1/18/08

Hello,
When I talked to Steve this morning, he said that some people are having a hard time posting comments, so Shane gave me step by step instructions on how to do so. They go like this:
1. Once on Derek's blog site, click on comment
2. Write your comment
3. Under the scrambled letters, it says work verification. In the box write the letters just as you see them
4. Choose your identity by clicking on nickname. A box will come up. In this box type in your name. This can be your real name or any name you choose to go by.
5. Don't worry about the URL
6. Go to the orange box that says publish comment and click on that.
I hope that this has been helpful. If you have any problems, call Shane at 236-3838
Yesterday Derek had accupuncture again. They left the needles in for 15 minutes. Derek conveyed to the doctor that he was having neck pain, so the doctor put two needles in his neck. He had therapy later in the morning and again in the afternoon.
Nicole cooked breadfast sandwiches this morning with the help of the cleaning lady. The cleaning lady is very sweet. She doesn't have an English name and we can't pronouce her Chinese name. She doesn't speak any English. She was speaking in Chinese to help Nicole with the hot plate and then Nicole didn't put any oil in the pan before putting her egg in. The cleaning lady was trying to tell her to put oil in the pan to no avail, so she started looking around until she found the oil and started shaking it at Nicole. It was quite commical to listen too and watch. But the sandwiches were quite tasty in the end.
Nicole and I are trying to learn a few Chinese works. We are working on the ten floors on the elevator and a few basic words.
Nicole met a family from Romania. There is the mother, father and seven year old son, Alexander. They don't speak English or Chinese. Lucy said that it is very hard communicating between them and the doctors. I don't know how Nicole does it, but she has managed to communicate quite a bit from them. She found out that they went to Italy for six months for stem cell for their son who has muscular dystrophy with no results so they have come to China to try, since China is supposed to be the best for stem cells.
We had ordered chicken and dumplings again for supper. Derek and I like our dumplings fried, so Nicole and I were frying them and we filled our room with smoke. Next thing we knew, Lucy came to find out where the smoke was coming from; the nurses were all concerned. She didn't look too happy. Those crazy Americans!! Then she told us that if like them fried, she could just order them that way for us.
At the same time, the Austrailians came for a visit. They are really nice and they gave Derek a lot of helpful advice about living with the SCI.
Thank you for the comments that we have received. We'll talk to you again tommorow.
Love, Derek, Nicole and Kathy