Hello, long time no see/talk/read? All of them I guess.... SORRY! :( I actually feel pretty bad that I haven't updated this in so long... a few people have gotten after me within this past month. But here I am! Finally!
Sooo let's see... where to start?
The last thing I told you was about Thanksgiving, and I mentioned that Christmas was coming fast. Well, now it's already passed. And it's 2012... Craziness...
I was able to spend Christmas with my family in Kunming, and I am still staying with them. In fact, I'll be staying with them until the end of February! The Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, allows for about a 2 month long break and the PT center in Wen Shan is closed, so I'm spending the time with family. It's been good to hang around with them, they're my buds. :)
Before I left Wen Shan I had a couple break-throughs with two of the kids I work with. One of them is Hang Hang, whom I've mentioned before. But the other is Chong Qing, a fourteen-year-old girl with cerebral palsy.
Hang Hang is severely autistic and can't speak, and he doesn't really communicate except through some body language and using his voice to scream mostly... but I was working with him using a method called "Floor Time," which is basically fundamental play time. I lay out a bunch of colored blocks and a couple toys, and follow him in how he wants to play. I have been able to get him to pick out four colors, and to repeat sounds after me. I've even talked to him in English and he sometimes understood me better than when I spoke to him in Chinese! So I've had a huge break-through with him. He doesn't usually connect with people very well except for his mom, and doesn't willingly respond to what people tell him to do, so it's been amazing to the whole team and Hang Hang's mom that he listens to me and plays with me. But it's been such a blessing for me to play with him because he is so sweet, and really smart when he wants to be. And when he comes to me and touches me, or looks at my face, or sits in my lap, it's so awesome to see that he trusts me. So, I'm definitely looking forward to going back to work with him in March. I have faith that I will get to witness him speak at least one sentence before I leave China. But even if I don't, I know his mom will get to someday.
Chong Qing is also a very smart and sweet girl - that is if you can get it out of her. She is the most shy person I have ever met in my life. Even if I asked her "yes" or "no" questions, she could hardly give me a nod or shake of her head. I could see her body tense up and watch her eyes look at anything other than my face whenever I addressed her. But with her mom she is often defiant and very strong-willed. The reason she is this way is because her mom is super controlling and dominant in their family. Her mom is rarely separated from Chong Qing, and usually takes advantage of the one second Chong Qing remains silent when asked a question to answer it for her. There is a lot of dysfunction in the family, and our team has had to do just as much counseling to Chong Qing and her mom as we've done physical therapy for Chong Qing.
I worked with Chong Qing once before I left for Kunming, and it was an interesting session. I experienced Chong Qing's and her mom's personalities for the first time, and really saw that Mom needed to be away from Chong Qing if we were going to have any success in helping Chong Qing become comfortable as her own person socially and emotionally, let alone physically. Thankfully I did get about half of the time with just Chong Qing, and I managed to get her to respond to me. But what was probably more interesting and exciting to see, is she is really smart when she's free to show it. While we were doing her therapy, I was using picture flash cards to teach her English, and she was using them to help me practice my Chinese. At first I thought this might be too elementary for a strong-willed-fourteen-year-old, but she seemed to enjoy it. I couldn't get her to say the words out loud at first, but we practiced the cards in a way that she didn't have to say the words if she didn't want to. I didn't want to push her too hard, but I wanted her to feel some kind of independence in learning the English words. It took her a little while to really get interested, especially since her mom would keep trying to take over and tell her what to do. A couple times I had to tell her mom to let Chong Qing do it herself... which I didn't pay too much attention to how it affected her when I said that to her, but I know it encouraged Chong Qing that she could learn the words and practice with me on her own. Eventually, (I think by Daddy's influence), Mom had a bunch of phone calls to deal with, leaving me alone with Chong Qing. By the end of our time, she was smiling and laughing, nodding her head yes and no, and whispering the English words. I tried not to act too surprised and excited whenever she reacted so she wouldn't be embarrassed, but I was so thankful that she was able to experience a little of what it's like to engage with other people other than her mother and to be encouraged for her intelligence.
I think my mission with Chong Qing is not just to help her stretch her legs and strengthen her body, but to strengthen her independence and self-confidence in a healthy way. It's going to be hard, since there's a strong but a slightly twisted attachment to her mom. I think she wants her freedom away from her mom and fights her for it all the time at home. But once she gets out in the real world, she doesn't know how to be on her own, and shrinks inside because her mom is always the one in charge. So, we'll just see how things go once I begin working with her again. It will be a miracle in the making to help this girl feel secure in herself.
That's pretty much the gist of where I'm at with the kids in Wen Shan. As to what I'm doing away from Wen Shan, I am now a volunteer at the International School Lexi and Wyatt are attending, so it's been fun to have work there and to hang out with great people. I'll work there until I go back to Wen Shan. I am also helping to plan for the youth conference that's held here in Kunming. It's called Permeate, and Lexi, Wyatt, and I all attended it last year. I was a student leader last year, and this year I am more of a support leader to the adult leadership. So it will be a great experience to be a part of it again! I also will help lead the music, along with my team leader from Wen Shan, who I click really well with in music. In Wen Shan we always have a blast playing together, so it will be great to lead with her as well as other great musicians. All in all, I'm just really looking forward to it. :P It will be the closure of my time here in Kunming, the end date being the 26th of February. After that I'll head back to Wen Shan.
Coming up really really soon - my family and I leave on Wednesday for vacation in THAILAND!!!! :D You guys have no idea how excited I am for this. It's the one country I've been dying to see since I'm so close to it. I'll be sure to take tons of pictures so I can post them on here.
Well, that was a really long entry. But I guess it makes up for the really long time I didn't post anything. Hope you all had a great holiday, and may this year be a blessing for you all! :)
