August 27, 2011

Smiling with the kids in Kashgar, China!

Wendy, our Pediatrician, with her favorite patient! I was lucky to capture this moment during her examination!
Look at those cheeks! On the left is one of the local nurses talking with this mother.
We all had a great time with this little man. He took the handle off a door and used it as a gun, probably not a good thing to be encouraging, but he had a great time pretending to shoot us!
Oh my cuteness! Isn't he just adorable?!?
I brought this light toy with me and brought it out for Julia to show this little girl! I love how the light reflects back in Julia's face! The little girl was awestruck!
What a smile!
I just love the moment I captured here. The mother in thought and the little guy staring at someone next to me. Their fabrics are beautiful! I love the combination this mother is wearing!
My roommate Natalie brought this cute stitched doll from Australia. She had a special one for one girl and one boy. This was the lucky girl and she was thrilled to receive it!
Oh I love his smile! I love how engaged the fathers were in their child's care!
This was my best friend! I wish I remembered his name, but I'll call him "my little man". On the last day, I decided I was going to give my light toy away to a special child. This little guy was screaming, just upset at something. I decided he was the one and right after I gave it to him, he stopped crying. A miracle toy! I showed him and his mother how to light it up and for the rest of the day, he had it in his hand. Even when I walked them down to the OR, he was still carrying it! The next day, our last day, I was worried he might have lost it in the OR, but to my surprise he was holding it in his bed! He looked great and was happy with his toy!
 
Oh, such cheeks! I love his outfit, the cute beanie! I believe it was worn because they are Muslim but still, it looked cute on this little guys!
"My little man" later the same day I gave it to him, holding his new toy!
I saw this little guy and busted a smile, "what is on your head little man"? Through the help of interpretation, I learned he had been crying and after mom put this net bag on his head, he stopped! Whatever helps! I had to get this picture, such a cute guy!
"My little man", so precious!
This little guy was not one of our cleft lip/palate patients but he did come to have a consult for his nevus (a large mole on his right face). His father brought him to have the surgeons give them advice, which is to go to the capital of the province and receive care. Yet I don't know if that is realistic for this family, which breaks my heart. He was so cute. I found my bottle of bubbles and decided to see if he was interested in playing with me while he waited for the surgeons to come see him. Oh did he like them, he was jumping up and down popping bubbles! We had a great time, about 15 minutes! In the end, I left his dad with my bottle of bubbles!
We met this little guy on our first day in the city, after our tour of the hospital. We noticed his arm but didn't think he was a candidate for our surgeries. Little did we know, his dad had him open his mouth, and he had a cleft palate. We saw him a few days later, such a cutie!
I loved this little girls outfit! A red sequin, silk dress, complete with pearls! A beautiful girl!
This little guy was also another special patient of mine. He had his cleft lip repaired on day 1. His Grandpa was always with him. I just loved them! He looked great after surgery!

August 26, 2011

The Great Wall of China!

