Monday, November 13, 2006

It’s Eric again; Kelly and Katie are taking a much-needed bath (well, Katie does) right now. We had a very long day. So I’ll start today’s entry.

We left at 8:30 am with 3 other families and babies (another family was supposed to go, but they have been beset by several illnesses during this trip, and had to cancel at the last minute) to travel 3.5 hours by bus to the city of Yangjiang along the coast just a few miles from the South China Sea. Its population is about 200,000 and seemed quite prosperous by Chinese standards. Yangjiang is where Katie’s orphanage is. Along the way we passed endless fish and duck ponds and wheat fields. There were many water buffalo in the fields. Once we got to Yangjiang, we stopped at a knife store. If you have any knives made in China, chances are they came from here, as the region is known for knife making. We stopped briefly at the orphanage then were whisked off to lunch with the orphanage directors at the best hotel restaurant in town (and believe me, it was really, really nice, even by U.S. standards). Lunch was traditional Cantonese fare (like most Chinese restaurants in the U.S.), but the best were the spare ribs. I don’t know what was in the sauce but it was fantastic.

Then we went back to the orphanage. Yangdong SWI is a five-story structure, housing about 50-60 babies and children. We were allowed to see two floors, and were able to peek inside the windows and doors, but were asked to take no pictures of babies. The rooms we saw had maybe 12 children each in them with about 20 metal cribs lined up next to each other. The older kids were sleeping, standing or playing directly on wood in the cribs, while the younger babies had thin mattresses. I was told that the ratio of nanny to child is about 1 to 5. It doesn’t look like they get outside to play in the grassy courtyard. They have recently completed an addition to the SWI, which will house the offices, laundry and kitchen, and the courtyard had been cleaned up dramatically since Sarah took pictures of Katie one month ago. The neighborhood surrounding the orphanage was pleasant, with many newer apartment buildings. The orphanage workers and directors seemed excited to see the babies, and they graciously prepared bottles to feed the babies for lunch. Katie absolutely lit up when the Director came toward her with a bottle (with a really funky nipple with a HUGE hole in the top), and she greedily sucked down the pudding-thick formula she was given. Then she cried for more. The formula was about 3 times thicker than how we had been mixing it, so we asked them to explain exactly how they mixed it up. Turns out we were doing it wrong.

On the way back on the bus, Katie was throwing herself over backward and laughing. Our guide made the comment that she was like a monkey and like a boy. I’m not sure Kelly needed to hear that, as we already have three monkey-boys. We also had many interesting conversations with our guide about politics, business, etc. I then asked her if, in China, it was permissible for parents to spank their children and, if so, on what part of the body. She looked at me like I was crazy. I thought maybe Chinese parents never use corporal punishment. She then told me that a hand was small and that a stick or ruler or belt is better and that Chinese parents are very strict and that children fear their parents. I guess my boys should be thanking me about now.

Overall it was a very emotional and tiring day for all of us.

Before I hand off to Kelly, I would like to add that we really appreciate all the comments in the guest book section from friends, relatives and co-workers. We get up every morning to check the new entries. We don’t have time to respond but please know that we read and enjoy them all. They are one of our links to the outside world. The others are CNN (I couldn’t stand watching Wolf Blitzer on election night) and The China Daily which is an English language newspaper. We also get ESPN but it usually shows soccer (no offense Kyle) or ping-pong or badminton. Of course we use the Internet and, so far, I haven’t noticed any signs of censorship. P.S. just after I typed this I turned on the TV and there was a Pistons vs. Lakers basketball game complete with Chinese play-by-play announcers. ---Eric

Kelly here… I can’t add too much to Eric’s overview of the day. I will say that it took about an hour to get out of Guangzhou and it’s suburbs, then we drove for another two and a half hours through the China countryside. It’s a shame that the haze is so thick; because I’m sure we missed some gorgeous scenery. We took lots of pictures and video, but I’m sure neither will do the area justice.