but I’m sure that we’ll come back again! We are 30 minutes from leaving the hospital, and what a journey this has been for our whole family! We said from the beginning that ANY improvement will make this trip worth it, and we got that! No matter how small, improvement for Brayden is just that, improvement! A year ago, we would have NEVER pictured ourselves ever coming to China. Now, we cannot imagine our lives if we hadn’t. We have met so many wonderful people that we will never forget. We have experienced in four weeks what some will never experience in a lifetime. We were warned about China being a third world country. We were told this was probably a hoax with only the placebo effect as results. None of this could be farther from the truth! The staff here has been amazing. As a matter of fact, a few doctors in the States could learn a thing or two about bedside manner from these folks. There were times that we were so scared, but the staff went out of their way to improve and help us through the difficulties. We saw with our own eyes Brayden look at things and toward things that he would have never even noticed before this trip. I don’t think seeing Brayden look at his reflection in a mirrored elevator is the placebo effect! As far as this city, it is full of life and amazingly beautiful landscape. Yes, there are poor neighborhoods. Yes, there are some very weird smells. Yes, people stare and yes it is a bit annoying. However, we have learned that they are just very curious. We have also learned that a smile is a universal language, and it does wonders for building relationships. The patients and families that we have met here are such fantastic people. We are all here to change our loved ones life. Some, like us, want to improve the quality of life while others are here because this is absolutely their last chance AT life. It doesn’t matter if you are a laborer or a senator, everyone here becomes friends.
This experience has really changed our outlook on life. At first, four weeks seemed like an eternity to be away from home. But, when you stand back and look at the big picture, four weeks is such a small time when the result is a lifetime of improvement! If you set your sights on only the small things in life, all of the big things, the really important and wonderful things will pass you by. Not only have we been changed by our experience in China, we have really opened our eyes to all of the truly amazing things going on at home. People that we don’t even know are following our story and supporting us. A friend told me that he was thinking about us and all of the wonderful support that we were getting back home, and the saying “It takes a village” came into his mind. Not that it really takes a village to raise a child, but it certainly takes one in order to get through such a journey as this. We have learned from this that without the love and support of friends, family, and even complete strangers, we could have NEVER gotten through this journey. We will never forget the outpouring of kindness.
For parents, children, or siblings reading this who are even considering making this trip because you have a loved one that could be helped, don’t let doubt or fear keep you away. Even if you don’t get results, you will have tried. But what if you do get results- how amazing!!
Before I go, I ask my close friends and family to remember how very blessed we have been with the outpouring of donations, prayers, and support in our time of need. There are a lot of people in our area suffering right now, so we hope that you will continue to pray for them and be ready to pay it forward if given the opportunity. We will be in the air at 9:15 pm your time on Tuesday. We will be on US soil in Chicago by the time you leave work on Wednesday!! The time here has really gone fast! Let’s just pray that the flights go well and we are able to have a home bound trip that is free of any headaches!! Thank you all so much for all of your support, prayers, e-mails and comments. It has certainly made our trip much easier knowing that all of you are pulling for us back home. We will never know all of you or be able to thank you enough, but please know that each of you have helped change Brayden’s life in ways we never thought possible. We can’t wait to see you all in just a few hours!!
Be not afraid, only believe. Mark 5:36
Our last bit of love from China- Jason, Lorie, Brayden, and Brylie
May 14th, 2008
Hey all! Just wanted to let you know that we are fine! We did not feel anything from the earthquake. As a matter of fact, we didn’t even find out that there was one until about 8:00 Monday night! Kind of weird that we didn’t because we are between Shanghai and Beijing, and both of those cities felt the shaking. Sounds like our angels were watching out for us!
On a happier note, the going away party on Sunday was AMAZING!!! We were in the commons area until about 10:00 visiting with everyone. We got to meet Mandy and her mom Brenda from Osceola, Missouri, which is between Kansas City and Springfield. Heck, we are practically neighbors when you consider that there are folks here from all over the world. Really, we had a great time!
