I took tons of pictures but I've narrowed it down to a few for now - I will add the bulk of them when I get home since I can't actually get on facebook here.
Yesterday, I woke up at 6 am wide awake and could not get back to sleep. So I decided to stay up. My roommate, Marsha, was awake too so we got up and got ready. We all met down in the hotel lobby area for breakfast at 8 am. Chifeng is not as much a tourist town as Beijing so breakfast here is VERY different. It resembled a dinner and I was 3/4 through the line with an empty plate cause not much was looking appetizing. There were chicken feet and pig skins - so yeah, I didn't try those. They did have cocoa crispies but the milk is hot - so that was interesting. I was happy to discover a guy making omelets and I got some scrambled eggs. I also had coffee, some fruit and I tried the cereal with hot milk. We had morning devotional in our team leaders room at 8:30 and prayed for our day. Frank brought a big bag with these cool bouncy balls that when you bounce them - they light up with flashing colors. We took those to the orphanage.
The orphanage is not far from the hotel which is really nice. It took about 15 minutes to get there and when we pulled out - we were all really surprised at how big and nice the orphanage is. There was a team who came here 2 years ago and Lily was their guide too. She said there were some new things since last time - I think she said the outdoor playground equipment was new. The orphanage director had come to the hotel to meet us and when we got there, she gave us a tour around the building. It's several story building with classrooms, a large playroom area that has some rehab equipment, a room where they keep the kids sick with a cold and are equipped to put IV's in them with antibiotics. It is a very nice place. I took a few pictures of the rooms where the kids sleep - you can see stuffed animals on the bed - Lily said the last team gave those to them (I will add those pics later). A lot of the kids at this orphanage are in school so we won't get to meet them until Saturday and Sunday. So the ones that we are seeing the first few days are either really young, sick or have special needs. When we got here - a 15 year old boy came out to greet us and was all smiles. He remembered Lily and told her that he misses her everyday and was so happy to see her again. After getting a tour and peeking in to some of the rooms, we got to go in and play with the sick kids - most of them were younger kids. They were so cute - several babies, and a handful of toddlers. A few of the little girls immediately walked up to us and started handing us cards and toys. She'd go around and hand them to everyone and then come back around and take them back and give them to someone else. It was cute. We got to hold babies and love on kids. A sweet photo here of Marsha with one of the babies - that little one just snuggled right up in her arms. So precious. There is also a great one of Christine with a little one in her arms and they are both laughing. The little girl I was most drawn to was a little girl who I was told is about 2 year old - there's a picture of her here with the ball in front of her. And another shot of Bella holding her (and Sammie holding one of the other kids). When we got there, she was laying on this little bed and I couldn't tell if she was ok or not. Plus the bed had wet spots so I wasn't sure if I should pick her up. A caregiver came over a few minutes later and changed her diaper and then I gestured to her if I could pick her up. She picked her up and handed her to me and she immediately began crying. She wanted nothing to do with me. So I handed her back to the caregiver and she stopped crying. Later, Bella was able to pick her up - she cried at first and then stopped - she still looked skeptical but didn't seem as upset as she was when I tried to hold her. Later on, one of the older girls who lives there and helps out put her in a little kid chair with arms on each side and scooted her up to table. I found a ball and started rolling it back and forth to her and she started to relax a lot more and I even got her to smile and laugh. There are a lot of special needs children at this orphanage with various physical problems ranging from cleft palette to missing limbs to down syndrome . This little girl has something wrong with her hands - she had to use her arms to hit the ball - she couldn't really use her hands. It almost looks like her arms have grown wrong - sort of twisted. But she was doing a great job gripping the ball with her arms and batting it back to me. She'd smile and I'd clap and say "yay". It was so precious. She is a beautiful little girl. I was sad when they came and told us we had to go to lunch and then leave for nap time. Most of the time while we were in that room - there was tons of picture taking happening. A few older girls were in there and they loved having their picture taken. And then they'd want to see it and want to take more. The younger kids loved that too. There was one little boy who was in a walker and he would just cry and cry - tears would just pour out of his little eyes - it would break your heart but when you'd try to pick him up, he would cry more. Until Frank came over - he picked him up and held him and he totally stopped crying. It was the sweetest thing ever.
