found an orphanage

So...

I've been wanting to find an orphanage near here to get involved with. A few months ago I heard there was an orphanage in Wenzhou, which is a city that is a 45 min busride away from me. Yesterday, me and my brother set out looking for it and we finally found it! It's really hard for foreigners to get into orphanages in china sometimes because of the conditions that they don't want foreigners to see. They don't want to "look bad" to the western world. When we got there, the lady, who I assume is high up in charge of the orphanage, told us that in order to see the orphans we would have to go to hongzhou ( a city 5 hours away) and do some kind of paperwork to get permission...which is total bull..ony. Anyway, stefen asked if we could at least see the orphans for 10 minutes, so they let us see them...for 10 minutes. When i went up to the room one of the little girls, maybe 2 years old, immediatly came to me and sat in my lap (which is strange because most chinese children that young are scared and very shy around foreigners, because we look really STRANGE and different to them). This goes to show how much that little girl was reaching out for love and physical touch. When the workers made us go back downstairs, we went back in the office. While we were there, a couple brought in a toddler and a SMALL baby (maybe only a couple of weeks old). So sad. The woman said to me in chinese.."i will give her to you."

Stefen and I have decided that we will go back to the orphanage every monday (our day off) and try to spend time with orphans. Maybe with persistance, they will forget about the paperwork (which i know is a long drawn out process) We have our pinky toe in the door, i'm just praying we get a foot in!

Needless to say, the short time I spent at the orphanage stirred up a lot of emotions in me, and a lot of memories from the other orphanage that i visited in china, and became so attached to. I thought that I had decided what I wanted to do with the next few years of my life...go to college...4 year degree...continue English teaching. After looking at those children's faces...falling deeply into their eyes...I feel so lost. All I want to do is help them. Working with orphans is where my heart is, and yesterday, I was reminded of that.

Well, I've been living in China for almost 7 months now, and I figure it's about time I started blogging!! I'm so lazy when it comes to this stuff, but I know that I will regret it if i don't!

I can't believe I've been here for almost 7 months. How time flies. I am starting to feel like I am finally getting used to this country. I understand Chinese a bit more, though I feel like I will never fully understand the culture! So many things about this place just blow my mind! I really don't know where to start with this, so I will just try to update on a day to day basis. It's time for bed...classes to teach EARLY in the morning!