9
Location: Beijing
This morning, we woke up to the nice sound of relaxing music by none other than the lovely A Lei Wei A (myself). Soon after, we ate breakfast, which we needed much of, because of the impending morning activity. Wushu, a form of martial arts. So right after breakfast, we went to the same park that we went to when playing with the group home kids. Upon starting with simple warm-up exercises, a small crowd quickly formed, watching the Westerners make fools of themselves! Our group quickly got the hang of the somewhat confusing punches and kicks that were involved in a very elaborate routine. We spent about an hour or so doing just this, and after getting nice and sweaty in the sticky Beijing air. Afterward, we got a very aesthetically pleasing group picture with our instructor (#squadgoals) and began our short walk home. On the way back, we answered trivia to see who got the first showers, and much to my dismay, it was Ke Li Si (Chris) and Ma Di (Maddie) that got the first showers. After our showers, the chefs of the day prepared some delicious quesadillas. Next on our schedule for today was Dew Drops. Once we got there, we were met with surprise when we realized that we had never been there in the afternoon when the toddlers take their naps. So, most of us went to the small baby rooms to hold the few that weren’t sleeping. Others helped out around the orphanage doing things like cleaning the play area and folding laundry. A couple of hours flew by, most of which I spent holding one of the adorable preemies, with a bit of help towards the end from Lei Cha (Rachel) Before we knew it, it was time to leave again 🙁 We left early to do some shopping at a nearby western mall. The mall was really big and nice, with American and Canadian things that reminded us of home. We mostly window shopped through the numerous empty stores and bought chocolate stuff to snack on. Unfortunately, we did not get any hair dye for Ma Li (Mollie) :(. We were also all planning on getting Oreo Mcflurries, but they only had green tea flavor, so that was sad. Next, we headed to dinner, which was at Peking duck, a really good type of duck that is famous in Beijing. We were then joined by Joy. After a lovely meal, we walked home, well-sped walked and made up chants (ily Colleen). Now, we’re ending a super good day with Mulan, and as you may know, there is no other way you can watch this movie without singing along to all of the songs.