Lily came and told us it was time for lunch and we were eating at the orphanage. Originally she had said we'd go eat out somewhere while the kids were napping but that plan changed. I must admit, I was pretty nervous about it as to what the food might be. Of course, you don't want to be rude when you are offered food and it would be unpolite not to eat it. But we were all pleasantly surprised - they made two kind of dumplings - one was with kale in it and the other just plain. I figured it was a safe bet to stick to the plain ones. I'm glad I did cause the others who tried the kale filled ones said it was not their favorite. They also gave us greens and some tofu stuff that was in long strips sort of like noodles. That was pretty good. And my favorite was these soy beans that had like salt and some kind of marinade on them and were baked - they were yummy and crispy. I put some in my plain dumpling and that was good.
After we ate, we had to leave so the kids could nap. We headed back to the hotel and I checked my email and a few of the girls used my laptop to check theirs. And then I took a short nap.
We went back around 2:30 and spent the afternoon with the children with special needs. They were a blast - they were so excited to play with us. And Frank brought out the light-up colorful balls that glow and flash light when you bounce them and those were a huge hit. After about 15 minutes of playing in the classroom, the staff suggested we take them down to the big playroom. That was a much better idea. Most of the kids came down with us to the big room. It was really hot in there - like a sunroom. A lot of the kids had sweaters on and after awhile, finally did take them off. I had leggins on under my pants and had to take them off. We had so much fun bouncing balls and playing on all the toys in there. The kids love Lily - she would roll a ball back and forth with this one boy for the longest time through this rainbow tunnel thing. They had so much fun. THere were giant balls in there that bounced. And a little swing thing and these little boats that rocked back and forth like a teeter totter. Time flew by in there - we really had a ton of fun and so did the kids. It was perfect. Later, they brought a few of the kids down who had been in the sick room with us earlier and they got to play with us too. We took tons of photos - it is hard to narrow it down for the blog. I've chosen a few to help illustrate what I'm talking about. These kids are amazing - so full of joy. What a wonderful day we had with them.
We had to leave at 5pm. We came back to the hotel for 30 minutes and then walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner. Seems like every meal gets better than the last. We've had great food here - Lily is the master at ordering yummy food for us to try. We had a yummy breaded chicken, beef with veggies, tofu in like a soup type boiling dish, pork and this interesting dessert that was made out of corn and had fruit chunks in it and sugar. And this time, we had Pepsi to drink. Delicious meal!
We came back to the hotel, met for a debrief as a team - we shared stories and best moments of the day - and then we all headed to our rooms to get some rest. I couldn't get online for some reason so after trying for about 30 minutes, I decided to just go to bed. I got a good rest and woke up bright and early today at 6am.
All in all - our first day yesterday at the orphanage was amazing. And the best part is that we get to see these kids again for 4 more days. Saturday and Sunday, we are taking all the kids on outings. I guess there is a nearby park that we can take them to. This will be special for them as they do not go out often. I think we are also taking them to either KFC or McDonald's to eat too. Yes, they have those here. Although, I have a feeling it'll be totally different than the ones back home. We'll see. Those outtings will also include the school kids that we haven't met yet. Some of the school happens at the orphanage and we have seen some of the kindergarten kids in the hallways as they walk to their classrooms - they are adorable. We are not sure which ones are the ones who live here as some of the neighborhood kids come there for school and some are the kids who actually live there. We will find out on Saturday when we meet them.
Please pray for good weather Saturday and Sunday so we can indeed take the kids to the park. Lily said there was supposed to be a bad sand storm here today but it never happened - it is sunny and nice out. Sounds like the favor of the Lord to me:)
The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail. Get busy.
The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail. Get busy.
1 comment:
I'm so glad your first day was great! As I was reading your blog I saw myself there bouncing the ball through the tunnel, HOW FUN IS THAT! I need that in my yard. I hope your days continue to be wonderful with these sweet children.
Post a Comment