My wish

Traffic

Oh my this is so funny to me. If you feel like you are the fearless adventure type, might I recommend spending the day getting around town in any busy Chinese metropolis? I remember the adrenaline rush well. We walked a lot last time we were there. It was one thing to take my life in my hand crossing the street, but to put my tiny daughter at risk every time we had to cross the intersection, absolutely frightening!
   The town mentioned here is where the Healing Home is located that  I volunteer with in Love Without Boundaries. I hope to visit it while we are in China, I'd better steel up my nerves now!

 

Kunming ranks number 28 among Chinese cities in total population.  However, according to one source, Kunming ranks number 5 in private automobile ownership.  Kunming is adding approximately 900 new vehicles on the road per day. 

Most of these vehicles are operated by drivers with less than three years driving experience.  Their primary ‘driving’ experience comes from riding a bicycle.  Therefore, they drive a car in much the same way they would ride a bike. 

As a result, the traffic in Kunming is horrible.  One well-traveled Chinese friend told me that Kunming ranks second for the inglorious distinction of having the worst traffic conditions in China.  Beijing ranks number one, of course, as Beijing strives to be first in everything.

How can one navigate the crazy Kunming traffic?

For roadside assistance, we turn to our Kunming Traffic Guru (KTG).

Q: How long have you been driving a motor vehicle in Kunming?

KTG: Over 6 years now.

Q: Can you explain some of the basic rules of the road, such as traffic lights?

KTG: Certainly.  Traffic lights are quite simple.

Green means ‘Go’.

Yellow means ‘Go very fast’.

Red means ‘Proceed with caution’. 

If you have government license plates, traffic lights do not apply. 

Q: Please explain One-Way streets rules.

KTG: On a one-way street, all cars and trucks are to be facing the same direction; hence ‘One-Way’.  Most vehicles travel that direction.  But if one desires to travel the opposite direction, he/she has two options:

1. Drive in reverse, thus keeping the vehicle facing the One-Way direction.

2. Move onto the sidewalk where you can drive opposite of street traffic.

Q: Isn’t it dangerous to drive on the sidewalk?  What about pedestrians?

KTG: Sidewalks are not for pedestrians.   “The sidewalk is where one washes one’s hair or cleans one’s teeth.” (direct quote from a Kunming resident)  The sidewalk is also where children and nauseous bus passengers relieve themselves.

Q: Where do people walk?

KTG: In the street, of course.  No vomit there.

Q:  How is the term ‘yield’ defined in Kunming?

KTG: The amount of a specific crop produced on a specific area of land.  But that is an agricultural question.

Q: How is the term ‘speed limit’ interpreted?

KTG: Speed limit is the SPEED your car can travel when the gas pedal is pressed as hard as possible as LIMITed by the floor board.

Q: Does Kunming have vehicle emission standards?

KTG: It is fairly standard for public buses and trucks to spew clouds of black diesel fumes.  So I suppose the answer is ‘yes’. 

Q: Isn’t there any concern for the environment?

KTG: We do see environmentally friendly vehicles.  Typically this is a donkey pulling a cart.  These carts are ‘ORGANIC’ but not ‘LOW EMISSIONS’.

Q:  Is there criteria as to what conditions make a vehicle unsafe to drive?

KTG: Yes.  If the car or truck has no horn to blast pedestrians, then the vehicle is considered unsafe to drive.

Q: What would make a driver unsafe to operate a motor vehicle?

KTG: If the driver cannot honk the horn, then he/she is not safe to drive.

Q: Is it legal to use a mobile phone while driving?

KTG: Using a cell phone while driving is not only allowed, but you earn extra skill points if you can smoke a cigarette, talk on the phone, and drive a stick shift all at the same time.

Q:  How do you personally deal with the challenges of driving in Kunming?

KTG:  I ride my bike as much as possible.  I just have to be careful to avoid the sidewalk and donkey cart ’emissions’.

On a more serious note, the Chinese government reported 100,000 traffic fatalities in 2010.  The WHO has stated the true number of traffic related deaths in China to be closer to 250,000 making it the leading cause of death in China.  

from homesinternational.org

New pictures of Jack!

Ack! he's so cute I can't stand it! We hope to be traveling within the next 3 months to bring our son home.

Balloon

It's as big as her!

