Day One

We made it to China!!!!!  It took a little more than 24 hours and both of us had just an hour nap on the flight.  However, we both slept for 10 hours at the orphanage and woke up feeling great.  We had dinner the first evening with a father / son pair and a guide.  I usually don’t do well eating the first few days but the restaurant was good and we had dumplings and kung pao chicken, which are my favorites along with several other dishes.  The 5 of us ate and brought home leftovers for $10 and the men picked up the tab - Thanks Jack and Thad.

While at the restaurant, the men asked if we needed to tip the waitress who was standing right next to us.  The guide, Sarah, said, “No that is not customary, plus she is not very good and she is weird”.  You should have seen the look on Hannah’s face who didn’t remember that the waitress would have no idea what was being said in English.

This trip is bringing back memories of the visit Vanessa and I made a few years ago. It’s very cold!!  I brought warm clothes but the room was very cold.  We have one down comforter and I slept with socks, sweats and long sleeves eventually pulling the comforter over my head to keep warm.  I got an extra comforter for both of our beds for tonight.

We enjoyed the first morning at the orphanage.  I got to get a peek at some of the kids I remember from my first trip, including Joy, Noel Joy and Grady.  We played with some (including a new favorite Maggie), I remember from last time but she has developed quite a personality since my last visit.  And, of course, we got to hold a few babies.  I also spent some time talking to Dr. Bill Moody who is a wealth of information about China and the orphans.   

Tonight we had dinner delivered… same meal as last night basically…but we ate in our beds under the covers. 

I am unable to access Facebook or the blog so I will have Mitch cut and paste posts and add some pictures that I will email to him- thanks Mitch.  Missing Mitch and kids, but looking forward to more adventure here.