Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Laughter and tears.......
The relationships built with our new Asian friends led to both laughter and tears. One of the Chinese girls cried at the closing ceremonies and said "I don't want my American friends to leave." She was comforted by April, while tears streamed down her face.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Who knew we were making news?????
Actually, I had a hunch we might make news, being a newsperson and all. I was more worried about keeping our kids safe and healthy and most of all, with us. So while we were joking about hoping that they offered a "swine flu mask making class," stories would soon be written and broadcast about our quarentine and the other students who tested positive for the virus (See post below). There are two opinions about the experience posted below. I am glad we made a narrow escape and went on to have a great experience for Chinese Summer Camp.
New York Times Article realted to quarentine with rebuttal....
Subject: 28 July NYT - Beijing swine-flu diary
July 28, 2009
Swine Flu Diary: Caught in a Beijing Dragnet By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and OLIVIA ROBINSON
WASHINGTON - The phone rang at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 18, jarring me out of an uneasy sleep. My husband and I had been dreading this call. It was our 14-year-old daughter, Olivia, on a language study trip in Beijing. She is usually calm and upbeat. Now she was frantic and crying:
"Mommy, I have a temperature and I'm coughing, and they're taking me to the hospital. I want to come home."
I told her to take a deep breath, even as I was shaking. We had feared Olivia could get caught in China's swine flu dragnet; now those fears had come to pass in what would become a nightmare of bureaucracy and language barriers, against the sleep-depriving backdrop of a 12-hour time difference.
As a White House correspondent and former science writer for The New York Times, I have a professional understanding of international relations and how epidemics spread. My daughter and I are getting a deeply personal lesson in both. Here - as a mother-daughter journal, with Olivia's dictations from a phone in the hospital - is our story.
SHERYL: Washington, Monday, July 13. Her bags are packed, she's ready to go.
Olivia and 20 other teenagers are on this trip, run by the University of Maryland's Confucius Institute and Hanban, an arm of the Chinese Education Ministry. She has clothes, camera, snacks, a deck of cards, Tylenol, an antibiotic for a nagging sinus infection, and a doctor's note declaring her "not infectious and safe to travel."
The swine flu virus, H1N1, has been racing through our schools and summer camps. The Chinese, still bruised by the SARS epidemic, are trying to contain it - an effort that American public health officials view as absurd, because the flu is mild and because stopping its spread is like trying to stop the common cold. Hundreds of Americans suspected of carrying H1N1 have been quarantined in China this summer. We are determined: this is not going to happen to us.
OLIVIA: Beijing, Tuesday, July 14. Before we got off the plane, we saw people in white suits with things that looked like radar guns. They pointed a light at our foreheads, moving quickly. Luckily, no one had a temperature, so we were free to go. We walked through a hallway and saw a tan machine and ladies in masks sitting at a computer screen. They had our heat signatures.
Our bodies lighted up. Everyone looked red.
I saw one of our teachers, Ms. Song, and Nolan off to the side. At first I just thought Nolan's temperature was high because he was excited to come to China, but he ended up going to the hospital. The rest of us went to the Beijing Foreign Language School.
SHERYL: Wednesday, July 15. Olivia called! She had been e-mailing with observations of China ("They have toilets that are just holes"). The call brought unsettling news: a "one-day quarantine." The trip to the Forbidden City was off. They were to remain on campus, with three daily temperature checks.
My heart sank. This did not bode well. And it didn't make sense. If Nolan had swine flu, the kids might be better off separated. It was midnight, noon in Beijing. I called the American Embassy.
OLIVIA: Thursday, July 16. I slept a lot today. Two naps. My friend Norine and I made a video documentary. We were making jokes: It's like a horror movie! They're picking us off one by one!
SHERYL: Olivia sounded chipper ("This will make a great story," she assured me, ever the reporter's daughter), but I was a wreck. Her roommate, Rachel, had sat next to Nolan on the plane. It didn't take an epidemiologist to figure out how this movie would end.
I took the train to New York to cover President Obama's speech to the N.A.A.C.P. I ran into April Ryan, a radio reporter, and promptly burst into tears. She ushered me into the ladies' room.
"Do you pray?" she asked. I am Jewish. We joined hands, bowed heads, and April let it rip: "Lord, put your arms around this child! Put your arms around Sheryl! Put your arms around all the children and parents!" She went on and on, ending with a rousing "Thank you, Jesus! Amen!"
"April," I said, "I've never prayed to Jesus before and probably never will again, but if it works, I'm all for it."
OLIVIA: Friday, July 17. They took Yago and Rachel away. Nolan's test came back positive. Everybody got masks. I knew this meant we weren't going to see the Great Wall today.
SHERYL: Just as in Olivia's horror movie joke, the kids were dropping one by one. Parents' e-mail messages were flying. I suggested the kids be given Tamiflu, the antiviral drug. Doctors here use it to treat H1N1 (it shortens the duration of symptoms) and as a prophylactic. Nancy Chen, my contact at the embassy, said the Chinese refused.
