Orphanage Visit was wonderful

March 10, 6:30 a.m.

We learned a lot yesterday, about the city of Shenzhen, about Abby's orphanage and about playgrounds.

First, for geographic reference, China is broken into provinces (similar to states in the U.S.). Each province has several districts, and each district has towns and villages. For the past eight days, we've been in the Guangdong province, in the city of Guangzhou. Guangzhou is also the provincial capital of Guangzhou, which means there are many government functions here for the region, including immigation and visa, which is why all adoption families must come through Guangzhou before departing China. Abby Lin was found in the town of Guanlind, in the district of Baoan, in the city of Shenzhen, which is in the province of Guangdong. Her Chinese name "Bao Guan Wei" means she was in the ophanage in Baoan, found in the town of Guanlin, and her "first name," as we call it, is Wei (pronounced Way). Her nickname is Wei Wei. Got all that? Since we learned all that yesterday, I had to get it down for our own sake. Yhew, the name Abby Lin seems kind of simple right now.

The visit to the orphanage was well worth the five-hour total trip in the van. The orphanage is called a social welfare center because it is a government-run facility that houses orphans and the elderly. Abby's orphanage (as I'll continue to call it) was very nice and modern. It was built in 2002 and has more than 300 children, from newborn to age 16. We visited Abby's bedroom and playroom, which were both bright and cheerful. We got to meet her caregiver and she gave us a toy that Abby played with in the orphanage. There were about 15 other children in Abby's room, mostly girls, with very short hair. For some reason, they let Abby's hair grow longer than the other children's.

Abby was extremely quiet during the entire visit, never letting go of Steve. It was obvious that she recognized the place, as it had only been a week since she had left. She stared at the other children, and "heard" what the Chinese caregivers were saying when they spoke to her, but she had no reaction. Just hung onto daddy. (By the way, Abby understands Mandarin, since that was the native language of her caregivers, as opposed to Cantonese, which is mostly spoken in southern China.) Ana, on the other hand, was her outgoing and free-sprited self. She was facinated by the children, made instant friends with the orphanage workers, and couldn't get enough of the playground at the center. In fact, when we left, she said "that was so much fun; I wish I lived there." A playground is the way to Ana's heart.

The orphanage has a strong emphasis on education, and we even visited a room of preschoolers and elementary-age children that were learning English. Pretty amazing. They are preparing them for entry into American, Australian or Swedish families or the foster care system in China where local families will adopt them. We did not expect to see this, and this is surely not common in other orphanages in rural parts of China or, for that matter, in other parts of the world.

As soon as we left the center and got into the van, Abby smiled for the first time in more than one hour and came to life, giggling and playing the entire ride back to Guangzhou. She never looked back. We were so amazed and grateful that she already felt connected to us. Either that, or she knew there was more candy in the van for the long ride home.

We closed out the day with a visit to the playground near our hotel, which has become a favorite spot for Ana and Abby, as well as many other locals and adoptive families visiting Guangzhou. Ana, once again, made new friends -- two five year olds adopted from Korea that were here with their parents from New Jersey to adopt their new 14-year old sister. Amazing the stories you hear. Abby wore herself out playing on the slide with daddy. Mommy seems to always be taking photos or talking to the other families...or cleaning diapers, that is a new specialty of mine.