Monday May 21

Prior to leaving on the bus for the orphanage, I was trying to get reservations or tickets for the train from Beijing to Guangzhou. I had noticed on the internet schedule that the sleepers were getting booked up. The front desk pointed me to a China Travel Service desk in the corner of the lobby, but no one was there. About 15 minutes before our bus was due to leave, that service desk was open. After trying to communicate to the 3 people there, I had to do the charades thing and discovered that they only booked flights from Beijing to Guangzhou. Back to the front desk where at least one girl spoke some English. She called the train ticket office and found that there were still seats available, but no sleepers. Oh, well, we
 ’t want to do it twice, so I worked in my own area and swathed about 2000 square feet.
At the orphanage, we were again assigned various tasks. The boys and some of the ladies went back to the fields to cut down more grass. The grass is as thick as your little finger and about 3 feet tall. The tools are primitive, but they work. The youth looked like they were practicing a golf swing and making crop circles, leaving thick stubble about 12 to 18 inches high. I sure didn
 “hotpot”. A boiling tray of water is placed in the center of the table over a propane flame and trays upon trays of raw food are brought out to place in the water to cook. Each person is given a small bowl of sesame sauce to which you can add condiments for flavor. When your item is cooked, you put it on your plate, dip it in the sauce and eat it. Food included; thin slices of beef, raw fish, noodles, tofu, mushrooms, jicama, and many other strange foods. It was an interesting meal, and everyone enjoyed it. The fish eyes were disturbing to some, but everyone had a great time and there was lots of laughter. Returning to the hotel, Matthew and I shopped for breakfast items, water, juice and pastries. The plan is leave at 8 a.m. for some touring in the morning. 
At lunch time the supervisor asked me about handyman skills and I was assigned to make stand up signposts for a special weekend event that will attract several visitors. The wood was pine 1x2 but the tools were not what I expected. A hammer, that was ok, but the saw was a wooden bow saw fitted with a hacksaw blade and twisted at an odd angle. We made do and created the 13 signposts Alex wanted, plus 6 stands for holding ribbons for races. The stands were taken as they were completed and painted by other members of the team. Some creative people painted a beautiful flower mural on the plain white concrete fence that really brightened it up. The boys went fishing for tadpoles in the swamp which were to be used in a game for the weekend activities. Others sorted out books in the library and did some general cleaning.  I got the task of cleaning out the shed and organizing the stuff in it so one of the dogs could be penned there.

After the hard work, we got to spend some time with the children. I played the piano with a little helper sitting beside me and some of the children began dancing to the music. It was not only play time, but massage time and it was interesting to watch the orphanage staff massage the fingers, toes and bodies of their little charges and to see the children just relax as they received this loving attention.

Days end and we head back to the hotel for much needed showers before the evening meal. Supper was interesting as we walked down the business area and our interpreter took us to a second floor restaurant for ’ve got to go. They would need our passports and $516RMB. I didn’t have time to go and find it and I didn’t want to lose the last seats, so a young man from hotel staff was delegated to go with the passports and the money to the train ticket office on my behalf and purchase the tickets. He would run and be back in 10 minutes. Now the bus was delayed. Our tour director suggested I stay behind and catch up to the team by taxi. I decided to get on the bus and trust the front desk clerk. Later on, I called the hotel and asked if my passport and tickets had showed up and they had. Our interpreter also called just to make sure and the reply was also positive. Later, as I approached the front desk upon our return to the hotel, all 4 staff members stood up to greet me with smiles on their faces. "Of course", the passports and tickets were right there.  "Of course" is becoming a standard reply here in China.