Week One and Two in London

After departing Paris at 11:00pm in the evening, going through UK/France border control (it was intense, drug dogs and everything) boarding a ferry and crossing over, I finally landed in London at 7:30 in the morning on September 29th.  I walked to my hotel to pick up the luggage I had left and meandered my way over to the Hampden house, my residence for the next three months.

I don't have pictures....but I'm sure I'll take some eventually.  The girls got the flat in the basement, fully furnished with four bedrooms and three and a half baths for seven girls.  The first day I used to settle in, so I didn't do too much.  It's weird because moving to London didn't feel like I was in a different country, it just felt like I was in a new city.

The next day we had lunch with the entire FSP.  I found out we actually don't have class till Thursday, which left the entire week to do whatever we wanted.

On Tuesday the FSP went to the Shakespeare Globe Theater and watched Taming of the Shrew.

On Wednesday we took a campus tour

On Thursday we had our first class

On Saturday we went to Tate Modern and the London Eye and watched the sunset

Week 2:

We had our first week of class, and our first paper due.  Yay!!!! I'm taking War in the 21st Century, The European Union, and a class about Memory, War, and Nationalism.  

On Monday I got to go to Westminster Abby for free!! I watched the evening choir and got to tour the Abby without other tourists, just a group of LSE students.  It was amazing!

On the weekend we went on a scavenger hunt...and we won tickets to Selfridges Fashion Show + goodie bag.  Yay!

Versailles Pictures

As promised

Stirling, Edinburgh, London, Rome, and Paris...In 3that order (Part 2)

LONDON/ROME Day 4

The next morning was mostly us trying to get to the airport. By the end of the day, we were in Rome.  We spent the evening wandering around Trevi Fountain, and eating gelato.

Trevi fountain a night.  We found it, I thought it wasn't Trevi (for some reason I thought Trevi was the four rivers) so we went around looking for it only to come back. lol

ROME Day 5

We spent most of the day at Vatican City.  We went to St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums.

The Pieta!!! Apparently some crazy Australian in the late 1990's attacked it and broke parts of it.  Now it's behind glass.

School of Athens!  My favourite Raphael!  

Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures of the Sistine Chapel, but that didn't stop some people. -_-  People need to learn to respect sacred places.  Needless to say, the Sistine Chapel was amazing, and I wish I could have spent all day looking at the paintings (though my neck would probably hurt afterwards).

In the evening we went to the Piazza Venezia,Piazza del Popolo, and the Spanish steps.

 Piazza Venezia

 Spanish Steps

ROME Day 6

We woke up early so we could beat the line at to see the Roman Forum, the Palatino, and the Colosseum.  We even got to go on the lower floor of the Colosseum.  We also went to the Pantheon and Piazza Novona.  At night we wandered around Trevi Fountain again.

Arch of Titus at the Roman Forum!!

Colosseum!  We got to go to the lower levels and the third levels. 

Pantheon

The Four Rivers fountain.  For some reason I always thought it was bigger than in real life.  Still amazing though.

Rome was so amazing, because I finally got to put all my AP art history to use.  Seeing all of the ancient architecture and the amazing art was truly a once in a lifetime experience (that is unless I come back).

ROME/PARIS Day 7

Alas, it was time to leave Rome and head to Paris.  We woke up at 4 in the morning to go catch a bus to the airport. By 1pm, we were settled in Paris and off to the museum Rodin.  His most famous art is the thinker.  (He made many different copies of the thinker)

It started to rain, and we got soaked, so we headed back to where we were staying.

At 6pm it was still raining, but we headed off to the Eiffel tower because I had already booked tickets.  It was raining when we made it to the top, but it stopped after 30 minutes, giving us a chance to take some pictures. :)

We're at the tippy top.  Ah!  The beautiful Paris sunset.

Eiffel Tower all lit up

PARIS Day 8

The Louvre!!! One of the days I was most looking forward to. We spent the majority of the day there.  However afterwards we visited Saint Chapelle (one of my favorite cathedrals) and Notre Dame. 

The Famous Louvre Pyramid.  Designed by a Chinese-American artist, I. M. Pei.