OLIVIA: Saturday, July 18. One of my friends came into the computer lab.
"They're testing our blood and sending us somewhere else," she said.
Everyone was buzzing. A lot of people were scared of needles, especially in a foreign country. We packed our bags and piled into a bus to go to a quarantine hotel. A kid dropped his thermometer on the stone floor. It broke, spilling beads of mercury. Guys in moon suits hurried to scrape it up. They didn't take blood, just swabbed our throats.
SHERYL: Saturday morning. The fateful call. I couldn't breathe. My mind was spinning. What if her sinus infection caused complications? What if she developed a mutant strain? What if? What if? We had no way to reach her, didn't know where she was going.
I called my colleague Sharon LaFraniere in The Times's Beijing bureau. I could hear her kids playing outside and was insanely jealous.
"If you're thinking of coming," she said, "don't." With Olivia suspected of having H1N1, the Chinese health authorities wouldn't let me near her. And if I did come, I risked getting caught in the same trap myself.
OLIVIA: Saturday. They didn't have an ambulance so we took the bus to Tiantan hospital, just me and the driver. I got to see the slums of Beijing, which I would never have seen otherwise. The houses were made of patched-up straw and metal. There were kids running around barefoot who looked like they needed more to eat. Everyone was tan and dirty, and there was laundry hanging everywhere.
When I saw my room, I was, like, "Uhh, this is a hospital?" The paint was peeling and the pipes were exposed. But I was so happy to see a bed. I just wanted to go to sleep.
SHERYL: Saturday. Hours passed with no word. There was no phone in Olivia's room, no one spoke English, and it was the middle of the night. I kept calling the nurses' station, but no one understood me. By 7 p.m. - 7 a.m.
Sunday in Beijing, nearly 14 hours after Olivia's call - I was desperate. My husband, Scott, learned we had neighbors from China. We rushed over; they served us tea in porcelain cups. The husband, George, dialed the hospital and put the nurses on speakerphone; I could hear them talking in Chinese. It sounded like "The mama! The mama!"
One of the chaperones, Mr. Xu, had also called. The nurses told him Olivia was fine and sleeping, curled up with a stuffed panda. They called her "sweet and strong."
OLIVIA: Sunday, July 19. I was really tired and sore; every time I sat up I felt like I wanted to lie down again. That was the day I realized you could play solitaire only for so long before you started to go crazy.
SHERYL: Sunday night. I was feeling panicky. I called Dr. Henry Li.
Dr. Li, a Chinese-born allergist, had treated Olivia this spring and given me his cellphone number. I'd been trying not to use it. He called the hospital and learned there was no doctor on duty. "It's just a fever clinic, only triage," he said.
Olivia was positive for Type A influenza; if another test showed H1N1, she would be moved. In the United States, she would most likely be given Tamiflu and sent home to rest. In China, despite body aches and a fever of 38.4 degrees Celsius - 101.1 Fahrenheit - she was not even given Tylenol. Their cutoff is 38.5 degrees.
The infected kids in Olivia's group - there were nine - were scattered in hospitals around the city, but one, Schuyler, was at Tiantan. Dr. Li learned Schuyler was dehydrated, but had refused intravenous fluids. The boy's parents had no idea.
OLIVIA: Monday, July 20. The embassy called and they let me out of the room to answer. Schuyler is in the room next to me and I got a peek; I flipped out a little because he had an IV. The embassy lady was really nice. She
said: "How are they treating you? How is the food?" I tried to be optimistic. I didn't want to be a complainer.
My test for H1N1 came back positive. They put me in an ambulance and drove me to a new hospital, 10 minutes away. They took me to a shiny glass building, up a nice modern elevator eight floors. Everything was white and clean. There was a phone in my room and they said I could have pizza for lunch.
SHERYL: Friday, July 24. It has been nearly a week now, and Olivia is still trapped in her hospital room. Food is passed to her through a double set of windows, like prison. On the bright side, she has a British roommate, Jessica, also 14; they have declared themselves "friends for life." My Beijing colleagues delivered a laptop and some movies.
She hasn't had fever for four days, but she won't be released until she tests negative for H1N1. We have had an endless e-mail stream of conflicting test results. The kids who were quarantined in the hotel were released today; they went out touring.
Our emotions, hers and mine, run up and down. Hanban says it will extend her trip at no cost to us, but she's not sure she wants to stay, and the flights are all booked. At the embassy, Nancy Chen says that without the negative tests, there is little the American government can do. Four of the nine kids, including Schuyler, are still in the hospital.
Every day, the nurses take another throat swab. Every day, we wait.
OLIVIA: Monday, July 27. The doctors are mad. They know we're not sick and they want us out of here. Once I realized they didn't care, I went out in the hallway and ran around. I'm worried I'll get out of shape, with field hockey tryouts coming up.