The Great Wall of China! This has been on my bucket list for years and I was thrilled to be able to check it off! I was not going home without seeing China! And the Great Wall, to me, has always = China! A quote I found in a book states, "If you haven't seen the Wall, you haven't seen China!" I was scheduled to fly back home on August 23rd, but I decided to call the travel agent to find out how much it would cost me to delay my flight a day. She quoted me $250.00 USD, which I decided was worth it, and I paid it! After I made that decision, I suddenly became very nervous and scared. I actually trembled and couldn't get to sleep that night. I knew a friend from the mission was also staying a few extra days, but I was afraid he would leave in the morning without me being able to tell him I was staying an extra day and then I would be in Beijing, CHINA, all by myself, and that scared me. I remembered him saying before we headed to our hotel rooms that he was sleeping in, so I knew I would be able to catch him. I set my alarm for 8am, showered, got ready, and went down to his room. I knocked on his door, heard him stumble to the door, and finally he cracked it open. "Hi Marco!" I had to quickly get in why I was at his door at 8:45am. He was excited to hear I was staying as well and told me he had set up to meet our friend Iona in the lobby at 10am. I walked back to my room and laid down til 9:45am and then headed to the lobby at 10. I didn't know what they had planned to do, but I was hoping it was the Wall! I met Marco downstairs, but no Iona. We actually had to call her at home, she was so tired, she slept in. She arrived around 11am and we discussed possible ideas. I told them of my strong desire to see the Great Wall on my only day there. Marco was going to still be in Beijing for another few days after I left so I was hoping he'd be flexible and go to the wall with me. Iona works at the Marriott Hotel we were staying at, so she talked to one of the receptionist, and came back to report that they were calling a car for us to rent for $600 Yuan and he would drive us there and back. SWEET deal! I was so excited, it was really happening! Marco was okay with changing his plans to see the Forbidden City and travel to the Wall with me instead. Iona also came along, which was nice, to have a Chinese tour guide, as well as a translator!
This picture and the one above are actually one in the same! Can you tell? The picture above is one I took at the Wall. It was a very misty, hazy day. It rained while we were on the Wall! Yet the top picture, one in the same, was obviously taken on a beautiful day! I loved just gazing at the Wall and thinking, "wow I'm really here...I'm at the Great Wall of China"! It always feels so surreal when you're at a place that you've only seen in pictures or movies and thought I'll never go there! I also loved how the Wall winds its way across the mountain ranges like an endless, slender dragon! The Wall, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups. The Great Wall stretches from Shanhaiguan in the east, to Lop Lake in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. The most comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the entire Great Wall, with all of its branches, stretches for 8,851.8 km (5,500.3 mi). This is made up of 6,259.6 km (3,889.5 mi) sections of actual wall, 359.7 km (223.5 mi) of trenches and 2,232.5 km (1,387.2 mi) of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers.
China and two flags representing the Great Wall at Mutianyu, China. Mutianyu, located 55 miles north of Beijing, is far less touristy than other sections of the Great Wall. I was grateful Iona was taking us to this section vs another. There were cable cars to take tourists to the top, but we choose the 1,000 step path to the wall itself. I bought a shirt that states, "I climbed The Great Wall of China." And we did! Yet the best part, besides experiencing the Wall itself, was riding the Alpine slides to the bottom. What a blast!
A sign describing The Great Wall - at Mutianyu.
A woman selling art, shirts, chopsticks, dolls, and fans to the tourists and visitors!
Stairway to Heaven! It felt like it, but this is where we earned half of our shirt, "I climbed The Great Wall". The other half was earned on the wall itself, there are some serious inclines and stairs on the Wall.
The Great Wall! Literally, a wall, when standing below. I believe this wall did its job of keeping enemies out!
Stairs leading to the entrance of The Great Wall!
Looking out on the Wall from one of the windows in a watchtower!
The Great Wall! A couple sitting down, enjoying the vista!
This is a section of stairs we encountered after coming out of one watchtower. I was surprised to see how steep they were as we climbed to the next section of the wall to walk.
This stairway out of a watchtower was very interesting, the bricks have sunk in certain areas over the years. I wonder if it was one flat upward path years ago and the sunken areas have now allowed foot holes or if there were always foot holes but now disguised by the sunken bricks? Intriguing!
Iona told Marco and I, the mortar used to build the Great Wall consisted of sticky rice. True! It's a fact on a website, "slaked lime, the customary ingredient in mortar, was combined with the rice to form a bond so tight that now, 600 years later, weeds still cannot grow between the bricks in many places! The usage of this substance has since been proclaimed one of the greatest technical innovations of the time. The sticky rice helped several important Ming Dynasty relics (tombs, walls, pagodas) survive natural disasters and has helped preserve the Great Wall to this day!
This cute little boy told his mom he wanted a picture with Marco and I! She walked over to us, asked us if her little boy could have a picture. We were surprised but said yes, I was flattered! I am white...and tall! She gave her camera to Iona and joined in. I couldn't help it, I had to have a copy, so I also gave Iona my camera! I love her hair and her animal print outfit, so stylish! :)
I was also surprised to see canons on the wall. I figured they shot bows and arrows but didn't think about canons!
We climbed up the steep part of the wall on the left and to that watchtower, #14. I couldn't stop taking pictures, after every turn, there was a new element of the Wall I wanted to capture and take home!
Okay, hilarious, right? I saw this guy and couldn't help it but ask him if I could take his picture! I don't know if he understood me, but he sure did a great job posing!
The sign directing us to the slide! Slideway, as they call it!
The Slideway! I made the wise choice and put my SLR camera away before the ride down, yet I also made the mistake of letting Iona go first. She had never rode a slide like this before and as such, she had the brake on the whole way down. I flew down and had to slam on my brakes so I wouldn't rear end her. I would stop periodically and then allow myself to fly before I caught up to her again. Marco was behind me doing the same once he saw how slow she was going. We had a blast!

