Babies! And Food!
Today is an easy day for us… we’re postponing the Great Wall trip until the end of the month when we come back to Beijing after our travels to Guilin, Chengdu, etc. Still adjusting to the time difference, plus all the walking, talking, language translation, etc. that takes up much more energy than a normal day in the States.
Yesterday’s highlights were visiting the China Care Children’s Home and going to the Donghuamen Night Market. Babies and food are two of my fave things. China Care was awesome! The babies were so cute, and I was relieved to see that they are also incredibly well cared-for. They have very loving staff, and nice facilities, too. It’s not really one building, but rather the Children’s Home is run out of several apartments in Shunyi, a suburb 45 minutes north of Beijing. I was happily surprised that we actually got to hold and play with the babies! The children have all come to Beijing from orphanages in other parts of China to receive medical treatment for various conditions such as cleft palates, heart problems, hydrocephalus, etc. They get the necessary treatment and follow-up care here, and then they are placed in foster care once they are all better. Or, for the few whose conditions are terminal, they are placed in a nearby hospice. (Oh, there go the tears…. crying on the keyboard now.) But most of the children have conditions that are easily fixed with surgery, so that’s the good news. About 1/3 of the children currently are adopted. They’re hoping that number goes up, up, up to 100%, of course, but in the meantime the children receive really great foster care, much different from the U.S.
Picture Time!


The night market was fun, too. Some of the food was great, some….eh. Not great. But it was good times. Mark will tell you all about it, I’m sure. You’ll be glad to know we survived two absolutely insane taxi rides yesterday. Not all the taxi drivers are crazy….I think most of them are pretty great. But we somehow managed to find two on a suicide mission yesterday. Happily, disaster was somehow miraculously diverted and we arrived safely at our destinations.
Tea time! I’m over and out.