SHERYL: Monday. Schuyler is out. So is Jess, the British roommate. Hanban has rescheduled Olivia's flight home. I spent the weekend e-mailing my congressman and every State Department official I know. Ten days in; her
H1N1 remains positive. In the United States, federal authorities say children with swine flu are unlikely to make others sick after seven days.
I am furious. Olivia is calm. "Mom," she said, "I really don't think you can e-mail me out of here."
END-------rebuttel
Thanks for the article, Bob. I've got to write back with another perspective.
Our St. Mary's group, 65 students and 7 teachers, was quarantined in Beijing. Two students tested positive for H1N1. The group was released when all 72 tested negative, and continued on to Henan Province. Then a student spiked a temp in Deng Feng, tested positive for H1N1, and the group has been requarantined. Hanban has been exceptionally good and comforting to them in what has been a trying situation. They are in a Kung Fu training school near the Shaolin Temple and Hanban has rushed supplies, goodies, and computers to the group in the school and made sure the kids at the hospital had telephones and could call their homes.
I have 130 parents to deal with and I send them two or three email updates daily. Out of the 130 parents, I have had just a few react like the authors of the NY Times article. About two dozen parents of students on our trip are physicians who are completely in agreement that the group cannot be traveling around for very good public health reasons and that China is correctly following WHO protocol, unlike the UK where there are tens of thousands of cases. Our local media have been trying to get our parents to give them stories about how scared everyone is, and the media is getting frustrated by their calm and rational reactions. They would love to interview those NY Times parents with their stories of the scary uniforms and feelings of panic. By the way, our kids were quarantined with students like the ones in the article who said that the doctors didn't care, knew they weren't sick, and let them run around without their masks. Those kids are clueless. The doctors and medics were after those kids constantly to behave, follow good hygiene rules, and put their masks back on. Our group tried its best to avoid those 14 year-olds who were running around and helping to spread the virus. There were some real brats in the quarantine hotel, American and British.
Our chaperons and all the kids have their laptops in Deng Feng and communicate home freely. The boys have set up a LAN party and are playing video games on-line. We have 6 kids in the hospital in Zhengzhou. They tested positive, but all so far have had mild symptoms and are recovering quickly and well. Fortunately, three of our Hanban teachers live in Zhengzhou and are at the hospital with the kids, calling the kids' parents and so forth.
So, it has been a major bummer that the trip got washed out by swine flu, but our parents and the kids have been rational. They understand that they cannot travel around infected, that they are safe, if bored, and that they'll get home sooner or later. Here is a link to a two-minute CNN interview with one of our teachers that aired last night. Our kids also performed Michael Jackson's "Thriller" dance in their surgical masks during their first quarantine. It's a funny clip. There's a link to that too.
In sum, we are just going with the process and working to fly our group back home when they are safe to travel. We are hopeful that no one gets seriously ill and that our group gets to fly home this week.
July 28, 2009
Swine Flu Diary: Caught in a Beijing Dragnet By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and OLIVIA ROBINSON
WASHINGTON - The phone rang at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 18, jarring me out of an uneasy sleep. My husband and I had been dreading this call. It was our 14-year-old daughter, Olivia, on a language study trip in Beijing. She is usually calm and upbeat. Now she was frantic and crying:
"Mommy, I have a temperature and I'm coughing, and they're taking me to the hospital. I want to come home."
I told her to take a deep breath, even as I was shaking. We had feared Olivia could get caught in China's swine flu dragnet; now those fears had come to pass in what would become a nightmare of bureaucracy and language barriers, against the sleep-depriving backdrop of a 12-hour time difference.
As a White House correspondent and former science writer for The New York Times, I have a professional understanding of international relations and how epidemics spread. My daughter and I are getting a deeply personal lesson in both. Here - as a mother-daughter journal, with Olivia's dictations from a phone in the hospital - is our story.
SHERYL: Washington, Monday, July 13. Her bags are packed, she's ready to go.
Olivia and 20 other teenagers are on this trip, run by the University of Maryland's Confucius Institute and Hanban, an arm of the Chinese Education Ministry. She has clothes, camera, snacks, a deck of cards, Tylenol, an antibiotic for a nagging sinus infection, and a doctor's note declaring her "not infectious and safe to travel."
The swine flu virus, H1N1, has been racing through our schools and summer camps. The Chinese, still bruised by the SARS epidemic, are trying to contain it - an effort that American public health officials view as absurd, because the flu is mild and because stopping its spread is like trying to stop the common cold. Hundreds of Americans suspected of carrying H1N1 have been quarantined in China this summer. We are determined: this is not going to happen to us.
OLIVIA: Beijing, Tuesday, July 14. Before we got off the plane, we saw people in white suits with things that looked like radar guns. They pointed a light at our foreheads, moving quickly. Luckily, no one had a temperature, so we were free to go. We walked through a hallway and saw a tan machine and ladies in masks sitting at a computer screen. They had our heat signatures.