 Victory of Samothrace! My favorite statue.  (I seem to have a lot of favorites.)

 Hmm...what's that behind us?  Let's get a closer look...

 Why, it's the Mona Lisa.  

 Saint Chapelle.  The beautiful blue ceilings with the little golden patterns make it look like the night sky, contrasting with the breathtakingly intricate stain glass.

Notre Dame. Unfortunately, we did not see the Hunchback. 

PARIS Day 9

It was the last day of our European adventure.  We decided to take it slow and relax for a bit, especially since we've been so busy for the past week.  We had a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower and just wandered around our area before Eric had to catch his plane back to the US.  I had lots of time before my night bus to London, so I went off to Versailles for one last tourist stop. 

Versailles pictures coming later...blogger doesn't want to load them.

Stirling, Edinburgh, London, Rome, and Paris...in that order (Part 1)

I'm finally settling into London (still having phone problems, but I'll iron it out by tomorrow night.  Phones are dumb).  

So I thought I'd share you some stories and highlights of the past two weeks:

Before I even arrived in Scotland, I had a very strange encounter.  I was at the Newark airport, waiting for my flight when I noticed a women who looked curiously like my friend's (the one I was visiting in Scotland) mother.  She didn't seem to recognize me, and I thought that Alex would have told me if she was on the same flight as me, but she looked JUST like her.

Well, it turns out it was her.  It's a small world.

SCOTLAND Day 1

When I (and Alex's Mom) arrived in Edinburgh, it was 7:30 am the next day and unusually rainy. *sarcasm*.  I was then whisked away to Sterling by Alex's Grandparents, who drove Alex to meet me.  

I hadn't had much sleep on the plane, but I wanted to see the town, so Alex and I took off in the dreary rain for some coffee, and a trip to the historical jail. (A very cheery start).  

We also visited the graveyard near Stirling Castle, but it became too rainy, so we retired to the flat to have a lovely afternoon of being bums.  

SCOTLAND Day 2

The next day I went off to Stirling Castle by myself while Alex filled the empty space in his head with knowledge, and when I mean that I mean he went to class.  Afterwards, we took the train to Edinburgh, where we visited Edinburgh Castle, Mary King's Close, which is the underground foundation of Edinburgh.

Stirling Castle 

Yes, a women's place was certainly not in the kitchen.  Found this on a informational sign in Stirling Castle.  :)

Some of my pictures seemed to have disappeared.  I had a lot of Edinburgh Castle and Mary King's Close, but they must have accidentally been erased.

At eleven I took the night bus to London, where I would meet up with Eric.

LONDON Day 3

I arrived at the hotel early in the morning, while Eric arrived about an hour later.  We had a relaxing first day and went to Buckingham Palace's Mews (where they keep the royal coaches and cars) and the Queen's Gallery (where there was an exhibit on Leonardo DaVinci).  We unfortunately missed the changing of the guards, and tickets for the actual Buckingham palace sold out.  We were able to visit one of the smaller churches though and Westminster Abby (we didn't go inside.) 

A beautiful carriage, fit for royalty

 Da Vinci's pictures

Westminster

I'm still missing a lot of photos.  No good. :(

In the evening we wandered around Chinatown.  

Continued in the next post....eventually

Not there yet...

As you can see by my change in background, I am going to London.  I actually haven't even left the apartment in Boston.  But two hours from now I will be....stuck in an airport.  And then I will take the long arduous flight over to....New Jersey... and wait there for four more hours.  But finally, after 8 or so hours of being stuck in America, I will take off for Edinburgh, to meet Alex, my favorite Scottish friend. (Hi, Alex!)  I'll also be traveling with my boyfriend, Eric for two weeks.  We'll be hitting up London, Rome, and Paris.  After galavanting across Europe, I'll begin my studies at the London School of Economics where I will take three government classes.

