Departing Soon for Belgium

All four of us, John, JieJie, MeiMei and I, are looking forward to three weeks away.

John is looking forward to walking around Antwerp, seeing things we walked past so many times in 2007 but never actually went into, like the giant guild halls on the Grote Markt. He reminded me also that we'll be in town the last week of the month of June, and museums are free the last Wednesday or Friday of the month (I can't remember which).

JieJie is excited about flying on a plane again. She seems to have caught the travel bug, and no doubt will be disappointed that our trip to Germany will be by car, not by train, because she loves trains (truth be told, she loves the snack cart best, and it is pretty cool). I asked her what she is looking forward to tasting again, and she said "dark chocolate!"

MeiMei is looking forward to her 5th birthday. She couldn't decide whether she wanted a cat party or a K3 party. It just so happens that K3's latest movie is "K3 en de Kattenprins" (K3 and the prince of cats) so perhaps we can combine the two. We wonder how much she will remember about Antwerp, since she was only 3 when she was there last. We have no doubt that her older sister will fill her in...JieJie no doubt remembers exactly how to get to Bart Smit, the big toy store!

And me? I'm looking forward to the way a trip unfolds, moment by moment. Seeing friends. Tasting delicious food. Taking ourselves out of context and remembering what is essential about ourselves, as individuals and in relationship with one another. A break from work, a chance to see the election news from a different perspective, cooler weather (70's/50's instead of 90's/70's), good coffee, great chocolate, inspiring surroundings. Taking walks. Going to parks with the girls. Seeing Bruce Springsteen live for the first time...wow! Seeing the Rhine and Mosel River valleys for the first time...whoa.

We will arrive the morning of our wedding anniversary. I think of our marriage, in many ways, as a series of memorable trips, of sightseeing together, of getting away together and coming back enriched. We went to Europe for the first time (individually and as a couple) before we even got married. We celebrated our engagement with a spontaneous trip, a long weekend in Chicago. We took a 3-week honeymoon in Mackinac Island, Michigan and northern Minnesota. We spent our first anniversary in Florence, Italy escorting a study abroad group from JMU. We became parents by traveling, twice, to Chongqing, China. We commemorate those adoptions by traveling with the H family. When we are home, our conversation often drifts to memories of past trips--Banff; Quebec City; Carmel/Monterey; Montana; Florida; Alabama; Accra, Ghana; St. Louis; Hannibal; Charleston Lake Ontario; Maine--and dreams of trips yet to be taken.

As for the girls, there is a sense in which "teaching them to travel" (a concept I learned from my Dutch friend M, who really made me see that we do indeed learn to travel) is very intentional. It's not just that WE want to go, though of course we do, it's that we know our daughters may someday want to go to China, to Chongqing, to see, hear, feel, touch and taste the culture they were born into. How sad it would be for them to be afraid of the traveling itself, and have that be an obstacle to such an important journey. When we think back on our first trip overseas, it was so overwhelming just to encounter the new languages, food, ways of doing things, the jet lag...I remember feeling one step removed from where we actually were, and I committed some faux pas that I regret. Still, the more we've traveled, the more we look forward to the slight jarring at the beginning of a trip, the signal that this is a time apart.

We saw parents on both of our adoption trips who seemed to think of China as though it were the moon. They had mental spacesuits on, trying to keep their American-ness wrapped around themselves for protection. They barely strayed outside the hotel. They ran to the bus, peered out the windows at China. They said things like "I just want to go home...I wish we could go right now" with a week to go. Yes, I understand, of course I understand...it's precisely why I don't think China should be the girls' first trip overseas. They need a chance to separate the shock of travel from the inevitable oddness of encountering Fuling or Liangping for the first time.

So this is for us, it's for them, and let's face it, it's for the pure joy of it. Flight attendants, prepare the cabin for departure.

China Relief Shipment

Well, after about a month of collecting relief supplies to send to orphanages in Sichuan, China, here's what we've gotten together:

• *update* a box of syringes, gauze, surgical masks and gloves just arrived, donated by another adoptive family, who requested supplies from their doctor's office--great!!
  
