Blessings...

(Tuesday August 12th...I know I'm a day late)

So Tuesday was a day of many blessings for several reasons. Here's why...


This was the first day that I had volunteer assignment. When we met in the morning, a group of eight of us were assigned to be the "test group" and first to head out to the orphanage. CCI has a partnership with the Philip Hayden Foundation's China Orphan Outreach that they send volunteers and the orphange brings kids in to watch the Olympics. The orphange currently has 92 children from infant-18 years old. As the test group, we were to see how the transportation route that had been set up would work. The government has restricted vehicles from drive only on certain days to lessen traffic, so they could not come pick us up. We had our own version of planes, trains, and automoblies that involved a subway ride, a taxi to the bus station, a bus for an hour and a half, and another taxi. We were taken to a town called Langfang about 50 minutes outside of Beijing.

Once we arrived at the orphange (three hours later), we were greeted by Leah, the office manager/assistant director/jack-of-all-trades. She has an amazing spirit and passion for children that shows through in every word she speaks. She talked with us over a small lunch and gave us a tour of the grounds. The orphanage only takes children with special needs, which is commonly why children are abandoned. After we talked with Leah for a while, we painted a few walls for them in the guest house until the children woke up from their naps.

Finally the children woke up from their naps and we were taken to the House of Blessings where the 2-3 year olds live. There are 21 children in this particular house and there are three children to one nanny. The children were amazing. They are learning to speak english as well as chinese. They were so eager to play with us and were like many two year olds and not willing to share with each other. There were two little boys that decided to start playing with me right away when I sat on the floor, Zhardian & Cole (left to right in the picture below). The experience was truly touching...

We were able to stay and play for about an hour and then we had to head back to Beijing. We took a better means of transportation and took a taxi bus back in which only took 55 minutes directly to our apartments. Along the way we went through two police check points on the highway which were like crossing the border. They checked ID's, trunks, and everything. Good thing we had our passports...

Later that evening I joined DJ and several other program participants to head to Wanfujing to try different cuisine. I can officially say that I have tried ostrich, snake, and starfish...and did not get sick (another blessing). :)

Check back later about Beach Volleyball & the Silk Market...