4
Location: Beijing
Today was an exciting day because it was our first official service day with the babies at the Children’s Hospital!! When we got to the hospital, our group was broken in two so that we could be evenly distributed to where we were needed for the morning. Half of us went to play with the Dewdrops children in a large play area, and the other half went to spend time with some of the older children. I spent my morning alongside Hope and Seth. We were able to get to know a few of the children who are getting medical treatment while their families stayed nearby. At first, I wasn’t sure about what to do with the kids especially due to the language barrier; however, this apprehension went away once I got to know them. I was surprised to discover that a smile and some drawings truly went a long way, and it didn’t take too long for all of us to warm up to each other. Before I knew it, we were drawing a ton of flowers and houses on paper. The two hours at the hospital went by quickly, and I couldn’t believe it when it was time to say goodbye for the day.
We all piled back into the van after having lunch in the hospital’s cafeteria and headed back to the hotel where we were able to have a little downtime before participating in Wushu. During this time, all of us gathered into one of the rooms and played a competitive game of Spoons. The funniest part was when Seth randomly broke out into “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” which had everyone laughing for a while. Once the hour passed by, we went back into the van to a nearby park where we would learn Wushu. Sadly, it began to rain right when we started the warm-up, so we had to relocate to the gym of Beijing’s International School. Once we got to the gym, we picked up from where we left off at the park and had a ton of fun. The instructor had us running and jumping between cones and then taught us, a little Tai Chi and Kung Fu, so by the end of it; we were pros. Throughout the instruction, there were periodic breaks where all of us would gather under the one air conditioner in the studio since we got pretty hot after running around. The hour and a half ended quickly, and I’m glad to have familiarized myself with what exactly Tai Chi and Kung Fu are.
By the end of the busy day, everyone was really tired during dinner, so we ended the day with a fun paper version of the game Telephone that we all found hilarious, especially once we shared how far the group’s interpretations strayed from our original sentence. Anyways, today went well, and we are all excited about the upcoming adventures!
-Maggie