What a blessing today was. Adam and I were able to line up a private guide to take us to our son's orphanage. We learned about this option through a friend who has recently traveled for their own adoption, and I am so thankful for this opportunity! Our guide's name was Jasmine. She was so incredibly nice and we learned so much about the Chinese culture, rules, and people. We also got to ride the subway with her. There is no way I could have navigated the subway without her, let alone the streets walking there. She also served as an interpreter between ourselves and the caregivers.
Angel Home is amazing. It breaks my heart and fills it with love all at the same time. These little children, dozens of them, all over, waiting for their families and hoping to one day have a family. The ladies and gentlemen who work there seem so kind, patient, and loving. There were so many smiles everywhere - I could just feel the excitement they shared with us over adding Christian to our family and bringing him to America.
The orphanage looks like it once was a beautiful mansion. It is clean, but you can tell the wear dozens of children at once can make on the place. We were able to see where Christian eats, where he sleeps, where he plays, meet his friends, and his caregivers. We watched the kids eat their food and play outside. Some of the babies and younger children seem really healthy, but the needs vary greatly there. Some children seem like they have CP and there are twins who were recently conjoined and separated. Rooms upstairs are lined with cribs - 4-6 in a room. I have had enough difficulties getting my own kids to bed when I have one little one, I can only imagine what it would be like to try and get several babies to sleep in a room at a time! This experience was deeply meaningful for our family, and I am so thankful that we were able to go.
After visiting at the orphanage a few hours we took the subway back to our hotel. While many people ride bikes and walk, the subway is also full and the streets are a cacophony of horns honking. Adam and I try to look like we belong here, but beyond obvious reasons of why we look like foreigners, we can't seem to keep our mouths closed as we gape and gasp in amazement watching the hundreds of people passing us by in the streets, the tall skyscrapers as far as the eyes can see, the dozens of bikes lining the street. Jasmine explained to us that there are "rings" for the city. The Forbidden City is the center of Beijing. That is the first ring. This was the original meeting place for government officials for hundreds of years. There are 16 million residents of Beijing. 4 million people commute into the city to work. On any given work day there are 20 million people. I don't know how many people live in NYC or even all of Minnesota, but for the space we are talking about, that is a lot.
After about an hour's rest we met our CCAI guide, George. George is a great guy and he was very informative. He took us to the Forbidden City. To be honest, I was still overwhelmed from our subway ride and visiting the orphanage, so I am sure I didn't fully appreciate all that it had to offer. The structures were so incredibly beautiful. Everything in China seems to have meaning. Red means wealth and power, as does the number 8. There were many carvings in all types of materials and the details were everywhere. It was built in the early 1400's. There are 9,999 1/2 rooms at the forbidden city. The half room was actually a full room but half of it was left empty because the emperor who built it wanted to be considered equal with/ next to the Gods... and it was said the Gods had 10,000 rooms in Heaven and the emperor's father was in Heaven, so he didn't want to have that exact number, but as close as he could. They believe about a million people worked on building the forbidden city and it took about fifteen years to make. While we were at the Forbidden City we noticed a few dozen people taking pictures of us throughout the day. Two people approached us and asked for us to have our picture taken with them. This was fun with a little girl about eight, but a bit weird with a guy in his thirties. Both pictures happened during the five minutes we were left unattended by George to get our tickets. When he came back he said some people from villages and small cities come to Beijing to visit and these might be the only times they encounter a Caucasian person. Very different from the Great American Melting Pot.
When we left the forbidden city George and our driver brought us to "Old Beijing". We learned about how quickly Beijing has grown and how many people who live there cannot get around easily because the streets are so narrow. The houses used to be several small buildings connected by an outer wall with an inner courtyard. Grandparents, parents, children, etc. all shared this communal living space. When Beijing began to grow they left these houses and then there wasn't enough room to build new buildings and streets. George told us to get on a rickshaw we parked next to. I was mortified. As cool as I think it is to experience something like this, I am also aware that Adam and I are not small people, so the thought of one person pulling both of us up and down the street was a bit mortifying... but you can't say no to George, right? I didn't want to insult anybody, but I also didn't want to give them a heart attack in the process of pulling us along. SO, we both giggled and hopped in. The driver did fine, but didn't look too happy about pulling us when we got off (I think we might have been his consequence because an older guy told him to pull us). We got out at a couple's home. It was very tiny and modest. It reminded me of small apartments in NYC or Boston, just a house. Things were sparce and run down looking, but this was a very respected family. They wanted to show us what a real house in Beijing is like. They cooked us dinner, which was amazing. The husband is the chef for a Military General in Beijing and cooked for the military for many years. George told us afterwards that the government will soon offer to buy out his small house for the space to make some newer structures and will most likely give him 5-6 MILLION dollars for that space. We passed a space a few blocks away that they were doing construction at. They were digging deep into the ground - probably 3-4 stories deep. The government does not want buildings to go too tall there to maintain Old Beijing, but they can go below.
Adam and I were both exhausted so when we were dropped off at our hotel we took a few hours nap (keep in mind, this was the day after a full 27 hours of traveling and the time change is 13 hours ahead of home) and then walked the streets by the hotel to experience the night life. We saw many street vendors who were selling all kinds of food on sticks - octopus, scorpions, crayfish, and local fruits cut into shapes and drizzled with a sugary syrup. There were two places where a bunch of middle aged people were dancing to loud music playing on a boombox. It was fun watching them dance. We didn't want to be too adventurous with our foods because we have been warned many times about getting sick, so we stuck with some ice cream in a cone. I had a green tea ice cream, which seemed to be the most popular and it was good :) It was so much fun watching everyone interact with one another. I think what stands out to me most about the people here is how respectful they are with one another. There are sooooo many people, yet it never is loud or uncomfortable (other than physically when we are smooched together in a small space). It is funny though - people are very aggressive when walking and driving. Even trying to get into our out of an elevator in a large group can be tricky because respectfully somebody will most likely shove you out of the way so they can get a good spot. Many people here speak some English, so fortunately we are able to communicate with others. We use our hands a lot for gestures too, which isn't a problem for me :)
Finally, we came home and crashed. I think we got about nine hours of sleep on this night :)
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