Terri's travels

My travel experiences around this pretty blue planet

Mar 19

Bye Beijing :(

by terrimuendel

The New Hope team are such hospitable people. As soon as they heard that we had a day to fill in in Beijing between getting back from Xi’An on the train and catching our plane to Singapore at 3am the next morning, they wouldn’t hear of us doing anything else but going back to the home. They had a driver pick us up so we could go to the house and have showers and get cleaned up. It was like coming home. Everyone was so happy to see us again including the babies.

Chelsea had organised to go out to Lang Fang to the boys home where Tian Hu had been taken so I could see him one more time before I went home. She goes out every week to visit the boys. She’s such a sweet heart and loves those children with her whole heart.

We walked in and he seems different…. he seems sad…. he’s lost his sparkle… Chelsea, Rachel, Will and I played and tickled and cuddled with him and the other children for an hour or so before we had to go. I bent down, gave him a kiss, said bye as his little face crumpled and he burst into tears…. :( Too much…… I had to turn and leave the room and leave that precious boy….. The director followed us outside, she could see we were upset. She let us know that his adoption papers are all drawn up and he’s ready to be matched. There are 4 families looking at his profile and considering adopting him. Please pray for my little friend, that the right family will be matched with him and that he will be loved and cared for the way his precious heart deserves…. Don’t just pray for him either… pray for the millions of children around the world living outside their home with no family to care for them. Every child deserves to have someone who is crazy about them…

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Mar 19

Last Day in Xi’An

by terrimuendel

Monday started with a prayer meeting with the Chinese staff of Agape, group of very sweet Chinese girls. They sang a few songs, read a devotional and a Bible reading then I introduced myself and told them what I needed prayer for. They shared their needs and we prayed for each other. What a privilege.

Then began “Laura’s Great Starbucks Hunt”. We were sure we had seen a Starbucks at some point on the number 30 bus route so we hopped on and drove around the city for an hour or more but never found it. We did find other very cool things though. A beautiful park where some temple ruins were and Xi’An’s famous Pagoda and fountains. What a brilliant accidental find!

We eventually found a coffee. (People don’t go to China to drink Coffee Laura… :)

   

Oh forgot to mention the day before when we went to the markets. It was so very cool! We bought some of the local food and had a great time wandering through. There were all sorts of things being sold from pineapple on a stick, BBQ, clothes, shoes, turtles, goldfish, jewellery, all sorts of things.

 

We decided to take a cab to the train station where all 4,000 people standing around had their eyes on us. It was the first time we had felt so uncomfortable. We decided to go and hide in Maccas. We ran into a 6’5″ angel with an american accent who took us through the crowds to where we could find our train. The second he joined us, people stopped staring, it was almost like we became invisible. Then we found a lovely Chinese couple who showed us where to get on our train. Once we found our carriage and cabin we ended up sharing with 2 lovely Chinese guys who totally looked after us. They were so sweet. We couldn’t really communicate so we got out the iPad and played Cut The Rope with them for an hour. It was hilarious! So much fun. Terrible nights sleep on the rattliest, squeakiest train ever all the way back to Beijing…. It’s almost over…

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Mar 12

Doves Wings

by terrimuendel
Ch*rch this morning with a house ch*rch of about 20 people in the home of Susie and Dave Bickford. Then out to lunch with a few people including an hilarious Australian woman named Robyn. She cracked us up. I LOVE the Australian sense of humour. She’s the one in the middle with her arms around the little boy.
 
 
 
Afterward we went back to Dave and Susie’s (Back row on the left) so I could pick Susie’s brain. What awesome people! Dave is teaching English at a Chinese Uni and Susie works with the ELA Child care program. She is also full time foster carer for a very charming 13 year old Chinese boy named John. Susie speaks fluent Chinese. They have lived here for 16 years. She’s brilliant and so passionate about adoption and foster care. She has a wealth of information about it. She really encouraged me in a few areas I hadn’t thought of yet. What a blessing they were to me.
 
John is a sweet heart. He has Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida and a few reading writing learning difficulties. But he is such a great kid. He flips from Chinese to English like it’s nothing and has such a great sense of humour. We became great friends.
 
 
 
From their house we went to Doves Wings which is a foster home for about 5 children while they wait to be matched with a family. Such little cuties and the Ai’i were so lovely to us. Laura was a huge hit with two little girls that look like twins (they’re not).
 