My journey of smiles in China!

My long journey to China began August 15th at 1:55pm en route to Seattle, WA. I met the nicest lady on the plane to Seattle and once we found out that both our layovers were 3 hours, we decided to get dinner together. She was on her way to Alaska and me, to China! Finally, 7pm rolled around and I boarded the 747 plane to Beijing, China! I was blessed to sit once again by a very nice man, Mark, on his way to Beijing to give a talk at a conference. He works for the U.S. National Forestry Service and has traveled all around the world. We had a great time talking about various destinations around the world. Many I have been to but plenty I dream of going to! I told him of my worry that I didn't know who was picking me up at the airport in Beijing and that is was truly an adventure I was embarking on. He simply told me, "everything will work out", and I took that as my motto the rest of the trip. And everything did work out! Jordi, with Operation Smile picked me up at the airport. We waited for Jose and Wendy to come in on their flight from Detroit and then we were off to the hotel.
As we headed up north, the sky grew lighter as the time grew later!
Beijing, China! Waiting for our turn to jump in a Taxi!
Wendy, the Pediatrician; Jose, an OR nurse; and Jordi, one of the coordinators and the awesome girl who pickd me up from the airport! Team Kashgar was compiled of volunteers from America, Australia, Eastern China, and locals from Kashgar.
We stayed at the Marriott Beijing Northeast our first night, yet we didn't arrive until 1am. I slept a lot on the plane and so I decided to enjoy the amenities of my personal room. Once in my room, I had a hard time figuring out how the light switches work. For some reason, I've never experienced a hotel that requires the room card to stay in a slot just inside the door to keep the lights and AC on...and I've traveled a lot! So after 5 minutes or so, I figured the card had to stay in the slot and then I settled in, turned on the TV, watched some hilarious Chinese soap operas, cartoons, and news! I explored the bathroom, turned on the water in the tub and took a nice hot bath! Our flight to Kashgar left around 9am and so we were at breakfast by 7am. Yet, this was my first morning of many to come in which cereal, bagels, chocolate milk, nor waffles wouldn't be on the menu. Instead there was fish, noodles, cucumbers, carrots, rice soup, fruit, and juice. Oh China!
My personal bed in my Marriott room in Beijing!
The amazing bathroom, complete with a shower, tub, and sink! I was spoiled! P.s. the rooms at the Marriott hotels for were complimentary because Marriott had chosen Operation Smile as their charity of the year. Most likely since it's the 20th Anniversary of Operation Smile in China.
One of the cartoons I watched, complete with Chinese subtitles!
At the Beijing airport! Wendy, Jose, Janis, and I waiting to board the plane to Kashgar...another 6 hour flight!
I wasn't prepared for these...squatty pottys! My first experience!
I knew I'd see more of these guys! Outside the hotel in Kashgar.
For the Chinese, the opening ceremonies is a big deal! Everything was in Chinese so it was pointless for the Australian volunteers and us Americans, but it was still a cool experience. Note, see the local nurses, yes they wear white nursing hats and dresses!
Myself and the Austrailan volunteers! Karen, a PACU nurse; Natalie, my roommate and a pre-post OP nurse; and Joan, an OR nurse.