5
Location: Taiyuan
And just like that, another day is done.
Today we woke up at 7 am, and just in case you were wondering, I slept through the night for the first time (something to be celebrated). Although this led to me failing at my first task of the day of waking everyone up, it was fine. Anyways, as people got up, our private and very qualified chefs, Chris and Maddie, cooked us a magnificent breakfast of fried eggs, oatmeal, toast, and juice. Afterward, we all got packed for our journey starting in a matter of hours while calling home and playing on our phones that we got back for the first time while here (as some of you would already know). I tried to FaceTime my mom, but it was just a lot of freezing or not hearing each other’s voices. Although before our adventure we had one task for the morning; BABIES!!!!
As soon as we got there, we immediately started playing with babies. As per usual, there was Mollie paired with her drama queenside kick baby, and Chris obsessing with chubby babies while the rest of us moved around. I was only in the toddler room for about 10 minutes, so I can’t speak much to everyone’s personal experiences today, but I can mine. I went back into the room of premature babies where I was set to do kangaroo care with the same baby I held for hours yesterday. In case, you didn’t know what that is; it’s where the baby is put in your shirt for skin-to-skin contact for at least an hour to improve their health. The baby was placed in my shirt, and she fell asleep instantly, only moving her head around occasionally. I napped a bit too with the baby, resting my head back on the chair. I stayed with her until it was time to go, which I did not want to do. Once we all washed our hands, we headed back home, and our chefs made lunch. While this was happening, I was chilling out when all of a sudden I felt blood pouring down my throat. Nosebleed. Great. I dramatically headed upstairs to try to stop the bleeding, and I finally did 30 minutes after what felt like a bloody, complicated war. Most of you probably didn’t want to know that but too bad (it’s not like I put any pictures of it in). Anywaaayyysssss, after lunch, we finished any packing while we waited to go. While doing so, I was eating a maple syrup lollipop to keep my Canadian blood pure. Speaking of which, we’ve been trying to note any time I use the word “eh” to see if Canadians do use it because I wouldn’t typically notice myself saying it. So far, I have been only saying it when asking questions or making questions like statements.
We finally got on the bus and headed to Taiyuan. Our 39-seater bus for a total of 9 people; which I honestly don’t think was big enough. The bus ride was around 7 hours, with two rest stops. There was a mixture of music, laughing, reading and of course napping. We also ate some funky little Chinese snacks. For the last few hours, we mostly slept until we got to the hotel and were sent to our rooms, where we settled before meeting in Evan and Colleen’s room for Ramen time. We all sat around the room (which wasn’t hard considering how few of us there are) and ate while chatting, discussing our individual lives or the day ahead.
Now everyone is off to shower before meeting to do our first forum. After that, we all look forward to sleeping, including myself.
So that’s that, not the most eventful day, I know, but still a good one.
Goodnight humans or I guess good morning for you.
BAIIIII
Rachel 😀