• 500 doses of CeraLyte electrolyte rehydration solution, 20% of it donated by a fantastic company called Cera Products, based in Maryland. They wanted to donate more but had already sent thousands of doses to Myanmar. If you are ever looking for powdered rehydration solution, this was the only one I could find in this hemisphere. You can buy it from them online at www.ceraproductsinc.com
• 4 cases of Poly-Vi-Sol infant vitamins, donated by Mead Johnson.
• antibiotics for diarrhea, which can quickly become dangerous in babies and young children
  
• antibiotics for garden-variety infections, everything from an infected cut to a respiratory infection
• a few small toys and other items tucked in around the edges

Thanks to the individuals and corporations who helped assemble one hundred pounds of medical relief, and thanks to Muhlenberg Lutheran Church of Harrisonburg, VA for donating funds and getting behind this effort. Make no mistake, the need is still great, and the ongoing need to support Half the Sky Foundation's many worthy programs will exist as long as there are orphanages in China. I urge you to visit www.halfthesky.org and see which of their programs you might be able to support.

Busy week ahead - the next post will likely be from Antwerp. Cool!

LG

Good Thing We Booked Early!

I just checked airfare.com to see what our plane tickets would cost if we booked them today. Of course my worst fear is that I'm going to see a lower price than we paid, but with fuel surcharges going up and up, and travel dates getting closer, no need to fear. If we booked today, we wouldn't be able to find a direct flight. We'd have to connect through Frankfurt. And if we booked today, we would be paying $100/ticket more in fuel surcharges. In fact, when you look at the fare vs. taxes/surcharges, it's a 2-to-1 ratio now.

The euro continues to stay below the 1.60/1 ratio, at around 1.56/1. For those of you who followed our travels in Jan-May 2007 with our university students, don't look for as many restaurant reviews...it's on our dime this time! Still, our friends S & I just found a place we'll have to try. Upstairs from the dining room, there's a supervised play area with games and activities for kids. S & I said THEY were the ones saying "come on, it's time to go" to their girls...at 10pm!!! We are so excited to see our friends again...S & I, Mr. K and his wife Dr. vanH, and the parents we met through the girls' school. I'm actually bringing JieJie's teacher an iPhone. She asked me to bring it because they're over twice as much in European stores, and she wants to give it to her husband as a surprise. For us, it's a kind of fee-less currency exchange. This teacher also invited us to visit her town, Lier, which looked really sweet when we passed through it once on the train.

Between now and departure day, the usual to-do list awaits...stop the paper, hold the mail, brief the house sitter, "eat down the pantry" as we say, get the neighbor boy to mow, and involve the girls in packing. I don't know whether we'll bring the LeapPads for such a short trip, though they were really great to have last time. I'm reluctant to cross the line from LeapPad to LeapSter (more of a hand-held video game) though they are so much more portable...I dunno.

One note I want to write myself from this side of the ocean, and this side of the trip: don't forget to bring home a BIG box of chocolates from Chateau Blanc, and don't forget to get the bicycle panniers from Apotheek/Kitsch Kitchen. Exchange rate be damned...they're too cool.

LG

Countdown to Belgium!

We are so close to departing for Belgium I can taste it (the chocolate, that is). MeiMei finishes preschool Friday, JieJie wraps up a great kindergarten year next Thursday, and not long after that, we're off to Antwerpen and three weeks of invigorating travel. The house sitter is lined up, the reservations are awaiting confirmation, I'm finishing the freelance work I've committed to, John is enjoying the last few weeks before his responsibilities at the university accelerate, and right now my folks and aunt are visiting and doing LOTS of helping with odd jobs. A thank-you dinner is definitely in order.