On Monday, we decided to skip out on therapy and go have one last venture to downtown. We rented a car this time so we didn’t have to spend time begging a cabbie to take us, but more importantly to bring us home! I’m not sure if our driver got lost or what, but we did A LOT of driving around getting there. I would say this trip was by far the most interesting of all car rides. There is so much construction going on downtown. It is very old, so they are trying to update buildings and streets. That meant for a whole bunch of playing chicken on one way streets, dodging street workers, and testing the drivers skills of manuevering the car down a road that is meant for only two cars, but both sides of the street are already lined with parked cars! Very interesting! As I said, this is the older part of town, so there are a lot of vendors selling fruit and meat cuts right on the sidewalk! It was really an awesome experience to see it all! We did finally make it to the Jimo Market to gather more treasures. Jason even did some bargaining of his own! A lady told him 200 RMB for the same pair of flip-flops that we bought on Saturday for 80 RMB. He told the lady 100. She slammed down the shoes and walked away- wouldn’t even look at him! Needless to say, he didn’t get those flip-flops! After the market, we headed to the Jusco. We actually found the McDonald’s there!!! YEAH! Our first hamburger in a month! The biggest burger they have is a double cheeseburger, so Jason had to order 3! The kids were so good. Brylie didn’t even try to get up and play on the jungle gym until she was full! Brayden ate an order of chicken nuggets and half of a cheeseburger! We were pleasantly suprised- they actually taste like the McDonald’s back home. Next we were off to find the DVD store which was supposed to be very close to the Jusco. After walking forever in the rain, we got in the car and drove around. Again, no such luck! However, the driver was going all around this area that reminded Jason and I of Westport in KC. Very cool area with lots of really modern bars, shops, hotels, and apartments. All of the sudden we spot a building with JASON’S BAR across the front!! My camera battery was dead, so we didn’t get a picture, but still we thought that was pretty cool! Our driver followed the highway along the coast on our way back home. If it weren’t for the Chinese techno music playing on the radio, we would have all thought we were in Florida! It was beautiful with a lot of modern apartments and hotels along the coastline. We saw a few glimpses of sailboats in the bay where the Olympics are going to be. Such a great way to end the trip!
Today (Tuesday) was packing day! We started after therapy, and are still not quite finished. Brayden had another massage, and he LOVED it. He was a bit sore from therapy, so the massage really helped him calm down. We spent the late part of the afternoon handing out gifts and saying a few goodbyes to the nurses that won’t be on duty tomorrow. We really didn’t think it would be so hard to say goodbye. We are saving our hardest goodbye’s for later tonight. It will be very difficult to say goodbye to Giovanni and Elvia and Ching and Cindy. They have all been here with us from day one, and we have become such great friends. I think it will be very hard for the kids as well. They both really love them all. I think Giovanni reminds them of my dad.
Well, that’s all for now. I will try to squeeze in another update in the morning before we head to the airport. Hope you all have a great Tuesday! With love from China!!
May 13th, 2008
Wowza! Sounds like it has been one heck of a mess back home! Hope no one got to much damage from the storm. It is very hard to watch the weather on the internet and not be able to directly communicate with everyone back home.
On a better note, we want to send our deepest thanks to all of you who helped with, bought from, or donated to the rummage sale. Sounds like it was a HUGE success! From what I understand, we may have made rummage sale history in big ol’ Columbus, Kansas!! Thank you all so much!
