Headline: Zai Jian “Super” 8, Ni Hao 4-Star Xuanhua Hotel!

After almost a week at the Super 8 Hotel in Beijing, we arrived at the Xuanhua Hotel around 10:00 last night. All of us are really excited about this new hotel, especially the fact that the rooms have toilets that flush. There’s also a noticeable lack of ants. (Some of us even have a lovely view of the mountains.)

We spent the entire day today at the Xuanhua Orphanage, about a half-hour’s drive from our hotel. Reaching the orphanage was an adventure in itself—we had put our bus in reverse along the highway! Upon our arrival, we met several town officials who had come out to greet us. They all seemed really pleased that we were there, and one of them was videotaping the entire thing. We donated carbon monoxide detectors to the orphanage, as well as fans, lights, and a big teddy bear, among other things.

Half of our group spent the morning playing with the kids, and the other half sorted donated clothes and painted cribs. We switched activities after breaking for lunch.







Similar to the other foster homes that we’ve visited, the Xuanhua Orphanage is home to kids with special needs. Most of the children we saw today have cerebral palsy, but we saw a little boy with Down syndrome. One of the adults in our group is a physical therapist, and she helped a young girl through some exercises.

Xuanhua is very different from Beijing. Foreigners aren’t too much of a big deal in Beijing, and the local people gave us a few passing glances and looked away. In Xuanhua, however, people make no effort to hide their curiosity, often openly staring and pointing. It’s almost more surprising for the locals to see Chinese girls conversing fluently in English while walking alongside Caucasian adults. (We might as well have big neon signs over our heads that say “Look at us! We’re not from around here!”) Although it would be considered rude in the U.S., the staring and pointing doesn’t bother us—we just smile and nod our heads :)

Tomorrow is our last full day in Xuanhua, and we’re spending the whole day at the Xuanhua Orphanage. Thanks for reading! Wan an, goodnight!

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