Foshan Nanhai SWI Visit & Goodbye China!
We woke up this morning around 6:00am and started packing all of our belongings to get ready for our flight back HOME later this evening. After we finished packing, we went downstairs, ate breakfast, and said our goodbyes to the other families in our GW group. We then went back to our room and had our luggage taken to the lobby by the bellboy because our new guide was suppose to meet us at there at 10:00am to take us to Foshan Nanhai SWI (Miata’s Orphanage) and to Miatas finding spot. Foshan City is located about 45 minutes southwest of Guangzhou. There is lots of construction going on all over China with the 2008 Olympics and our driver had a very hard time trying to locate the orphanage. After stopping several times and asking several people for directions, we finally arrived about 1½ hours after we left the hotel.
As we entered the orphanage, I quickly was surrounded by staff members who remembered us from our visit last year. They were all saying Zi Er, which was Miata’s Chinese name. Our guide was carrying Jadeyn and they thought it was Miata. When they saw it wasn’t Miata and our guide explained to them that Miata was not able to come with us, it was very obvious that they were upset. They had all been looking forward to Miata coming to visit as Ms. Tang, the director, had sent out a mass email telling everyone that Miata would be visiting sometime in August. Once inside we were met by Ms. Tang. She too was looking forward to seeing Miata and was very upset that she wasn’t with us. We spent about one hour with Ms. Tang at the orphanage showing her pictures of Miata and the other children who had been adopted from Foshan (several parents contributed money for the camera that we purchased and sent pictures of their child to be given to Ms. Tang.) Ms. Tang also gave us a tour of the orphanage and took us to see several older children who performed a song and dance for us that they had put together on their own. They were very excited to get to perform for us. Ms. Tang also brought out one of the babies I had asked her if I could take pictures of for a family that is waiting to come get her. After much time spent at the orphanage, Ms. Tang then invited us to have lunch with her and took us to a real Cantonese restaurant.
Once we arrived at the restaurant, our guide asked us what type of food we wanted to eat. We kindly told them that we did not eat strange things and were more into American type Chinese food. If you remember the photos from our trip here last year, the Cantonese people keep everything in aquariums (Cantonese food is known for it “freshness”) and you pick out what you want to eat and they cook it and bring it to your table. We were told by both of our guides in Guangzhou this week that there is an old saying that Cantonese people will eat anything but the plane in the sky and a desk. After seeing what is kept in these aquariums, I would say that the saying is true! The last thing we wanted was to get on a plane for 13 hours and be sick so they were kind enough to order somewhat normal food (the only thing weird was the plate of chicken that still had the head on the plate.) After about two hours at the restaurant we returned to the orphanage for Ms. Tang so that she could get us the exact address of Miata’s finding spot (where she was abandoned.) We then left the orphanage and drove about 45 minutes to that location so we could take pictures to have for Miata as part of her life book.
When we left Miata’s finding spot it was around 4:00 so we headed to the airport. When we arrived at the airport our guide went in with us to help us check in and to tell us goodbye. We then proceeded to the gate to wait for our flight to leave at 9:00pm. Our flight to LA left on time and went really smooth. Once in LA we had to go through customs which took us about an hour. This was really frustrating as we were already so tired! After we finally got through customs and security we headed for the Raleigh gate, set our bags down, and I went to get us some “American” food! Yeah!!! It tasted so good! Our flight to Raleigh also left as scheduled and was a smooth one. We arrived back home at 9:15am and just in time for Tropical Storm Ernesto! What a welcome home.
We want to thank everyone for all your prayers!! They were very much appreciated!! Please continue to pray for our family as we all are still adjusting.
We hope you enjoyed following our blog/Jadeyn’s Journey. We will again update Jadeyn’s Journey on Monday to share how she is adjusting to her new life and new family. We will also add more pictures to our photo bucket at this time.
And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your gloom will become like midday. Isaiah 58:10
As we entered the orphanage, I quickly was surrounded by staff members who remembered us from our visit last year. They were all saying Zi Er, which was Miata’s Chinese name. Our guide was carrying Jadeyn and they thought it was Miata. When they saw it wasn’t Miata and our guide explained to them that Miata was not able to come with us, it was very obvious that they were upset. They had all been looking forward to Miata coming to visit as Ms. Tang, the director, had sent out a mass email telling everyone that Miata would be visiting sometime in August. Once inside we were met by Ms. Tang. She too was looking forward to seeing Miata and was very upset that she wasn’t with us. We spent about one hour with Ms. Tang at the orphanage showing her pictures of Miata and the other children who had been adopted from Foshan (several parents contributed money for the camera that we purchased and sent pictures of their child to be given to Ms. Tang.) Ms. Tang also gave us a tour of the orphanage and took us to see several older children who performed a song and dance for us that they had put together on their own. They were very excited to get to perform for us. Ms. Tang also brought out one of the babies I had asked her if I could take pictures of for a family that is waiting to come get her. After much time spent at the orphanage, Ms. Tang then invited us to have lunch with her and took us to a real Cantonese restaurant.
Once we arrived at the restaurant, our guide asked us what type of food we wanted to eat. We kindly told them that we did not eat strange things and were more into American type Chinese food. If you remember the photos from our trip here last year, the Cantonese people keep everything in aquariums (Cantonese food is known for it “freshness”) and you pick out what you want to eat and they cook it and bring it to your table. We were told by both of our guides in Guangzhou this week that there is an old saying that Cantonese people will eat anything but the plane in the sky and a desk. After seeing what is kept in these aquariums, I would say that the saying is true! The last thing we wanted was to get on a plane for 13 hours and be sick so they were kind enough to order somewhat normal food (the only thing weird was the plate of chicken that still had the head on the plate.) After about two hours at the restaurant we returned to the orphanage for Ms. Tang so that she could get us the exact address of Miata’s finding spot (where she was abandoned.) We then left the orphanage and drove about 45 minutes to that location so we could take pictures to have for Miata as part of her life book.
When we left Miata’s finding spot it was around 4:00 so we headed to the airport. When we arrived at the airport our guide went in with us to help us check in and to tell us goodbye. We then proceeded to the gate to wait for our flight to leave at 9:00pm. Our flight to LA left on time and went really smooth. Once in LA we had to go through customs which took us about an hour. This was really frustrating as we were already so tired! After we finally got through customs and security we headed for the Raleigh gate, set our bags down, and I went to get us some “American” food! Yeah!!! It tasted so good! Our flight to Raleigh also left as scheduled and was a smooth one. We arrived back home at 9:15am and just in time for Tropical Storm Ernesto! What a welcome home.
We want to thank everyone for all your prayers!! They were very much appreciated!! Please continue to pray for our family as we all are still adjusting.
We hope you enjoyed following our blog/Jadeyn’s Journey. We will again update Jadeyn’s Journey on Monday to share how she is adjusting to her new life and new family. We will also add more pictures to our photo bucket at this time.
And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your gloom will become like midday. Isaiah 58:10
posted by The Keegans' @ 9:21 PM
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