We did a little shopping of our own on Saturday that was UNEXPLAINABLE!!! A group of about 15 of us decided to go to the Underground Market. Instead of getting a car for the day, we all decided to try our luck with taxi’s. Boy was that an adventure! The market is about an hour from the hospital, so even finding enough taxi’s to go that far was a trick. Before long, we had a line of about 4 taxi’s in front of the hospital loading up a bunch of foreigners. Let me tell you, we had a crowd! Locals just started flocking toward us to see what the big hooplah was! About an hour later, we all arrived at the market. To look at this place from the road, you would never know that it was a market. To get into the building, we had to go up a board that was leaning on a step- I’m assuming they use it for wheelbarrows- not wheelchairs! Oh my goodness, the place was packed with people and every type of Chinese good you could ever want. I’m talking like thousands of shoes, purses, belts, clothes, watches- you name it, they had it! It was fantastic! Jason, the kids, and I mostly stayed with Madalina and Andreea from Romania. Madalina is quite the bargainer- I, however, am not! She was yelling at me for not making the vendors go cheap enough. By the end of the day, I had it down a little better. Everything is pretty cheap anyway, so I have a hard time asking them to go cheaper. It was so fun though! Anytime you looked at anything, the vendors would say, “For you friend, I go cheaper. Cheaper, cheaper.” If you say no, they hand you a calculator and say, “Cheaper. You tell me what price.” So much fun, and of course, they are all very nice. We did have quite a time getting from floor to floor. They did thankfully have escalators, which Jason and I are used to getting on with the stroller and chair. However, Madalina and Cindy were having a time, so poor Jason would have to help take them up one at a time while I waited with our kids and then come get one of our kids with me. What a guy!! At one point though, I was waiting at the bottom of the escalator with the kids, and the people just started gathering around me REALLY close. So close that Brylie was telling them all “Bye-Bye” and swooshing them away with her hand. To top it off, Brayden was screaming and banging his head. That really helped matters! On our way out, we were checking out the clothes floor. Cindy, who can read and speak Chinese starts telling me “Please go fast, please go fast!” I couldn’t figure out what she was talking about until the most horrific smell hit us- it was the bathrooms! Oh lordy- we all about lost our lunch! We even saw locals holding their noses as they went by! We learned real quick what the bathroom signs looked like! Our last adventure of the day was trying to find taxi’s that would take us back. We managed to get them rather quickly, but we made a lot of enemies in the mean time. The driveway into the place is only one car wide. It takes 4 families with wheelchairs quite some time to get everyone and everything loaded. It sounded like a New York City traffic jam. People were honking and yelling at us from about a 1/2 mile back! Kind of stressful at the time, very funny to think about now! We were all pooped when we finally made it home. I think the four of us are going to skip out on therapy on Monday and go back to look for more treasures!! Hopefully the crowd will be a little less.
Today (Sunday for us), didn’t really pan out as we had planned. Brayden was supposed to have another massage at 11:00. We ran out of money yesterday, so we got up early and went to the bank to get money to pay the therapist. We had also planned to go downtown again after the massage. At 11:45, the therapist still had not shown. I happened to run into him in the hall, and he held up 1 finger and then 2 fingers- I’m assuming 12:00. I said yes and went back to the room. At 1:45, still no therapist. Time was getting slim for us to be able to make it to the store, so we ended up cancelling the massage for today. Kind of a waste of the morning! Oh well, our big adventure was about to begin! We were so excited because we found the address of a Harley Davidson store here in Qingdao, and we thought we would suprise my Dad and Kandi Rogers with a souvenier from HD in China. So we all pack into a taxi and head 30 minutes downtown. We pull up to the store, which is also a Land Rover and GM dealership. We see three bikes outside. We walk up and ask how to get to the Harley store. They all laugh at us. Finally we find a gal that speaks English. She tells us that the big store will open in July and she will call me then. I asked if they had ANYTHING that said Qingdao Harley Davidson, and again, they laughed! AHHHHH!!! So, the nice folks at the Land Rover store got us a taxi and back home we went. Apparently you only have to have 3 bikes and a big Harley Davidson sign to be called a dealership or store over here. Kind of disappointing- we really thought we were going to have an awesome surprise….
Our going away party is tonight. Giovanni was in the kitchen cooking up a big batch of his famous pasta. My belly is grumbling just thinking about it! I’m sure it will be a great time. We only have about 2 full days left in China. I can’t believe how fast the time went. Seems like yesterday we were thinking we would never get to come home, now it is time, and we are kind of sad to be leaving! Will go for now. Talk to you all soon! Love from China!
May 11th, 2008
Brayden is officially done being poked!! Such a brave and amazingly tough little guy! We are so very proud of him! He had his last IV treatment today. Everything went great! The nurses are absolutely amazing at starting IV’s! One quick poke and they are in- every time! Brayden doesn’t even flinch.
