If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...

...then this post will be worth 24,000 words.

In the Austin airport, getting ready to leave



















Street scene in Hangzhou. Note the car parked on the sidewalk.














Most American restaurants here don't taste very American. They have Chinese flavors. Most people get around on electric scooters or bikes as seen in this picture.
















Read the sign carefully. The translations here are not usually accurate and sometimes are downright funny.












We're getting pretty good with chopsticks. The chow mein was pretty good. The noodles were more al dente than I was used to.
















Bicycles are used to transport everything, in this case steel beams. Oh, and this one is pedal powered, not electric.











Garden in front of a government building














Pagoda in a park



















The escalators here don't have stairs, they're flat.


















The grooves in the escalator grab some rubber blocks on the cart which allows them to easily transport carts back up to the third level.
















Our hotel room













View from hotel room














Another view from the hotel













Leaving the hotel with all our luggage














People flying kites in The People's Square















The People's Square


















On a bench in The People's Square













The People's Square














Kid getting a rollerblading lesson in The People's Square












Papa John's was the exception when it comes to food. It's an American restaurant that tastes like it's American equivalent.











Their delivery vehicles are a little different though.














So that's how you say "Papa John's" in Chinese.














Someone transporting a China cabinet down the street on a wheeled cart.













All pictures copyright 2009, Rosetta Fedelem

Posted from Hangzhou at 1:15 PM on 4/12/09

A Taste of Heaven 4-11-09

Today we went out for a stroll. We probably walked a good 4 miles in all. We are becoming quite familiar with the area and are learning that the best way to not get run over is to do as the Chinese do. We follow their example and cross the streets when they cross. There are so many people walking and on bikes, scooters, and wheeled contraptions that you never would have imagined existed that the drivers are very aware of the foot traffic.

We walked through a park called "The People's Square." It was very beautiful! The park was adorned with various flowers and had lush green grass, half circle stone benches, waterfalls, and birds!!!! (I had begun to wonder if birds even lived in China because in the days that we have been here, I had not seen any birds.) There were quite a few people in the park. We saw two ladies with dogs. Of course I had to stop and pet them. It had been almost a week since I have petted a dog! How sad is that?! I admired the dogs and the ladies admired Sierra and said, "Like a doll." Yup, doesn't matter where in the world we are, literally, people say Sierra looks like a doll. Back to the park, there were so many people flying kites in the park! It was fun watching them. There must have been 15-20 kites in the air and none of them were tangled. There was also an area set up where a man was teaching little bitty kids how to rollar blade. He had cones set up and was having them go around them.

After our stroll through the park, we continued down the street to our destination which also happens to be the noteworthy occassion for which this post is titled. PAPA JOHN'S!!!!!! Who would have thought that there would be a Papa John's in China? Last night while we were visitinng with the Australian family (LOVE their accents!) they told us that the Papa John's was very good. After my disappointment at KFC, I was guarded, but oh so eager to have some good ol' American food.

We have been eating a lot of Chinese food. It is good, but due to my own pickiness, there is a limited number of things that I order. Also, I can't get over how greasy lots of the food is. The fried rice is especially greasy.

Okay, off of that rabbit trail and back to good food. We found the Papa Johns. We were a bit surprised to learn that it was upstairs. Jason grabbed one end of the stroller and I grabbed the other and we hauled Sierra up. It wouldn't have been so bad, but every 5 or steps the stairs made a 90 degree turn which made it kinda difficult to get up, but the rewards were well worth the small hassle. Papa John's in China is set up a little nicer than in the US. It is more like a restaurant than a pizza place.

The workers there did not really speak English. Luckily the menu was in both Chinese and English so we were able to point to what we wanted. We ordered a large meat pizza. We were a bit skeptical and anticipating a disappointment (I mean hey KFC taste Chinese, Pepsi does not taste like Pepsi in the US, ribs come as chopped up meat with pieces of bones mixed in, chicken is chopped up meat, bones and all and then cooked so you have little pieces of bone that you either have to spit out or choke to death on). But it was WONDERFUL!!!! HEAVENLY!!!!!! OH SO GOOD!!!!!! YUMMY!!!!!!! I could go on and on but I think you get the point. :-) I will end on that note so that I can go get ready for bed with the wonderful memory of pizza to dwell on.

