LOVE MANOR TRAININGS GOING SO WELL by Dani Norris Parsell

The trainings at Love Manor are going so well! The facility is absolutely gorgeous and the children seem so well cared for and happy. Yesterday, during a tour, a group of curious and outgoing girls (around 8 years old) sang us about 4 songs. They were so cute and kept saying "Hello" and "See you!" in English. The Physical Therapy students did physical therapy demonstrations on a group of babies yesterday, too!

Alisha and I presented on autism today and the audience of special education teachers and social workers was so engaged. They gave us specific case examples and we used them to illustrate Applied Behavior Analysis, Floortime, and other autism interventions. They asked so many great questions.  It was interesting to work with the translator. The woman who translated for us is a English professor at CTBU and was wonderful to work with.

Right now we are taking a Chinese "siesta" from lunch until 2:00 and are heading back to the orphanage this afternoon for some observations. 

WE ARE EATING WELL -- Pix from Linda Houser

Looking Happy and Well Fed

Relaxing after a Hard Day of Touring

Happy Travelers

Widener in the Bird's Nest

PIX FROM BEIJING by Gina Lepore

The Dragon at Forbidden City

Beijing Street Food

Approaching Forbidden City

More Street Food

A View on the Wall

You Get the Picture

NEWS FROM CHINA by Dani Norris Parsell (PsyD Program)

My gmail isn't working here (google doesn't work at all unless you go to google.hk, which is censored, Facebook doesn't work either). Pretty interesting stuff! We went to the Great Wall yesterday which was a real hike and workout--I didn't expect that. Thousands of really steep stairs, on the way down, I had to slide on my butt! We had "hotpot" for dinner yesterday. It's boiling water in the middle of the table that you cook raw food in and then dip it in amazing sesame sauce.  I guess the Chinese version of Melting Pot.  It was so good, but we didn't know what to do at first and no one spoke English, so it was a little intimidating, but it wound up being a great adventure.

Today we went to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City. In Tian'anmen Square, our tour guide (who has been wonderful!) told us not to ask about the revolution because there were plainclothes police around.  Back on the bus, she said she doesn't really know what happened at Tian'anmen.  The government tells the people that it wasn't a "revolution," but just some "issues," and no one was killed. Mao's moseleum about the size of the Philadelphia Library is there. He is in a crystal casket that they refrigerate every night to preserve his body. There were thousands and thousands of people in line to pay their respects to him.  They are each allowed in for 5 minutes. Forbidden City is where the emperors lived in ancient China.  It was really impressive. In the afternoon, we went to Olympic Park where we saw the "Birdsnest" and went in--where the opening and closing ceremonies were and the Water Cube, which they have turned into a giant water park.  The Olympic Village was HUGE and they apparently knocked down a whole village and "paid" the people who lived there to leave. 

The kids in China have to take a test to go to kindergarten at age 3 and then at age 6 they take another test to go to primary school. The kindergarten test requires kids to be able to eat by themselves, be fully potty trained, and be able to count to 20. 

Tonight we're going to a famous duck restaurant that John's friend, Wei, recommended. They cook the duck for hours, roasting the outside, and they pour water in the inside to boil the inside. This way the outside is crispy and inside is tender. They cut the duck into 108 pieces for good luck and each piece is supposed to have duck meat, duck fat, and skin on it. 

Tomorrow we are flying to Chongqing and we'll be presenting at the orphanage for the next 3 days. Then we have some downtime for a few days in Chongqing.

Dani Parsell, PsyD Program

SHSP GOES GLOBAL -- OFF TO CHINA!!

Our SHSP Interprofessional team of 16 graduate students and 4 faculty, representing physical therapy, social work, human sexuality and clinical psychology depart for China on Saturday, May 11, to deliver three days of professional training at the Love Manor Orphanage in Chongqing, China.  This blog will chronicle the work, adventures and reflections of the travelers.