Our bodies lighted up. Everyone looked red.
I saw one of our teachers, Ms. Song, and Nolan off to the side. At first I just thought Nolan's temperature was high because he was excited to come to China, but he ended up going to the hospital. The rest of us went to the Beijing Foreign Language School.
SHERYL: Wednesday, July 15. Olivia called! She had been e-mailing with observations of China ("They have toilets that are just holes"). The call brought unsettling news: a "one-day quarantine." The trip to the Forbidden City was off. They were to remain on campus, with three daily temperature checks.
My heart sank. This did not bode well. And it didn't make sense. If Nolan had swine flu, the kids might be better off separated. It was midnight, noon in Beijing. I called the American Embassy.
OLIVIA: Thursday, July 16. I slept a lot today. Two naps. My friend Norine and I made a video documentary. We were making jokes: It's like a horror movie! They're picking us off one by one!
SHERYL: Olivia sounded chipper ("This will make a great story," she assured me, ever the reporter's daughter), but I was a wreck. Her roommate, Rachel, had sat next to Nolan on the plane. It didn't take an epidemiologist to figure out how this movie would end.
I took the train to New York to cover President Obama's speech to the N.A.A.C.P. I ran into April Ryan, a radio reporter, and promptly burst into tears. She ushered me into the ladies' room.
"Do you pray?" she asked. I am Jewish. We joined hands, bowed heads, and April let it rip: "Lord, put your arms around this child! Put your arms around Sheryl! Put your arms around all the children and parents!" She went on and on, ending with a rousing "Thank you, Jesus! Amen!"
"April," I said, "I've never prayed to Jesus before and probably never will again, but if it works, I'm all for it."
OLIVIA: Friday, July 17. They took Yago and Rachel away. Nolan's test came back positive. Everybody got masks. I knew this meant we weren't going to see the Great Wall today.
SHERYL: Just as in Olivia's horror movie joke, the kids were dropping one by one. Parents' e-mail messages were flying. I suggested the kids be given Tamiflu, the antiviral drug. Doctors here use it to treat H1N1 (it shortens the duration of symptoms) and as a prophylactic. Nancy Chen, my contact at the embassy, said the Chinese refused.
OLIVIA: Saturday, July 18. One of my friends came into the computer lab.
"They're testing our blood and sending us somewhere else," she said.
Everyone was buzzing. A lot of people were scared of needles, especially in a foreign country. We packed our bags and piled into a bus to go to a quarantine hotel. A kid dropped his thermometer on the stone floor. It broke, spilling beads of mercury. Guys in moon suits hurried to scrape it up. They didn't take blood, just swabbed our throats.
SHERYL: Saturday morning. The fateful call. I couldn't breathe. My mind was spinning. What if her sinus infection caused complications? What if she developed a mutant strain? What if? What if? We had no way to reach her, didn't know where she was going.
I called my colleague Sharon LaFraniere in The Times's Beijing bureau. I could hear her kids playing outside and was insanely jealous.
"If you're thinking of coming," she said, "don't." With Olivia suspected of having H1N1, the Chinese health authorities wouldn't let me near her. And if I did come, I risked getting caught in the same trap myself.
OLIVIA: Saturday. They didn't have an ambulance so we took the bus to Tiantan hospital, just me and the driver. I got to see the slums of Beijing, which I would never have seen otherwise. The houses were made of patched-up straw and metal. There were kids running around barefoot who looked like they needed more to eat. Everyone was tan and dirty, and there was laundry hanging everywhere.
When I saw my room, I was, like, "Uhh, this is a hospital?" The paint was peeling and the pipes were exposed. But I was so happy to see a bed. I just wanted to go to sleep.
SHERYL: Saturday. Hours passed with no word. There was no phone in Olivia's room, no one spoke English, and it was the middle of the night. I kept calling the nurses' station, but no one understood me. By 7 p.m. - 7 a.m.
Sunday in Beijing, nearly 14 hours after Olivia's call - I was desperate. My husband, Scott, learned we had neighbors from China. We rushed over; they served us tea in porcelain cups. The husband, George, dialed the hospital and put the nurses on speakerphone; I could hear them talking in Chinese. It sounded like "The mama! The mama!"
One of the chaperones, Mr. Xu, had also called. The nurses told him Olivia was fine and sleeping, curled up with a stuffed panda. They called her "sweet and strong."
OLIVIA: Sunday, July 19. I was really tired and sore; every time I sat up I felt like I wanted to lie down again. That was the day I realized you could play solitaire only for so long before you started to go crazy.
SHERYL: Sunday night. I was feeling panicky. I called Dr. Henry Li.
Dr. Li, a Chinese-born allergist, had treated Olivia this spring and given me his cellphone number. I'd been trying not to use it. He called the hospital and learned there was no doctor on duty. "It's just a fever clinic, only triage," he said.
