The Orphanage Visit

Well, as previously mentioned they changed the date of the orphanage visit on us which took me/us by surprise. But as Kailei said, "Schedules change Mom."

Oscar is or guide for the trip and is very nice. We have our own car as we are the only one visiting this particular orphanage. The drive itself took about three hours. It would have been shorter but the driver got lost I believe. The countryside was very pretty. Lots of rice fields, and tree with the occasional row of houses scattered around.

Hengyang County is actually a part of Hengyang City. It has about .2million people whereas Hengyang city has the largest population in Hunan province
- 7 million.

Since it was difficult to navigate we actually met at a local hotel and followed the director back. It was a god thing. I don't think we would have ever found it.

We were welcomed with firecrackers. It was loud and very, very hot as we stepped out of the van. We were greeted by the director, Kailei's ayi's , the Director of Civil Affairs and a few other government officials.

After our initial greeting we were taken into a conference room of sorts and provided an assortment of grit and some water. Kailei was a little shy and very clingy.

We showed them her photo album and brought out the book they all signed back in 2005. We are very lucky in that all of her ayi's still work there. They remembered her and said her face had not changed much.

At this point Kailei had prepared a speech to present but was too uncomfortable to do it. It was very important for her to do and knowing my child can be bought, I offered her money to give her speech. It worked. One of her ayi's even started crying.

We asked for the opportunity to see her file and went through it with Oscar. Nothing that we didn't already have except I did learn she was left in a purple outfit.

We then went to visit her room and was escorted to the orphanage. That babies room is on the second floor. There were four babies there. They were as adorable as any kid can be. We had asked if Kailei had a crib mate but they said no. It was a small room. One of the retired nannies was there and remembered Kailei as well so we took a picture with her. Next door was the playroom. Minimal at best but functional. Saw two slightly older boys but the rest were in foster care. Quit te a few elderly folks inhabit the place but we didn't go much further than those two rooms.

After the short tour we were taken out to lunch in a restaurant in a hotel. The restaurant was completely full so obviously a popular place. We had a private room which at least made it easier to hear. Lunch was awkward since Zeb and I aren't exactly chatter boxes. The men all had a smoke
First while we sat at the table. We were offered the choice of a lot spicy, a little spicy or no spicy food. Zeb tried most everything.

After lunch we said our goodbyes to the ayi's and the city workers that had joined us.