Posted from Hangzhou at 9:05 PM on April 11, 2009

Jason's Update 4/11/09

We've been here for a few days now and things are going decently. They were concerned about Sierra’s oxygen saturation and so have her on 1 hour of oxygen 4 times a day. However, the message that I don’t think we were able to communicate to them is that since Sierra’s finger is so small that its hard to get good contact and therefore they were getting false low readings. I think we got the nurse tonight to understand that.

The last few days have been rather boring with nothing much to report. We’ve been eating the cheap Chinese fast food, which for two of us usually comes to $1.50/meal and is delivered to the hospital. Tonight we splurged and went to Papa Johns. I was expecting it to taste like Chinese pizza, but it actually tasted just like it does in America. What’s funny is that their delivery vehicles are bicycles with a rack on the back for the pizzas.

Nothing much to report. Things are going fine and we appreciate all the prayers.

Posted from Hangzhou at 7:25 PM on 4/11/09

The Hospital

THE ROOM

We are on the 20th floor of the hospital. Our room is very nice. It is more like a hotel room than a hospital. The floors are wood which gives the room a warm and homey feel. One whole wall of the room is all glass. It is a huge glass window that allows sunshine to come in. Looking out our window we see lots of buildings, apartments and just below us a big garden with all sorts of vegetables growing. We have a tiny table, two chairs, a big tv, a dvd player, a refrigerator, a closet, and water cooler.

THE STAFF

The staff consists of patient representatives, and drivers. The patient representatives do the translating for the patients and doctors. They also take care of any needs we may have. The three we have met are Lucy, Johnny, and Luca. They are all very nice. Lucy is the one we have seen around the most. Lucy and Johnny are both Chinese. Luca is Italian.

THE DOCTORS & NURSES

The doctors here are very good. They are quite thorough. I guess I had kind of expected that we would get here and they would start giving her stem cell treatments. That isn't the case at all. They do a lot of tests and evaluations so that they become much more familiar with the patient before they do any of the treatments. They are going to do an x-ray on Sierra sometime to take a look at her lungs and spine. Because her spine is curved, they are not sure if they will be able to do the lumbar puncture or not. If I understood correctly they were saying that it may not be as effective to do the lumbar puncture because of the curved spine. The doctors are going to have a meeting to discuss things after they get all the test results. Most of the doctors do not speak English.

The nurses are also very good. They are very caring. They took some blood from Sierra today for tests. They were able to get it right away. I was very happy that I did not have to watch them prick her several different times. Most of the nurses understand English and can speak a few words.

THE THERAPIST

Kerri is Sierra's therapist. We are very pleased with her. You can tell that she really loves the children that she works with. Today she was working on teaching Sierra how to roll over. Sierra will be receiving 2-3 types of therapy every day for 5 days out of the week.

THE FOOD

In China, food is not served to patients in the hospital. They have a little kitchen area here where we can cook things in the microwave or on a hot plate. They also have a menu that we can use to order from a local restaurant. There is no fee for delivery and the food is very inexpensive. Jason and I ate lunch for about $1.50 for the both of us.


THE PATIENTS

It has been so much fun meeting all the other families that are here. It is also very encouraging! There are people here from around the world. There are people here for a variety of reasons.

There are two adults with MS. I was talking to the family member of one of them. He was having problems with incontinence and having to go to the bathroom 5 or 6 times a night. Now, he is able to sleep 8 hours straight!

There are several children with cerebral palsy. One of them is here for the second time. After his first time here, he stopped throwing up (he used to throw up several times a day) and he went from eating mush to eating stuff like nachos. Another little girl has gained better head control and is now able to drink out of a straw.

There is a little boy with autism. He is 5 1/2. His mom said that she has been working for three years at showing him pictures from a book and then asking him to say the words (i.e. showing him a picture of a car and asking him what it was). He was never able to. During his time here, he started doing it! She was so thrilled that she said, "Even if that is the only improvement, it was worth it!"

STEM CELL TREATMENTS

As I said above, Sierra may not be able to get lumbar punctures. We trust the doctor's decision. If she is not able to have the lumbar punctures, she will get all IVs. Her first treatment will probably be on Monday.


Thank you for all your prayers. We covet your prayers all the time.

Posted from Hangzhou at 1:10 PM, April 10

Shopping in Hangzhou

Some of our blog posts are going to overlap a bit because we are both so long winded and like telling our own versions of events. =)

On Wednesday, Sam, a driver from the stem cell company came and picked us up. He took us to the bank where Jason got some RMB. After that, he was going to take us to the RT Mart and then back to the hotel. He pulled up in front of the market, helped us get out and then said, "Sawde, Sawde" (sorry, sorry) "Taxi hotel" while handing us a paper with the address for the hotel written on it. He climbed back in the car and away he went.