Even though this blog was originally meant for my six-month stay in China, my family wanted to keep tabs on me with a new blog.  So I revamped  this blog to be London appropriate (a.k.a. changed the background picture).  The name no longer makes much sense (If I were any farther away I would still, in fact, be farther away), but I still like the sentiment so I'm keeping the title.  In a way, traveling farther away does make me closer....to my goals? self discovery?  At least something of the sort.  Well...it makes me physically closer to China.

Well, I need to finish packing.  Wish me luck!  And see you soon. :)

An Adoption Story

Two days ago, an older woman and a little two-year-old girl arrived at the orphanage.  We were told they were going to be sleeping in our room for a couple of days.  I was confused at first, but like most times of confusion, I just went along with it.

The next day, I asked around, and discovered that this little girl was from another orphanage, but was born in Zhengzhou.  They came to apply for a passport, because she was going to be adopted by an American family in a month. 


Of course, I don't think the little girl understood any of this, or what exciting adventure was around the corner for her.  She just knew that she was in an unfamiliar place, with unfamiliar people, but that her ayi (who she called mama) was with her, and that made it ok.  "Zamen bu pa," she would repeat whenever she was scared.  "We are not afraid."  


Before she goes to America, I wonder if her ayi will remind her of this mantra.  I wonder if the Ayi will need a mantra of her own.  "Zamen bu shangxin." "We are not sad."

I think being here has shown me that there's another side to the adoption story.  A couple adopts a child and they live happily ever after.  The End.  But there's also an ayi, or a teacher, or a director, or a volunteer, who is so happy that this child is getting this amazing opportunity for a new life, but is also extremely heartbroken that they will probably never see this child again.

Before they left to go back to their own orphanage, the ayi told the child to say, "qu meiguo yi hou, wo zhao ni."  "When I go to America, I will look for you."  

I doubt that will happen, but it's a nice thought.

Warm weather and apple pie

Friday was such a nice day that the kids took a period off from class to go outside and play.  The children rarely get to leave the building, so they were pretty excited.

On Saturday, Flick and I made tenderloin sandwiches and homemade fries for the Lauries.  It was fun being able to cook, since I haven't really been able to for six months.  It was so weird having tenderloin in China.  "Down-home cooking", as Donna called it. :) Marissa also made apple pie, and Donna had made chocolate cookies, so it really felt like America.

Also, this weekend, I went over to the Eagle Wing's baby house with the Lauries.  One of the babies was going to get adopted the next day, so they went to say goodbye and help prepare for the big day.  Another girl is going to America next week too.  It's so exciting seeing kids being adopted, and also really interesting to see it from the view of the other side.

I only have five days left at the orphanage!  It's so weird.  Trying to make the most of it and preparing for goodbyes.

So, till then,
Goodbye!

Lantern Festival!!

On Monday, fifteen days after Chinese New Year is the Lantern Festival, the last day of celebration.  I was lucky enough to be invited to go with the 8^th floor kids to the park to see the lanterns.  I rarely get to hang out with the eight floor kids, since most of them go to public school.  There are six kids on the 8^th floor, and most of them are actually orphans, meaning their parents died. 

At the park, long lines colorful paper ran along two poles on either side of the square.  Written on the paper were riddles that people would try and solve to win prizes.  Firecrackers went off every few seconds, ranging from small sparklers to explosive noisemakers and colorful fireworks.  People also lit bright red lanterns that floated into the sky like hot air balloons.  The sky was full of the imposter stars. 

Over all, it was a fun night, and it was nice hanging out with the eighth floor kids.  Unfortunately, my camera died as soon as we got in the bike cart (we took an electric bike cart like the one from new year's camp).  Fortunately, Liu Ting, my roommate who went along with us, took some picture on her phone.  Sorry the quality is bad. 

Fireworks!

Decorations 

 One of the kids and I

Also this week, two local newspapers interviewed me about my stay here.  A little strange, but it was a great way to practice my Chinese!  They just asked me basic stuff; why was I here, where was I from, yadda yadda. 

I only have one and a half weeks here at the orphanage and two weeks left in China!!! (I’m going to Zhengzhou on my last weekend and in Beijing for one and a half days before finally heading out.)  I also realized I never really described an “average” day here at the orphanage.

So I’ll tell you now! 