Donations for China continue to arrive. I'll let you know the final tally of what we're sending sometime next week. If you want to keep up with the latest news from the organization we're sending supplies to, go to Half the Sky Foundation's earthquake updates in HTS Journal. While you're there, why not make a donation? :)

LG

Bumper Stickers

I saw my new favorite bumper sticker today (it was "when Jesus said 'love your enemies' I think he meant DON'T KILL THEM"). On an old beater of a car, I saw

Come over to the dark side
We have cookies

LG

Fundraiser Success

Tonight was the pancake supper at our church to raise money to buy antibiotics to send to Half the Sky Foundation. I'm happy to report that we raised $500+!!!!! More thanks are in order, too: Thanks Cera Products for donating a case of CeraLyte powdered electrolyte solution (treats diarrhea-related dehydration). And this was their way of saying "sorry, we can't really give you anything." I should say that their product is the only powdered rehydration solution I could find in the U.S. because Pedialyte no longer comes in powder form, and Kaolectrolyte's factory is not producing it right now as they were purchased by another company. As you can tell, I've learned a lot about the pharmaceutical industry in the last couple of weeks. If you're in New Zealand, you can get something called Gastrolyte, but otherwise you're looking at Gatorade, baby.

Donations should start arriving day by day as we fill up the suitcase bound for Chengdu. Even our Congressman, Bob Goodlatte, supports our efforts - his office offered to call TSA and give a heads-up to the Dulles Airport TSA luggage screening manager so nobody gives our courier the business when he checks the bag. Nice to have everybody on board.

Except the guy at the pancake supper who cornered our pastor to ask a theological question that began, "Now, China is technically a Godless country, right? So how do you explain..." I didn't hear the rest because I just really didn't want anything to dim my happiness about the many good people who are so eager to help. And the theologian probably gave a donation anyway, so there is hope for his soul after all :)

LG

7,000 hits and 5 continents!

Every time we hit another 1,000 hits, you get a multimedia treat. Today's is grainy YouTube video of JieJie, MeiMei and a group of adorable little ones doing their first ribbon dance as part of JMU Chinese Student Association's culture show last semester. Just click on the title of this post to go to the video. (And then come back!)

According to the map, we just need someone from Africa to happen upon this travel blog, and we will have readers on all populated continents! (Anyone know someone in Antarctica you can send a link to? That would be too cool.)

Three weeks from now we'll be in Europe, so check in again soon for posts from Belgium, the Rhine and Moselle Valleys, and The Netherlands.

Collection of donations for Chengdu is progressing smoothly. We'll see what comes in the mail today. Our church is having a pancake supper Wednesday and taking a freewill offering for Half the Sky Foundation. Let's hope people are generous--aftershocks continue.

LG

Crystal Ball, Anyone?

Just checked the exchange rate as we look forward to our departure in mid-June...not lookin' good.

100 x 100

In China, you'll often hear people speaking of symbolic numbers. We knew a Chinese student whose phone number had too many 4's in it. The word for 4 in Chinese sounds like the word for death. This student's mother said she should get her phone number changed...too much "si"...too much death.

The Olympics are starting on 8.8.08, and 8 is an auspicious number, usually. 8.8 is also Father's day in China because 8 is pronounced "ba" and the word for Father is ba-ba (but the character is a different "ba"). Some people say that the fact that the earthquake happened on 5.12 (5+1+2=8) is a bad omen for the Olympics.

In the adoption community, there's an activity people often do while they are waiting, which is to make a "100 good wishes quilt" by trading quilt squares across the country with their "DTC group" (DTC stands for Dossier-To-China, the day they sent their application to the China Center for Adoption Affairs).

So what I am hoping, when I hear from people who still want to send donations toward my little 100 pound mini-shipment of relief, is that they might take the amount they have and build it up to their own 50 or 100 pounds of help, and that through the internet we can find people to hand-carry these donations to China, a little at a time, in checked luggage. There's a whole egroup dedicated to Carry On Only adoption travel...think of all the 100 pound allotments there are! If each person traveling to China carry-on-only could bring a suitcase of formula, medicine, blankets, a tent, anything, that would add up.

Why not set a goal of 100 people x 100 pounds each over the next 100 days and see what a difference we can make?

I'll let you know if it catches on.

LG
our next trip begins in a little over 3 weeks!

Progress

Thanks to Mead Johnson Corporation for a promise to donate baby vitamins.

Thanks to CVS for saying "no" by giving us $100 store credit as a consolation donation.

Thanks to B at church for saying she couldn't attend the dinner next week, and then pressing a $20 bill into my hands.