Brayden got another massage today. We are so thankful that Cindy from NJ shared this wonderful man with us. We cannot even tell you how amazing Dr. Di is. This man is so calm and patient. He can calm Brayden and make him do just about anything by simply touching or tapping in a certain place. He has the most amazing patience with Brayden. Today he invited Jason and I to learn how to do certain techniques on Brayden so we can continue when we go home. I think Brayden really enjoys getting the massages. At times it looks as if he has melted into the bed. It is very funny though because at other times, Dr. Di rubs Brayden’s legs where he is extremely ticklish, so Brayden screams and laughs. So funny to watch Dr. Di chase him around the bed. He is another person I so wish I could fit into our luggage and smuggle into the U.S.!!
Today we had to say goodbye to Jason, Brayden’s accupuncture guy. It was kind of sad really. We knew yesterday that he was leaving tonight to go see his family, so we gave him the gifts that we brought for him yesterday afternoon. We really didn’t expect to see him today, but before he headed out, he came in our room and asked us to take pictures of him with the kids. I guess that was our first real bit of proof that our journey is coming to an end. I knew we would be a little sad about leaving, but I think it might be harder than we thought. Everyone is so kind, and we have all become like family. We have made really good friends with Giovanni and Elvia- the Aust-Italians and Cindy and Ching- the Chinese speaking couple from NJ. Cindy has truly been my angel over here. She is the kindest person and one of the most devoted wives you will ever meet. She speaks fluent English and Chinese, so she has been our Godsend. When things were really tough, she jumped right in to help us out. She has also shared a lot of non-traditional techniques with us to try for Brayden. Such an amazing person. We will certainly miss her and Ching.
The weather here today was beautiful and warm. The sky was so clear, and we had a great view of the mountains today. Not much fun being couped up inside, but we are planning to go to the underground market tomorrow with Giovanni and Elvia. I hope the weather holds out for us. We are supposed to get rain everyday until and including the day we leave. That may make for a very long 4 days.
Shayla and Kelci, best of luck at your ball games this weekend. I hope you have nice weather! Can’t wait to see all of you very, very soon!! Our love from China!
May 9th, 2008
Hello all! We are celebrating our last Thursday in China!! Such a great feeling! Brayden seems to be showing lots of improvements in his vision, so we have a lot of hope for the next 6 months. He has his last stem cell treatment by IV tomorrow afternoon, and then he is done being poked! YEAH!!! Not to mention, if we don’t get out of here soon, Brylie is going to have every electronic whipped. This week she has totally mastered how to change out her own DVD’s. She just gets the one she wants, pushes the button to open the drive, loads the DVD, and pushes the button to close it. All we have to do is push play. Do dang smart for her own good! Bad part about this is that Jason has been in the middle of several movies, and Brylie just changes it whenever she feels like it. Poor Jason doesn’t stand a chance!
Yesterday was quite boring. We did get out for a walk and some sun. Not sure if we are getting used to this place, but the air seemed really fresh today. The landscaping is out of this world! With all of the flowers and trees blooming and the grass being cut, I really think that has helped. It was kind of humid like before a rain back home, so we were really starting to miss Kansas yesterday. We did order pizza again last night, and it was perfect. We asked for no onions and peppers this time, and they got the entire order right!! I’m quite sure Pizza Hut will not be seeing the Johnson family for quite some time, nor will we be visiting the Hamburger Helper, Easy Mac, grilled cheese, pb&j, or oatmeal aisles at the store anytime soon! Brayden is so sick of oatmeal that he has started knocking it out of our hands before it even gets to his mouth!
We decided at the last minute to have a going away party tonight for Cat and John from Australia. They are leaving in the morning, so the four of us made a quick trip by taxi to the RT Mart. That is always a trip!! It is funny to watch the folks at the store look at us as we carry 3 big cakes out of the bakery. I know they think we are such pigs- as do the people at the KFC. Jason was pleasantly suprised today. He tried ordering his normal 6 orders of 2 wings. This time he got 2 orders of 6 wings and 2 large pieces. The best suprise was that one of the pieces was a breast. Kathy from California made the mistake of asking for a breast once, and all of the staff at KFC started laughing hysterically at her. We just assumed from her experience that breast was a “dirty” word and white meat was unavailable. When we got back from the RT, Jason decided to let Giovanni take our unrated version of The 40 Year Old Virgin. We would love to be a fly on the wall when he watches it. First, so we can listen to him laugh, and second to see the look on the poor Chinese helper’s face!! Can’t wait to hear what he thinks about it.
