Wednesday, trip to Cora's orphanage - Part 1

It's been quite a day so far!  We were supposed to meet at 7:30am to leave for Beng Bu, which is about a 2 hr drive from our hotel.  James, Sophie, Cora and I were going to go, plus one other family.

Cora woke up pretty sad, and crying.  Not sobbing, just kind of whimpering and tears flowing.  She calmed down pretty quick, but I could tell she was tired.  We rushed to get downstairs, and had about 10 mins for breakfast.  Not helping the situation, I'm sure.  When we got to the lobby, she just starting crying.  I think maybe she was expecting to see all the kids?   But who knows.  The guide that was taking us tried to talk to her, but it wasn't helping.  So with the state she was in, we just decided not to risk taking her.  We just kept thinking how confusing it would be to take her back.  She'd see all her friends and nannies, and then have to leave again with us?  She is doing great with us, but still tentative, and definitely not 100% trusting, or feeling like we are "home" yet.  So I took her back to the room, and James and Sophie went.  Ended up the other family did not bring their daughter either, so it was just the parents/bio kids that went.

We played in the room, did some coloring and a sticker book, and she was having fun.  I decided to join the group going to the museum at 9am.  We got back down to the lobby, and she is like a different kid when she sees the other kids - especially her friend Emily.  She skips and jumps and twirls and talks.  Makes sense to me - she's used to living every waking hour with a whole crew of kids, so of course she's going to feel comforted by that.  So off we went to the museum.

She is quite an independent girl, and likes to be the leader of the pack.  She would check around for me every once in a while, make sure I was there.  But really, just loved running around and checking all the people out.  She did come to me twice with arms held out for a hug, and said mama, so that was awesome!   But I think we are going to find out she is very strong willed little thing, once she settles in.  It was cool to see a little bit of her personality come out.

After a few hours, we got back in the bus, and back to the hotel.  Emily's family was going to walk to McDonalds for lunch, so Cora and I joined them.  The girls held hands the whole way (about a 5 block walk), in pretty crazy traffic.  Pedestrians are basically ignored, so crossing the streets is interesting!    She had chicken nuggets, and some fries, and was a happy camper.

Emily and crew were going to hit Walmart on the way back, which I wanted to skip, so Cora and I left first.  We said our goodbyes, got down the stairs, and then Cora just lost it.  She started crying and pulling me back to Emily.  I resisted, and ended up having to carry her, for what I thought would be a little bit.   Nope, she cried and almost screamed, the whole way back, and if I put her down, would try to bolt the other direction.  Oh geez!  Of course everyone was staring (they stare even if you aren't carrying a screaming chinese girl), and they probably thought I was kidnapping her or something.  One guy in van tailed me the WHOLE way home, just watching.  And then rolled his window down and tried talking to me right when I got to the hotel.  Not mean or anything, just concerned that she was crying and such (is what i gathered from his motions).

But we made it back in, and really as soon as we got in the hotel, she calmed down.  And then was fine when we got up to the room.  I was pretty calm through it all, I kept reminding myself that even NON adopted chinese 5 yr old have tantrums!  Except my arm almost fell off from carrying her in the 95 degree heat.

We played, and then James and Sophie came back.  I'm going to let James write about the orphanage experience.  It sounds like it went well, and we got some pretty amazing information from them.  That's my cliff hanger....:)

Wow, it's 6pm already.  We all napped for an hour, then headed down to the pool.  Cora finally got in, and LOVED it!!  She was laughing like crazy, trying to splash and squirt james and sophie.  Just giggles and kicking and splashing for an hour, so it did the heart good for all of us.   She is totally beat, and I'm sure we'll be sleeping by 8pm tonight.  Oh, and then afterwards back in the room, she started mimicking words.  J&S were playing ball with her, so she was repeating Ball.  We were way excited!!  Small step, but we'll take it.  And she started talking to us a little in mandarin; it's so cool to hear her cute little voice.

Pictures to come in the next note from James!