July 10,
2005
Buddhist Temple & Orphanage Visit
6:30 am (July 11) - Yesterday was pretty busy although it was not supposed to be. Our adoption group went to a local Buddhist temple called the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees. This temple is more than 1400 years old. It was pretty interesting.
While we were at the temple, we were sitting around (Bill was holding Tyler) waiting for others to regroup and one of the boys was running up and down the sidewalk. This caught Tyler's attention and he was very fascinated with the boy so he became restless and he wanted to get down from Bill's lap. So, Bill let Tyler stand on the ground and supported him while he stood there. All of a sudden, Tyler decides he wants to walk so he began putting one foot in front of the other and you can figure out the rest. All Bill did was help him keep his balance and Tyler did the rest. The boy is ready to become mobile!
Tyler is coming out of his shell more and more every day. We are finding that he is very curious of things and is quite the wiggle-worm. He does not like to sit still for long periods of time like when we are traveling on the bus to some destination. He is constantly exploring new things like the air conditioning vents overhead in the bus or the passenger grab handle. He also likes to look outside at all the foreign looking cars, trucks and bicycles. We realized that Tyler has been cooped up in the orphanage until now so this is all still foreign to him. No wonder he wants to check everything out!
Later in the morning, we visited a Jade and Porcelain shop. We spent some money on gifts, jewelry and decorations for the house. We also bought a "chop" for Tyler which is an ink stamp with Tyler's Chinese name etched in it. While we were at the store, women flocked around Tyler, played with him and made him laugh. We could not resist taking a picture of Tyler and the attention he attracts (see below). He just loves this attention and laughs so hard he almost pees his diapers!
10:30 am (July 12) - It's taken us a while to sit down and write in this journal. Tyler is definitely an active little boy! We were able to visit his orphanage, Foshan Nanhai SWI, on Sunday, 7/10. SWI stands for Social Welfare Institute. It's what they call their orphanages. They usually also house other facilities, not just the orphanage, such things as a veterans building or senior center. The SWI is about 30 - 45 minutes outside of Guangzhou and a pretty interesting ride. This part of the area is much more modern and feels more like countryside than Guangzhou. There is a lot more open space, but at the same time there is a lot of construction going on. In a couple of years if we were to come back we probably wouldn't even recognize it.
When we arrived at the orphanage we were greeted out front by a little girl calling Tyler's Chinese nickname, "Cheng Cheng." They were so happy to see him. As we waited for the director of the orphanage to come back from a meeting nannies came out and to see him and just chatted away with him in Cantonese. He was smiling and laughing the whole time. It was great to see how much they cared about him. When the director, Ms. Tang, arrived she took us back to see the orphanage. The best we can describe it is there was a very institutional feeling to the place. It wasn't as old or outdated as we thought it would be, but it was also not as modern as something you would find in the U.S. They brought us into a room full of babies playing on a giant mattress on the ground. There were approximately 20 little ones just hanging out in the room. And they were all adorable! Alana wanted so much to just scoop them all up and take them home with her. One thing we noticed was that they were all tiny compared to Tyler. It's no wonder they thought he was such a big and healthy boy. As we stood there talking a couple of them would crawl over and touch our toes. They were so interested in touching us. We will definitely have to come back and adopt another one... It would be great it we could get a girl from the same orphanage as Tyler.
The next room was the room that they all slept in. It was full of stainless steel cribs. It was very sad to see. They also kept the room VERY humid. They had a humidifier going with vinegar and antibiotics in it in order to kill bacteria. Just standing there we could feel the sweat beads just rolling down our foreheads. Tyler's crib was number 7. Alana's favorite number! It had to have been fate.
The visit was short, but well worth the trip. Ms. Tang, the director, was great and all of the nannies were very nice. We gave Ms. Tang our email address to email us every once in a while. And we left with a promise to send her pictures of Tyler in his new home. On the ride home Tyler was like a new kid. He was so happy and wound up. He couldn't sit still. It was like he had found closure and was ready to start his new life after visiting his old life. We had worried that by taking him back to visit he might miss his old nannies and play friends, but it only seemed to strengthen our bond as a family.
Our original plan for this visit was to visit first the orphanage and then go to the market where Tyler was dropped off. We were not able to do the later because the market was located far from the orphanage and we did not have the time nor been able to secure transportation in time to make the trip.
We did find out more information on Tyler which was pretty interesting:
Healthy City:
The director originally named Tyler "Jian Cheng" using a Chinese character for "Cheng" which meant "honest" and the character for Jian meant "healthy". So, the director's intent was to name him "healthy and honest". However, when she published the ad in the paper for abandoned babies in the local newspaper, the paper made a mistake in the second character in that the meaning of the character used in the ad was "city". The director said that it would have been too difficult to change his name once the abandonment ad was place so they stuck with his mistaken name "healthy city".
Later that evening we went to dinner with one of the families in the adoption group. We decided we would all be adventurous so we went out to a Cantonese restaurant. Apparently, bugs, worms, snakes, eels, et cetera is considered normal for Cantonese fare. We did not eat bugs or snake that night but we did have sauteed shark fin, squab (pigeon) and crab. The food was pretty fresh. So fresh, that people can see it live before it is cooked. Well, at least when you order bugs, snakes, eel, et cetera you can see the critters when you first walk into the restaurant. We took some pictures of the more interesting "fresh" food and included them below for your enjoyment.
Click on the picture for a larger version.
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Famous Flowery Pagoda at the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees |
Amitabha statue at the Temple of the Six Banyon Trees (Buddhists pray to these large images) |
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Buddhists praying to statues |
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Popular Tyler at Jade and Porcelain store |
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Entrance to Foshan Nanhai Orphanage |
Decorations like this are posted throughout the orphanage |
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The orphanage director Ms. Tang (right) greets Tyler and Cindy |
Tyler and Ms. Tang |
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Tyler in what used to be his crib (#7) |
The orphanage weight and measurement scale used to measure baby Tyler when he was first brought to the orphanage |
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City of Foshan where Tyler’s orphanage was located |
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Cantonese delicacy - bon appetit! |
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