Susie and Dave have been doing some respite foster care on some weekends for another little boy there who has exactly the same conditions that John has and when I look at her with him it’s like looking at a Mother with her baby. G*d has knitted her heart to that little one and the interesting thing is that Luke and John look so alike. It’s uncanny. Such a lovely family. G*d bless them in their work and service.
 
 
We laugh all the time here. We totally crack each other up which is so fun! My favourite quote of the day yesterday was “Terri! Don’t laugh in the police station!” LOL. No we weren’t being arrested, we had to go to register that we were in town. Our poor guide doesn’t know what to think of us. He thinks we’re too happy! We are feeling so incredibly bl*ssed here. G*d has His hand on us every day. We feel Him going before us and beside us. We have made such lovely friends and some amazing contacts. Totally bl*ssed. The only reason we want to go home is to see our families, otherwise we’d be staying longer but my Mummas heart is missing my babies and I know they’re missing me. One more day in Xi’An then one in Beijing, one in Singapore then 2 in Melbourne then HOME! We’re calling it “Terri and Laura’s Epic Journey home”. Please pr*y that we will be able to sleep on the trains and planes. Our noses are pointed towards home now.

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Mar 12

The Terra-Cottas

by terrimuendel
BEST DAY EVER!!! Today we decided to brave the public transport system on our own and go to see the Terracotta Army. We had to catch a bus from our apartment to the Railway station then get onto another bus out to the Terra-Cottas. It was a 2 hour ride and was great. It cost a grand total of $2 for the two hours! We made it out there in one piece, grabbed some lunch (KFC) and found ourselves a guide. Well… she found us really. She was again so great. We’ve loved using the local guides. She got us half price student tickets and did such a great job explaining everything. She took us to a great tea house (Where neither of us drank tea, best hot chocolate ever!)
 
 
 
The Terra-Cottas are spectacular!!! It was everything I dreamed it would be. This was on my bucket list! I had so many “pinch me” moments throughout the day. The detail on the warriors and horses is astounding. It’s incredible to stand and look at something that is over 2000 years old.
 
 
 
 
 
 
This is what they all look like before they go to Warrior hospital and get put back together. It’s like a giant jigsaw puzzle! It can take longer than 6 months to put together one warrior and there are over 7000 of them. They have anywhere between 30-50 archeologists working here at any one time. They know that there are still thousands to uncover but when these ones were uncovered, they deteriorated rapidly so they are waiting for better preserving technology to be invented before they open up the next pits. It’s a fascinating place.
 
 
This is the local farmer that discovered them. He was digging a well in 1974 when he found some fragments. He got in touch with the government to tell them and the whole village was moved further over so the site could be excavated. He’s been given the job of signing postcards and having his photo taken with tourists. How fun! The photo on the right of his desk is him with Bill Clinton. The funny thing was, another farmer found terracotta fragments a few years before but thought the face was the face of a monster and therefore bad luck so he re-buried it and never told anyone!
 
 
 
Tonight we went for a walk out on the street after dinner. I’m LOVING the food. Chinese food every day! YUM!!! It’s all so good. China is much prettier at night than in the day. It looks like a completely different city. Best day yet!

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Mar 10

What new money can do :)

by terrimuendel
We are spending a lot of time driving. Xi’An is such an enormous place and all of the ministry bases here are spread right across the city. Today we were taken to two State run children’s homes. Within those homes are two programs that we were able to visit. We weren’t allowed to go into the rest of the facility, just to the sections run by Agape. We could however see the buildings and we were very impressed at them. We were actually very surprised at how nice they were. The first one we went to is called “Hepsibah” (God bless whoever thought of using THAT name!). Hepsibah is a Special Education unit for school aged children with disabilities. They have two different types of class: One is where a teacher will have 2 children that they work with and the other is a group of 10 kids with 3 teachers. We were so impressed with these beautiful girls who were teaching. They are all Chr*stians and are all Special Ed trained. They’re doing a wonderful job. The building they are in was only opened in June 2011.
 
 
 
Over the last 10 years, the Chinese Govt have really done an amazing job of improving the economy. Now that they are the number 1 economy in the world (Although still very obviously a developing country) they are beginning to focus more on  the welfare side of their people. Huge injections of funding are going into orphan care and foster programs. What is crazy is that for a Chinese person to adopt it costs almost the same as it would cost an Australian family and with the average Chinese person earning in a month what an Australian might earn in a day, this is almost impossible.
 
What the new funding is doing is improving facilities. The places we went to yesterday were very nice. One place looked like a big pink brick castle. The improvements though are really only happening in the cities. The rural facilites are still quite dire.
 