Olivia was positive for Type A influenza; if another test showed H1N1, she would be moved. In the United States, she would most likely be given Tamiflu and sent home to rest. In China, despite body aches and a fever of 38.4 degrees Celsius - 101.1 Fahrenheit - she was not even given Tylenol. Their cutoff is 38.5 degrees.
The infected kids in Olivia's group - there were nine - were scattered in hospitals around the city, but one, Schuyler, was at Tiantan. Dr. Li learned Schuyler was dehydrated, but had refused intravenous fluids. The boy's parents had no idea.
OLIVIA: Monday, July 20. The embassy called and they let me out of the room to answer. Schuyler is in the room next to me and I got a peek; I flipped out a little because he had an IV. The embassy lady was really nice. She
said: "How are they treating you? How is the food?" I tried to be optimistic. I didn't want to be a complainer.
My test for H1N1 came back positive. They put me in an ambulance and drove me to a new hospital, 10 minutes away. They took me to a shiny glass building, up a nice modern elevator eight floors. Everything was white and clean. There was a phone in my room and they said I could have pizza for lunch.
SHERYL: Friday, July 24. It has been nearly a week now, and Olivia is still trapped in her hospital room. Food is passed to her through a double set of windows, like prison. On the bright side, she has a British roommate, Jessica, also 14; they have declared themselves "friends for life." My Beijing colleagues delivered a laptop and some movies.
She hasn't had fever for four days, but she won't be released until she tests negative for H1N1. We have had an endless e-mail stream of conflicting test results. The kids who were quarantined in the hotel were released today; they went out touring.
Our emotions, hers and mine, run up and down. Hanban says it will extend her trip at no cost to us, but she's not sure she wants to stay, and the flights are all booked. At the embassy, Nancy Chen says that without the negative tests, there is little the American government can do. Four of the nine kids, including Schuyler, are still in the hospital.
Every day, the nurses take another throat swab. Every day, we wait.
OLIVIA: Monday, July 27. The doctors are mad. They know we're not sick and they want us out of here. Once I realized they didn't care, I went out in the hallway and ran around. I'm worried I'll get out of shape, with field hockey tryouts coming up.
SHERYL: Monday. Schuyler is out. So is Jess, the British roommate. Hanban has rescheduled Olivia's flight home. I spent the weekend e-mailing my congressman and every State Department official I know. Ten days in; her
H1N1 remains positive. In the United States, federal authorities say children with swine flu are unlikely to make others sick after seven days.
I am furious. Olivia is calm. "Mom," she said, "I really don't think you can e-mail me out of here."
END-------rebuttel
Thanks for the article, Bob. I've got to write back with another perspective.
Our St. Mary's group, 65 students and 7 teachers, was quarantined in Beijing. Two students tested positive for H1N1. The group was released when all 72 tested negative, and continued on to Henan Province. Then a student spiked a temp in Deng Feng, tested positive for H1N1, and the group has been requarantined. Hanban has been exceptionally good and comforting to them in what has been a trying situation. They are in a Kung Fu training school near the Shaolin Temple and Hanban has rushed supplies, goodies, and computers to the group in the school and made sure the kids at the hospital had telephones and could call their homes.
I have 130 parents to deal with and I send them two or three email updates daily. Out of the 130 parents, I have had just a few react like the authors of the NY Times article. About two dozen parents of students on our trip are physicians who are completely in agreement that the group cannot be traveling around for very good public health reasons and that China is correctly following WHO protocol, unlike the UK where there are tens of thousands of cases. Our local media have been trying to get our parents to give them stories about how scared everyone is, and the media is getting frustrated by their calm and rational reactions. They would love to interview those NY Times parents with their stories of the scary uniforms and feelings of panic. By the way, our kids were quarantined with students like the ones in the article who said that the doctors didn't care, knew they weren't sick, and let them run around without their masks. Those kids are clueless. The doctors and medics were after those kids constantly to behave, follow good hygiene rules, and put their masks back on. Our group tried its best to avoid those 14 year-olds who were running around and helping to spread the virus. There were some real brats in the quarantine hotel, American and British.
Our chaperons and all the kids have their laptops in Deng Feng and communicate home freely. The boys have set up a LAN party and are playing video games on-line. We have 6 kids in the hospital in Zhengzhou. They tested positive, but all so far have had mild symptoms and are recovering quickly and well. Fortunately, three of our Hanban teachers live in Zhengzhou and are at the hospital with the kids, calling the kids' parents and so forth.
So, it has been a major bummer that the trip got washed out by swine flu, but our parents and the kids have been rational. They understand that they cannot travel around infected, that they are safe, if bored, and that they'll get home sooner or later. Here is a link to a two-minute CNN interview with one of our teachers that aired last night. Our kids also performed Michael Jackson's "Thriller" dance in their surgical masks during their first quarantine. It's a funny clip. There's a link to that too.