Still waiting to hear back from the pharmacist at the hospital, and from a source of powdered kaolectrolyte (like Pedialyte)...I want to buy in bulk, not pay $5.95 for four packets!

LG

100 Pounds of Help

People are helping already. Here's where we stand thus far:

June 10: deadline for collecting 100 pounds of medicine for orphaned children in the earthquake-affected area.

Our church is doing two very important things:

1. giving a monetary donation from the social ministry fund
2. donating the proceeds from next Wednesday night's community meal
   

We have invited our area's Chinese community as well as the families who have adopted internationally to attend the dinner, hoping to increase the donated amount.

I was turned down by a local pediatric clinic because they no longer get samples of antibiotics, BUT (and this is the key...I don' t mind "no" if it's "no, but...") one doctor who has solicited donations for relief work in Honduras advised me that we can buy antibiotics at cost from the pharmacy at our area hospital if we get approval from the pharmacy manager. I will go see her tomorrow.

I also asked Costco for a store card to use for buying over-the-counter children's meds...awaiting response. CVS has a highly bureaucratic process that is not suitable for a short-term emergency appeal. National chain stores are NOT very nimble at a time like this! In contrast, Kate's Natural Foods may donate baby multivitamin drops, and I'll go to Sue's Supernutrition tomorrow as well. Both are small, locally-owned health food stores, so I may have better luck. MeiMei's orphanage had access to liquid baby vitamins to add to rice porridge, and we can attest to the difference it made in her health.

And the big unknown...I put messages up at several adoption-related e-groups I belong to. Who knows? I may have more than 100 pounds' worth of donations coming in the mail over the next week, though I doubt it if people run into the same problem I've encountered today.

Priority order for the 100 pounds:
1. prescription antibiotics
2. over the counter children's meds
3. filler like cotton balls, latex gloves, gauze/band-aids

Any money left over after we fill the luggage will be donated to Half the Sky Foundation through Global Giving.

Cross your fingers - I'll keep you posted on the progress of this mini relief effort. It is such a blessing to be able to do something other than sigh at the television! If you feel moved to action, I again encourage you to send funds to Half the Sky through Global Giving. Tell a friend you're giving...maybe you'll inspire them too.

LG

Giving to China

It suddenly dawned on me today that I know people heading for China in the next several weeks! Half The Sky Foundation published a list today of medicines that are sorely needed in orphanages in the Chengdu area, especially children's antibiotics and antidiarrheal/rehydration medicines like Pedialyte.

I called my friend P to see if he would be willing to hand-carry items to Chengdu, and he said he can take up to 50 pounds. He is also asking the students who are heading to China with him if they would be willing to take items as well. To think we could be of help, any help at all...I'll be calling doctors' offices tomorrow to see whether they can give any samples, and I will also be making the rounds of places like Costco to see whether they might donate powdered Pedialyte, baby vitamins, anything.

Did you know there have been thousands of aftershocks from this earthquake, some very severe? Apparently the Chengdu orphanage is making plans to evacuate because their building was fine but as things continue to shake, they just don't want to take any chances. They will be moving into tents. Tents. Can you imagine trying to care for dozens of babies and toddlers in a tent city? The people who make it their life's work to care for these children deserve any help we can give.

If you have any connections to sources of children's antibiotics (powdered is best--it can be reconstituted overseas) can you please post a comment and let me know? We've got until mid-June to get this box together, and maybe if the students are willing to make room in their luggage, we can help. They are simply out of these medicines in Chengdu at this point.

Thanks--I'll let you know how the medicine collection goes. In the meantime, I encourage you to visit www.halfthesky.org to keep up with what's going on in China and to support their efforts. They are on the ground in China, ensuring that the money will be used where it is truly needed.

LG

Watching the Euro

We continue to watch news from China and encourage readers to donate to Half the Sky Foundation's Earthquake Relief Fund.--LG

We're in that end-of-the-public-school-year busy time right now, with dance recitals, farewell picnics, and pool openings right around the corner. Much to do before we head to the airport in mid-June. Still, the planning phase is over. We know where we'll be on which days and we have even reserved our rental car for our little excursion to the Rhine Valley. We'll be picking up our little VW Golf (or similar model) at Europcar on Plantin en Morituslei in Antwerp, which is just a bit further past the girls' school.

