Afterwards, we headed into Beijing to meet some folks at Peter's Tex Mex. You will probably hear me mention Peter's frequently over the next year. I've only been here two weeks and I've already been three times! It's the only restaurant I've ever seen in China that has Root Beer and Dr. Pepper. I think my 'usual' will probably turn out to be their taquitos, with salsa and sour cream! Oh, and their fried ice cream! Amazing! They give you your own little saucer of caramel sauce to pour over it!
Anyways, we went to Peter's to meet seven girls from another orphanage in Beijing. They're between the ages of 13 and 18. They come from the area up by the Russian border, which makes them a not very liked minority here in China. They were all a bunch of the most gorgeous girls I've ever seen! Green eyes, blue eyes, hazel eyes. One girl has scars all over her face, back and torso from when her mother tried to kill her at age five. Another girl was sold into prostitution at age twelve. They're now under the care of an amazing Chinese woman, are doing well in school, and pursuing vibrant futures. It made me think about how we define who we are. I'm so thankful that these girls now know WHOSE they are. We shared nachos, and chocolate, peanut butter, and butterscotch milkshakes and then headed out into the city for some SHOPPING! Our orphanage had decided to gift the girls with some money and then treat them to a day of shopping so they could pick out what they wanted for themselves. We made a stop by a new mall, Salona, and I felt like I had stepped right into Las Vegas! It had a Todai, LL Bean, Sephora, Cold Stone - very Aladdin-esque. I had a wonderful day and hope I get to see them all again soon.
On the way home, we ran by the grocery store to pick up a few things.
This, below, is bing. We have this at most meals at home and it's usually my 'safe' item. Pretty good!
It looks like I'll be having rice for dinner.
When we got home, I had these two cuties waiting for me. They had been at a Birthday party sleepover at a friend's house the night before, so had a lot to fill me in on.
Sunday was another full day in the city. We had our normal Sunday morning meeting - I'm really enjoying such an international fellowship. There's a bunch of folks from Liberia who attend, and one little boy named Ruby has sure taken a liking to me. Not sure what it is, but as soon as I walk in he's wanting 'up, up, up' into my arms. A family from Australia leads the music - their ten year old son really tears it up on the bass. We met some friends for lunch at a Korean restaurant so I had to be a bit more adventurous than Peter's let's me be.
That evening, I was sitting on my bed when Keith came over to the bakery and said he had some folks downstairs I might like to meet. There in my apartment stood about six or seven Americans! They're all around my age, are like-minded in their reasons for being in China, and teach English at a university across town. They're hoping they can come volunteer at our place from time to time, and we exchanged info so hopefully we can hang out, too. That was a fun surprise!
Today we had another full day of school. I can remember wanting to be a teacher when I was little, but when it came time for college I could never picture myself in a classroom setting as a career. I feel like what we have here is a perfect setting! This afternoon we had three girls from Wheaton Academy High School in Chicago due to arrive. One of them was met with some visa complications once she arrived here in Beijing, but thankfully she was finally let in. As a treat, we brought Burger King home from the airport for dinner (the only BK's in China are in airports). We had had Chinese chicken fingers for lunch today (the actual chicken foot, with toenails and all), so I had joked that I wanted chicken fingers from Burger King for dinner. My wish came true! I've never seen so many french fries - there were even too many for this girl to finish! It was quite a fun night around the dinner table - the Duggar family has nothing on us! The girls will be volunteering here until next Tuesday, so I look forward to getting to know them better.
Well, my big news for the week is that I'm leaving at six tomorrow morning to go on my first 'orphanage run'. From time to time, Keith will head to other orphanages in other parts of the country to deliver supplies and gifts. These are China-run orphanages, which I'm told are a tough environment to see. It's also on these trips that they come into contact with children and teens who have disabilities that we might be able to help with. Tomorrow we're headed to Zheng Zhou, which will be at least a nine hour drive. The van is loaded down with goods to deliver. There will be four of us adults going. Please think of us while we're on the road. Our group met a young boy at this particular place on a previous visit, and we're thinking we might end up bringing him back to our place with us when we return. I'm sure I'm about to see and experience some things I'll never forget.
I hope each of you have a wonderful week. I love you!
Posts