In sum, we are just going with the process and working to fly our group back home when they are safe to travel. We are hopeful that no one gets seriously ill and that our group gets to fly home this week.
Home at last!!!!
I know we are all so thankful to be home at last! Not to say we won't miss our sweet Asian friends, their warmth and kindness mirrors southern hospitality, with an Asian twist. They worked so hard to give our kids a wonderful experience and a warm reception. We will miss our new friends from our trip too, who had to return to other places besides Memphis. There is rumor of a chaperon free reunion between the kids, but don't worry, we will track them down and make sure they behave and get to bed on time.....where ever they go!!!!!
I believe it when I say, lifelong friendships have been made, in the US and across the seas. The minds of our kids have been opened, transformed and their worlds have been broadened in so many ways.
Our journey from China was about 36 hours from the time we checked out of our hotel, until we got back to Memphis. The kids were great and did very little complaining. We had a few long layovers, which made the trip longer. They were very good at entertaining themselves. We were surprised by wonderful hotel accommodations our last night. We thought we were returning to the dorms at the school in Beijing, but we were instead taken to a really nice hotel. It was such a nice way to end our trip. The food was wonderful, the buffet had the biggest food choices, and most American menu, that we had been served the entire time we were there. They even had french toast, and when we tried to get the kids down to the lobby for breakfast so we could leave, we teased them by tempting them with the wonderful food choices available. They did not believe us, since we had teased them about having French Toast on the menu while in Yunnan, that time we were lying of course. But hey, after weeks on end of trying to get teenagers to get up early, we resorted to anything!
I am going to try and post a story that was in the New York Times, by a girl who was in our group, but from another state. She was quarentined after testing positive for N1H1 flu. Her group was at our campus. She writes about her experience. It gives a glimpse into what we were experiencing those first few difficult days.
Thanks again for the thoughtfulness of the parents for bringing us flowers and a special gift. We hope your kids enjoyed their journey! They may not have such an exotic and adventuresome journey for a long time to come!
I believe it when I say, lifelong friendships have been made, in the US and across the seas. The minds of our kids have been opened, transformed and their worlds have been broadened in so many ways.
Our journey from China was about 36 hours from the time we checked out of our hotel, until we got back to Memphis. The kids were great and did very little complaining. We had a few long layovers, which made the trip longer. They were very good at entertaining themselves. We were surprised by wonderful hotel accommodations our last night. We thought we were returning to the dorms at the school in Beijing, but we were instead taken to a really nice hotel. It was such a nice way to end our trip. The food was wonderful, the buffet had the biggest food choices, and most American menu, that we had been served the entire time we were there. They even had french toast, and when we tried to get the kids down to the lobby for breakfast so we could leave, we teased them by tempting them with the wonderful food choices available. They did not believe us, since we had teased them about having French Toast on the menu while in Yunnan, that time we were lying of course. But hey, after weeks on end of trying to get teenagers to get up early, we resorted to anything!
I am going to try and post a story that was in the New York Times, by a girl who was in our group, but from another state. She was quarentined after testing positive for N1H1 flu. Her group was at our campus. She writes about her experience. It gives a glimpse into what we were experiencing those first few difficult days.
Thanks again for the thoughtfulness of the parents for bringing us flowers and a special gift. We hope your kids enjoyed their journey! They may not have such an exotic and adventuresome journey for a long time to come!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
FAREWELL, KUNMING.... 7-29
We had closing ceremonies where the students got to show off what they learned
again and see what other campers had learned as well. Riki gave some of her speech in Chinese, which was impressive.
The kids all did great. A couple of the Chinese girls cried, they said they did
not want their American friends to leave. The high school band played Auld Lang
Syne. It was a very emotional ending to our Kunming journey.
When we left the school there was a rainbow, which I thought was perfect,
because you can't get a rainbow without both sunshine and rain. It seemed to be
a very poetic ending.
again and see what other campers had learned as well. Riki gave some of her speech in Chinese, which was impressive.
The kids all did great. A couple of the Chinese girls cried, they said they did
not want their American friends to leave. The high school band played Auld Lang
Syne. It was a very emotional ending to our Kunming journey.
When we left the school there was a rainbow, which I thought was perfect,
because you can't get a rainbow without both sunshine and rain. It seemed to be
a very poetic ending.
LAST DAYS IN KUNMING
Our students have become very close, looking out for each other. They are family
now.
So many of them have excellent and mature behavior. They have met schedules,
kept up with a very fast paced and full days.
Don't be surprised if they come home and sleep for a week and want hamburgers
and cereal. You may want to have some of their favorite foods for them.
We visited the Stone Forest, out in the country for the first
time got a glimpse of rural life and beauty.
The kids continue to like to break up into smaller groups and be with their
Chinese friends the most.
Sorry we do not have better internet and phone access. We are doing our best.
Please know that everyone is fine, even if they haven't called or emailed. Aside
from a few minor. Stomach, allergy and cold issuesn they are all doing just
great.
