Back to China

This June I will head back to China. As I type those words, I can hardly believe it. For someone who is not the best traveler, I seem to be doing more and more of it. Never in my life, did I imagine that I would travel to China not once, but twice, and to have neither time be strictly for tourism. On our last trip, we spent more time in government buildings sitting in hard plastic chairs waiting for our turn to show someone behind a sliding glass window our papers than we did sight-seeing. We walked miles and miles around the tiny island we were on, pushing Kai in the rented stroller as the oppressive heat and humidity swirled around us making us feel sticky and grimy. I constantly needed a shower. We waited for signatures to clear, papers to come back stamped with approval, and counted down the days until we would finally bring our son home to our house.

This time, I am going for a class. We are doing a cross-cultural comparison of the Chinese health care system and the system here in the United States. Specifically, we will be looking at how the Chinese system is now addressing depression, cancer and HIV/AIDS. The use of social services is a fairly new idea in China. We will stay in a dorm at Peking University in Beijing. (That also means I’ll have a roommate for three weeks. ) For three weeks we will have lecture in the morning, and in the afternoon we will visit different agencies throughout China that are currently serving the given populations.

This will be such a learning experience for me, because I have never really been in a cancer ward in a hospital here, nor have I experienced the treatment programs for people living with HIV and AIDS here in the United States. Much is known about depression here in the United States, but in China, the taboo surrounding mental health is just now starting to lift.

I feel so blessed to be able to go. I am thrilled that my family, specifically, my husband Josh, is so supportive of me. It’s funny. Many people have asked either me or Josh when they hear of this trip, “Wow, will you/he be okay with the kids for three weeks?” I laugh for two reasons; first of all, no one bats an eye when husbands are out of town for weeks upon weeks and their wives are home alone with the kids. Second, Josh absolutely knows how to run this house AND the kids. The man could do it blindfolded. I am not at all worried about them getting along just fine. I AM a bit worried about missing them. I keep telling myself that it’s only three weeks.

I will most likely keep the blog updated throughout the process and the trip. Maybe this is a good excuse to get me writing a little again. Feel free to check in. Get ready China, Kate Kneifel is coming back!