8
Location: Baotou
Today was the last day in Baotou before we head back to Beijing for the second time. Morning call time was 7:50 at the hotel lobby; there was no breakfast provided today in the apartment. In other words, we were given money to get our own breakfast today on the streets or in the bakery. Half stayed for the jianbin and half went for the bakery pastries that were in the bakery next door (Name of Bakery: Queen’s Image). After everyone had bought their breakfast, we started our expedition to the apartment; the apartment was the destination where we ate our breakfast before the orphanage. At around 9:15, we then departed from our apartment to the orphanage to begin our service for the day. Hallie stayed behind at the apartment because she had a cough (she felt much better after her nap!!).
We continued to do service, including playing and supervising the children, until 12:00, where we went back to the apartment for lunch. Chloe and Anna (with the help of Serena) prepared wonderful and delicious tacos for the group, providing both vegetarian and beef options for everyone. After lunch, everyone contributed to cleaning and ordering the dishes and the pans in the kitchen (this also included mopping and sweeping). We started watching a movie at 1:00…the name of the movie was “The Last Emperor.” The movie was about the last emperor of China and his life story from the moment of coronation to his death date. We are unclear of the validity of the movie in terms of historical accuracy, but we can tell that it was at least partially accurate. We finished the movie at around 4:30 and headed to the orphanage again. We stayed with the babies until 5:15 and had dinner at the cafeteria in the orphanage. The dinner included mantou (Chinese bread) and baozi (which is mantou with a filling), pickled cabbage, beans, etc.
After dinner, we had around 30 minutes with the children before we left to go to the train station. The people that wanted to take care of the children had straps & across their waists and shoulders to carry the babies more efficiently. There were a total of 13 babies amongst 12 students and 4 nannies. We departed for the station with the babies at around 6:45 and arrived at the station at around 7:00. Our boarding time was around 7:25, and we departed at around 7:45. Lights out on the train was around 10:30 and our group just conversed about different topics, including babies, food, languages, etc.
Fun stuff: Grace made killer quesadillas for lunch for those that wanted it. Micka says that she tried to make them but burnt them instead. Grace just wanted to say that her Peppa Pig collectibles are fire. Lucy says that the Barbie collectibles that were collected through the Kinder eggs have finally been completed to create a Barbies set.