The problem with describing an average day is that from the first day I’ve been here to now is completely different.  The first two weeks I wasted away on the second and third floors, trying to play with toddlers and babies who weren’t allowed out of their cribs.  Depending on which Ayi was there, I would sometimes be able to hold them or play with them in the unused playroom, but mostly I would just try and comfort them when they were crying or play with their hands.  It was pretty miserable. 

After the first two weeks I was allowed up to the fifth floor where I could teach the older kids.  When the Harvard students were here we all took turns teaching/playing with the kids in the physical therapy room/ toddler room/ 2^nd and 3^rd floors.  Since the Harvard students left I rarely have time to go to the physical therapy room or the 2^nd and 3^rd floors. 

So for the past two or three weeks, excluding my time helping out with the New Year’s camps, I’d start my day at 7 and go down to the cafeteria for delicious mantou (steamed bread), zhou (rice porridge, a.k.a. congee) and whatever vegetable was offered that day.  At 8 I’d go down to the 5^th floor and prepare for whatever class I had that day.  It varies from day to day.  I teach English, Art, and Music to three different classes.  The older class has kids six kids from the tenth floor ages 10-13.  The younger classes has about five kids ages 4-9, and the middle class has about five to six kids ages 8-13.  The middle class younger class has a mix of kids from tenth floor and 3^rd floor.  If there’s no class, I’ll hang out with the toddlers (made up from kids from the 2^nd and 3^rd floor), sit in on a class to observe, or go to the 2^nd and 3^rd floor. 

At 11:15 I’ll wash up and go eat.  I have a break 2.  (I’ll usually do things on the computer, study Chinese, fill out scholarship apps, Skype, or sleep).  From 2 till 4:30 I’m back on the fifth floor, and at 5 I go eat supper.  After supper I go up to the 10^th floor to do art projects, or just hang out, with the tenth floor kids till around 7.  On Sundays I hang out with the kids all day, using the same time schedule as the rest of the week.  I usually have lunch with the tenth floor kids on Sundays, instead of at the cafeteria.  Saturday is my day.  I’ve recently been going over to Donna’s house for game night and western food.

And that’s a normal week for me.  Here are some random pictures from New Years and this week to end off the blog post:

Xia Lan and You Peng dancing

 From the New Year's camp.  I look like a local

 Kites from the Park we went to at the New Year's camp. this is the same park I went to for the Lantern Festival

 Celebrating New Years with lots of food and tv specials. :)

I'm really lazy...

Ok, I promised I'd post pictures on the next post, but Donna commented on my last post and gave me SUCH an easy way out of it. Thanks, Donna!!  Her pictures are from several different sources, and they're probably much better than what I took (actually I think a couple were mine, but all the others were much better.)   So I'm directing you all to look at Donna's blog and all of her wonderful pictures of the New Year's Camp.

http://eagleswingschina.blogspot.com/

Definitely check her blog, and support Eagle Wings (the group I worked with last week and the group in charge of the tenth floor kids I work for).  Also, watch the video on the top of the blog, it's awesome!

:D

Chinese New Years Camp and probably the best week here in China

After saying goodbye to the last Harvard student, I was yet again alone...but not for long.  First things first, Chinese New Year on Sunday, which I celebrated with the tenth floor kids.  We had firecrackers, the New Year's Eve Special, lots of fruit, nuts, and candy (YouPeng had so much he threw up), and staying up till midnight(YouPeng couldn't keep awake and fell asleep on me, must have been all that candy...).  Though it wasn't a traditional Chinese New Year, it was definitely fun.

I probably shouldn't have stayed up so late, since the next morning I headed out to an apartment complex near Dennis Supermarket where I would be helping Flick, one of the Australian volunteers, put on a Chinese New Years Camp for the kids.

