Day Four....

Today started off as any other day, where Mike and I enjoyed our Starbuck's instant coffee (drank out of the beer steins they found us) and Chinese peanut butter! I am so glad we stopped and bought some coffee before we left the states, as they don't serve coffee here, but even more surprisingly tea is not a standard here like it is any many other parts of China. A little taste of home seems to start our day out right:)

Today was another hot and humid one in HengFeng! You would never know it by looking at the children's clothing though, as they are always dressed as if it were the middle of the winter. The children are mostly in long sleeves, some in flannel, and usually in layers. If they are in their crib, they are covered in a blanket. When the nannies aren't in the rooms, sometimes we will go uncover them:) Many of the girls on the team have enjoyed shopping for cooler clothing for the kids, and dressing them when we get to the orphanage.

There are only 3 kids who are above 2 years old, and we brought them coloring books (they had to be shown how to hold the crayons), sidewalk chalk, and some riding toys. The five rooms are set up in a square around a courtyard, so those kids can pretty much wander where they like without getting into trouble or lost, and seem to be free to go in and out of the rooms.

Today the woodworking crew finished 21 chairs, are almost finished with the five tables, and got the wood cutout for two rocking horses. They have been working incredibly hard in a very hot room with no air conditioning. You can taste the sawdust when you walk in the room! They have to be done tomorrow morning, as we are saying goodbye to the children and nannies at noon so that the director can take us on a tour of the area.

Our drive to and from the orphanage may only be 5 minutes from our hotel, but it is never lacking in adventure! Today on the way to their, we got stuck in a big traffic jam as there was a parked bus in our way and the incoming traffic kept coming without letting us past, but then they got stuck due to motorcycles, mopeds, and three-wheeled taxis that kept going around them. It really was quite hysterical, especially since I could reach out and touch the cars next to us. Our driver finally had to get out and tell the people behind us to back up so that he could maneuver around. While we were sitting in all of this, some of the girls were talking to a street vendor through their window, and a passerby bought them a watermelon and passed it through the window. Only in China!

On the way home we asked the busdriver to pull over so that we could take a photo of a roadside stall for a dentist. A dentist had donated a bunch of toothbrushes for the kids and nannies, so one of the girls wanted to take a photo for him. She even got to sit in the chair.