Day 2 & 3

Sorry I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, I hope you can understand!

On Tuesday we got up early (Thanks to Bubba Jr. begging to play with his remote controlled car he bought at WALMART Monday night.) Let me tell you, Walmart in Gainesville doesn't hold a candle to Walmart in Nanchang. We went Monday at about 3pm and the place was packed. Our guide, Shirley was with us, so we were able to find the things we needed otherwise we would have been totally lost. We tried in earnest to find a fan. I think Chinese people are allergic to cool air because there are these things that look like fans, but when you look closely they are actually heaters. We attempted then to buy short sleeved clothing, but since it is Winter (the season is determined solely by the date on the calendar, not the outside temperature) they have loads and loads of sweaters for sale. No thanks.

Walmart lived up to all our expectation based on others' adventures there. With one exception... I didn't see any goat for sale. I did see a lot of chickens with their heads still on and other various creatures of unknown species. Since this Walmart is three stories, there is a magnetized escalator that takes you and your buggy down at the same time. You sort of roll your cart on it and the magnets take hold. Once you're on it there is NO moving the cart. It doesn't budge, even if you try :)

I forgot to mention that before we went to Walmart we ate at KFC. We're getting a little tired of hotel food. Clyde is having dreams about ice, and I'd get my left big toe for an iceberg salad...

Tuesday we went to the Teng Wang pavilion. It's been destroyed and rebuilt 28 times. The last was in 1989. Interestingly enough, there was a fire drill going on while we were there...

Big Brother on the stone horse.

DAD! Why do you keep taking my picture? I'm trying to enjoy this historic monument!

Maybe you can see in the picture the kids are wearing outfits I painted before I left. Charleigh's outfit has the Chinese characters for "Mei Mei" or little sister. Bubba's of course has "Ge Ge" or Big Brother. The back has "I (heart) my " and then either Mei Mei on Bubba Jr's or Ge Ge on Charleigh's. I can not TELL you how many people pointed, stared, came over or took pictures. On one floor of the Pavilion we only made it about two steps in because we were over taken my a gaggle of Chinese ladies who ooed and ahhd over the kids. It was pretty cute, though Bubba Jr gets pretty shy so he won't answer their questions even when they ask in English.

After the Teng Wang pavilion we went to a local restaurant. When you walked in you were asked to choose your entree among the many presented at the display case. Among the choices were ducks feet, soft shelled crabs still gurggling at you, and four legged creatures who chase sticks in our country.

We had rice and noodles.

This morning (day 3 with the little princess) we went a visited the orphanage. It's raining buckets here today and we took a maniacal bus ride 1 hour north of Nanchang to the city of Yongxiu. To try and paint a picture using words of the poverty of this small city is absurd. It is just something you have to see. We wound down a small road, used more for foot traffic than automobiles. At the very end, through a small brass colored gate is the Yongxiu Social Welfare Institute. Going through the gate I couldn't hold back a few tears. This is my daughters home. The only one she knows, the only home she has ever known. She has a home waiting for her, but she doesn't know that. All she knows is that she received food and care here, and definitely love. That alone makes a home, no matter if it's loaded with toys, or contains one small cherished backpack.

Charleigh cried very hard when we went into the orphanage, even though our guide had explained to her repeatedly that we were going to say goodbye to her auntie and she was not staying there. Even now I can't really explain why she cried. The first logical reason would be that she was afraid we were taking her back. But when we left, she cried very hard as well. While we were there we were treated very nicely by the staff. They gave us fresh fruit and tea. Charleigh just loves fruit! After we got to the director's office she was an angel. Just as sweet as could be and NO crying. She sat happily on my lap and gave me many smiles. Then we went to the the foster mother. Yongxiu is not set up like any other orphanage in Jiangxi province. I actually don't think it's like in other ANYwhere, but I can't confirm that. Some orphanages are able to foster children out to families in the area. It's very similar to the foster care program in the United States. However, in Yongxiu the foster families live IN the orphanage. Basically you have a mom and a dad and they live in the orphanage in their own rooms and have children in their care. I don't believe they have any biological children, but again I can only confirm that Charleigh's foster my does not have any bio children. The family that Charleigh was in (Family #8) consisted of the mom and dad, Charleigh and four other girls. Three older than Charleigh and one younger. When we visited, the three older girls were all at school and the dad was at work. So we met the foster mom, who clearly loved Charleigh, and the baby. Finding out there was a baby in the family was really no surprise. Whenever Charleigh hears a baby crying she gets a very worried look on her face. She has a lot of empathy, and always notices babies when we're out.

Charleigh's foster mom did us a great service. She got down on Charleigh's level and told her that Clyde and I were her mom and dad, and she was to go with us and be a good girl. The foster mom told Charleigh that we were good and that we would take good care of her and let her go to school. She also told Charleigh that we would probably get her new pens if she was good. At the end she told Charleigh not to cry and to be a good girl. They whole time Charleigh was shaking her head "yes," but looking very sad. Then she (Charleigh) took my hand and we went back to the directors office. At that point we should have left. However, we had gifts to give the director and needed to gather our belonging. Had I know what scene would shortly ensue I would have kept walking and told Clyde to go get our stuff.

Charleigh's foster mom gave her a little Pokemon backpack while we were there. They had so few belongings that I felt guilty taking it. However, it seemed to provide a lot of comfort for Charleigh, so we thanked the foster mom and let Charleigh take it. Now, back to the director's office. After we met the foster mom we went back to Director Cai's office and Charleigh proceeded to pack her bag full with the remaining fruit. She then about faced and hauled you know what back to the foster moms apartment with myself and another lady in hot pursuit. She got back to her foster mom and started taking the fruit out and giving it to her foster mom. When I held out my hand to Charleigh and asked her to take it.... She blew a gasket. I whisked her up and quickly said goodbye. We left amid a torrent of tears and rain.

Since we got back to the hotel, Charleigh's been a different person. She is definitely happier. I think even though it was very emotional going back to the orphanage, it was the right thing to do. She needed that chance to say goodbye. Most of us can relate to a time we had to say goodbye. We had to. We weren't given a choice, and neither was she. But she said goodbye, she was told goodbye and I think she's better off emotionally for it. She's been a lot freer with her smiles, especially to me. Beforehand she would smile beautifully for Bubba Jr and Hannah, but would not open herself up to me that way. She's still not fully convinced we won't leave her, but she's starting to like us now. Things are definitely changing for the better.

Except for going to sleep, and when I can't get it through my big head that she needs to use the potty, she doesn't cry. She will allow me to hold her when she's crying (going to be or nap), which is a good thing. It would be harder if she pushed me away when she was upset.

I'VE CREATED A MONSTER!

I've totally created a hair-bow monster. She insists on wearing all the hair bows I brought.

At the same time:

I actually have a lot more pictures of the hairbows, but for whatever reason the blogger upload isn't working anymore...

Thank you so much to everyone who has sent well wishes to us!! I can't respond to everyone, but thank you so much! It's such a thrill to open up the e-mail and see all the new messages. For those of you who are still waiting to board that plane, you'll be amazed how fast the time goes!

On a funny note, we met a family this morning at breakfast who is from Roswell, GA. That's about an hour from us. Only in this day in age can you travel 8000+ miles and meet your neighbor at breakfast...

In the paperwork arena, we met with the notary today. Tomorrow is a free day with the anticipation of sleeping in and doing some porcelain shopping in the afternoon. :)

Bye for now!!

B