Trip to Tonggu

October 14, 2006

This one the best days in China other than Gotcha Day. If you are adopting and have the chance to visit the Orphanage do it!!! The key is to be persistant. They told me no, they told me okay but pretended I didn't ask, they pretended again. and finally after 4 days of asking they said you really want to go to the town eventhough you can't go into the orphanage? And I said Yes. (not that I haven't been asking for the past 4 Days) So anyways. Well I am going to start this video off with a video clip of what its like riding in the back of a mini van with a driver who thinks he is driving a porche on a road that is suitable for 4x4's. Enjoy.

Hopefully none of you got car sick on that portion of the Blog. Miraculously none of us did, including the children. So because of the rapid pace the driver set on the way to Tonggu many of my scenic shots are blurry but I will add some that look good. Once we got to Tonggu, our guide asked a few people how to get to the orphanage and next thing you know someone jumps in the van and becomes our local guide to show us how to get to the orphanage. We arrived at the orphanage expecting that we would not be allowed in, so the driver enters the orphanage in order to turn around. At that moment I saw the place where that hed taken pictures of Grace to send to us. It was simple but it meant alot to me to be able to see it.
So we pulled out and parked outside. I went to take some pictures of the of the orphanage and the area around it. The man at the gate asked if we were invited and we said no we are just taking pictures. So he went back and closed the gate. Well so much for getting in and lookin around.
Now I looked the other way and see the Director Guo walking up to the van. Now we are in trouble. He taps Kiki (our CCAI guide) on the arm and asks what we are doing. She tells him we came to take pictures of the gate and the outside. Director Guo says, "Why didn't you tell me you wanted to come out to visit. I would have taken you to lunch. Come inside, look around, see the children. When you are done I will take you to lunch." Wow, Not quite what we were expecting, but really cool.
At the orphanage there are not alot of children at the moment. Most of them are in foster care. We were able to see about 6 children ond give them some candy. We also got to see and have lunch with a special little 8 year old whos family asked if we could try to get some pictures for them. I got 'em.
We also had another family that came along to see the countryside and see what the area was like near where their daughters orpanage is. So we desided to extend the trip a little and try to see the outside of there orphanage. So 2 hours later we arrived at the gates of there daughters orphanage. Took some pictures and looked around. Next thing you know there is a nanny running down the drive leading to the orphanage. The nanny saw her and came running to see her then they brought the little girls best friend out. Next about 50 or so nursing volunteers came out and tears were flying people laughing and pictures flashing.
Well I guess to wrap it up it was a pretty cool day!