This week, I worked with a whole new set of kids.  The ages also range from the age of 3 to 14, but they lived in a very different, and also better, environment than the orphanage.  There disabilities were also very different.  In general, the kids were a lot younger, but their disabilities less severe (in certain aspects).  The first day was crazy, with only two of us and 19 kids, we were running all over the place trying to run things on schedule.  We played with uncooked rice and colored in the morning, and did dragon projects in the afternoon.  The second day, we made jiaozi and watched Mulan II, along with more craft projects.  On Wednesday, three volunteers from Zhengzhou arrived to help us out.  We did some more craft projects like play-doh and watched Monsters Inc.  Thursday morning, XiaoGuang brought the tenth floor kids from the orphanage over to play.  I was so happy to see them again (only three days and I started missing them!)  It was also really strange to see them with the kids I just recently met.  To make a bad pokemon reference, it was like the tenth floor kids were the original 150 pokemon, and the new kids were the second generation, and suddenly they were all interacting together!  ......yah, really bad reference.  What I mean to say is that, up till that time, these kids felt like separate parts of my life (which I guess is strange, since they all are part of the same orphanage) and suddenly the two parts of my life were being smashed together.

Thursday also was our chance to go outside, so we got to make kites and went to the park.  The weather was amazing It was pure chaos trying to get all of the kids from point A to point B.  I ended up driving a bike cart full of wheelchairs to the park.  At the park all of the chinese people were staring at us like we were some sort of grand spectacle.  They kept getting closer and closer to the kids, so we had to scare them off a couple of times.  Some of them sneakily stuffed fruit and money into the bags we brought, as a "donation".  I thought it was really weird.  I kept thinking, "Thanks for your leftover oranges.  I hope you feel super warm and fuzzy inside."  I'm sure their intentions were well meant, but how they just forced these donations on us like we were some sort of entertainment show and they were giving us tips felt really insulting.  Besides that, I had a great day.  It was probably one of the top days in China.  Friday was equally as exciting, starting with making lanterns and having a lantern parade outside and ending with playing games and face painting in the afternoon.  I was so sad it was over!

This week was definitely my busiest and most fulling week here in Jiaozuo.  This was what I had envisioned when coming over here; working with kids and actually doing activities with them.  I was able to do this to a certain degree with the tenth floor kids, but it was a lot less structured than this week, and I had a lot less man-power and supplies to work with.

Overall, this post does not describe fully enough how amazing this camp has been, because I'm too exhausted to find the words to express my feelings.  Sorry!  However, just trust me that these kids the volunteers(aka. Donna and her kids) are the most inspiring people I've every met, and I'm definitely going to try and return.

Pictures to come in the next post!!!!

American Meal and Questions Answered

After a long week two of the Harvard students are gone, leaving only Laura and I.  However, today I do not want to talk about them; I want to talk about my meal with Donna.


Donna invited I and the other two Harvard students (Sabrina had already left :( ) to her house on Saturday for their weekly Game Night.  I was excited to get some questions answered about how the orphanage was run and the adoption process.  I also wanted to know about her and what her program does.  


We found her apartment easily enough, and chatted with Flick and Ali why Donna prepared food.  (Flick and Ali also always went to Game Night.)  Donna lived with her three adopted daughters and two foster children from the orphanage.  As cheesy as it sounds, I could feel the love and warmth in the air.  


The dinner was fantastic (first western, home-cooked meal since I left home) and the information I learned was fascinating.  


So here is what I learned:


On the structure of the orphanage:
So I don't know if I described how the orphanage was laid out before, but here is what I found out:


1st floor-still a little unclear, I'll have to ask Donna about that next Saturday.  I've seen older children (around 8 years of age or so) crawling around on the floor.  It was a little disturbing.  I believe this is for older children with severe mental disabilities.


2nd floor-babies and a few toddlers.  Donna says that care was better at the old orphanage building because the rooms were smaller and there was only one ayi to a room, so the ayi knew her wards.  Now the room is big and there are two ayis, so it's less personal.  The ayis can feed the kids and change their diapers, and then go to the other side of the room and talk to each other.


3rd floor-a few babies and 15 or so older toddlers.  Some of the toddlers can't sit up, so they're basically treated like babies.  Others can't walk, but can stand, and there's one really old kid who just rocks back and forth in his crib.  Half of the toddlers get to go to class, but the other ones that get left behind stay in their crib all day long.


