Road Trip

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Today was a tough day.  We rushed through breakfast and left our hotel about 8:30am to go to Baotou City to see Evan's orphanage.  I have never been to an orphanage and was excited to it in person.  The trip was supposed to take 2 hours and ended up taking 4 hours!  By the time we reached the facility everyone was ready to get out of the car.  When we entered the gates Evan immediately started crying hysterically.  Brian became nervous because he knew that Evan was crying because we were back at the orphanage and it was very confusing to him.

We were greeted by the leader of the orphanage and a couple of the workers.  They took us into a large building and I could see laundry hanging up in the windows.  It was like walking into an old school building but no decorations.  We rode the elevator to Evan's former home.  The orphanage director picked up Daniel and I kept reassuring him that it was alright but he wiggled out of his arms and ran to me.  Brian was holding Evan who was a little calmer now.  Out of the elevator we walked down a long hallway where we were greeted by some women in uniform.  One of the women took Evan from Brian (even though Brian protested) and Evan willingly went with her.  Knowing that Evan was comfortable made Brian feel a lot better.  I recognized the woman who took Evan from a picture that some friend's gave us from their trip to meet their daughter.  I showed her the picture and she confirmed that it was her.  Evan started crying again so they gave him
a bottle and a cracker.  Now that he was settled they showed us his crib (it is empty for now) and the playroom that he played in everyday.  There was also a little kitchen and a changing room that looked like it had a washer in it but, I am not certain.  It was there own little apartment.  Because we arrived so late the children were sleeping.  I did get to peek my head into the room and saw about 10 -12 white cribs.  One child that I did see was albino.  Another child in a corner crib waved hello to us.

We took some pictures and then they said their goodbyes to Evan one final time.  The three nannies has tears in their eyes and Evan started to cry as well.  Brian and I  were emotional too as we left.  It was wonderful to know that they loved and cared so much for him.  The director asked us to come back when he is older and we said that we would.  I also reassured them that I would send pictures on a regular basis.

We were only there about twenty minutes but it was well worth it.  I found out that Evan started walking when he was 14 months old and he said words like "mama" and the mandarin word for "drop".  He also had a best friend named "Pan Ya".  I was told that she was sleeping so we couldn't see her but that she was being adopted to a family in the United States in about 20 days.  They said they would email me her new families information so we could keep in touch.  I hope that the other family complies.  Daniel is fortunate to have two friends that we keep in touch with from China that now live in the States.  I hope Evan will have a similar experience. 

After we left the orphanage we went to eat at a restaurant in Baotou.  Our guide said that he hoped to find a "clean" restaurant for us and we hoped so too.  He did find a nice restaurant with wonderful food.  He helped us order a couple of traditional meals and it was the best meal I have had since being in China!  This time we ordered an appropriate amount of food that we shared with our guide and driver.  The meal cost 88 Yuan which is approximately $14.00USD.  Our ride home took 3 hours.

Evan has been very grouchy tonight and cried until he made himself sick when I put him into the bath.  He is really not happy with me at all, I think this trip has reignited his loyalty for his nannies and his dislike for me.  I will just keep doing the glamorous things like changing diapers, feeding and bathing him to help build his trust in me.  It worked with Daniel so I am confident it will work with Evan too.

Hohhut and Baotou are beautiful cities and we really enjoyed seeing both cities.  I was amazed at how beautiful they are and then how ugly they could be too.  I guess it is like any big city, you have the nice areas and the not so nice areas.  The not so nice areas had trash everywhere and rubble from construction sites.  We did pass a lot of farms and saw cows, sheep and one camel!  In the cities people set up their fruit and vegetable stands to sell their produce.  They were the most beautiful looking produce I have ever seen!  Everything was clean and set up like it was being photographed for a magazine.  I wish I could take some home with me but I don't think they would travel well or make it through customs.

Tomorrow we leave for Guangzhou.  I am sad to leave because the people here are so nice and we really enjoyed our time.  I am excited too to get to Guangzhou because we have some fun things planned before we head home.