Hohhut and another day closer to Evan

We flew from Beijing to Hohhut (the capital of Inner Mongolia) today.  The flight was only an hour and the temperature was chilly compared to Beijing.  We had to put on additional clothes to keep warm.  We were met at the airport by our guide, Jessica, and her friend.  They drove us to our beautiful hotel where we found a crib waiting for us in our room.  I was excited to see the crib, it made it all feel a little more real. 

We spent the afternoon eating at a local restaurant and walking the streets of Hohhut.  It has a different look and feel compared to Hong Kong, Beijing and Guangzhou.  The buildings are newer, there is little to no trees and flowers.  We also stood out more than usual because we saw no other foreigners. We walked to the mall and a group of about 10 teenage girls approached me very excited. After a few minutes of trying to understand their broken English I realized they were excited to see me because they thought I was a Korean super star!  I had to disappoint them by assuring them that I was not Korean nor a super star.  They thanked me and continued walking.  I told Brian that I should have said "yes, I am" and signed my autograph as "white woman Korean super star". Ah..good times:)!

After the mall we walked to see a park that our guide suggested we visit this week.  On our way there were people siting on the ground begging for money. There was a man with no legs, a sick person lying on the ground, and an elderly woman. Another man was lying down on the street  and didn't have a foot.  He was using a megaphone to speak to the people passing by and had a bowl full of money lying next to him.  The sadest man I saw had a large tumor that was hanging off of his face and I think they call the condition "elephantitis".  I saw a documentary on TLC about a man living in China who had this condition.  I might have been more shocked to see him if I hadn't seen the documentary.  You couldn't see his mouth, nose or eyes.  I felt very sad for him and wasn't sure if I should go to him or not.  We kept walking but I can't get these images out of my head.  We are so blessed and it is hard to see people suffering the way they
were. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon in our hotel room.  Brian napped while I unpacked to get ready for Evan.  The orphanage representative will bring Evan to our hotel around 10am tomorrow morning.  We are excited.

Please keep Evan in your prayers.  This will be a traumatic event for him tomorrow and I hate that he has to go through this pain.  I still get emotional when I think about Daniel's first night with us.  He has to grieve his former life but it is hard to watch.  I will post pictures as soon as we can!