this 'n that

March 29, 2008, 10:30

Hi everyone!

Wow, it's been several days since the last post, huh? I have lots of catching up to do!

After visiting the Nanning Orphanage, we drove to visit Tamsin's foster family at their apartment. We climbed a few sets of narrow cement stairs to the third or fourth story of an old apartment building. The family's apt was very small, and seemed especially small when we all crammed into it!

The family was very warm and hospitable, inviting us all to sit down and stuffing all kinds of snacks down the kids throats and giving tea to the adults. The foster mother especially was very excited to see Tamsin, and kept petting her hair and saying "Anna!" over and over with a huge smile. They used to call Tamsin "Anna" because she looked Caucasian to them with her red hair and light skin. There were several relatives there, I quickly lost track of who was who! Among them was a foster cousin named Windie. That is her English name anyway. She wrote out her Chinese name for me in Chinese characters, and when she said it I knew there was no possible way I would ever be able to pronounce it! Windie is my age, and is also going to school. She is studying to be an accountant, and enjoys it very much. Perhaps you will get to meet her one day as she really wants to visit the US! She is very sweet, and I look forward to keeping in contact with her through email.

After visiting with the family for awhile with the help of our guide who acted as translator, we all went out to lunch. The family treated us to a traditional Chinese dinner. That was an experience. There was a whole dead fish, a chicken complete with a head(they didn't serve the head, but showed it to us to prove that it was a whole chicken), cactus, boiled herb type things, green see-through noodles that had the consistency of chewy jello, pork, rice, and several other things that I think I have blocked from my memory. It really wasn't so bad, I didn't have to consume anything terrible, it was just very different than what I am used to! I sat by Windie, and we spent our time chatting and getting acquainted with each other. She is learning English and is doing very well, but has limited vocab.

When lunch was finished we all walked around this huge park filled with large greenhouses where the restaurant gets their produce. Windie had to leave for school at this point, but the rest of us took our time meandering through the park. Mei mei spent quite awhile riding on David's (our guide) shoulders, giggling almost the whole time. Tamsin hung onto my arm and chatted about random topics, and Isaac ran from person to person, even introducing himself to complete strangers!

On Monday we went to pick up Guo Feng (Justin, the newest Cody). He will be five in April, and definitely acts his age! He is very active and silly, and loves to play with his new siblings! He cried when we first met him, but that was expected, as this is a new experience for him. It is not unusual for newly adopted kids to grieve for their foster family or for the nannies at their orphanage, but Justin hasn't done this yet. He is very excited to have a family, and is constantly giggling, joking, and chattering or singing in Chinese! So cute! The other day we were walking around an outdoor market and he was riding on Bridgets back when he suddenly grinned, leaned over and grabbed my head, gave me a big kiss and said "Ai!". "Ai" is Chinese for love. He is a great fit for the Coday family, and will give Isaac someone to play with besides sisters!

A few days ago I spent the morning watching the Cody kids while Ron and Bridget took Justin to do some final paperwork. I took the kids to the park until it started raining, then tried to keep them entertained in the hotel room. Later that afternoon Ron and Bridget took all the kids to an amusement park while I escaped for some alone time. I wandered around Nanning for quite awhile, just looking at things, watching people and keeping track of landmarks so as to keep from getting lost. I had fun watching the traffic. There are bikes and scooters everywhere, funny trucks and vans, and the usual little sedan type cars. I also had to be careful crossing the streets. You have to understand that a green crosswalk light doesn't mean that it is safe to cross! It simply means that it is now legal to take your life in your hands and dodge your way through traffic! Pedestrians never have the right of way, size does. Even on the sidewalk sometimes! I was walking along, watching people when I turned around and there was a VAN, on the SIDEWALK, driving straight at me! Apparently that is allowed here...

I eventually found myself in a market place. There were tons of little shops selling all kinds of things. A little farther on was this huge open building filled small stands. There were a ton a people there, so I decided to see what they were selling. Big mistake. At first there were just cute little fruit stands, tables full of hair things and shoes, more fruit stands, underwear, fruit, and live chickens. Then, I noticed a strange smell and realized I had wandered into the part where they butcher those live chickens!!!! Butchers were standing behind these little counters with huge cleavers, just chopping away, and trying to sell the dead creatures! I was so grossed out, but had to keep going as there were so many people that I couldn't turn around! It was horrible...After that I left that place, found a park, and took a nice, long walk, alone, without any dead chickens anywhere near me!

Apparently most houses/apt is China don't have refrigeration, so they go out at some point during the day and buy what they will cook for dinner that night. I guess it makes sense then to go get a freshly "prepared" chicken, noodles, and whatever else they eat, but it makes me very thankful for our fridge, and that I don't have to watch my dinner die before I eat it!

On Wednesday our we rented a van and with our guide and a driver drone for five hours to visit Justin's foster family. On the way we stopped at his first orphanage. We couldn't go inside, but left them a bunch of donations. We took our time driving, stayed a night at a hotel, and the next morning drove to Justin's other orphanage, the one that managed his foster set up. Again, we couldn't go in, but the director came out to meet us and receive the donations. It was funny on our way to this orphanage, because our driver and guide were a little lost. So Justin, smart little boy, took over and gave them directions to it!

We then continued on to his foster family's house. They live in a very rural farming village. It was strange because the houses in this place were made of brick that was starting to crumble. Then we got to his house, and while it wasn't fancy by American standards, it was much nicer than any of the others. This is probably because the foster dad is a retired government official.

The family was very friendly, and there were a couple more foster kids running around. At one point I was inside with Mei mei who was very concentrated on the orange she was eating. I was playing with one of the foster kids. He was maybe four, and had trisomy-21, also known as down syndrome. He quickly fell in love with my camera, helping me take lots and lots of pictures. Of the floor. He would just double over and belly laugh with each picture he took! He was also carrying around a toy gun and shot me a couple times. Even so, he was very sweet, and I wanted to take him home!

When we were done playing, I looked up and realized the the rest of the Cody family and David were gone! I tried to ask the foster dad where they went. He didn't understand, and instead gave Mei mei and I a tour of the house! It was very strange, I will have to post some pictures that I took later. The family keeps their chickens on the second story of their house! Stinky! We got to go all the way on top of the roof, the view was pretty cool!

A few minutes later I found the foster mom and was able to ask in very mutilated Chinese where the rest of our group had gone. The mom smiled, put Mei mei on her back and took us on a ten minute walk through the village. I still didn't know if she had understood my question until I saw the rest of our family in the distance. They had gone to see a hydro-electric plant that gives the village and nearby cement factory power. There were also some sugar cane fields just beyond the power plant. Ron took me to see them both while the rest of our group headed back to the house.

When we got back they served us lunch. Chicken, with the feet. We drove back to Nanning that day, and the next flew to Guanzuo. That is where we are now, and I need to go.

Missing you guys, - jube