4th floor- for terminally ill children.  Apparently, this floor is really restricted (for obvious reasons) but also very good.  Donna said that the care was so good that the kids weren't dying like they were expected to.


5th floor-the classrooms.  The older kids (around 9-13), the younger kids(around 4-7) and the toddlers all go up here.  Most of the kids are from the tenth floor, with a couple from second and third and one from eighth that comes sometimes.


6th floor-office.  This is were the director and administration staff work.


7th floor-where I live!


8th floor- this is a Chinese non-profit organization, but they only take in "normal" kids, so there are only six kids on this floor.  Donna says they only take "normal" kids because the organization doesn't want their staff to work with special needs kids, only "pretty" kids.  There are two that have minor disabilities, but the others are actual orphans, meaning their parents died.  Louhuan says that the ayi on the 8th floor is especially caring, though.  I definitely don't like that the Chinese non-profit had so much discrimination, but I am glad that these children are well taken care of.


9th-I still don't know what this floor is for.  I need to ask Donna next time.


10th-the kids Donna is in charge of, and the ones I work with the most.  


I also asked what happens to the kids once they get older.  Donna said once they turn fourteen they get sent to another home with older children.  After they turn 18 they are no longer wards of the state.  However, the orphanage doesn't really kick them out.  There are a lot of 19, 20, etc. year olds still living at the homes.  As long as they don't cause any trouble, they can stay.  


As for the adoption process, it's up to a ten year wait for a healthy child now, and at the moment they are not accepting applications.  In the past, China has only let healthy or children with slight disabilities be adopted internationally, but they are getting more and more lenient.  Still, they won't usually allow mentally disabled kids to be adopted. 

Next week, Donna is doing a camp for Chinese New Year for the Eagle Wings 6 and I'm going to see if I can help with them.  It sounds super cool.  They're doing all these activities, and they need the help.  I don't know if I'd have much work at the orphanage since there aren't any classes going on.  It would be really cool to meet the other kids. The kid groups all have different types of disabilities, so some are only physically disabled instead of mentally and physically like the tenth floor kids, or some groups have downs sydrome, etc.  

Donna also said that if I had a free day I could visit their baby house, which takes way better care of their babies than 2nd and 3rd floor.

After our conversation, we all played a game of Memory, Spoons, and Swap (which is kind of like Uno).  I was sad to leave, but excited to come back next Saturday, and even more excited for New Years Week, if I'm allowed to go. (Since this would be outside of the orphanage, I would need permission from Assistant Director Wang.)  

Yuntai Mountain

On Friday, Flick and Ali, the two Australians who worked with the tenth floor, asked us to supper.  We ate at one of the restaurants ten minutes down the street. 

Simmer pot (Not Hot Pot) They put all of the ingredients in the hot pot and cook it in front of you.

 Bull frog!! It does not taste like chicken.  It had a light flavor and a fish-like texture.

 Ali mixing the sauce

 A dude pulling the noodles

Flick and Ali knew about what conditions all of the kids had, so it was interesting to finally figure out what “problems” these children had. I also heard that morning that Jiale might be adopted.  I asked Ali if this is true.  She said yes, but it won’t be for another year or so.  She told me not to tell Jiale, because she didn’t know.  However, Marissa, Donna’s (the American who is in charge of the tenth floor) daughter, said that she did know, but she didn’t believe it because it had been so long.  Hearing that just broke my heart.  Jiale was one of the older girls on the tenth floor and was always helping take care of the little kids.  She definitely deserves a family. 

The next day we went to Yuntai Mountain and had a picnic undera frozen waterfall that included a peanut butter and jelly mantou sandwich, fruit, and crackers.

We ate here....

There were monkeys everywhere!!  They got really close

Breathtaking icicles 

The big waterfall (It's all frozen now)

The Harvard Kids are Coming! The Harvard Kids are Coming!

In the span of only two days, I went from living alone in a six person room, with no other English speakers in sight, to a full house.  I now have three Harvard students, one boy and two girls, under my wing along with a 21-year-old Chinese girl who just started working at the orphanage. 

