Welfare Home Tour

June 29, 2007

Today was the day that we would go back to the welfare home. After a day of travelling we had a Chinese style Western breakfast. We met Christina and Elsie down stairs in the lobby - we carried our 2 big bags of donations, a present for the director and a picture collage of me throughout the years.

We arrived at the orphanage after a 15 minute drive. As we got out of the van we saw another family entering the orphanage. They were also here for a homeland trip to visit their orphanage. We met with the assistant to the director at the door and told her my Chinese name, Bao Lixian. Christina told us she said that she had remembered me because of my big eyes. We went into a conference room and met with the director, Mr. Chen. He told us about the orphanage and how it had been rebuilt in 1997. He showed us upstairs to a play room where the special needs children were playing. We even gave them some of the toys we had brought. We left the room and went to another section of the welfare home where the babies slept. We played with more kids there. We toured the rest of the welfare home and they had gifts for us. It was a silver coin with the front of the welfare home engraved on it. We went next door to where the welfare home use to be, but is now a kindergarten. In the kindergarten there are children from the welfare home and from the neighborhood. Ironically, Christina's son goes there.

We left the orphanage and drove to a close by village to try and find my finding location. Since China has modernized so much, it was difficult to find the exact street. We finally found a street. There were railroad tracks, small apartments, stores and a gate at my finding place.

We returned to the hotel and and Dad & I walked in search of a McDonalds. After walking about 10 blocks, we finally found it. We had spicy chicken wraps, quarter pound BEEF burger and french fries. Lucikly it tasted like home.

We went to the pool andon the way we found a place to get a foot massage. After a very relaxing day we had dinner and went to sleep.

(Elsie had called the airport and had discovered that there will be no morning flights on July 4th, the day we were suppose to leave Zhanjiang for Guanzhou. So we will be leaving a day earlier, July 3rd in the afternoon).

Flying Day

June 28, 2007

Waking up early in the morning to catch a 10:30 flight. We quickly had breakfast so we could go upstairs and pack. After a quick packing job we went downstairs and met Elsie in the lobby. Tom drove us to the airport about 30 minutes away. We arrived at the airport at 9:30, so we had 1 hour to go through security. We were in the waiting room for about 15 minutes before Rebecca and I started getting hungry. Dad walked us over to a close by coffee/deli shop. We got "Chinese Subway Sandwiches." When it was finally 10:30 we started to line up at the gate when we realized that people were coming off the plane! Elise told us that the flight attendant said that people had to come off the plane and the plane had to be cleaned. It was 10 minutes later that we could now board the plane. We got on then shortly after we all boarded the plane we took off. Then 2 hours later we landed in my birth city, WUHAN! After going through baggage customs we met up with a travel coordinator that would be with us for our time in Wuhan, Christina. After driving for only 10 minutes we could see the Yangtze River. Christina informed us that because this is, at the time, the only brigde that is available to cross over the river there was a special law. On even days only cars with license plates ending with an even number may cross the bridge, same thing with odd numbered days. After driving for another 40 minutes we arrived at our hotel, The White Rose. After checking in and meeting the manager, Mary, we arrived in our room with our luggage. After resting for 1 1/2 hours, we met up with Christina and went sightseeing in Wuhan.

We drove about 15 minutes and arrived a the Yellow Crane Tower. The Yellow Crane Tower was built by an emperor over 1500 years ago, who had made money by having a rare yellow crane sing and dance. After a year of doing this, he had made a lot of money. He decided to build a tower in honor of the bird and called it The Yellow Crane Tower. We toured the tower and went up all 5 levels. You could see all of Wuhan from the top of the tower. You could even see my welfare home. On the 4th level, when we went outside to look around, there were 2 Chinese people who asked Dad for a picture of him with them. After they saw Mom they asked for a picture with her too. Later after they left Christina told us that the reason why they wanted pictures with Mom & Dad was because they looked so different. They don't likely see Westerners in Wuhan. On the 2nd level there were models of the Yellow Crane Tower at different stages of time.

When we got back to the hotel, we put on our swimsuits and Elsie joined us to go swimming in the indoor swimming pool. After swimming, we took quick showers and met Elsie again to go to a local shopping center called Carefore. We bought lots of soda and chips (and underwear). After an exhausting day we finally went to bed.