For now, we call him by his nickname "Hui Hui" (Hway-Hway) until he gets more comfortable with us, then we will work James into it. Besides, hearing him point to pictures of himself and say Hui-Hui in his little voice melts your heart.
So the drivers here are crazy ... but our driver here in Fuzhou might win the prize ... we may have found THE worst driver in a city of 7 million people. Nice as can be, loves on Hui Hui ... but might want to find a different career.
We made it to Xiamen, but then clearly got lost. No matter the language ... the sounds of confusion and pointing at the phone GPS are universal. After driving around Xiamen (look kids, Big Ben, parliament ...) we got to the orphanage. Even that was a bit of a cluster ... get out of the car, unloaded two suitcases of donations, no get back in the car, we will go to lunch first, bring donations with us?, um no... Leave in the lobby. Started to have flashbacks to Seinfeld ... Serenity now!
Once we got to lunch, they kept the food coming ... One dish after the next, enjoyed a cold Bud Ice, and stuffed ourselves. At one point, as they brought another dish, Curt was like huh, wow ... It just keeps coming. It was delicious, oh and I played the vegetarian card, to avoid being rude about not eating the spongy tubular objects in the pork soup. I will say, everywhere we have gone, they know how to cook. It's a shame I couldn't get recipes!
Then it was time to roll ourselves out of the restaurant - and let me tell you Hui Hui came through ... like. a. champ. We were waiting on Curt in the restroom, when the orphanage director walked out of the bathroom and as she walked past Hui Hui, she said ... well, I don't know ... But clearly 'come on' in Mandarin. He took a few steps, looked back at me, realized I was waiting behind (for Curt) and ran back to me crying. Hell yeah! :). That's my boy!!! First sign he wanted me, and right in front of the orphanage staff. Well played Yi Hui, well played.
Then it was time to go to his "finding place" ... A positive spin on where he was abandoned. All records we had say he was found under a bridge, by a gate, in a park. We learned "park" meant living community. ... Or one might just say neighborhood. Anyway, the bridge had been torn down and the only person in mother car from Xiamen was the orphanage director, who said she didn't know where to bridge had been, so she didn't know which gate ... There were a lot of them. However, all I could think was, it was only 2 years ago ... seriously, I thought I had a bad memory. Anyway, Curt snapped a zillion pics of every street corner, while taking video. He was quite the sight. I found myself looking at the people. Would that man have been his neighbor? That woman, his mom? Those kids, someday his friends? I told Curt to shoot me explaining where we were on camera. Basically a stand up ... which I've done for work a million times. Nope. couldn't do it. Well, I did ... but wow did the emotions well up out of no where. It just hit me. This was it. I just couldn't imagine ...
Once at the orphanage, we drug up all the donations to a room that has never felt air conditioning and all the director said was, this suitcase is heavy ... well, that what our guide told me. Yep, we know, we brought them half way around the world. Never got a thank you ... but just reminded myself they are for the kids. And she did just fill my belly ... So I focused on that moved on.
We went to the floor where Yi Hui spent the last few days before Gotcha Day. His foster family says their goodbyes a few days before Gotcha Day ... he stays without his mom, at the orphanage, I'm sure confused and scared to death. Once on that floor, he started melting down and did not let us put him down. He held on tight. While he doesn't understand, Curt just said, don't worry little man, we didn't fly halfway around the world to leave you now.
We then went to the special needs floor where babies are cared for with everything from cleft palate (like Yi Hui) to severe heart defects etc. Thi is where Yi Hui I lived until he was 6 months old and went to his foster home. Every staff member and volunteer was from The U.S. ... wasn't expecting that. The woman in charge had been in China for 30 years, originally from Georgia. As soon as we walked in, she instantly walked up and said "Hi Hui Hui!"
They showed us the foster family wall ... Pics of each home and the foster family where each child lives.
It was a long day, an emotional day, and an exhausting day... And I'm glad we chose to do it.
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