A Very Busy Day!

Here we are on our way home from our trip to the orphanage. The girls were both so tired that they fell asleep within minutes of driving down the street. I have to say that it's most definitely a leap of faith every time we get into a car, van or bus! There are no car seats and many of the vans don't have seat belts either. It's really quite extraordinary, especially when watching the way people drive! Many intersections have no street lights or stop signs, cars just drive through at will. I'm still trying to figure out the traffic patterns, but have not had any luck. The one thing I have noticed is that if the driver is honking, that means they have no intention of stopping, so you better get out of their way - this applies to pedestrians too, so you have to be very careful when crossing the street!
Our trip to the orphanage went very well. It is, of course, not the Ritz Carlton, but as orphanages go, I was incredibly impressed. I can't post any pictures because that is against policy and would violate the children's privacy that live there. I asked our guide if all of the orphanages were this nice and she laughed at me. Then she said that the director had been there many years and he was very resourceful. The room that Terra slept in was a dark room with lots of metal cribs (perhaps 10 or so). There was also two playrooms that were nicely equipped and very clean - I believe that was for our benefit, they knew we were coming for a tour. We also saw and outdoor courtyard with a merry-go-round and climber. The side of the orphanage with the older children was very impressive! It had a computer lab, therapy room (we were told that 2 physical therapists come to work with the children) and a couple of playrooms.
When we first walked into the orphanage, Terra's nanny immediately took her out of my arms. Terra didn't smile, but seemed content to be with her. When another nanny picked her up, she started to cry and reached for me. I was so happy that I was the one she wanted to come back to and not her nanny! She stayed in my arms for the rest of the time and was very serious, no smiles at all. I put her down to see her friends, we were introduced to her two best friends and took pictures of the three girls together, but she would not let go and didn't even smile when she saw them. We had a nice tour and then went into a conference room to meet with the director. He gave us gifts for Jorie and Terra! He asked if we had any questions about Terra, so we asked if they had any special memories or stories they could tell us about her time there. Her nanny's response was that Terra is an incredibly smart little girl that never liked to be put down! The nanny said that Terra cried every time she put her down and always wanted to be held. She also said that she would push away the other children when they tried to get hugs from the nanny! It sounded quite a lot like our current status! The director invited us to stay for lunch, so we politely accepted. There was a special table set for us in another room and we sat down for a very interesting meal. Jorie was pleased to see that they had made french fries especially for her! The main dish came out and it was fish. Our guide spent a lot of time explaining to us how this was the most expensive fish to buy and it was quite an honor that they had prepared the fish for us to eat. Those of you that know me well, know that I do not eat seafood and if the seafood is served to me with the head still attached, that's an even bigger problem! I debated in my head which would be more offensive to our extremely kind host - to politely decline the fish or to eat the fish and run the risk of being sick right there at the table. I opted for the former and hoped it wouldn't cause too much trouble. Most of the talk at the table was in Chinese, so I really don't know if they were talking about me or not, but I prefer to think that they weren't. Jeff did eat the fish and said it was delicious, he even had seconds. Those of you that know Jeff, know that he doesn't eat seafood either, so it was a bit of a stretch for him to try it in the first place. At the end of our lunch, Jeff said a heart-felt thank you to the director for his hospitality and for taking such wonderful care of our little girl. I think I saw his eyes well up with tears, but I can't be completely sure. :) After lunch, it was time to head back to the hotel.

Once we got back to the hotel, we had a little time to rest. We went back to the store to pick up our dresses and Jorie insisted on trying on her fancy Christmas dress and shoes - gotta love those turquoise socks, I think they really make the outfit! She loves her fancy dress and I do too! I'm so impressed with how the dresses came out and I can't wait to see my shirt - it wasn't ready yet this afternoon and we didn't have time to go back this evening.

We did a little sight seeing this evening, before it started to rain on us, which cut the sight seeing short. Here we are at People's Park. It's a really beautiful park filled with people. There was one section of the park that was exercise equipment for adults! It was so neat to see all of the adults out at the park exercising together. We saw a lot of people playing badminton and one man practicing tennis by hitting a ball that was attached to a really long elastic and the elastic was tied around a brick on the ground. He hit the ball and when the ball hit the end of the elastic, it bounced back at him - pretty creative!
After the park, we had dinner at a beautiful restaurant nearby. It was a little surreal to walk into the restaurant and hear Celine Dion singing, the second song was Unchained Melody - so it must have been a mixed tape of some sort. During dinner, we saw a live performance of dancers. There were several different types of dancing - one traditional dance with fans, one hip-hop dance and one dance done by two girls that were able to move their bodies into positions that no human should be able to do! Terra and Jorie both loved the show and Jorie even went right up to sit on the edge of the stage and watch. By the time we got back from dinner, it was 8 PM and we were all exhausted. The rest of the family is sound asleep and it's time for me to say good-night too!
This is a picture of Terra's Christening gown. It's so beautiful that I had to post a picture for everyone to see. We bought a matching hat and shoes to go with it - I can't wait to see her all dressed up!
'Til next time...