We woke up to a wonderful surprise Thursday morning (about 7am here, it was 5pm Wednesday back in Dallas) when the kids called our hotel. It was great to hear from them and we are so eager to see them again - less than a week and counting!
Our first stop was to the orphanage where Jailyn spent the first 16 months of her life. We are very appreciative to our guide Nancy who helped make the trip possible. China is instituting a new policy which requires a $150 fee to tour the orphanage - and none of that money makes it back to the orphanage. Since everyone in our small group was adopting a special needs kid and with the encouragement of Nancy, they gave us a tour without the fee. Also, many thanks to all our friends who donated to the orphanage - Nancy said the gift was another factor in the orphanage wanting to be sure we had a chance for a tour.
We began the visit by exchanging gifts. I could not believe it, but the orphanage gave us two gifts. One was a crystal ornament with Jailyn's Chinese name (Cao Yun Yan) while the other was a beautiful placard. We gave them the digital camera and a box of bottles specially designed for children with cleft lips and cleft palettes. We discovered they had to borrow a digital camera (apparently from the Civil Affairs office) every time they wanted to take photos to send to people. Now they will have their own - they were very appreciative.
The Orphanage (aka Social Welfare Institute) was rather nice. It was well organized and clean. All the kids had their own steel crib. The play area had a fair number of toys with a padded and colorful floor. Decorations (both from Christmas and for the Chinese New Year) were everywhere. Based on comments from other adoptive parents who have seen other orphanages in China, they agreed. This was the nicest they had seen. I was pleasantly impressed with the number of nannies I saw relative to the number of kids. The assistant director (Coco) is terrific and really loves all the kids. She speaks better English than the director, so she is likely the one who you'll meet.
Carrying Jailyn, Jodi was accosted by the nannies. She was clearly a little princess at the orphanage. It was amazing to see. Jodi was surrounded by nannies to the point she and Jailyn felt very uncomfortable. Jailyn's main nanny was the only once she was excited to see (see picture). Also pictured is the crib where Jailyn spent much of her time. Our guide was nice enough to decipher her daily schedule for us - we will have to try to get this posted for those whom it may interest (a little insight into their lives at the orphanage).
Our second stop was to the Nanjing City Museum. The third largest museum in China, they recently moved into a new building. Chinese history is extensive, and it was great getting just a small glimpse of some of that. Pictured is Jodi and Nour feeding Jailyn and Eli in front of a 3000 BC suit made of jade. It weighs 200kg (about 440 lbs) - I don't think the emperor ever wore it!
We also found a foreign languages bookstore today within a 10 yuan cab fare from the hotel. Hopefully we have a chance to get there and find some additional reading material. We are nearly finished with the books we brought. (Lesson learned - only First Class and Business Class on the plane have power for a laptop, so we spent much of our time reading or sleeping)
Tomorrow (Friday 2/9 in China) we get Jailyn's passport and travel to Guangzhou. We will spend the morning packing and hopefully getting Jailyn an early nap.
We are missing Brady, Kenzie, and Conner sooo much! But we are over the hump, past the half way point in our trip. We can't wait to arrive back home and see everyone!
Love,
Bryan and Jodi Sue
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