Chengdu Panda Reserve

May 1 is the Chinese Labor Day holiday, so it's a 3-day weekend for them as the 1st falls on Sunday and they'll also have Monday off.  We're leaving in the morning for Fuling and a week at the orphanage.  Fortunately, we were able to get train tickets, but we have to take the early morning train.

We knew the Panda Reserve would be crowded because of the holiday so we left our hotel at 8:30 am this morning and planned to stay until Noon.  We hired a driver/van and he was excellent.  We're so fortunate that one of the students traveling with us speaks Cantonese.  It's not the same as Mandarin, but it gets us by in a pinch!

I got to take advantage of the half-price option for folks over 60 :)  It was also somewhat cool this morning and we were often on shaded pathways, so it was very pleasant.  However, it was crowded and it got more crowded as the morning wore on.

The last time I was here in 2011, it was July and it was so hot the pandas were not allowed outside.  They had to stay indoors in the air conditioning.  We got to see them, but only through glass walls.  Today, they were all outside and it was so much fun to see them much more up front and personal.

We saw adult pandas, teen-age (sub-adult) pandas, and some toddler pandas, along with red pandas.

And, there was the wonderful opportunity to observe Chinese families, small children, and friends as they too took in the pandas!

Can you see the red panda lying on the tree branch?  It has a long, ringed tail, much like a raccoon; but his face looks like a bear.

I didn't get to see the red pandas before so I was really looking forward to this part of it.  They did not disappoint!!!!






Can you spot the one up in the tree?  It was nearly directly overhead of me.  I heard things falling around me, but couldn't find the red panda right away.



And then two of them got loose! Somehow, they must have jumped the fence surrounding their habitat.  It's not too high.  I also suspect they do this often in the evening when the park is closed.  The crowd moved aside as they raced down the pathway.  Children did reach out though and touch their backs as they went by.  They totally ignored all of the humans and concentrated on each other!  On the third lap past me I had my camera out and was able to get this picture.







Eventually, the one in the back caught up with the one in the front, they scuffled by the side of the path, and then scurried over the fence and ran into the trees.  Talk about excitement!

The giant pandas were awesome!  The way they hang out in the trees, lounge all over each other, and sit to eat is just comical!  I can't imagine any of these positions being comfortable.

In the end we walked more than 10,000 steps in under 3 hours.  The park was becoming incredibly crowded and it was time to leave.  Our driver met us and had a bottle of water for each of us!

There are actually 3 Pandas in this picture!

Baoi School and Rehabilitation Therapy Center

The first time I came to China in 2011, I remember thinking of myself as a grain of sand that would eventually find my way to Fuling where I’d help a few orphans in an orphanage.  China was so big!  How could one person in the largest populated country on our planet be anything else?  What I didn’t know and could not have imagined was how that grain of sand, together with others, would create a ripple effect that would reach well beyond the Chongqing province.  And, so it was … just days before leaving Portland, I received an urgent email from my contact at Nanjing Normal University of Special Education.  Would we be willing to adjust our plans to visit a school in Suzhou?  The principal had heard American experts were coming and wanted us to visit.  The school was a partner school with the university.  I looked up the school on the Internet along with a Wikipedia entry on Suzhou to decide that this would be worthwhile.

http://www.jsboai.com.cn/web/english/home

The school and rehabilitation facility was amazing!  The director/principal, Dr. Liang Bing (not sure which is the first name and which is the last – the Chinese write the family name first followed by the given name and when introducing each other or referring to each other, say the surname followed by the given name), is a rehabilitation doctor who worked in orphanages for 18 years.  Then she retired with a vision to do something different and better.  Perhaps, if there were a school for children with disabilities and support for parents, they would keep their child and not abandon them.  She raised the money, built the school, and put her vision into reality!  The last time I had this kind of goose-bump, teary-eyed reaction to seeing children in a school, it was 1995 and I was in a reverse integration kindergarten in Slovakia seeing the most progressive thinking possible at the time.  We got a good laugh when in telling us that she was really old discovered I was older!  Good thing I know my Chinese astrological sign.  I’m an ox, she -- a tiger. 

One of the innovative therapies she uses at the school is hippotherapy, that is, equine-assisted therapy.  She researched the best horse to get and ended up with a Mongolian breed – sturdy, but gentle.  The man in charge of the horse is a former student, now staff – a person with a disability and a job!  The horse – a member of her staff as well! 

There was a sand room, where children could play in the sand or receive some tactile therapy.  There was a pool and several students were in the pool with instructors.  Parents and/or grandparents were often with their children learning how to use the therapeutic techniques at home.  We were blown away!  We went in one room and ended up doing the song, Head, shoulder, knees, and toes, with actions much to the delight of the students.  We sang in English, they in Chinese; but the actions are universal!  Evidently, I haven’t lost my mojo.  There’s always a student who will get close to me.  I felt a light touch from one of the students.  Later, the biggest young man with autism I’ve every seen came up and gently put his body against mine -- the equivalent of a "hug."