What we are doing in the next month or so is watching the dollar-to-euro exchange rate. The worst it's been so far is $1.60/EUR 1.00. Right now it's 1.55/1. When we were in Antwerp in 2007, it was about 1.33/1 for most of that time. One of the choices we had when booking hostels and rental cars and looking at train tickets was whether to pre-pay or hold off. My friend P, who is a financial analyst in Manhattan, said hold off, since the Fed isn't going to lower interest rates any further so things should stabilize. Today's International Herald Tribune reported a slight spike in the euro because of oil prices.

Dare I hope that we could be looking at 1.50/1 a month from now? Please???

LG

Word from Liangping SWI

The Liangping parents' list just got an email directly from the orphanage. It sounds as though some kind of retaining wall or exterior wall in a courtyard collapsed, but the buildings themselves have only minor cracks in the walls. They are all thankful that the people are ok. A bit of good news in the midst of so much bad.

LG

More Liangping Photos

In case other Liangping parents or extended family are interested, there are more photos here
of the school in Liangping, and also of some of the children from Liangping. LG

Earthquakes Hit Close to Home

We are glued to the news about the earthquakes in China. JieJie is from Fuling, Chongqing, and MeiMei is from Liangping, Chongqing. Via e-lists of parents who have adopted from these two cities' orphanages, I was able to find out that both places suffered damage, Liangping worse than Fuling.

The Fuling Social Welfare Institute (Fuling SWI) is currently raising funds to finish building its new facility, and hasn't moved into the new building yet. Director Yang said that she is distressed by cracks in the walls of the new building, and that construction may now be delayed, who knows by how much. Still, the current facility is undamaged as far as anyone can tell, which is lucky, and there were no reports of injuries to the staff or residents there.

In Liangping, things aren't so sunny. We have learned that the Liangping SWI itself is intact, and there were no reports of injuries to the staff or residents (which include children and elderly people as well). Still, there have been fatalities, including children, in Liangping County, which is a very rural county of about 800,000 people. The picture above is of the primary school in Liangping, where four children lost their lives.

If you would like to donate funds to be used specifically for earthquake relief at other orphanages more seriously affected by this disaster, I recommend Half the Sky Foundation, run by an amazing fellow adoptive mom named Jenny Bowen and many dedicated volunteers. Those of us in the China adoption community are used to the word "orphan" being somewhat of a euphemism, a legalism for a child who was abandoned and whose parents cannot be or do not wish to be located (but are presumed alive). The sad fact is that there will be more orphans as a result of this earthquake, and the orphanages in the hardest-hit areas will need resources in the coming days and weeks in order to save lives.

JieJie and MeiMei know that there has been an earthquake and that buildings have fallen down, but we have tried to shield them from too much information while they are so little. We hope and pray that their birth families, wherever they are, came through this ok.

Hostels...check!

Just a little over a month til we depart for Antwerp, our favorite home away from home!

We have confirmed reservations at hostels in Cologne (Koln), Koblenz, and Trier. And we have learned not to wait til May to book a hostel for June. Let this be a lesson to you. This was a little more nip-and-tuck than I would have liked.

BTW, two sites were muy helpful in this quest: Booking.com showed rooms available at our Koblenz choice even when orbitz, hotwire, and expedia all said "no rooms available." And how did I search all of those different sites simultaneously? TripAdvisor.com was a fantastic resource.

Where are we staying, you ask? You'll be able to read reviews and see photos after we've been & gone. This is the Internet, after all.

We have also decided, after researching both rail and car rental options, that a car rental makes the most sense logistically and financially. I love train travel because we can really be with the girls and experience things with them in a way that cars don't allow (and because they have bathrooms on board!). JieJie says "I love trains because they come around with the snack cart!" but the difference in price was pretty staggering. We're going to rent through europcar.com, which was the same outfit we used last year to rent a car at the Costa del Sol.

Gosh...I think we're all set to go! Now we just need to pin down when/how we can see our friends in The Netherlands and that'll be it.

