Today was a really fun day:) I woke up at about 5:30 am though, and I was wide awake! I got on my computer quietly and tried to upload some pictures to email to my mom, but the internet is so slow here, that I’m still, as I type at 8 at night, trying to upload them. Hopefully they will be sent tonight!
We went down to breakfast at 7:30 so we could leave for the orphanage at around 8:30. Breakfast was good. We had some sort of dumplings, pumpkin bread, fried banana, fried rice, more chicken feet (though I did not eat some today), and even a donut type pastry, which we all awed over and quickly ordered more. Lily’s nephew, Kerry, stayed the night with her last night and at breakfast showed us the huge bug he had caught. We were all so worried it was going to get lose in the hotel room!
After breakfast we went to the orphanage and met the older kids in a room upstairs. They were all playing and watching spongebob on their tv. We brought out the bubbles which were a HUGE hit with them. They all loved them so much. We brought one of those huge wands that you dip into the plate and wave around and big bubbles come out and the kids thought it was the coolest thing. All of them loved it. They ended up making a huge sticky mess all over the floor which had to be mopped up. Haha.
Katie played soccer with the kids outside with the soccer balls she’d brought for them, and apparently they all had a fantastic time. I stayed up in the infant room and helped out a little bit with holding some of them while they cried.
After that I went downstairs to the older kids where they were doing some sort of sing-song thing. They sang us a song of their “gratitude” for coming here. Haha. It was really cute. Then we took out the foam picture frames that Susan had brought them to decorate with stickers and such and they all did a craft. While they did that a little boy (about 10) brought me over to a table to show me his drawings. He took off my silly bandz (shaped rubber bracelets) and wanted me to trace them. He then drew pictures of flowers, and him and Lily and a house. He was such a cute boy. He noticed me taking pictures of him and I showed him the ones I’d taken and he was fascinated (as are all the kids when they see them) and he went around with me taking pictures ALL over the room… of EVERYthing he could think of… and about 10 pictures of the same thing. He thought it was the coolest thing!
One of the team members brought out all their little jump ropes they had brought and the kids tried that and Charlie and I got the longer, double ones and they all enjoyed those. The nannies thought they were really fun too. They enjoyed them a lot.
By that time it was time for lunch so we headed out to a noodle restaurant. The food there was very good… everyone enjoyed it. So far I don’t think any of us (except for Hannah, the 5 year old) has had trouble eating any of the food here. Everything is really good. Spicy sometimes, but still good.
We went back to our hotel during our break and killed some time playing card games with Carissa, Elyssa, Charlie, Molli, and Kerry (though it was a little hard explaining to him, being Chinese, how to play the games).
Back at the orphanage Elyssa, Charlie, and I went up to the baby room but they weren’t there because they were all sleeping. So we went across the hall to the infants and held all the crying babies we could. Most of them cry just because they want attention because the nannies can’t hold them all. It’s really quite sad because when you pick one up some of the others see you and start to fuss. One of the babies didn’t want me to put her down. She was very hot because they didn’t have the fans blowing, just one of the AC units on, but that wasn’t enough to keep the room even close to cool. All the babies seem to have a pretty bad cough. It was so sad because as I held her she would cough and it sounded horrible, and she hated it so much she wanted to cry every time. She was so precious though, I just wanted to take her home! (mom, dad.. can I? ;))
I went back downstairs and when I got there the 10 year old (I’m not allowed to say his name) came up to me and showed me all the "tattoos" that some of the team members had put on him. He was so excited about them. He took me around and showed me all his favorite toys and we played ball a little bit. He again took my silly bandz off and showed everyone and all the kids thought it was amazing. So we took out the packages of silly bandz we’d brought to give to the kids and they all loved them! I’m not sure the nannies knew what they were because they took them and started putting pony tails into the little girl’s (and even some of the boys!) hair!
Bliss had left some small containers of bubbles downstairs that the kids took out and played with some more. One little girl needed help with hers so I held the wand and she ended up blowing them into my face and I shook my head and she started dying laughing she thought it was hilarious. I stuck the wand back into the bubbles and shook it up like crazy and she couldn’t stop laughing at it, so when it came time to blow the wand, she couldn’t because she was laughing too hard. It was the cutest thing. Most of the older kids are just absolutely crazy and just love to go wild, but they all have such unique personalities that it makes it all so much fun.
After that it was time for us to leave so we walked back to the hotel and Charlie and I went with Katie and Susan to the supermarket right next to our hotel. We got some sort of cool Tropicana fruit drinks that I haven’t seen in the US but are really good and some candy:). The supermarket is really cool, and it was really fun to explore.
We came back to the hotel and just hung around and then we went out to dinner. We ate at the restaurant where we ate lunch, and all the food was very good, again. We just got back into the hotel and I’m about to go and get ready for bed and go to sleep. I’m very, very tired today after being up at 5:30. Hopefully I’ll get a better sleep tonight!
I just tried to send my mom the pictures through email I got one back saying they couldn’t deliver it:(. I tried a few times, but I won’t go through. So, unfortunately I won’t be able to post pictures while I’m here. Such a bummer! But I will when I get home for sure! And possibly when we're in Beijing.
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