I continue to be proud of their ability to adapt to a very different culture and
place.
In the past few days they learned to fan dance, make music, paint and even
arrange flowers.
As a student explained to me last night, the idea behind this whole camp is to
foster relationships. He said as the students grow up and become businessmen and
women and leaders, they will understand their Asian friends, care about them and
" make decisions that will not hurt them."
IN AND AROUND KUNMING
Grooms racing with brides in the park on Sunday.
Kung Fu class....was a favorite for many.
The kids continue to enjoy building relationships with their new Asian friends.
The Stone Forest was amazing and my personal favorite of the trip. We finally got out into the countryside. The Stone Forest was like walking through dry ocean floor caves. Many little holes to walk through.
Everyday we spend hours climbing massive amounts of stairs, it continues to be a challenge, but one the kids really enjoy.
We have visited many temples, this one had the most wonderful gardens for the kids to stroll through. April is playing with on of the Chinese children who accompanied us (lower left). She will make a great babysitter..
Kung Fu class....was a favorite for many.
The kids continue to enjoy building relationships with their new Asian friends.
The Stone Forest was amazing and my personal favorite of the trip. We finally got out into the countryside. The Stone Forest was like walking through dry ocean floor caves. Many little holes to walk through.
Everyday we spend hours climbing massive amounts of stairs, it continues to be a challenge, but one the kids really enjoy.
We have visited many temples, this one had the most wonderful gardens for the kids to stroll through. April is playing with on of the Chinese children who accompanied us (lower left). She will make a great babysitter..
STONE FOREST
Photos from the Stone Forest..The culture mandates that we "love the young and respect the old" A baby in a backpack watches an elderly man play flute. It is typical to find people in parks playing recreation music together.
Andrea and her Chinese friend take an art class together. Andrea says, she believes she and her friend will stay in touch.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
KUNMING NOTES 7-26
If some of you could see your children now, you'd have tears in your eyes.
I came down to the music class, I could hear duets of Amazing Grace as I approached. I was astonished when I rounded the corner to find Hannah, Charlie, Christian and Louie playing their instruments together; working together, trying to stay in time. It was absolulty heart warming!
Will is holding court, playing an instrument for the Chinese girls. They are nodding adoringly.
I came down to the music class, I could hear duets of Amazing Grace as I approached. I was astonished when I rounded the corner to find Hannah, Charlie, Christian and Louie playing their instruments together; working together, trying to stay in time. It was absolulty heart warming!
Will is holding court, playing an instrument for the Chinese girls. They are nodding adoringly.
DOG ON THE MENU..? NO THANKS!
The kids did family visits Saturday night. All had really great times.
Rebecca, one of the kids, was served dog. True story. She is a vegitarian and politely declined.
The kids had wonderful experiences, many wonderful stories.
The Chinese people are just so kind to us. Lou was crossing the street today in the rain, a Chinese student who we did not know ran up and put an umbrella over Lou and walked him to the hotel in the rain.
The traffic here is insane!
The kids put on a talent show today with Chinese students. We were very proud of them. Mike Compton and April played instruments. Makala and Kristian danced. The group did a traditional group dance and the guys were really good sports about the fan dance they were asked to do. They are learning the importance of politeness and cooperation with our hosts.
Rebecca, one of the kids, was served dog. True story. She is a vegitarian and politely declined.
The kids had wonderful experiences, many wonderful stories.
The Chinese people are just so kind to us. Lou was crossing the street today in the rain, a Chinese student who we did not know ran up and put an umbrella over Lou and walked him to the hotel in the rain.
The traffic here is insane!
The kids put on a talent show today with Chinese students. We were very proud of them. Mike Compton and April played instruments. Makala and Kristian danced. The group did a traditional group dance and the guys were really good sports about the fan dance they were asked to do. They are learning the importance of politeness and cooperation with our hosts.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
SOLAR ECLIPSE!
KUNMING, July 22---AM--The kids are watching the full solar eclipse with the students at the high school.
In a popular Chinese legend, a giant named Kua Fu chased the fiery sun across the sky, hoping to bring about the end of a catastrophic drought. Though the hero dies in impassioned pursuit, the gods take notice of his inspired effort and punish the sun, forcing it farther from the Earth and drawing the calamitous weather to a close.
Now, Chinese media are ablaze with the mythical giant's name -- this time, to refer to amateur astronomers who have flocked to southern China for the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century. International and domestic tourists have descended on government-designated viewing spots such as Shanghai, Suzhou and Wuhan to witness the natural phenomenon.
The rare total eclipse will be visible through a swath of India and southern China on Wednesday morning (Chinese time).
In a popular Chinese legend, a giant named Kua Fu chased the fiery sun across the sky, hoping to bring about the end of a catastrophic drought. Though the hero dies in impassioned pursuit, the gods take notice of his inspired effort and punish the sun, forcing it farther from the Earth and drawing the calamitous weather to a close.