We also got a visit from a Chinese massage therapist this afternoon. He is doing massage for a couple of the patients here, so we asked him to take a look at Brayden. After about 5 minutes, he said he could help Brayden’s tone and my headaches. I think he really knows what he is doing because he just rubbed a little bit on Brayden’s legs and then tapped them downward and Brayden’s legs were nearly straight as a board. Then he came over and touched my spine, neck and shoulder blade. He pushed on my trouble spots immediately and asked me “pain?”- I couldn’t believe it. He is coming back at 8:00 tonight to work on both of us after the party. Not sure how that is going to go though. Brylie was FLIPPING OUT when he was touching me. I have never seen her cry like that before. I hope she is sleeping by then.
Before I close, we would like to thank all of you for your hard work on the upcoming rummage sale, bake sale, and benefit lunch/dinner. We are so amazed at the outpouring of support from everyone. You will never know how much we appreciate your efforts. We know that organizing all of these events takes a great deal of hard work. Thank you, thank you for giving up your time and energy to help our family. Your kindness, love, and support will never be forgotten. We have truly been blessed by all of you.
With love from China, The Johnson’s
May 8th, 2008
Hello again! We have some new news to share! Brayden looked right at the light pen and tracked it consistently this morning for the doctors! Starting Monday night, he all of the sudden started sitting up very straight, almost no bending over to the right side. We kind of dismissed it at first, but you can really notice it today. His eating and oral motor control is sooo much better! For those of you who had the joy of eating with us, you know first hand that any meal took us atleast an hour to get through! Now, we can’t get the food in his mouth fast enough! Unfortunately, people who don’t really know Brayden may not see all of these wonderful improvements, but for those of you that know him well, I think you will be amazed at the progress!
Other than that, our day was therapy as usual. We did go to the bank to exchange money. This is the first time that the kids and I got to go along, and I must say it was quite enlightening! I decided to wait outside for Jason bc there were like 20 steps up to the bank. We were just sitting there minding our own business, eating gummy bears, and all of the sudden there were literally 20+ guys just sitting around me and the kids. Not really staring, but not totally minding their own business either. At first it was a bit scary, but they all kind of started trying to talk to the kids and that made me feel a little better. While we were sitting there, I got an opportunity to just kind of take in the surroundings. Something that really stuck out to me is that most all of the women over here wear high heels all of the time! It makes my feet hurt just thinking about it. I can barely walk to the other side of my bedroom in heels! These women literally walk across town everyday wearing them! Also, it is very funny to watch and listen to the movement of traffic. I know I have stated that they drive very crazy, but it is seriously no different in parking lots. There are horns honking CONSTANTLY because there is usually one way in, which also happens to be the same way out! The problem with this is that they tend park wherever they can find a space- even if that means right in the middle of the entrance. Seriously, I sat and watched a man sit in his car and continuously honk at a 3 wheel bike that was sitting in the way WITH NO ONE ON IT!! Like what did he think- the bike was gonna start itself up and get out of his way!! Also, car seats do not exist. Kids are just climbing around the car, crazy driving and all!! Mom, Dad, and baby all ride on the motorcycles and mopeds together. The mom rides on the back and the kids in the front as they zip down the street pretty quickly! Young girls ride side-saddle all the time at every speed, and they do it while talking on their cell phones!! Very brave!! And to think we get in trouble for riding a four-wheeler in town! Heck, this place has 3 million plus people, and I have yet to see a speed limit sign! Kind of makes us seem a little petty at home for thinking we actually need two stop lights!
We got brave and decided to try out the potatoes from the RT Mart, so we are treating ourselves to microwaved baked taters with cheese and butter! Can’t really go wrong there! Hope you all have a great Tuesday!! Love and miss you all so much!