Here we are in the middle of a foreign country where no one speaks English and we weren't exactly sure where we were. One thing that we have learned quickly is that if you don't know what to do or where something is, just observe what the others are doing and do as they do. By doing this, we found the entrance to the RT Mart.

The first floor was basically like a mall with lots of little stores. We went up the escalator (which is really fun!) to the third floor. The escalator by passes the second floor. The third floor was like a Wal-Mart. You could buy pretty much anything that you would at Wal-Mart. We didn't spend much time on that floor.

We took the escalator down to the second floor. The way they have it set up, you have to go to both floors in order to get out. You can't just go to one floor or the other. The second floor was the produce/grocery section. As soon as we got off the escalator the smells were very poignant. Much to my horror, there were some dehydrated ducks hanging right there in the open. I couldn't look at them for very long.

The fruits though were amazing! They had such a wide variety. They also had lots of dried fruits that were delicious as well. We have been enjoying trying out all the unusual fruits.

After picking out a few things, we got in a long line. After being in the line for about 7 minutes, Jason said, "I don't think this is the cash register. I don't see any money being exchanged." After surveying things a bit more, we realized that we were in line for eggs! The eggs are sold by weight and put in plastic bags. We got out of that line and wandered around some more until we found the actual check out.

We found that where ever we go, we can't stand in one place for very long. Otherwise Sierra steals the show. There was a group of about 15 ladies gathered around her. They were all smiling, touching her, and encouraging their babies to touch her as if she is lucky charm. Everyone loves her wild hair.

After succesfully leaving the RT Mart we began wandering around trying to find the hotel. Our feet soon got tired so we hired a taxi (well we honestly aren't sure if he was a taxi or not his vehicle wasn't marked) to take us back to the hotel.

We had been warned that the beds here were hard and felt like box springs. That was a gross exaggeration. The beds at the hotel felt like a pile of bricks! I felt like I had bruises after sleeping on them. Luckily, the beds here at the hospital have a nice padding on them and are much more comfortable.


Posted from Hangzhou at 12:41 AM on 4/10/09

Unusual customs

On Wednesday the driver picked us up as promised and took us to the bank. The whole front of the bank was a glass wall and when you went in you went to the booth where the teller sat behind a glass division. When I was about to leave I started walking back to the door to leave when the driver signaled me to stop and hit this button on the wall. The glass panel slid aside and let us out. You wouldn’t have known it was a door otherwise.

The driver then took us to RT Market, which is the closest thing they have to a Walmart. When he dropped us off he was very apologetic but said he couldn’t wait for us and there was no charge. We went into the market and wandered around. The first floor was much like a mall in the US with lots of little specialty shops. We decided to go to the second floor and went to the escalators. The escalators here are quite different than in the US. Instead of having stairs they are completely flat just like a conveyor belt. It turns out that the escalators skip the second story and go to the third. This floor was much like a WalMart without the food. You then go back down to the second story, which is the grocery store. The first thing you see when you enter on the left is dried, dehydrated ducks. It made Rosetta’s stomach do flips just looking at it.

We bought a few groceries and made it thru the checkout line and back down to the first floor and out. We wandered around the city a little bit trying to find our hotel but ended up taking a taxi back. Fortunately Lucy had written the name and address of the hotel in Chinese for us so we just had to show it to the driver. The taxi cost 10 RMB, which is about $1.30.

This morning we went down to breakfast. Yesterdays breakfast had been pretty decent so I decided to try a little of everything. This was fine until I got to one dish and realized it was chicken with the bones still in it. I remembered reading in the travel guide that they cook the chicken with the bones in it and its perfectly acceptable to spit the bones out on the floor. I decided not to push my luck and instead put them in the ashtray on the table. Oh yes, you can smoke just about anywhere over here.

After breakfast we took a stroll around the city for about two hours and were proud that we were able to do it without any difficulty. We went to the supermarket again and bought some produce .

We went back to our room and packed all our stuff for the move to the hospital. The one piece of sage advice I’d have is “when you travel internationally, pack as light as you can”. Now granted we’re living here for a month so it’s a little different, but man, we have a lot of stuff. I think it came to 7 suitcases, a laptop bag, a diaper bag and a backpack. Ouch. It took two trips to get it to the hospital in the car.

