"I have a raisin in my nose!"

Sept 13th -- Today we decided to head out to Beihai Park. It is a large park, primarily composed of a lake, that was the former playground of the Yuan emperors. Yesterday, we realized that taxis are really cheap in Beijing, so instead of taking the subway, we took at 20 minute taxi ride that cost about $3. We arrived at the south gate and stopped into an information center for a map of the park. We then bought our tickets into the park, which also included entrance into the temples inside. We entered and the kids ran and played around a big, open square for a little before we decided to get some lunch. Across a foot bridge from where we entered were some restaurants on Jade Islet. Jade Islet is in the center of the lake and is composed of the heaped earth that was scooped out to make the lake. We found some seats at the restaurant that overlooked the lake. When we started to go through the menu, it was very funny. The English translation was literal. So you would see things like "the pineapple fries the chicken". We finally ordered and again, had some great Chinese dishes. After lunch, we decided to go for a boat ride around the lake. We rented a "battery powered" boat that I believe was slower than the paddle boats. If a strong wind blew in our face, the boat wouldn't move forward. However, it was perfect to allow the kids turns driving. So we "putted" around the lake for about an hour. After our boat ride we began our ascent to the White Dagoba Temple atop Jade Islet. We made our way up and then grabbed an ice cream snack at the top. We then headed back down and began to walk along the shore line of the lake to the north park exit. Along the way, the kids came across some Chinese kids flying paper airplanes. They would all throw them at the same time and see who's would fly the longest. Theirs surprisingly stayed in flight longer than I would have thought. That, of course, made Abby and Austin want paper airplanes. So Abby pulls some paper out of her bag and asked me to build them one. Now, I haven't built a paper airplane in many years, but I gave it the good ol' college try. So they joined in and threw their airplanes.....which immediately did a nose dive into the ground. Austin starts crying and wanting me to make his better. Of course there is a crowd around watching and I feel like the stupid American who can't make his kids a good paper airplane. After a while, the Chinese kids started to leave, but before they did, they gave Abby and Austin their paper airplanes. I looked at them and realized I was going to need an engineering degree to figure out how they were put together...they were impressive. Along the pathway to the exit, we ran across a young girl with a slit in her pants from front to back. We first experienced this yesterday on the subway and have since seen it several times. It is the strangest thing we've seen, but think it has something to do with potty training. The young children (some not even walking) don't have diapers on, so they are fully exposed. They apparently just go to the bathroom where ever they are (but we haven't experienced this yet). Very odd, but I guess it saves a lot of money on diapers. So we finally left out of the park and took a taxi back to the apartment. The kids played on the playground for a little while while I got a haircut at a nearby "Modeling Agency" (English translation). We then went inside for dinner and baths. Afterwards, the kids were watching a movie while Amy and I were updating the blog. This should normally be the end, but not tonight. All of a sudden we here Austin say, "I have a raisin in my nose!". So I turn around and tell him to blow. Immediately a raisin fires out of his nostril. I was thinking the "crisis" was over when he then says, "I have a raisin in my other nose!". So I clog the open one and tell him to blow and nothing happens. I take a look and don't see one and so tell him to blow again...and still nothing. So we question him again and he says there is one in there. Luckily our apartment has a flashlight so we lay him down and look in there. Now it was hard to see but we thought we saw something way up in there. This was not good. Amy went to get the tweezers to see if we could get it out. Of course Austin wanted nothing to do with tweezers in his nose. Honestly, Amy and I weren't even sure if there was a raisin in there or not, but when we asked Austin how many raisins he put up his nose, his answer was 2. We tried using the tweezers, but Austin would not stay still for us to really get in there. Finally, we decided we needed to take him to an ER. We did not want to risk there being a raisin up there and an infection of some sort setting in. So, I got Austin dressed and went down to the receptionist to ask if there was an English speaking clinic or hospital nearby. She wrote the name of one down on a piece of paper in Chinese and told me it was about a 20 minute taxi ride. I decided to go back and tell Amy where we were heading. While I was gone, Amy had gotten online and found some "home remedies" via google for "raisin in the nose" (at least this means we aren't the first). It involved clogging the open nose with your finger and blowing a quick puff of breath into his mouth. So, I told Austin that Mommy was going to give him a kiss and in Amy went...and nothing. So I decided to take a turn...and still nothing (except snot). I then checked google again and found a direction that said to cover his mouth and blow into his open nostril....still nothing. I looked at google one more time and found an entry with "GROSS" in the title. It indicated to try sucking the object out of his nose. Now, I wouldn't usually do something like this, but I was not wanting to have to make an ER visit. So I grabbed his little nose and began sucking his nostril...and again nothing (except strange looks from Austin and Amy). At this point, we had no choice but to head to the hospital. So out Austin and I went (Amy and Abby reluctantly stayed behind) and about 20 minutes later we arrived at United Family Medical Center. I was excited to see the name in English. We entered and were immediately checked for fever. We then did all the normal check-in and financial paper work before seeing a nurse. Luckily, everyone spoke English and the hospital was very modern. Finally, the Doctor came in (who was an older American gentleman) and asked Austin what the problem was. After Austin told him, he said "let's hope we can get lucky". He then proceeded to look up his nose. He then turns to me and says, "I don't know if it's a raisin, but maybe a really nasty booger". Now, I about fell off the bed. I thought, if I just came to the ER and payed $365 (the cost of our visit) to have a nasty booger removed, I am going to die. The doctor then leaves the room and comes back with a long, skinny probe and said "I don't think Austin and I are going to be friends for long". He said he was hoping to get lucky but no such luck. I said, "you were hoping to use the blow technique, weren't you". He looked at me shocked and said "you must have other children" and I said "nope...Google". He was again surprised and said "there go's our secret". He said it wouldn't work on Austin because it was so deep and not completely blocking his passageway. So he laid Austin down and began to stick the probe in his nose. Then with a quick dive and a flick....out came a raisin onto the bed. I must say, I was really excited to see it was a raisin and not just a nasty booger. So with that, we headed out and got back in a taxi for our ride home. When we got back to the apartment, Amy and Abby were waiting on us and were more than excited to hear everything went ok. Of course it took a while for everyone to wind down and finally get to bed. Well, we made it 223 days before having to make our first ER trip. Luckily, it wasn't for anything major.