Thursday June 18 Orphanage Visit

Today we drove three hours North to visit Shaoguan which is where Liya's orphanage is.  Like clock work, she lost her cookies about an hour into the ride.  We have gotten into a routine of making sure we have plastic bags without any holes in them and that one is out and ready on every trip.  I can only imagine what the plane ride home will be like!  Afterwards, Nicky and Liya had a nice little nap.  After the nap we managed, through Simon, to learn a little more about Liya like her favorite color is pink, her favorite animal is a dog, she loves meat and noodles, and her favorite sport is hockey, that one amazed me!  We also found out that she is afraid of most little animals especially birds.

 

Once we arrived in Shaoguan we had lunch, checked into our hotel and then headed over to the orphanage.  On the way to the orphanage we stopped at a store and Nicky and I picked up some candy and cake snacks with fruit filling to give to the kids.  When we arrived we met with the orphanage officials and Liya's caretakers.  They told us that Liya was a little naughty when she was younger.  They called her the "Queen" and said that she would make sure she got all of her favorite toys before anyone else could.  Then Liya gave them the gifts we brought for them.

After that we took a tour.  On the elevator ride up, we noticed a picture hung in the elevator of Liya from when she was younger.

She's the little one with short hair on the far left.  We then got to see where she slept, where she ate her meals and met some more caretakers.

 

We then handed out the snack cakes and candy.  After we hand handed out the candy Simon informed us that the candy was actually cough drops.  The kids didn't seem to mind and I guess that could be considered a healthy snack.

 

We then said our goodbyes and left the orphanage and went out to dinner.  On this trip Simon has done all the food ordering and we have all been at his mercy.  Taylor has been very adventurous.  She has found some new things she likes and has had fire mouth (spicy foods) on a couple of occasions.  Liya loves the spicy foods and gets a kick out of Taylor freaking out over them.  Jack on the other hand has managed to subsist on white rice and sprite.  Grandma has not gotten the hang of chop sticks yet and chooses to use the fork of shame!  All in all, the food has been really good.

 

Finally, I will leave you with a bathroom update...anytime you have to go to the bathroom away from our hotel, it is hell to be a woman.  Taylor told me her legs are sore from squatting!