May 6th, 2008
Brayden officially finished the worst part of his journey! He made it through the fourth and final spinal injection today with flying colors! They started his IV at about 1:00. He went into the OR at about 2:15 and was back out by 2:35. Everything went very quickly and very smoothly. He is into his second hour of laying flat now. The first hour was a fight trying to get him to relax, but now he and Brylie are both out like a light. Hope that lasts for awhile. Jason and I are enjoying the peace and quiet and watching 3 seasons of Two and a Half Men. Can’t beat it!!
We did hear that we had a fatality in the last string of storms that came through! Dad and Mom went over to mow our grass, and Brayden’s trampoline that he got for his birthday was all bent up from the wind! Guess we should have tied it down before we left.
Hess and Henson families, I am glad to hear that the wedding was beautiful and that it went smoothly! I really hate it that we missed it. I can’t wait to see the pictures!
Thank you all for your continued prayers! Have a good Monday!
May 5th, 2008
I am very happy to report that we found the turtle! He had crawled up in Brylie’s clothes and was resting very comfortably. Jason put him back out on the balcony last night and gave him a towel and a tray of water. Apparently he got very cold as he had wrapped himself up in the towel. I couldn’t find him at first, and I was afraid that he had taken a 9 story fall! We went about our day checking on Mr. Turtle a few times. When we came back from our last therapy session, Jason and Brylie went out to check on him, and no turtle. Apparently Mr. Turtle did this time take a 9 story dive to a better place! It was very windy today, so that could have very well been his fate too.
Brayden did better than normal today at PT. He didn’t holler near as much and he didn’t fall asleep in the stander. I really hope that we start seeing results where his tone is concerned. I know it is very uncomfortable for his muscles to be so tight all of the time. The big changes we will most likely see will happen over the next 6 months or so. Even with Brayden yelling at Tom during PT, it is very hard to not have a great time when we go. Tom, Martin, and Jason are very engergetic guys. They are always dancing, singing, and having a grand ol’ time. Jason and I about died on Friday, it was just our family and Tom in the PT room. All of the sudden a song in English came on. It sounded very much like Anne Murray from the 60′s. Tom just starts belting out the song in Chinese- high notes and all!! I gotta say, I don’t think any American guy would be caught dead singing an Anne Murray song, let alone attempting the high notes!!! Sooo funny!! We really have a lot of fun with them.
After PT, Jason decided to order spaghetti for lunch. Hmmm, Italian from a Chinese restaurant. It was really pretty good though. They put peppers and onions in it, and they use diced pork instead of beef. As we were finishing up lunch, we got another suprise from home! Jason’s mom’s package arrived today, and let me tell you, it couldn’t have come at a better time. I was starting to ration food so that we could make it the rest of the trip. Sue, I am really glad you didn’t see the box when we got it!! That thing has been through hell and high water! They cut it to shreds so they could see what was inside. You could barely even see the mailing label there was so much tape wrapped around it! They opened cereal box too- just the box not the bag. I have never gotten a box from overseas before, so I don’t know if they do this same thing in the US or not. I just can’t imagine having all of my packages gone through. Another freedom we American’s take for granted! Anyway, thanks so much for the goodies Sue! I’m kind of glad that they delayed the shipment bc it really worked out for the best. I barely even pulled the Snickerdoodles out of the box and Brylie was tugging on my arm to get one for her- but believe me, Jason wasn’t far behind!!