 
 
The second place we went to was called Hope Haven. It’s basically an Agape children’s wing within a state run facility. It has about 30 children in it’s two rooms. We had to wait until 2pm when the babies woke up then were able to go in as they were stirring in their cots. They are so sweet. None of them woke up crying, just wide eyed at these giant, fair strangers standing over them. We had a lovely time visiting with them. It’s funny the things that get to you here. As I was sitting on the floor playing with 3 8 month old cleft babies I heard one of the Ai’i singing “J*sus loves me” in Chinese to one of the babies. I was taking deep breaths trying to hold back the tears. A beautiful moment.  (We were allowed to take photos of the kids but we’re not allowed to put them on the website)
 
The next room had older kids in it. They were 2-6 years old with a range of disabilities. One little girl was born with one eye. She still has the slit where her eye should be but there’s just no eye in there. She was hilarious though. You can tell already though that they have developmental issues from being raised in a facility. Studies show that for every month that a child lives in an institution their IQ decreases.
 
Everywhere we have gone, I have asked people, both Chinese and Foreign, what their thoughts are about Intercountry Adoption. Without exception, they have all said they feel very positively about it. The only person that said he has positive and negative thoughts was our guide. He said that he feels very glad that the children adopted internationally are going to be healthy and get a good education and be loved but he’s sad that Chinese people aren’t interested in doing it….

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Mar 10

These are a few of the grossest things.

by terrimuendel
Chinese culture is very different to Australian culture. They have this whole other way of dealing with the things that are supposed to leave your body.
 
The third grossest thing is what we like to called “Hocking up Lugies”. Anywhere, anytime you will hear people (men and women) snorting back then hocking it up. That’s the moment when you just pray it doesn’t fly in your direction.
 
The second grossest thing is what we call “Digging for treasures”. Yesterday we were in a conversation with a man and as he was talking to us he just jammed his finger fair up his nose and had a good dig around, pulled it out, had a look and proceeded to roll it up between his fingers. I think he was saving it…
 
The winner…. yes, there is something worse, is called “Protecting the Plumbing”. China’s plumbing and sewer systems are not the best in the world so they can’t handle anything but natural waste. This means that next to every toilet, you will find a bin without a lid, and no matter what you’ve done, your toilet paper has to go in that bin…… It ain’t pretty and the smell is no better.
 
These are a few of the grossest things…..

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Mar 10

Xi’An and ELA

by terrimuendel
The fast train is COOL!!! It’s really lovely and clean and we got up to speeds of 295kmph. It was great to see China’s countryside. It seems that not a square inch of the place is bare. If there is a paddock, they’ll plant something in it. If there’s a mountain or a hill, they’ll cut terraces into it and plant something on it. This photo is about the best we could do out a train window at nearly 300 kph. On the left you can see the rural housing and on the right you can see the terraced hill with crops growing on them. The housing and living conditions are so poor in the rural areas. It’s so different to the city.
 
 
 
We arrived in Xi’An (Pronounced (She-Ann) around 11:40am and were met by our translator and a driver. He explained that he would be taking us out to visit a social welfare centre called Tai Yi Gong. We had to drive for at least an hour to get right over the other side of town…. well… when I say town, I mean a city of 8.1 Million people!!! We went to the centre where a group called Agape have a room where they care for and help to train some of the kids that have come from the Children’s Welfare Institute. This was very very confronting and Laura and I left feeling a LOT shell shocked. After the age of 12, children in this province and in much of China can no longer be adopted, they must stay, however at the Children’s Welfare Institute (CWI) until they are 14 years old. From there they are moved over to the Social Welfare Centre. The one we went to was a 2 storey building that was built in the shape of a “U” so that all of the front verandahs faced each other. In the middle was a court yard. We were allowed to take photos here but had to promise not to put any of them onto any websites. The 14 year olds that are sent here have to live with 40, 50, 60, 70 year olds. The place is ruled by two gangs and is not a nice place to live by any stretch of the imagination. Agape have a room downstairs where they take some of the younger kids for 5 hours a day 4 days a week and teach them how to make greeting cards and some very basic sewing skills. They then try to sell the cards to make some money to support their work. They were so shy around us but loved having their photos taken while they worked. The guy that runs this program is named Deron. He’s Chinese and a big gentle giant. He’s the tallest Chinese person we’ve seen and at 6’2” he’s the same height as Laura. He was so lovely and is great with the kids.
 
