Today after the notary and a nap for Meigan we traveled to Hepu to the gates of her Orphanage. Due to the rules of the province we are not allowed inside of the orphanage but that is ok because she has been in foster care since the day after she arrived. But we are not allowed to correspond with the foster mom either. It took about 2.5 hours in our van. Our guide came with us as well. We finally found the orphanage after a few wrong turns and came to the gates. The front part of the orphanage is under construction where they are building new administration offices and what not, so the gate is kind of in shambles too. The orphanage is the tan and red building in the background. We were told she was found in front of the red pillar where Jodie is standing in the photo. After a few minutes there, and a few photos we left town because it was getting dark and it was starting to rain. I would have liked to have spent some more time there but maybe on the way home we can stop and see some more. We did stop by a pagoda that the city is well known for on the way to Beihai. We were told that Hepu has about 400,000 people in the city and about 1 million in the county around it.
We actually gave the Deputy Orphanage Director (the one that brought Meigan to Nanning) a ride to Beihai. It only took about 20 minutes through a very bumpy and narrow road. It is raining in Beihai also. Beihai is their resort town of southern china, think Daytona or Ft. Lauderdale of Florida. It has a long white beach that it is well known for and unfortunately it is going to be raining or cloudy the whole time we are here. We are staying in a nice hotel called the Shangri-La, it is right on the beach and has a nice swimming pool.
We went to dinner tonight in the hotel and had a very delightful waitress that spoke english. There was one patron of the restaurant that came over and just picked up Meigan while Jodie was holding her, then she started to say, "Say good-bye to Mom and Dad" in chinese which we understood, I thought Jodie was going to lose it. She kept telling Jodie to eat while she held Meigan and jodie was telling her that's ok. Finally Jodie had to stand up and take Meigan away from her. There is no personal space in China and people don't really ask, they just do what they think they should. So I think starting tomorrow we will put her in the baby carrier so that that cannot happen again. We don't really want anyone else holding her so that she can bond with us, especially when she was smiling for this stranger and not for us.
Jodie had some vegetables for dinner, they were ok, kind of bitter. I had Pork, "Mao's Family style", it was basically one and a half inches of skin and fat with a little bit of meat on the end. It was served over bamboo strips and very spicy and also very good, especially the bamboo strips. I was cutting the skin and fat off and the waitress asked if it was too much fat and I said yes and then she started to laugh. I asked her if people usually ate all of the fat and skin too and she said yes. She thought it was very funny that I wouldn't eat the fat. There is just something about seeing the hair follicles in the skin and then about an inch of slimy yellow fat. Meigan is still eating really well, she had steamed eggs again and fruit, and ate a bunch of it.
After dinner we came back to the room, we had been told that Meigan had only had 2 baths. I find that hard to believe but we really didn't know what to expect when we put her in the water. She did great, loved the water, splashed a little and played with some toys. We washed her hair before the bath in the sink and she didn't cry or fuss at all, maybe she can teach Madison how to do that. She is sleeping right now, which is good because we have a full day planned tomorrow. We are going to go to the aquarium, the beach (if it's not raining) and the pearl farms/market. Hepu and Beihai are famous for their pearls. They are known around the world for their pearls and in fact some sizes can only be found here.
Well have a good day, and please keep the comments and emails coming. We love to see what people think and also to keep us caught up on your lives. Jodie is usually calling her family members several times a day to several times a week and is in withdrawals at this point.
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