The surprise birthday party for Ching was a big hit. We had spaghetti, pizza, duck, Chinese dumplings, veggies, fruit and two cakes. Sounds like a lot of food, but Jason or I neither one made it through the line before all was gone! Oh well, it was still lots of fun, and Ching was very suprised. The crowd died down at about 7:30, and we had the most amazing ending to our day! There is a man from the U.S. that is here for his second round of treatments. I honestly do not have enough time or space to give his story the justice that it truly deserves, but I will try give you a short run down. His name is David Aldridge. He fell out of a boat, hit his head, and basically drowned. When they revived him, he was blind, and paralyzed from the chest down. He had no control, feeling, or movement of anything from his chest to his feet. He also could not speak clearly enough for anyone to understand him. He came to the Shenzhen facility 18 months ago for his first round of treatments. He is now without his trach. He can see about 8 feet in front of him clearly, and can see outlines as he looks farther. He has complete control of his trunk, and can do sit-ups on his own. He has feeling throughout his entire body. He can move both of his legs and feet. He can walk with assistance in a swimming pool. He talked to all of us for about an hour tonight about his amazing progress with only a very slight slur. I cannot tell you how absolutely wonderful it was to hear him speak. I got about 20 minutes of video that I can’t wait to share with you. He said that his vision was the first thing to return and that it continues to improve still today. His story gave every person here hope. Of course we will not all be as fortunate enough as David, but isn’t it great to know that we can tell the doctors that they are completely full of bs when they tell us there is no hope when it comes to brain injury!!! Funny thing how David’s story isn’t all over the media isn’t it? Apparently doctors and pharmaceutical companies aren’t the only ones getting rich off of sick people! I guess healthy people don’t make good news stories.
Brayden has his last spinal injection tomorrow- YEAH!!! Please say a little prayer for him when you go to bed tonight. I do hope things go as well as they did last time. His final injection is Friday, and it is by IV. This week is pretty busy, so hopefully it will go rather quickly. Talk to you all tomorrow! Our love from China!
May 4th, 2008
Well, our day didn’t exactly go as planned, but we had a fantastic time with Giovanni and Elvia today! The driver picked all of us up at 9:30 sharp in a mini-van. Let me tell you, two wheelchairs, 7 adults, and two kids in a van- that was quite a site. A young man, Felix, or Alex as Giovanni calls him, served as kind of a tour guide. He had our whole day planned out for us, and gave us the quick run down of the history of each of the planned stops. Our first stop was supposed to be a cruise of the Qingdao Bay, however, it was “too bloody foggy to see anyting, so-a we don’ta get to go on dat boat, so what!” Not to mention, it was like 30 degrees colder at the ocean, so we didn’t want Brayden or Elvia to spend to much time outside. We then decided to stop at the Trestle. We stopped along the railing to watch the locals dipping for clams, crab, and fish in the rocks. All of the sudden, Giovanni takes off running and goes down to the rocks. We spot him buying a turtle. He brings it back up, and tries to convince Elvia to hold it. She never gave in, but Brayden and Brylie got quite a kick out of it. Brylie latched onto that thing and held it for quite awhile! I was sure that Giovanni planned to return the turtle to the vendor, but guess what is crawling around our room!! We tried to keep it out on the balcony, but apparently it really loves us bc it climbed over the treshold and into our room. We took our eyes off of it long enough to talk to dad and mom, and now the turtle is missing in action!! Hope we find it before the cleaning lady does!
We made a stop at a VERY busy shopping market next. Let me remind you that this is like the Labor Day weekend over here, so the crowds are enormous!! The population of Qingdao is 3 million in the city and 5 million in the countryside. All of the people from the countryside come into the city for this weekend! Imagine all the people! Trying to find a parking space is nearly impossible. We headed down this little lane to find a parking place that was barely as wide as the van. For about 10 minutes, our driver attempted to fit our big ol’ van into a space for a motorcycle by manuevering around in that very narrow lane! Oh my goodness! Thank the Lord that a car left, so we were able to just park along the lane. After a quick bit of shopping, we were off for lunch. Being the very kind Italian man that Giovanni is, he asked Felix/Alex to find a restaurant that serves both Western and Chinese food- you all know how much I loooooovvvvveeee Chinese food! Thankfully he took us to a place that served steak. Jason, the kids and I devoured it like it was our last meal!!! I certainly realize why we American’s are so “chubby” and these Chinese folks are so thin. Our family ordered steak, of course. In the picture on the menu, it showed that it came with a baked potato and some steamed veggies. Perfect! We also ordered a side of fries for Brylie. We get our plates and there is a steak, 5 french fries, 3-4 water chesnuts, and a cherry tomato. Thank goodness we ordered the side of fries for Brylie! I’m sure the Chinese folks that were with us thought we were complete hogs!! They had rice and veggies with fruit juice while we pigged out on steak, fries, and Coke!!!