After we chatted with them for a while (and bought stacks of cards), they asked us if we wanted to go upstairs and visit a boy who Agape has brought here to be cared for. We said sure but didn’t know what we were getting ourselves in for. We walked up to the second storey and were taken into a room with 2 beds in it. One was made and the other looked like it had blankets thrown all over it. They guided us over and in all the blankets we found an 18 year old, bedridden boy who had his faeces covered hand tied to the bed rail. He has hydracephalus and I’m pretty sure he has severe Cerebral Palsy too. The stench in the room was awful. I went over to say Hello to him and as soon as he saw my face he broke into a big smile and blew a raspberry at me. He had been abandonded as a baby and was in a CWI until he aged out then was being fostered by a family in the community, they found he was too hard to care for and asked the State to take him back so he has ended up at Tai Yi Gong. It’s a tragic story but one that happens so often here.
 
We were gutted and wondered what we had got ourselves into. The drive back to the guest flat where we were staying was a very long one and very quiet. We’ve been so spoilt staying at the New Hope places, we hadn’t seen the ugly side of this issue. This is what happens to children who aren’t adopted…. The babies are cute and we would love to see all of them put into families but what about the older kids? Who’s going to love them?
 
Tonight I went to a team meeting of the ELA guys. They’re a great bunch who love the Lord and really want to be a Godly influence here in Chinese Universities. They started off here as English teachers then branched out to working in Orphanages 10 years ago, then they started doing some health care work in the villages and placing HIV kids into foster homes. They’re a very small group of about 9 people but they commit what they do each day to the Lord and He is working. Paul (the CEO) walked me halfway home then I managed to find my way back to our apartment on the 30th floor and get in using the security code all by myself (Laura had decided to stay and rest in the apartment). It was great outside. It was good for me to get out and meet some people and see the town by night. I felt much better by the time I got back.

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Mar 10

Last day at Maria’s……:(

by terrimuendel
Preschool with Becca today meant taking the kids outside! YAY! It’s about 12 degrees outside so we bundled them all up in their little coats and took them on the playground. It’s really hard for her to do it when she’s on her own. There are 3 kids in wheelchairs which is too hard to manage. So we took them out out of their chairs and plonked them on the ground with bubble mixture and sidewalk chalk. They had a great time. A couple of them got on the trampoline and one of them (that we call “Scooter” cause he scoots around on his bum everywhere), wanted to be driven around everywhere on a little car then climb all over the playground equipment and get into EVERYTHING! It’s amazing how mobile he is without the use of his legs…. unfortunately he had done serious number ones and number twos so his pants became a big stinky muddy mess! Oh well… not my problem to clean up. We were just happy to see him having so much fun exploring! I bet the Ai’I loved me!!!!
 
 
 
In the afternoon we had a coffee with the girls and found out that the CWI (Children Welfare Institute) Had just called to say that they had 3 sick babies to bring in so they would take 3 back with them. This is the tough stuff…. They had about an hour to say their goodbyes before the CWI staff came to take them back to the Orphanage. Maria’s and New Hope’s mission is to help sick, treatable or palliative babies. Once they’re well again, room needs to be made for more babies to get treatment. They’d love to keep all of them until they can get adopted but they wouldn’t be able to help as many.
 
They said their goodbyes….
 
 
 
I spent some time with some bubbas this afternoon. They’re the sweetest little things and will bring so much joy if they can be adopted. Aunty Wendy….. This photo was for you.     What a cutie patootie hey? She’s the happiest little thing in the nursery! Gorgeous! I reckon when Downs kids are growing in the womb, God says “Well if they have to go without some things, lets give them the most loving affectionate natures of any beings on the planet.”
 
 
 
This little guy has only half of his fingers and toes and half of his right foot missing but he crawls so fast and he’s the friendliest little guy in the room! Loved him!
 
After that, we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening making and eating lasagne with the team. We don’t feel ready to leave here yet either. We’ve grown to love these guys so quickly. Pray for them as they do their work with so much grace, love and sensitivity.
 
 
 
I’m so happy to have Laura here with me. I’m so glad that God picked my travel buddy for me. We get along so well and are having so much fun together. She’s great company. We’re off to Xi’An on the fast train in the morning. I wonder what God will have in store for us there….