We’ve been here since noon just getting settled in and talking to the doctors and other patients. There are people here from all over the world. Currently Malaysia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada and the USA are represented.

We ordered out for dinner. It was two large rice bowls and cost 10 RMB, which, as stated above, is about $1.30. There wasn’t even a charge for delivery and they don’t tip here.

That’s all for now. Thank you for all the prayers and please keep them up. Sierra needs them and we need them.
Posted from Hangzhou on 4/9/09 at 7:55 PM China time

Long Trip

Jason already posted his version of our trip, but I thought I would throw my 2 yuan in as well.

Sunday was a long day. We went to church, ate lunch at church, and then headed home. We had to do last minute packing and finish writing instructions for the dog sitter. Around 6pm we left for my parents house. The plan was to sleep until 1:30 am and then at 2:00 am leave for the airport. HA! Jason did get a little sleep, but I didn't sleep a wink.

We made it safely to the airport with our 5 check in bags, two carry ons, laptop, crammed diaper bag, cooler with breast milk, stroller, and carseat. We had been a bit apprehensive about whether all the check in bags were under 50 lbs or not, since all we were using to weigh them was a bathroom scale. Our heaviest bag was 48 lbs on the dot. Yay! At the airport we bid our farewells to my family.

After checking in and making it through security, we sat and waited for about 45 minutes before boarding. During that time we enjoyed the sandwhiches that my dad had so thoughtfully packed for us. Around 5:30 we boarded the plane. We were a bit miffed that they don't seem to do the whole "now we invite passengers with young children to board" thing anymore. We had to shuffle through the pack of people with our ridiculous load. The plane from Austin to Chicago was jam packed. Even the first class was full. I think there were about two empty seats on the plane and that was it (luckily one of those was next to us.)

We had been told that once we got to Chicago, our next gate was only 5 gates away. Of course we didn't have it so easy. Our plane ended up landing at a different gate so we had a nice little hike to get to our other gate.

While we were waiting for our flight, we heard someone announce, "Will the Fedelmans please come to the desk." (Yes, I know, the name is spelled wrong. Everyone likes to say Fedelman instead of Fedelem.) Jason went up at first and they asked him for Sierra's passport. I took the passport to them. They said that somehow her information was not in the system. The lady said that she doesn't know how we were able to make it there without that information. She said that if she had not caught it, we would not have been able to board the plane. She began working on that, but was not familiar with how to do it. She had to ask several other people. In between working on getting the information in, she was calling out, "We now invite ______ to board." It made us a little nervous to see everyone boarding the plane and our situation not resolved. Everything worked out, and we were some of the last to board. She ended up giving us a whole row of five seats, which was so nice!

The flight was long, but not unbearable. I think the first seven hours were the longest. We were able to doze a bit on and off, watch movies, and play games. The flight attendents were all very nice. They fed us three meals and gave us lots of drinks. Sierra was a real trooper and traveled well.

We arrived in Shanghai around 1:50 pm local time. We weren't sure what to do to go through customs. We just kind of followed the crowd and ended up in the right place. They let us go through a special line since we had the baby. That line was MUCH shorter! All we had to do to get through customs was give them our passports and our arrival cards. It was much simpler than I imagined.

Picking up the bags was a challenge. I ended up wearing the baby in the Ergo, pushing a stroller loaded down with stuff with one hand, and pushing a cart of suitcases with the other hand, while Jason dealt with all of the other luggage. The next step was to find our driver. As we entered the area where people were waiting, all the women started smiling and making comments about Sierra (they were saying something that sounded like "wowwow" I'm assuming it has to do something with hair.) That really did not feel much different than at home, because our wild headed child always solicites comments. :-)

We walked down the row of people and found our driver holding a sign with Sierra's name on it. We motioned to him and he jumped in to help with the luggage. He motioned for us to follow him. He certainly did not waste any time! I was wondering what would happen if we couldn't keep up with him. Jason was behind me and I was trying to decide if Jason got held up if I would keep up with the driver or lag behind for Jason. Jason must have read my mind because he said, "Don't loose that guy! If we get seperated keep up with him and I will catch up." Luckily we didn't have to worry about that.

We were able to fit everything in the van and begin the 2 1/2 hour drive to Hangzhou. Our driver did not speak a lick of English so it was a fairly quiet ride. At this point Sierra was tired of being in her car seat but she was able to endure the last leg of our journey.

