Final Volunteering Day

Today was bittersweet, as we had to say goodbye to the children. We didn't get as much time with them as planned due to a glitch at China Construction Bank, ironically enough. (The Bank has a 9% share in CCB.) We're supposed to be able to use our Bank of America ATM cards, but the slow machine timed out on Karen, yet indicated she had withdrawn 1000 RMB. The bank management said they would check its balances at the end of the day and issue a credit. The money was needed because we wanted to pay the orphanage for the lunches they served us all four days, plus the transportation provided for tourism here. We now plan to pay the CHI contact in Beijing; the CCB ATMs worked fine for us there.

We were allowed to visit some of the children we had not yet seen. These children are in the same buiding we've been in all week. There is another building that we were not allowed into. We saw about 50 or 60 kids. Most seemed to have some form of mental disability, which I think included Down's Syndrome and autism. It was sad; I would doubt any of these children have hope for adoption. But their caregivers seem very devoted, as do all the workers we've seen here.

We again distributed sweet rolls to the pre-schoolers, which is a rare treat for them. We also left them cookies for future treats. We hugged and high-fived them goodbye. And then we were off to the top floor to see the teens again. We got to enjoy the music practice of some of them. And I forgot to mention yesterday, but I brought my iPod and let the kids listen to the music. They seemed to really enjoy the music, and said, "you like rock music." They were not familiar with Madonna, whose songs they heard.

We gave the teens candy and talked in English and took many photos. We have really bonded with a lot of these kids. Michael, the English teacher from NYC, said we can mail him letters and photos for the kids. That makes leaving a little bit easier. I gave Danielle some hair conditioner, lip gloss, hand lotion and a black PAWS Chicago t-shirt, and the other volunteers gave away their red Bank of America volunteer t-shirts. Clothing is appreciated here; a lot of the kids wore the same clothes every day. But that could also be due to the laundry issues. I also let Danielle chose a photo of me with my dog Sammy to keep. One of the students gave Chung the pin he had received for doing well in school. We saw a young girl hard at work on her English lessons.

We were told that middle school students have class six days a week, that high school students have one day off a month. Students also frequently have night classes and stay overnight in the schools; many of the kids live far away. The orphans walk to their school.

I also forgot to mention yesterday that the orphanage did the nicest thing for us. They presented us each with a beautiful painting created by the students. The one we opened is of red flowers. We plan to look at the others after dinner tonight. What a stunning memento.

We toured the Longman Grottos later this afternoon. They are the most intricate chiselings of Buddhist statues carved into the cliffs on both banks of the Yi River. The grottoes began in the fifth century and continued 400 years. There are more than 10,000 statues in 2,300 grottoes. It is really amazing.

Tonight we will have dinner and pack. Tomorrow will will visit another temple in the morning, then fly to Beijing in the evening. Chung leaves Sunday night and the rest of us Monday evening.

I'm not sure I'll be able to write again. The connection in Beijing was slow and unstable.

I have learned and experienced so much on this amazing journey. I am very thankful for this wonderful experience. I thank all of you for your interest in learning more about China and its fantastic children. Take care,

Chris