A Day in Hell

Hell's Canyon Wilderness. What were you thinking?
   We haven't hiked in several weeks because Brent tore a muscle running and last week I dropped a dresser - the one in the previous post- on my foot. After Xrays, I found it was not broke, but is is still black and blue and very sore. But it's spring break and we really wanted to get out and do something.
    I found this area in a trail book and wanted to check it out. It had promising names of the trails and formations like Lucifer's Gate, Big Hellgate, Little Hellgate and Hellgate mountain. It's residents are  Mountain Lions, deer, javelina and burros. I really wanted to see the burro- not so much the mountain lions.
   The directions to this remote canyon reminded me of directions to find friend's houses in East Texas when we lived there. "5.2 miles to a stop sign, turn left. Drive 5.2 miles to a sign marked 'trail' (it was written on a small yard stick sized piece of wood stuck in the dirt) just north of the cattle guard, under a powerline. Park."

 There wasn't really a place to park so Brent made a parking spot in a dry river bed. (That white speck in the picture is our van.) The girls could hardly stand to walk out of the river bed because of all the pretty quartz rocks all around us. So many colors! They love rocks.

 The canyon was beautiful, Arizona never fails to disappoint. We followed burro hoofprints and lion footprints throughout our trek but we didn't see any wild life until we were leaving then we finally saw burro!

 Every time our family hikes, I'm reminded of the children's book "The Jolly Huntsmen" They never see anything to hunt because they are so noisy talking and laughing as they go. That's us.
 We went a little too far and had to book it back so we could get out of Hell's Canyon before the sun set. Didn't sound like a fun place to be at night. By then Brent's leg and my foot were sore. Lucy was complaining that her legs were grumbling and Amy was having a hard time keeping up. The name of the Canyon felt a bit appropriate at that point.  It was one of the growing list of hikes that Brent and I file under, "we'll-have-to-come-back-and-do-this-without-the-kids-sometime."

Dresser Love

Garage Sale Find. I found this beautiful dresser/vanity set at a yard sale for a great deal and had to have! I've been looking for a dresser for the girls anyway. This is from the 1930s and looks like tiger wood which is what the antique beds in the girls bedrooms are made of. It matches perfectly. I love the lines. The vanity in the last picture is missing the glass that went across the top and the mirror. But I just pushed the two pieces together and it makes a great table.

I love garage sales.

Eye opening

I just finished two books this week that I was reading at the same time. One was Silent Tears about an orphanage in China and the other was "Ask Me Why I Hurt: The Kids No One Wants and the Doctor Who Heals Them". The second book is about a Dr in Phoenix that converted an RV into a mobile clinic and serves the homeless kids of Phoenix and tends to their medical needs. Both books were very heavy, and hard to read the stories of kids who so desperately need help. Both books discussed the fact that some people just don't want to know, it's to difficult to hear the stories and go back to our normal routines. So because it's hard, they would just rather not know. It is hard, and it will change you if you allow yourself to hear about the needs of others. But oh what a blessing, and a passion you feel once you find that thing that moves you to tears and moves you to try to make a difference.

 For me, it's these kids. The kids in orphanages and group homes here in Phoenix, and across the world. Our family started visiting another group home a couple weeks ago. We're already visiting several group homes. I didn't really have the time to take on another home. I wanted to visit one girl that got moved out of a home we were visiting and into another one that no one volunteers in. She ages out in a few weeks, so I only intended to visit until she aged out. The first time we visited that home, I told the girl that we only intended to visit until she aged out. She looked at me and said, "These girls need you, they have no one, they need someone in their lives." What to do? One visit and there's no way I could back out and say, "Well that was nice". Not when these kids need someone, they need to be shown unconditional love, God's love.
 Not when our eyes have been opened.


Today, that home came to our church. Honestly, we didn't invite them, they asked if they could come. That's so awesome. I had a small group of volunteers from our church make a visit for the first time at two other group homes this weekend. They came to me today and told me what an amazing experience they had visiting with the kids and  how they are already in love with the kids there. Completely awesome!   May those kids find more love and open more eyes as they get to know people in our church.

Technical difficulties

Sorry about the pictures not showing up. Brent privatized our online photo albums and we didn't realize that would affect our blog. It will take a while to fix it. He's got to go through and find each album that I used for the blog.