Epic Journey to China
Ni hao everyone !
This is Josh, we made it to Qing dao! It was a very long journey to get here (15+hours of Flight time) but we almost didnt make it here at all. Confused? You should be! Flash back time! Ok so my Dad did not plan enough time for us to get from my house to Detroit ( I blame it on my mother who takes forever to get ready) We arrived at Detroit Metro with 20 mins to spare to catch our flight of course we rushed to the check in station and the lady at the counter gave us the worst news ” You are not going to get on that flight there is not enough time” My heart sank Both me and my Father were nearly in tears I had to get to China on time. Here is where the miracle happened. My Father asked them if there was ANYTHING that we could do to get on the plane the lady said no. we were ready to call for our ride back home when the lady said ” Wait a minute, the flight attendant left her badge at the hotel and cannot fly without it you have time to get on ” If that is not a miracle I don’t know what is.( Thank you Jenny the Flight Attendant!) So we got on the plane and we were ready for take off I finally stopped shaking and the anxiety was overwith for the most part, well what comes up must come down right? ( Thank god this was not the case literally ) One of the engines in the plane would not start so we had to transfer to another plane, finally after that we were on our way to Chicago when we got there we had a 4 hour lay over, We killed the time by eating at a small diner and browsing the book store.
Once we got on the plane in Chicago we flew to Beijing, China. on the way we had lots of things to do to tide us over till we got there, Books, Nintendo DS, Ipod, Inflight meals, Screaming babies, Oh! and Movies! ( Go go Narnia!) when we finally got to China we had no time to look around because we had one more flight to catch and because of the delay in detroit we had 15 mins to check through Chinese customs and get on the plane and if anyone has been to Beijing’s Airport its HUGE! we are taking shuttles going everywhere, but yeah we didnt think we would make it but this Chinese man led us through customs, to the right terminal and onto the plane ( <3 you Chinese guy wherever you are) In america if you had to do that you were screwed! ( Or the occasional miracle) Anyways we flew from Beijing to Qing Dao , on our decent we overlooked the city there is so much smog there and lots of factories, when we touched the ground we looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief, We made it ! Finally we were in China!
First order of buisness when we got off the plane: Bathrooms! I was holding it for 14+ hours and I freaking had to pee! once we got that done we found the translator for Beike and the driver and we drove to the hospital. Oh. My. God. do not drive in China they have no rules the driver drove into oncoming traffic and cut many cars off (the same happened to us as well ) I think I lost 5 years of my life right there. We got to the Qing dao Chenyang Peoples hospital around 7ish and went to our room , the rooms are nice, for a hospital that is. when I got into my room all I wanted to do was sleep I had so much jet-lag and we were just plain tired from the trip but the doctors had to do a asessment on me first I was doing my best to answer the questions -but when you have lack of sleep and don’t speak any Chinese and the translator dosent speak as good as english as we had hoped- you didnt get very far Ok so FINALLY get to sleep ( the matresses are like wood with a blanket over it ) and the next morning real early , and as you guys know, I am not a morning person I had to get my blood drawn I really hate needles but the nurse was very gentle and it didnt hurt much at all
That morning we learned alot of stuff I will be getting 9 STC and the doctors said that we have to have 5-7 days between each one so we could be here for 2 months I was kinda depressed from that fact because I get home sick real easy and I was still adjusting to the time difference (12 hours ahead of EST in the US fyi) so for about 2 days I didnt do much but stay in my room and sleep ( therapy dosent start till Monday) my dad was sick of me staying holed up in the room for so long he insisted that I go out and talk to the othe patients and their familys , I am glad I listened to him , Guys they work Miracles here. 2 children ( one from wisconsin and one in Colorado ) came here blind after several weeks they were able to see! one of them read and learned the entire alphabet in one week! Another lady had a disease where she couldent walk well , had partial paralysis, she could not tie her shoes or write when she got here , but that day she WALKED up to me and greeted me by taking both her hands in mine and giving them a gentle squeeze! she can write now and tie her shoes her paralysis in her face is gone! Those are just a few miracles that they do here! My Spirts were boosted and my mood changed for the better I am now positive that you guys will see a surpirse when I get back home
So that’s my “Quick” Update until then I hope everyone is safe back home please keep me and my Father in your Prayers and thoughts I miss you all and I hope to hear from you all soon !
Much love,
Josh
P.S. If you wish to send a care package ( Please do! we need some food from the states they have food like that over here but it is not processed like we do in the states) send it to the address below:
6 comments September 15th, 2008