The roads here are better than I was expecting. They do have English translatioins on many of the signs. Most of the trip here was filled with scenes of agriculture. There were rows of fields. Some were what I am assuming were rice fields, others had pretty yellow flowers. I'm not sure what type of plants the yellow flowers are. Next to the fields were apartment type buildings. They looked rather old and somewhat dilapitated. Many of them had laundry hanging out from the windows. The thing that struck me, was how many of them had solar panels. I would say a good 60% of them had solar panels.

In all the fields that we passed, I did not see a single tractor. There were also some interesting structures. They looked like barns made out of hay. I'm not sure what they were or what was in them.

The driving here is not for the faint of heart. Lanes and signals are overrated. I'm not sure why they even put lines on the roads. They must just be for decoration. The motto here seems to be, "If there is room, the car will fit." It doesn't matter if "room" only allows a few inches on either side of the cars or if that "room" is in a lane that is supposed to have oncoming traffic. Up until yesterday, I never though much about whether or not car horns ever have to be replaced. After all the music on the road, I wondered how long their horns last.

We made it to the hotel in one piece. It is rather amusing trying to communicate with the people here when they understand very little English and we understand no Chinese. Everyone has been very nice and helpful (once they understand). We met Lucy, the patient coordinator and she was very nice. She is going to send a driver later today to take us to the bank and the supermarket. Tomorrow we will be going to our room in the hospital which will be "home" for the next 25 days.

I am proud to say that we are getting quite skilled at using chop sticks. We still have a long way to go, but we didn't do too badly.

Well I'm going to say good-bye for now. Thanks for all the prayers.

Posted from Hangzhou on 4/8/09 at 9:27 AM China time.

In Hangzhou

We took off this morning around 6 am Texas time and had a two and a half hour flight to Chicago. It was your average domestic flight, cramped and crowded.

At 10:40 AM we took off from Chicago on the long 14.5-hour flight to Shanghai. I was expecting it to be cramped, crowded and generally unpleasant. Fortunately, it was a rather pleasant flight. Due to the earths curvature it is a shorter distance to fly up to the North Pole and around thru Russia than it is to fly straight across the Pacific. The North Pole looks like a whole lot of ice, but then what did I expect? Tim Allen?

There were free movies on this flight on your own personal monitor and you could pick which one you wanted to watch within their selection. I watched two. The first was Bedtime Stories, which was typical mindless drivel that comes out of Hollywood but was good for a few laughs. The second was Valkyrie, which was the last assassination attempt against Hitler. I enjoyed this one a lot more. I also am reading Jeff Sharra’s novel “Gone for Soldiers” about the Mexican-American war.

We finally touched down around 1:30 China time. We cleared customs and found our driver no problem.

The first thing you notice when you leave the airport are the fields. There are buildings that are between three and five stories tall that people presumably live in and have their field right outside. This runs on for almost the whole two-hour drive from Shanghai to Hangzhou (which we found out is pronounced hong-JOE).

Traffic is crazy here. It seems as if the majority of vehicles fall into one of three classes: the big dump/delivery trucks, the vans, and the motorcycles. A lot of the motorcycles have been converted into three wheel rickshaws and they zip right along in them.

We got to our hotel around 5 pm local time and are now all set up and waiting to meet our case worker who called and said she’d come by.

Thanks for all your prayers!

Posted from Hangzhou on 4/7/09 at 6:49 PM China time

Here we go!

It is with hearts full of gratitude that we head on our journey to China. We are astounded by God's goodness. He has used SO many people to bring this about. We are truly humbled by the outpouring of love, support, and prayers given to us by hundreds of people. It is because of God using you that this is possible.

In a few short hours we will drive to the Austin airport. We have to be there at 4 am tomorrow morning. From there, we will take a short flight to Chicago. At Chicago we will depart for Shanghai which is a 14 hour flight. Then we will take a car ride to Hangzhou which is about 2 to 3 hours south of there. We are arriving a few days early. The first few days we will spend relaxing at a hotel. Then on the 9th we will move into our room at the hospital, which will be our home for almost a month.

We appreciate your continued prayers for our journey and especially for Sierra.

We will update the blog as soon as we are able.

Prayer Request and News

Please pray for Sierra. She is acting like she is getting sick. She is grumpy, spitting up, and feels a bit warm. Please pray that God would restore her health and that this sickness would not prevent us from going to China on Monday.

In other news, the news station did another story on Sierra last night. Here is the link. www.tinyurl.com/sierrasstory