A few problems

Just to say we seem to be having lots of problems here with computers.  If I have a window here it may not last for long so I am just taking this opportunity to say, bear with me.   Heaven knows when I can send my next blog!  All is well.  We have had a few rain-free days here in Changsha which as been great.  Still hoping to move Butterfly Home to its proper accommodation in the next few weeks.  New person in our flat, another joining in 2 weeks.  Looking around area a bit.  Last time I  tried to send a blog it packed up after a few minutes so I'm going to stop now to make sure this gets to you all OK.    Its just computers in China, I'm told.
Hi and good wishes to you all,  Liz xx

First full week in Changsha

I have now been here just over a week and have spent 7 out of 9 days at work - working 5 days in 7 which I am finding exhausting!!  Getting up at 6.45 am on my days on - roll on retirement again!  Still haven't fully understood my role here and guess I probably never will,  but am more confident to help out the nurses - a bit - although its probably turning out that they're taking longer to do things with me around!  They are very patient!  Spend a fair amount of time just 'playing with the children' as that is what you do, it seems.  I'm getting to know them a bit better and they are very rewarding.  A giggle, smile, reaching out to you is a great moment in time.  I was with one blind boy today who had giggled with me for the first time, when another came over and planted a kiss on my nose and patted me - makes you feel life is good!  One of the children has been adopted and will be leaving us very soon; she is a live wire and a very determined person and we will miss her.  Most of her problems have been sorted out, she just needs regular blood tranfusions at the moment.  Another 2 have adoptions going through - all families from the USA.  It seems overseas couples can adopt only if there is 'something wrong' with a child, otherwise it has to be adopted within China. 
We had a new baby in this week and, because I am the newest person there, I was given the task of giving him his English name (they have an English and a Chinese name and a nick-name) - he's called Luke.  He's pretty sick but I'm willing him to be OK.  We have no idea what is wrong with him apart from obvious prematurity and he's all bone with lots of skin hanging in folds and 2 months old. 
Away from Butterfly, I am looking around Changsha.  I walk home (45 mins) unless its raining (and it does this a great deal, but I have only taken the bus once, so far) and try different routes.  Changsha is The Most Unprepossessing Place.  I can't think of any reason to come here.  Just dirty high-rise and low buildings, busy streets, people who look boring.  Ordinary trees in some places and a few shrubs here and there.  No interesting buildings.  Just a general feeling of grubbiness, drearyness.  However... someone I met the other day took me out on my day off on Monday and we went to an area where they are trying to encourage tourists!!! (why would anyone think of coming here!!) and they have made a street or two into, what felt to me, like a mini Soho - so some shops with interesting things in, clean houses and streets, and that felt so much better.  Then a short walk to the river, which is wide and has a long island in the middle.  On Saturdays they have a fireworks display so I am planning to go this Saturday.  And Ruth (who took me out) told me of some nice parks I can get to by bus so all is not lost! 
Back at the flat, I have turned my room around and scrubbed out the bathroom.  The flat is VERY damp but Suisi (who works at Butterfly) told me today that, on 1st May, it stops raining, the sun comes out and we can dry the flat out.  I am determined to believe her! We have someone new arriving in the flat next Monday - she is staying for a month.  A nurse from Ireland.  Although there's not much to do at Butterfly for volunteers at the moment, they are hoping to move back into their proper 'home',which has been 'renovated', in about 10 days time so there will be loads to do then.  I'm told I shall be in charge of sorting all the drugs into some kind of order - at the moment they are in plastic baskets and boxes and cupboards - so that should keep me quiet for a while!  And Lyn (Big Boss) anticipates that we shall get another 8 or 10 babies when we have sorted ourselves out a bit and have the space - at the moment we are cramped into about a third of what we will have soon. So that will keep us all on our toes.  The two nurses I share the flat with are great, they have picked up the kind of care that has been practised at Butterfly and really helpful, but it is just them and Lyn at the moment who are regular nursing staff and with 10 new babies we will have to get up to speed to help them out.
What else about China in general... I continue to dodge around cars and scooters and will have to get out of the habit when I get home!  Traders and stalls selling just anything are everywhere - in the streets, in the subways, sometimes on the pavements, they sell pineapples which they skin and take the 'knots' out so they look as if they are spiralled, sugar cane in bits, in the supermarkets there are live frogs and turtles - but I still think a proper French market will be a treat again.  I've bought a few creature comforts extremely cheap but am told they won't last long (hairdryer, iron & bedside light for less than GBP 10) but as long as they last 2 months that's great!  And a few cheap clothes, although not as cheap as I would have thought - almost equivalent to supermarkets back home and probably not  as good.  When I went out on Monday we went to what Ruth called Oxford Street, and they did have loads of brand named shops there, and the things there were really not cheap.  And there is MacDonalds and KFC just everywhere.  I have been out for lunch a few times from work and fried rice with veg (big portion) is 60p. so why go to MacD or KFC?! 
Food - Chinese don't go for dairy products so no cheese, butter, spreads, decent milk.  Also no cereals, pasta on the whole but... there are a few supermarkets which do 'foreign foods' and I have now found cheese, butter, milk, muesli and pasta - but at a price.  Even some bacon.  But you do have to grab it when you can.  We heard at work that someone had found cream cheese the day before, but it had gone by the next day.  And only Liptons tea - that and the funny milk, I shall so enjoy a cup of Tetleys when I get home!
You are now up to date!  Next Sunday and Wednesday I have days off and I am going to try and sort photos out - see if I can get them 'blogged' to you.  If anyone has Skype we can get it here, so let me know.  Otherwise I can now get regular emails until 2nd June.
With love to you all and thanks so much for reading my blog.