Now, Chinese media are ablaze with the mythical giant's name -- this time, to refer to amateur astronomers who have flocked to southern China for the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century. International and domestic tourists have descended on government-designated viewing spots such as Shanghai, Suzhou and Wuhan to witness the natural phenomenon.
The rare total eclipse will be visible through a swath of India and southern China on Wednesday morning (Chinese time).
KUNMING SIGHTS
KUNMING, July 21 PM-- Tonight we walked several blocks to a park, with a lake. Each student was able to walk around the lake with their Chinese buddy and shop, look around and mingle with locals.
Families were there playing music, sports and enjoying themselves in general. It was a really good chance to see a slice of life in Kunming. The sun came out too! Yay!
The kids really enjoyed it! Time went too fast, they want to go back again.
The local hosts are working so hard to give us an education while entertaining us at the same time.
Families were there playing music, sports and enjoying themselves in general. It was a really good chance to see a slice of life in Kunming. The sun came out too! Yay!
The kids really enjoyed it! Time went too fast, they want to go back again.
The local hosts are working so hard to give us an education while entertaining us at the same time.
Monday, July 20, 2009
KAREN'S NOTEBOOK: YUNNAN PROVINCE
NOTE: Have been unable to send photos as of yet. We are working on it.
KUNMING, July 20-- We are all staying at the Huaxing Hotel in Kunming. Hotel staff very friendly indeed, but none speaks English. (That should facilitate learning Chinese!) This is the heart of the city; our students are going to the Number One school in Yunnan province, the school for the best and brightest. Everyone introduced themselves at a welcoming ceremony this morning. They were all paired with a buddy.... Food is excellent.. I can see each of the students growing in different ways.
(later) The kids had a great banquet with show. Having a ball, dancing, etc. Couldn't be better. Was a fun party! The group sang on the bus the whole way back to the hotel. They are jacked up. Some of them are fantastic performers.
July 21, 9:30am (China Time) Our students having their Chinese language classes now and seem to be doing really well. The each sit with his/her new Chinese friend.
KUNMING, July 20-- We are all staying at the Huaxing Hotel in Kunming. Hotel staff very friendly indeed, but none speaks English. (That should facilitate learning Chinese!) This is the heart of the city; our students are going to the Number One school in Yunnan province, the school for the best and brightest. Everyone introduced themselves at a welcoming ceremony this morning. They were all paired with a buddy.... Food is excellent.. I can see each of the students growing in different ways.
(later) The kids had a great banquet with show. Having a ball, dancing, etc. Couldn't be better. Was a fun party! The group sang on the bus the whole way back to the hotel. They are jacked up. Some of them are fantastic performers.
July 21, 9:30am (China Time) Our students having their Chinese language classes now and seem to be doing really well. The each sit with his/her new Chinese friend.
NOTES FROM CHINA: START IN BEIJING
BEIJING, July 18-- The trip is off to a good start after some delays. On the day after our arrival, two British students, part of the larger group, were quarantined because the Chinese said they showed symptoms of "swine flu." Nurses took our temperatures every time we left the dorm building.....Some websites are blocked here, including Facebook, Youtube, and-- my blog!
(later) Memphis kids had the last act in the ceremonies tonight and got the crowd on their feet, dancing the "Cupid Shuffle." It was great! The ceremonies were fantastic, with dancing dragons, fireworks, and other groups performing. Really good and lots of fun.
(later) Memphis kids had the last act in the ceremonies tonight and got the crowd on their feet, dancing the "Cupid Shuffle." It was great! The ceremonies were fantastic, with dancing dragons, fireworks, and other groups performing. Really good and lots of fun.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Paradise is calling you.......
Some say this is where we are going....what do you think?
"Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise but particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia—a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world. In the novel Lost Horizon, the people who live at Shangri-La are almost immortal, living years beyond the normal lifespan and only very slowly aging in appearance. The word also evokes the imagery of exoticism of the Orient."
"Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise but particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia—a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world. In the novel Lost Horizon, the people who live at Shangri-La are almost immortal, living years beyond the normal lifespan and only very slowly aging in appearance. The word also evokes the imagery of exoticism of the Orient."
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Get together Sunday
Parents and students got together Sunday at the home of Joe Namie. A few highlights that came from the meeting. DON'T FORGET PASSPORTS! Bring toilet paper and a little baggie to carry it in your day pack. We meet 6:30 A.M. Tuesday at Starbucks at the airport. Expect to pay 70% less that original price, while negotiating for items in China. Bring good walking shoes for the Great Wall. Set up Skype account to talk online when possible. We are going to have a great time!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Getting ready for china......
This is being set up for the parents and friends who want to follow our journey in China. Every photograph that will appear in this blog is subject to copyright laws. The photography belongs to Karen Pulfer Focht and may not be reproduced or published without written permission. They are avalible for purchase. Contact karenfocht@gmail.com.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