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Mar 7

Maria’s Big House Of Hope

by terrimuendel
Maria’s is a pretty amazing place. The team here are so efficient and caring. The children really do have the best care. Mariah is a nurse here who will be transporting a baby to LA on a plane on Sunday. This little guy has almost died so many times already that they are determined to save his life. His lungs are in such bad condition though that they are not sure they will survive the pressure at 35,000 feet in the air. So before she leaves they are trying to put their heads together to come up with a plan of what to do if his lungs collapse while they are in the air. You’re not allowed to take any sharp instruments like knives or scalpels on planes…. They have to be really creative here sometimes.
Maria’s is located right between a gaol and a psychiatric hospital. They are really close. This is the view from our window of the gaol. It’s the big white building with the barbed wire wall around it. The on the other side is the salmon coloured Psych hospital, right next to the MBHOH playground. All of Luo Yangs unwanted on one block…. Criminals, Mental patients and Orphans….
 
 
Today we sat in on Rebecca’s two preschool classes. She does such a beautiful job of teaching and loving these littlies.  In her second class she has a little girl who is so cute but has congenital heart defects that were left too long before she was given treatment. So much damage has been done that she is now considered terminal, nothing else can be done for her. She sits on Becca’s lap right through class and Becca is totally fine with that…. The little blonde children all belong to the doctor and his wife. Steve and Laura Martin moved over here in September with their 6 children all under the age of 8! Amazing!
 
 
This afternoon, Mikey asked us if we were keen to go strawberry picking. Ummmmm… let us think about that YES!!!!! So a bunch of us piled into the van and we found a farm that has hot houses totally dedicated to growing strawberries! There were about 10 of them. So we took our trays and filled them up with the sweetest strawberries. I think we ended up with about 2 kilos of them. Even if they weren’t completely ripe yet, they were still so sweet. Very cool experience. It was interesting to watch the man roll out the hay covers on the hot houses so they wouldn’t be ruined by frost over night.
 
Then we had to deal with some crazy driving from Mikey as he took us to yet another awesome Chinese restaurant for dinner. DELICIOUS! I knew I loved Chinese food for a reason!

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Mar 7

Time to Leave Beijing……… :(

by terrimuendel
 
Oh my goodness… I didn’t realise how hard this was going to be….
 
We had church this morning. A great message about How God blesses faith inspired ideas. Based on the story of Jonathon and his armour bearer defeating the Philistines. Then out to lunch with the New Hope team. What a great family these guys are.
 
Then this afternoon it was time to pack up our gear to catch our train to Luoyang. I spent some time down with the babies, giving them lots of kisses and cuddles. Especially the one with the Chubbiest cheeks in China who kept putting his enormous cheeks against my lips so I could plants dozens of kisses on them! So cute!
 
 
 
I went back to the apartment and every time I walked into the room Carole would look at me and ask if I was alright. I was trying to go into “shut down” mode so that I didn’t have to deal with the grief of leaving the babies but she kept bringing me back! Then Rachel brought in a little gift that her and Chelsea had made. It was a little ladybug like the ones we had made with the kids for craft but they had written a beautiful note on the back and put a photo of Tian Hu on there…… That was it for me… Ugly cry time…..
 
So it was goodbye to Carole too until I get to see her for 2 days in Melbourne on my way home. We’re so excited that God seems to be putting us back together for some reason. We hadn’t seen each other for 13 years until 2 years ago and this year it will be 4 times in 3 years! She is an inspiring friend who I love dearly.
 
 
 
So off to the Beijing train station! It’s HUGE and by far the most adventurous things we’ve done so far. We made our way onto the right train and carriage (Wrong beds but that was soon sorted out!). The tickets we got were for the “Hard Sleeper” carriage which is an open carriage with triple bunks. One guy who was in our section snored most of the night and kept us awake. But we’ve arrived in Luoyang safely and had Mike Shook meet us at the station to bring us to Maria’s Big House of Hope.
 
Image Detail
 
Maria’s is a 6 story Bright blue building in Luoyang that can house 160 children. They have children aged from Premmie babies through to 6 year olds. Their policy is that they will take in any children who are either dying or have operable/treatable conditions. Most of the children who are dying are here with malnutrition. Many still die but many receive the care and nutrition that they need here and then are able to go back to the main orph*nage. When Joyce Hill first asked for the dying babies, the orph*nage director thought she wanted to do experiments on them but when she explained that she just wanted them to be able to die with dignity and love surrounding them he agreed. This place is beautiful and not at all like Chinese orph*nages. It’s spotlessly clean and happy and peaceful. So very similar to New Hope. This is the orph*nage that Steven and Mary Beth Chapman fund. It was named after their adopted special needs daughter Maria who was accidently killed by a car just a few years ago. I feel totally privileged to be here.
 

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