This Great Work

First off, thank you, thank you for all of you who donated to our service project for the children's hospital.  You made a really big difference!  I truly appreciate each one of you!  We had a few foreigners here in China who donated, but most of our $750 donations came from YOU!  Right before our deadline, many Chinese people came forward with used books and by the time we counted them all, we had over 900 books! (This is not a great picture, but sadly, this is all that I have of the books.) After contacting the hospital as to whether or not they wanted more books or other things (I made several suggestions including bean bags or comfy chairs for the library, comfort items for patients, craft kits, money to support pet therapy etc.) they said they didn't want more books and decided that they wanted craft kits for the children in isolated wards in the hospital.  So I spent all of your money on craft kits.  The cost of crafts here is so cheap compared to the...

Our time in China is quickly coming to an end.  We will be moving back to the US at the end of June.  I have had several impressions to conclude our time here with a service project.  I have learned that the local children's hospital is building a library and is in need of books.  My original plan was to involve many Chinese people in this project so they could feel the joy of service.  However as I have experienced over and over again, service is a very difficult concept for the Chinese people.  Their culture requires them to keep tabs of who they owe and who owes them.  They will not give if they don't see a direct benefit for themselves.  In addition to this, they lack trust because scams are rampant.  Thus, my requests for them to help with my project haven't gone anywhere. I don't blame them and I feel deeply for them. So my goals for the project have changed.  While Tom and I can provide many books to the library because books are ...

I have been nursing a pinched nerve in my arm (cubital tunnel) for several years. Then in December I was shaking paint in Christmas ornaments to give to my English Club students and I aggravated the nerve real good ...   In the past I have been able to manage the pain and get it to return to normal.  But that has not been the case this time. Hence the quietness of my blog as of late. After a few months of struggle, I reached out to a physical therapist friend in the US for some suggestions. After a regiment of ibuprofen and rest didn’t provide relief,  he suggested a couple of nerve tests to see if there was damage to the nerve.  There are English speaking medical clinics in Shanghai that we thought we could go to. But as with all things here we needed help so Tom asked Jacky about it.  The company that Tom is here working for is an orthopedic manufacturer and has doctors here in Changzhou. Jacky called them and they said I could get the test done here in Changz...