Later, when we met with the staff, I was telling them how important it is to check in with the family and adjust your instruction to coincide with what the family does.  When I do this with my students, I use tooth brushing as an example.  Turns out the range of tooth brushing behaviors varies just as much in China as they do in the US.  There are those who wet the toothbrush before putting on the toothpaste, wet after, do both, don’t wet at all, put the toothbrush under running water, and, unique to China, dunk their toothbrush in a glass or bottle of safe water. 

We had such a wonderful visit.  Nanjing sent an interpreter for us who also escorted us to Nanjing when we were finished.  Liang Bing kept apologizing for her English, which got better as the day went on!  Since my Chinese is limited to about 20 some words, I thought she was doing an awesome job!  Our interpreter is a psychology professor.  Almost all of the current staff were her former students, so it was a good connection all around. 

How in the world in 5 years did I go from one orphanage to meeting this wonderful lady and seeing this school?  Simply amazing!

If it's Saturday, it must be Chengdu ...

So far, it’s been a whirlwind of cities!  We landed in Shanghai on Monday, April 25, drove to Suzhou, spent the night in Suzhou; visited the school there on Tuesday, took the train to Nanjing that afternoon, spent two nights in Nanjing, flew to Chongqing on Thursday, spent the night there (had to sleep fast!), and were on a train to Chengdu early Friday morning!  Whew!!!!

The trains we’ve taken are high-speed trains traveling close to 300km/hour. The scenery whizzes by!  Getting a ticket and figuring out the train station are different.  We need our passport number to purchase a ticket and the agent at security scrutinizes the passport and ticket very carefully.  I tried to tell myself this was simply because looking at Arabic letters/numbers was different than reading Chinese characters, but still … does make one hold their breath slightly.

The trains are long.  You have to determine which car you’re in and then enter the gate for your car number.  The good news is if you get this right, you don’t have to walk so far.  I probably don’t need to mention the bad news!  Then it’s correct car and seat number!  I will have to say the seats are more comfortable than the airplane.  There’s more room! 

I do feel pretty confident in my ability to travel in China, but that doesn’t mean I am lackadaisical about it!  Sandra and I were sitting at our gate in the Nanjing airport waiting to board our flight to Chongqing.  I’d been trying to listen to the announcements about gate changes and delays as carefully as I could, but the accents are hard to understand.  About 30 minutes before our flight was due to take off, I realized nothing was happening at the gate, even though it still read it was the correct gate.  We looked at a monitor nearby and discovered the gate change.  We hustled from gate 46 to gate 25 as fast as could!  No worries J  Plenty of time!  Yikes!

I’m still amazed when I see Chinese people traveling with items in a plastic grocery type bag as their “carryon” luggage.  It’s all tied up, but still … and, they do smoosh into the overhead bins rather well. 

My ability to use the Internet is very strange!  I was able to post earlier in the week on my blog, but not now.  Earlier, I couldn’t get to my university online tools, now I can!  If you’re reading this blog post, it’s because I finally got through (via Safari, but not Firefox)! Quirky, quirky, quirky!

Back in China -- 2016

Instead of creating another blog, I'm using the blog I set up for my sabbatical in 2013-2014 to chronicle my latest adventures in China. 

My travel buddy/colleague, Sandra, and I arrived in Shanghai yesterday after a very pleasant and uneventful, albeit long, trip from Portland to Narita, Japan and then Shanghai.  We knew we were being met by a driver from a school in Suzhou and that they would be holding a placard. I'm not sure why that feels so special, but it does!  I had forewarned the colleague in China making the arrangements that we would have a lot of luggage.  I was hauling a 52 lb duffel bag with clothes and shoes for the orphanage; plus, we had an oversized box containing a motorized child-size cart, which we will be adapting for children at the orphanage who have cerebral palsy and difficulty in moving.  It's a great mobility device.  Hats off to the Delta folks, especially the two ladies who checked us in Portland.  They were so pleasant and gracious and thanked us for what we do on behalf of orphans in China.  In addition, we had our other checked bag, which also contains things for the orphanage and our two carry-ons. 

We wound our way through the entry points, navigated the hallways and escalators, and eventually reached the baggage area.  We quickly commandeered two push trolleys and found our way to the conveyor belt.  I spotted one of my suitcases and Sandra saw the big box.  All of our luggage arrived and with it piled high on the trolleys, we headed out to find our placard holder.  The connection was made and soon two teachers from the school we would visit today and the driver were helping us with all of our luggage and we headed for the vehicle.  I nearly busted out laughing when I saw the 20 passenger mini bus!  They explained it was the only vehicle available, large enough to hold the anticipated luggage.  By that time I was almost too tired to laugh!  We shoved everything in the aisle and to the back, found seats and headed out into the night. 

The teachers were very friendly and did their best to talk with us, apologizing profusely for their lack of English.  Since we speak so few Chinese words, we are always grateful and supportive of anyone who speaks English.  I brought out my phone and showed some pictures -- a universal language.  And, then we tried to sleep! 

Within two hours we were pulling up to a very new-looking Howard Johnson's.  The director of the school met us there and checked us in.  We ended up in the most palatial suite we've ever stayed in!  The director even ordered a snack and milk sent to our room.  We were already in bed, but at 3:00 am we were snacking away!

Can't wait to get over jet lag!