From China (1)

I'm in China now and have started at the Butterfly Home.  But lots to tell you before I get up to date...
It was great, again, to stay at Sarah and Mike's, get my laundry done and spend some time with them and their children.  The day I left, in the evening, Sarah and I went in the morning to visit Qutb Minar - a monument of victory and great ruins of arches, colonnades, etc, and enjoyed a leisurely and excellent lunch.  I then finished packing and went to the airport for my adventure to China to begin.  Two-part flight as I had to change planes in China to get to Beijing and get my visa stamped at the first airport, where we landed at 6 a.m.  My first brush with Chinese authorities was not great.  I stood in the queue with trepidation after all the palaver there had been to get my visa... would they ask me loads of questions... I reached the desk and handed over my passport.  The immigration officer looked through me, imperceptibly flicked his head and shoved my passport back at me.  I joined a queue next to his but this was for people transferring to an international flight so felt that was wrong.  I decided to check and was told I should have been in the first queue I had joined and I must be quick as immigration was closing.  I squeaked in at the last minute and got my stamp - I can now be in China for 90 days - hooray and phew!  Welcome to China.  I had several hours before my flight so went to a free internet place and tried to update my mobile.  Failed and all the instructions were in Chinese.  Got on the plane eventually and went to turn off my phone, only to realise I had lost it!!!  I went to the cabin staff - none of whom spoke a word of English - and explained by sign language and, to cut a long story short, got off the plane, was told my luggage had also been taken off (to where?) and go and look for my phone and get another flight...  Back to Internet place, found someone who had found my phone and given it to 2 cleaners...  he spoke a smattering of English.  We went together to Airport Information, they didn't speak a word of English (3 Information staff) and he explained.  To cut another Very Long Story short, 2 hours later they called the police after grabbing any airport staff they could find to explain but none spoke English.  I suggested they called my phone but they said no.  2 hours with the Police - one of which spoke some English - in the Police office at this major airport - 2 huge terminals - with the Police smoking with their feet up on the tables - they had this bright idea of phoning my phone.  It was answered and half an hour later, someone brought my phone back.  Wow.  I can't believe I still have my mobile (with Internet, email, addresses, phone numbers, etc.)  so I am very grateful, but it was quite a saga.  Then 4 hours wait for another flight and I arrived at my hostel at 11 p.m. tired but relieved.  Hostel was great.  Lively bar and cafe, tiny but great room, clean, good.  In Beijing I saw the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven,Tian'anmen Square, Summer Palace (which I loved) and had a day trip to the Great Wall.  Another Wonder of the World, and it was amazing.  I hadn't realised there were so many steps to climb so went up and down and up and down for about 3 hours.  The steps are all arranged in different heights (to confuse invaders?) so you do say 15 small, then 2 or 3 deeper, then 10 small then 6 really steep, etc.  I felt I had had some exercise and it was great to do it.  We went to a lesser frequented part of the wall and it was very uncrowded.  Possibly not the views of miles and miles of wall but great views of it going on in the distance.  Wonderful.
Next day it was a flight to Xi'an, another good hostel and then the following day a trip to The Warriors.  I joined a minibus of 6 other people who all spoke English which was brilliant!  The guide spoke, I think, good English, at the rate of knots in such an accent I will have to buy a book to tell me more about it, but he was fun and OK.  He took us around the 3 'pits' of 'Tessacorra Wooriaars" and we saw a few other sights on the way.  It was then off the next day to fly to Changsha to start at Butterfly.  So a few observations on China so far:
Driving.. opposite side of the road from UK and India, slightly better than India but still lots of undertaking, jostling for position zooming into spaces you don't know are there.  Very little horn blowing.  They don't have to stop for people crossing a road on a pedestrian crossing but there's trouble if they hit someone on a crossing, whereas there isn't if you are not on a crossing.  So you walk at a moderate pace across a road so they can guage your speed so they can go around you if you are on a crossing.  Scarey ++.  There are lots of electric scooters and they use the pavements (different from India where there are no pavements!) but you can't hear them coming until they are right behind you peeping their horn. 
Getting around.. Don't come to China if you are disabled... The 'wheelchair access' from pavements to roads to cross are not at pedestrian crossings - and anyway, you'd probably die crossing... - the underpasses for crossing main streets, the subway stations linking to airports, the airport train stations do not have lifts or escalators - I asked - so you have to carry your bags up 2 or 3 flights of steps. If you are deaf you'd probably get killed by an electric scooter.  If you look as if you are struggling a nice young Chinese man will usually come and help you with your bag and they will nearly always give up their seat for you on the subway.  However, that is where gallantry stops.  Whenever there is anything like a queue - ticket offices, supermarkets, bus stops, they will literally push you out of the way, elbows, stretching across you, leaning against you.
Cleanliness...  The hostels were great - cleaner than Norway!  Streets are swept mechanically and by lots of people with broomstick type  brooms.  Nothing like the piles of rubbish in India.  And people spit just a much as in India - maybe more- but into rubbish bins!!  (Although maybe not into bins in Changsha...)  However, a sense of unclean generally persists, market trading is often from pitches on the ground, etc.
Other observations... Lots of people doing one job.  I bought a bus ticket at the airport from 3 people - one person to take my money, to hand it to the next person to check, to tell the next person to give me a bus ticket. 
Police/army.  In Beijing they were everywhere.  Sometimes 5 Policemen/women with 2 or 3 army personnel around an exit to the subway.  But I haven't noticed quite such excess elsewhere.
So, now I am in Changsha.  I will write properly when I have settled in.  I am now sharing a flat with 2 other nurses from the Philippines and 2 more coming from Ireland in the next 2 to 4 weeks.  The flat is really OK and I have my own room.  Will be sharing bathroom when the Irish contingent come.  My first half day on Monday and yesterday I was settling in, seeing Butterfly, buying essentials and food.  Today was my first day officially 'at work' and I met Lyn (boss) for the first time and got an idea of my role.  The children are gorgeous and all very different in terms of ability but all pretty well at the moment.  I've had cuddles and a walk to the play park and an introduction to them all.  They are mainly looked after by Ayi's (nannies) who are brilliant.  At the moment Butterfly is in temporary accommodation as they are 'renovating' their old premises but they are hoping to move back in 3 weeks - we will see!
Well, I think that's enough reporting for you to read for a while and I'll get back to you all later.  I hear different reports about weather in England, it seems to be pretty mixed.  I hope you are all very well.  I'm missing you and my house but am just starting out, now, on the next phase of my adventure, so will write again soon.
With love,  Liz