digital camcorder, so we had to resort to the much cruder movie camera on the old Sony camera. Therefore, no good face changing videos for you to see ....

Apologies for the poor visual quality, but enjoy the music and try to imaging the color and spectacle.

Lady acrobats, impressively spinning a table with their feet (feet juggling):



An erhu soloist, also very impressive (though over-miked).



Ladies dancing in "water sleeves", a device used in Sichuan opera to express emotion:



And last but not least, a snippet from one of the opera scenes:

FYI re: comments

Once again, we can post, but we cannot see the end result and more importantly, we cannot see your comments.

If you want to give us feedback and/or relay a message, best to do it via e-mail to jmhohnj@gmail.com and/or jickndim@garden.net

Changsha hotel switch

We have a change in hotel, for the better! We are now at the Hua Tian hotel, 011-86-731 444-2270

http://www.huatian-hotel.com/about/about_en.jsp

It is a very nice place! Best of all, at long last there is a POOL for some boys very much in need of one. Stay tuned as we put together a little Chengdu wrap-up and Jim cleans up space on his hard drive to make room for the most important photos we'll take this trip.

Panda-monium!

It was a big day for the crew, and since we all achieved new zeniths of inner peace after spending a day with the pandas, we'll gladly share the panda love.

This is a panda baby -- 6 inches at birth!

"Eh ... it's a living."
(The voice of Bugs Bunny is never far from Jim's mind.)

Rich pets a panda

Clay hugs a panda

Many of us only learned this trip about "red pandas", which are not bears but are rather a relative to the raccoon. They are just as cuddly, as some of us found out.

Cleo

Emily

Rich

Clay

Val

Dick