We next headed to the Olympic village. Qingdao is hosting the sailing competition in August. The village is still closed to tourists, but we got to at least drive by it and have a look. Our journey ended with a stop at B&Q. I was wondering why on earth we were headed to another restaurant- B&Q is similar to how they spell Bar-be-que in a few places over here. This place was however very similar to Academy Sports back home. It was very nice, but Brayden was being not so quiet so we were ready to get out of there. On our way to the check out, Jason and Brayden were a ways in front of Brylie and I. As Brylie and I came out of the side aisle to follow the boys, a man who was staring at Brayden and Jason ran smack into Brylie and I! It almost knocked me over, and poor Brylie hollered at him. I guess I need to learn how to say “watch out” and “excuse me” in Chinese!!
All in all, we had a “bloody good day mate!” Giovanni and Elvia are such nice people, and Felix was great to our family. After spending a day with the Aust-Italian’s, we find ourselves saying things like they do. Kinda funny! Well, until Brylie starts throwing around the four letter words like Giovanni does! Both of the kids really like him. We are back to the grindstone tomorrow. Kind of odd having therapy on Sunday, but I think maybe the holiday threw things off a bit. We also have the suprise birthday dinner for Ching from NJ. Hope you all have fun at the weddings and ball games this weekend! Talk to you soon!
May 4th, 2008
Happy Friday everyone! We have nearly completed our 3rd week here, and we are getting the going home itch! Our friday was a bit uneventful, but you know me, I can always find something to talk about!
We made our official decision this morning that we are NOT big fans of May Day celebrations! It started last night about 10 pm, just after we got our youngest beloved to sleep and were starting to fall asleep ourselves. They had a HUGE fireworks display right outside our balcony. On any other day, we would have loved it. It was really a beautiful display, however, Miss Brylie had not been so beautiful yesterday, and the fireworks woke her up! Thankfully, after a little rustle, she was back asleep in no time!! Here’s the best part- 5 a.m. rolls around, and guess what is going on in the park- a fireworks display!!! Who in the heck watches fireworks at 5 a.m.? My eyes don’t even open that early, let alone focus enough to watch bright flashing lights!!! Needless to say, the kids’ day started very early this morning! Only in China!! They are very much a celebrating culture.
Brayden did a little better today in PT. He was awesome at accupuncture. He laughed so hard the whole time. Not sure why he likes that so much… One tough kid! Jason and I were figuring it up, and he will have been stuck atleast 290 times with a needle by the time we come home- more than most have to endure in their entire lives. Since Brayden was in such a great mood, we decided to walk to the RT Mart to pick up a few things. The streets were very busy, and I can’t even explain the crowds at the RT. Oh my goodness, we were like speed demons just trying to find what we needed and get the heck out of there!! However, one of the most amazing things happened when we were checking out. The nice anesthesiologist- that I was telling you about Wednesday- came up and rubbed Brayden’s arm and said hello to us. I figured she would go about her merry way after that. Instead, she hands the cashier a card- similar to a Ron’s or Dillons card that gives you discounts on certain things- and tells her to let us use it! Then she motioned for Brylie and I to go stand out of the way, and she helped bag our groceries and load them in a cart. Then she proceeds to push the cart outside to help us get a taxi. When we told her that we were walking, she loaded the groceries into Brylie’s stroller, gave us a nice smile, and walked away. We could not believe it! This lady had only met us one time, and she treated us with such kindness! Again, pretty sure that would never happen at home!!
We have quite a day planned tomorrow. Giovanni and Elvia- the AustItalian’s- invited us to go on an outing with them to see the city. We are also maybe going on a boat ride to see the coast. Not really sure! Giovanni is one that you just knod and don’t ask questions! They may be wishing they hadn’t invited us along after a full day of the Johnson clan! You know, we aren’t the quietest bunch around! Even still, we are very excited about going, as they always have great stories to tell us and great finds to share.
Hope you all have a fantastic weekend- storm free!! I’m sure we will have great stories to tell after our big adventures tomorrow, so stay tuned!! We love you and miss you all so much!
May 2nd, 2008
Previous Posts
