Ni hao, ni men wo da pung yo. (Okay, I’m not sure if that’s exactly right, but it’s supposed to be “hello, all my friends.”) On one hand today seemed to be a long day; on the other, not long enough. I didn’t want to do to much scrapbooking as I wanted to spend my last full day with the kids since I’ll be going to Beijing again tomorrow with Tina for part of the day.
I spent my time between the Pooh Bear and Bouncing Bunnies wings. I still haven’t quite gotten the schedule down pat as I always seem to pop into one of the rooms just as they’re about to leave for snack time or something. I played with my favorite girl, Jennie, again. It’s so hard to take pictures when all the children are grabbing at your camera, hair, glasses, and anything they can. Neither “no” nor bu seemed to make a difference to them. I guess that’s typical toddlerhood for you. Jennie is as solid as an oak, and I’ve heard she is the lou ban (boss) of the Pooh room, yet you can’t help but love those chubby cheeks and darling pigtails. If they let me take her home with me, I wouldn’t think twice, heart problem or not. I didn’t have my camera with me on my first visit to the room today; of course that’s when she was off on her own, singing to herself and dancing around. I wish I would’ve caught that on video. Too, too cute. Of course Timmy and some of the others wanted part of the action. We played until they had to go to snacktime. I headed down the hall as the Bunny room was heading to snacks, so the boys ran to me and forced me (like I had to be persuaded!) to walk hand in hand with them down the hall to the dining room.
I spent some more time with Jennie later getting some video clips.
Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books
I decided to not take the camera in when I went back to see the boys. It’s just too hard of a struggle. Rose - who handles the child sponsorships, preschool, and physical therapy – came in for awhile and Justin, Benjamin, and a little girl went back to the preschool area for awhile. Rose had a children’s praise & worship tape playing and we sang and danced with the kids. Oh how I long for them to understand what those words mean. I did, of course, wish I’d had my camera as they danced around. Justin made me pick him up several times, which does absolutely no good for my back with his weight, but I was happy to oblige. I hope I can dance and sing praises with my own little one very soon.
We went back to the playroom for awhile when a group of students from the Beijing Science & Technology school came for a visit. The boys, who are not known to be shy, were kind of hanging back away from the new visitors. Rose finally got them to show the students their school. Anna scooted herself on back and I followed after. Still Miss Independent and not into being held, I helped her onto the little trampoline at her insistence, then watched as she bounced herself (sitting down), giggled, and smiled at me. I don’t think anything will ever hold this girl back.
Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books
The day culminated with Tina taking me, Rose, and Robin’s daughter Katie out for “real” Chinese food. The only problem was finding some! Three restaurants they usually go to were closed. One we walked in and were promptly told he didn’t have time to cook today; he was too busy. Hmmm…that’s a way to run a business for a profit! We ended up at a place they handed gone before, which turned out to be a hot pot restaurant. A unique experience indeed, especially since no one there spoke English. Now I thought Tina & Rose spoke really well, but apparently not to all the locals. The woman basically took a look at Tina and got all nervous that she couldn’t understand her and didn’t even try to understand her Chinese. I was informed that most places were not like this; they usually try to understand them.
After an interesting time of trying to order and garnering the stares of other customers (two white women, one Philippino woman, and a Chinese/UK-adopted child does seem to draw some attention!) we made it through and had a good meal. I even had Sprite! Not my favorite, yet sooo good after nothing but water and instant coffee all week. Alex will be proud of me for actually trying the tea. Not as bad as other teas I’ve tried, but it basically had not taste to it at all. As for the hot pot restaurant, for those like me who weren’t familiar with hit…there is a burner on your table. We had a pot that was divided down the middle with water on both sides, one with many spices, one plain. We were brought the raw meat we ordered (I think it was pork; it looked like thinly sliced dried/chipped beef to me) as well as veggies (green, leafy things I didn’t recognize but tried anyway) and fresh noodles. You just wait for the pot to boil, throw in the ingredients you order, and voila! It was actually pretty good…though messy with the peanut sauce splattering over all of us as we tried to get ridiculously long noodles out of the pot with chopsticks. Tina was impressed with my ability to use them, however.
I found myself misting up at different times today as I thought about saying goodbye to the children either tomorrow night or Sunday morning. They’ll soon forget about me and go on with their routine. But me…I cannot do that. I cannot forget them. They are all precious, yet I know my heart will ache most for Justin, Benjamin, and Jennie. They have captured my heart with their endearing faces, enchanting giggles, and outstretched arms. I believe it was Jennie who gave me a kiss out of the blue this morning. It caught me off guard…and made my heart ache just a little.
Only one more day here at Hope. One more day to make memories and kiss faces and hug and squeeze the stuffin’ out of these little ones. How can I fit it all into one day? How can one more day be enough?
I know the ache is good; it means I am not heartless and that I won’t leave the children behind as I leave this place. But it doesn’t make it any easier.
One more day.
I’ll make it count.
Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books
Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books
No comments:
Post a Comment