            But let us start from the beginning, or should I say the end of last week….

            Thursday and Friday were spent on the fifth floor, teaching the kids.  I finally get to teach the kids!!  I felt like I was finally doing what I was suppose to.

The older kids knew a fair amount, the younger kids could recite to 5.  The younger kid’s attention span was also a lot smaller than the older kids. 

I also get to teach music and art with them.  They don’t know how to read music, and only know this weird number system that I’ve never encountered before.  I’m going to try and teach them real music notation, but I don’t know if they’ll get it. 

Art is fun because they love arts and crafts so much.  I have so many ideas for art projects!! 

Sunday was the day of the week where I get to hang out with the tenth floor kids.  An Australian, named Flick, came to help out.  Apparently, she got here around Christmas time (probably right when I left for Beijing) and she would stay here till February.  I was excited to have an English speaker to talk to. 

            In the morning, Louhuan thought it would be nice to take the children out.  So she designated the morning for the younger kids and the afternoon for the older kids.  I was sent with an ayi, six younger kids and two older kids (they helped us watch the younger kids) to a park.  We took the van half way there, and then hopped on a bus. 

            At the park, the kids kept wandering off; I felt like a sheep dog.  Also, Tianxi, one of the boys, was causing trouble.  He pooped in a public area, had a temper tantrum near the monkey exhibit, and refused to budge near the end of our trip.  I ended up having to carry him the rest of the way. (He’s around eight and kind of heavy). 

            However, I felt that it was all worth it, because the children rarely get to go outside and explore.

            In the afternoon, I stayed home with the younger kids while Flick and Louhuan took the older kids out.  This time, Tianxi, Youpeng, and Guoce kept rough housing and causing trouble.  At supper time, Tianxi had another fit and Youpeng started throwing food. 

            By the end of the day I was exhausted.  It was a difficult day, but I didn’t really mind.  Sometimes, kids have bad days, but it doesn’t mean they’re bad kids.  Later, Louhuan kept apologizing, but I really didn’t mind the hard work.  That’s what I’m here for.

On Monday morning, Liuting arrived.  She was to live with me in my room.  For the rest of the day, I showed her around and helped her out.  It was weird that I was helping someone else out, when usually it’s the other way around.

Around seven, Laura, one of the Harvard kids, arrived.  She also had one and a half years of Chinese under her belt.  Our fluency level is about the same.  Now I had two people to talk to who were my age!

In the morning, Sabrina arrived.  That left only one Harvard student, Josh.  No one knew when he would arrive, and no one know how to contact him.  In the evening, we all started to worry.  We met up with the director and assistant director at the bus stop for three hours but he never came.  

The director brought his little boy with him while we were waiting for Josh. (I think the boy is adopted) He was so cute!!  The director wanted to have a picture with all of us, and the boy LOVED the camera

We kept trying to make phone calls to different people and tried to figure out where he went, but in the end we went back to the orphanage and just hoped that he’d arrive in the morning or contact us somehow.  At one in the morning, I got a call from him saying he had arrived. 

The next morning, I had to pick him up.   Now there were three.   The funny thing was, I was in charge of helping the orphanage pick up all of the Harvard kids, and now I was in charge of getting them settled in.  When did I become in charge of everything?!  It seemed only yesterday I felt like I couldn’t even figure out my own way around this place, let alone help others.

Since everyone was here, I decided that we would celebrate and go out to eat.  

Our first meal out with the Harvard kids

Afterwards, we went to the supermarket.  They were so excited about all the Chinese snacks and their new surroundings.  

KFC by the supermarket

Candy!!

Which fruit to buy?......

Also, Sabrina loves to take pictures, so I stole her pictures (with her permission, of course.)

This is what I do at the orphanage:

The lobby of the orphanage

 Josh with Guoce

Laura and Xialan

Guoce got a hold of the flashcards...

One of the therapy rooms.  No idea what it's used for

Me making a prototype mask for our arts project

Xiali writing on the board during English class

Me feeding Ajia

Me pushing Ajia and Huajie on the swing

 The front of the orphanage