Here at Home: Natural Chimneys

We are so fortunate to live in an area which, for many city-dwellers, is a vacation destination. When we came back from Europe last May, we were stunned by how, well, ugly Harrisonburg is. If you stand in the parking lot behind our church and look northwest at the downtown, it's just such a mishmosh of scattershot attempts at historic preservation, agri-business utilitarian structures, and 60's/70's urban renewal crap, too many parking lots, and the huge satellite dishes on top of the TV3 building. Yuck. We have to remind ourselves that European cities are beautiful but unspoiled natural areas are almost unheard of. What we have here in Virginia are (comparably) un-inspiring cities but breathtaking scenic beauty once you hit the road.

Last Sunday we took JieJie and MeiMei to a popular spot in this area: Natural Chimneys, a lovely spot not far from Bridgewater, not to be confused with Natural Bridge in the Lexington area. Natural Chimneys gets its name from some chimney-shaped rock formations, which are surrounded by a beautiful open green area on three sides. In June and August, they hold JOUSTING championships here. Definitely something to put on the to-do list, though it may have to be next year, because this June we'll be on our big European Adventure and in August I'm too averse to getting eaten alive by mosquitoes to venture too far afield.

We know a lot of families who like to introduce kids to camping at Natural Chimneys, and I can see why. It's hardly the sort of place where your little one can accidentally get eaten by a bear or trip off a cliff. It's not all that wooded, so you can keep track of kids. There's a pool, playground, and 2.5 miles of trails for walking or learning to ride your bike. The girls were happy just running around, picking wildflowers and birdwatching. We were only gone for the afternoon, but it felt like a getaway. And it was beautiful. I'm hopeful that over time, the efforts of groups like Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance will help the city get rid of or camouflage what's ugly about this town, and build a city with its own kind of beauty. For now, when I can't stand the urban mishmosh any longer, I lift mine eyes unto the hills.

Hostel: Warsberger Hof in Trier

If you would like to read Warsberger Hof's website in English, try Google Translate.

I wanted to mention this privately owned and operated hostel (jugendgasthaus) in Trier, Germany. When I contacted the Trier hostel belonging to the Jugendherbergen / HI Hostels associations, they were booked solid, but suggested I contact Warsberger Hof.

I'll be sure to let you know how the place is after we've stayed there, but wanted to praise the proprietors of both places. The HI Hostel manager is to be commended for following his "sorry, no" with "but..." and the Warsberger Hof has been prompt in correspondence.

They're giving me a good feeling about the place already.

LG

OK, got it.

Here's the itinerary:

Antwerpen to Cologne (Koln), Germany's oldest city
Cologne to Koblenz, where the Rhine and Mosel Rivers come together
Koblenz to Trier, site of Roman ruins
Trier to Antwerpen

After many disappointments with hostels already being booked when we hoped to travel, it suddenly occurred to me--what about Etap and Ibis hotels??? Faithful readers will recall our stays at these modular bare-bones places on our trip to Strasbourg/Paris. I looked up Accor Hotels (the same chain that owns all the high-end Sofitel and Novotel establishments) and sure enough, they have great places to stay, centrally located, at just a notch above hostel prices.

So no, it ain't the Hotel Melba (see the Bastogne post) and we won't have the ISH experience (see London) BUT we can set the itinerary first, then book places to stay. With the dwindling availability of hostel rooms, we were starting to go at it backwards, based on hostel availability. That's just dumb, because it means you could be setting yourself up for a logistical nightmare in terms of distance from train stations ("just a little further, honey...can you carry your own Dora backpack up the mountain, you big five-year-old? It's just like the end of The Sound of Music! Val-der-i...val-der-ah...come on, sing honey!") so this is much better.

Thanks to mom for the Rail Map of Europe you gave us like 12 years ago (happy birthday by the way MOM!). It helped a lot to see where the major routes are as we plotted our course. Thanks also to Google for the great maps and translate functions. I'm able to email the hostel and hotel operators in English AND clumsily translated German! What a great world we live in.

Now that we've got the thumbtacks in the map, it's time to play everyone's favorite game, "Train, Boat, or Bus?" Hurrah!

LG