And furthermore

This a a photo of Li Qin with the other students on stage at a night club type place in downtown Beijing. Guillaume is friends with some of the musicians, and you see him playing while the kiddos sing.

The first step in our process of becoming certified was to fill out an application online, and pay the $580 fee, which included a "site visit fee". Since I was driving this ship, I became the "PDSO" (principal designated school official) - are you impressed? Well, don't be 'cause it just means I have to take care of all the paperwork - though most of it is online, so sans paper. The adminstrators at our school (Dean, Craig and Karen), are DSOs which meant that we all had to bring in our passports or birth certificates (and in my case, green card) so that the visiting inspector could see them and take copies. This is in spite of the fact that we have all been fingerprinted and had full FBI background checks - but hey, that's the government for ya.

There were various corrections etc. that had to be made on the forms, but finally it was approved and the appointment was made for the site visit from Mr. Feucht. We joked about the pronunication of his name but he told us (email) that it was pronounced "Fight". I hoped that didn't meant that we were up for one. Amazingly, he was very prompt in setting up the appointment and came to the school within a week of the acceptance of my application.

To be continued....

Li Qin and Dealing with the Feds

There is an annoying robin chirping maniacally outside my window, which is why I am up typing, rather than sleeping like any sane person should be at 5 am on a day they don't have to work. It's a little like an ice pick on my brain and burying my head in the pillow just didn't rectify the situation.

There, now that my complaining is over, I will tell you about the amazing Li Qin (pron. Lee Cheen). She has been at Bethel Foster Home for a couple of years and is now 18 years old. When you meet her, you think she might be older because she is very calm and poised for someone that age. It's not that she doesn't have a sense of humor; it's just that she is much more mature than most 18 year old girls - I can't generalize that statement to 18 year old orphans, because I haven't met enough of them. Being an orphan, blind and extremely intelligent could tend to take the edge off feeling giddy, however.

Traditionally the only acceptable form of employment for the blind in China has been "masseuse" (did I spell that right? - dang those English words, which are actually French words in disguise).Being a masseuse in China is not the quasi-medical thing it has become in America, where it exists complete with waiting rooms, nature music playing softly in the background, and certification. The Chinese version is a little kiosk-like shop on the sidewalk where you go in and get your "massage" fully clothed. I haven't actually seen any of these, but have heard about them from others and am hoping to get a glimpse this summer. Apparently it is some kind of tapping massage, that must be somewhat effective, since blind people make an, albeit meagre, living at it.

Things are changing a little in China, and are somewhat like they were in the 70s in the U.S. Generally you do not see blind people or people with other disabilities on the streets and "in public". This is why we were such a tourist attraction last year as we trouped about with a trail of kids tapping their canes, chattering and enjoying themselves, completely oblivious of the gawking locals. Various jobs, other than masseuse, are beginning to open up. At Bethel there are now two teachers with visual impairment, one of whom is completely blind. Schools for the blind are developing in China and the consciousness is being raised.

Why the title "Dealing with the Feds"? This is about our school in Washington becoming certified to receive foreign students. Gone are the good old days when this was a fairly simple procedure. Because the guys that flew planes into the Trade Center buildings were here on student visas, the great CLAMP has come down. Now there are many hoops to jump through, even when you are a school for the blind that has been around since 1886.

When we were in China, Li Qin expressed an interest in our school. Laurie, one of our nurses who was there, asked Li Qin if she would like to come and study at our school for a year - and she said yes. And then the process began. Laurie had thought the challenges would be on the China end, until she started dealing with the requirements here. It wasn't long before she learned that our school would have to be certified in order to receive her. And then the fun began...

Getting Organized

Cindy and I are proud of ourselves. Now that school is out, we actually organized some things for our trip! First we met at Thanh Thao, an excellent old favorite restaurant on Hawthorne near 39th, and had shrimp noodles (actually noodles with shrimp in a big bowl with salad on the bottom- yum!). Then we moved to a venue where we could use the computer.

We ended up at Fat Straw. Why the name? you may well ask, especially if you are older than Generation X. Well, one of the new food fads is "bubble tea" which comes in the form of "milk tea" made with coconut milk, or regular tea. In each of these categories are various flavor options. But the most intriguing part is the "bubble" issue. It turns out they are not bubbles at all but bloby little tapioca pearls that have the weirdest chewy texture. Cindy got strawberry milk tea and I got pineapple milk tea. We felt very adventurous and figured this was right in there with our adventure of going to China:) Cindy decided that was her last and final time she was going to suck those blobs up through her fat straw (hence the name). I think I may need to go back for a Taro one - he gave us a sample and it reminded me of something from my childhood that I have not yet identified.

Aside from the Bubble tea and the fact that they carry Stumptown Coffee, one of the best, Fat Straw is a very relaxing space - lots of room and free wifi. We found a cozy couch and settled in for some decision-making. It was Christmas time and we were Santa. We went to a website that carries games, educational stuff and equipment for kids with disabilities and chose some games that are blind-friendly, including scrabble, a basketball with a bell and a pouch hangs on the basket and makes a constant beeping noise so they know where to shoot, Brailled playing cards, a rechargeable soccer ball etc.

Next it was time to find the right hotel for when we make our trek into Beijing from the Foster Home on our last weekend there. Toward the end of our volunteer work we will take a little mini-vacation in the city and go exploring. The question was where to get a hotel and how to know what to look for. I belong to a list called "Bootsnall Travel" and we found a list of "budget hotels" on there. There were a few that were not-so-budget, which is what we were looking for. As we nudge retirement age, we figure we will leave "roughing it" for the younger crowd.

After considerable rumination and looking up areas on a map of Beijing (where the heck is Dongcheng anywayz??) we finally settled on the Beijing Royal Garden Hotel. As I confessed to Cindy, Canadians can never resist anyplace that has "Royal" as part of its name. It is built into us to expect that this is the ticket to something regal and deserving of homage. We were both charmed by the bad English and the promise of "always obey the personalization and warmth service idea". How can you not love these promises:

"The whole feature of Beijing Royal Garden Hotel is the Chinese tranditional guarden type. Colourful painting attic, flickering lantern, wooden carved bed, antique style closet, Jingdezhen colourful porcelain basin, All of these enable you to enjoy the modernized advanced management service, at the same time you can feel the original Ming and Qing Dynasties character and style." But then, they had me at the word "Royal"

We clicked the button, and felt very proud to have had so much fun spending our money. One U.S. dollar is now worth 7.6 Renminbi (People's Currency) so that is a change from last year when the rate was 1=12. Still, you get a lot of bang for your buck in China, even in Beijing where things are more expensive and westernized than anywhere else in the country.

Stay tuned:)