April 7th

Last night I headed out with a couple of people to go shoe shopping. We were able to find a department store and I was able to find about 10 pairs. The shoe shopping has begun! I also picked up some cooler clothing for the girls. Temperatures here are breaking records and it’s stifling hot. Today was in the 30’s, and while it’s not as hot as August 2003 we are still feeling it.

Today was a long and emotional day for me as I left Joel and the girls at the hotel at 7:30am this morning to head for Chenzhou. It was great to be able to leave the hustle and bustle of the big city in favour of seeing some of the more rural aspects of China. Our 3.5 hour drive gave us a glimpse of what our daughter’s lives may have been had their paths not taken this turn to us. The drive also had some adrenaline pumping moments – passing on the shoulder, almost getting smoked by a truckload of cabbage, avoiding a “mad woman” who was laying on the highway and all at about 140km/hr. I don’t know why the Chinese don’t produce more Indy Drivers – they are well trained.

Our itinerary in Chenzhou was to seek out the finding spots of the five families represented, take photos and video footage for them and to also drive past the orphanage for some pictures. We were not given permission to stop for a visit.

First stop was a gas station to use the facilities and allow our driver to fuel up. Immediately I was struck by the how big the “village” is. Chenzhou has a population of 4.2 million, yet it is considered small by China’s standards. The town is not as built “up” as Changsha, but is definitely busy and crowded. The landscape is mountainous, lush and green, but VERY dusty. It is quite a beautiful place. The buildings seem to be either very rich or very poor. We must have looked like quite the spectacle – one woman and five men, all pasty and white.

We reboarded our bus and headed to Number 1 Chenzhou Hospital, the finding spots of Phoebe and Olivia. Our guide was negotiating with someone to lead us to the remaining places, so we were on our own. Despite that, we were able to actually make our way into the hospital and find the “obstetrics” department. It was emotional to see new mothers carrying newborn babies around and to imagine that Lilah may have been born there. As far as the healthcare goes, it does not come close to OHIP. We have so much more. Again, we were quite a spectacle, a bunch of white folks hanging out in a hospital, but everyone was very friendly and one man even joked with us about taking his son with us.

The hospital is surrounded by a market, so we bought some fruit before heading to our next destination – Chenzhou Social Children’s Welfare Institute. While we were exploring the hospital, Lily had found a gentleman on a motorcycle who knew were all our “sites” were and offered to lead the way.

The orphanage is not far from the hospital. It is down an alleyway and there didn’t seem to be many buildings. It is VERY poor. One small child, probably about 4 yrs old was playing in the grass behind the gate. Since we did not have permission to visit, we had to stay within the confines of the bus to get our footage. What a sight that must have been, all of us hanging outside the windows with cameras and video equipment.

Next we headed to a small park where Tasia was found. Since we couldn’t find a spot to park and the area was a no stopping zone, again we had to document it on the bus. The park is very busy. Lots of people playing games and sitting around enjoying the trees. It’s a pretty spot and very busy.

Our next stop was the Route 29 bus stop at the QiXing Market where Lilah was found. As we drove there, I found myself getting emotional as I looked into the faces of the women and wondered if I was seeing my daughter’s birthmother. We arrived at the market and hopped out to document it. There are a lot of apartments around it and the market was busy. I have to review the footage later, as much of it is a blur in my mind. The bus stop was actually down the road from the market, so we headed there to put Lilah’s flyer up. It has a small photo of her, with a message indicating basically that she is safe and we will care for her. The bus stop is hardly a place to leave a baby. There were many vendors in front of it so I wondered if she had been left in one of their stalls. I took photos of it all as the rest of our group also helped document it.

Immediately as I posted Lilah’s flyer, many people started reading it. Initially, those who could read were smiling, nodding and giving a thumbs up. After a few minutes, a crowd had formed. Lily became very nervous that the police would arrive and asked me to take the flyers down for fear we would get in trouble. I was disappointed, but did as she asked as more people surrounded me. I took out Naomi’s photo and in very bad mandarin told them I was a happy mom of two babies. Lots of smiles and nods. One man came over and grabbed the flyer out of my hand, then started speaking in mandarin. The crowd began pointing at a tall building across the street and pushing us in that direction. Apparently he misunderstood the flyer and thought that I had lost my baby. He had told that to those who were unable to read, and they were trying to get me to go there so that I could put it on the news. Lily explained it to them and told us we had to leave. I was sobbing as we left the spot – I wished that I could speak Mandarin, I wished that I could have stayed there forever, I wished for many things. . .

Our final destination was the Bus Station, Julia’s finding spot. Again, we were not able to get out and visit because of the issue of parking, but we did stop infront and took as much footage as we could. I felt badly for the folks who were unable to get out at their daughter’s site as I know how much it meant to me. Nevertheless, what we got was more information and that was the purpose of our trip. We will never have all the answers, but at least we’ve come this far. Our journey home was much more subdued as we processed the information we’d just received. It was a busy two hours and we were running on adrenaline the whole time. All of us were exhausted.

We arrived back at the hotel at 5pm. As we got off the bus, Mike was greeted by his new daughter at the front entrance. She had obviously missed him, hard to believe after only three days together but her cheers of joy were clearly a message that she is beginning to bond. All of the babies seem to be improving. Their colds are getting better and we are starting to see more of their little personalities.

My dad and I headed upstairs to see how Joel made out with his two charges for the day. While it was busy, apparently the girls got along tremendously well and Naomi was a very helpful big sister. She’s becoming quite protective of her baby and is also very tolerant of her. Lilah adores Naomi and looks for her whenever they are apart. Both my girls continue to amaze me. I don’t have any pictures of them to post for you today as I filled my memory card in Chenzhou. We are headed to Zhuzhou tomorrow, and have to pack/checkout immediately upon our return. I doubt I’ll have time to post again until Saturday.

Tonight we enjoyed dinner at a restaurant across the road from our hotel wth the rest of our group. It was nice to unwind and relax. Naomi loves the foodstops here, they all have aquariums full of fish and she loves watching them. Tonight a man came and scooped out some of the shrimp for a dish – Naomi realized what he was doing and told him to put them back. Kind of ironic that she loves to eat shrimp as much as she loves to make friends with the live one’s in the tank.

I can’t believe that we are leaving Changsha tomorrow. It seems like we only just got here and now we are heading out. Only one more week in our trip and while I’m eager to get home and get back into a routine, I also wish we had more time to explore. Thankfully we know that we’ll be back again someday when our daughter’s are old enough to explore this place with us.