10
Location: Baotou
The pouring rain must have clouded Arielle’s vision as she led two others astray from the straight two-block walk to THE apartment. Today the routine felt natural, which gave me enough time to reflect on the more abnormal moments in the day. We have all found our ‘main’ kids, but, in the most bitter-sweet manner, Aden’s little girl left to go be with her forever family. In the meantime, my main kid worked with a physical therapist for nearly an hour. He is able to walk only with assistance, but his absolutely ecstatic grin and gleeful giggles made walking around in a circle with him for an hour the most memorable part of my service. For the last almost seventeen years I have taken for granted my unencumbered ability to walk, and yet today such a common task provided more joy than I had assumed possible in a space like this. Engulfing myself into this new world as much as possible has also shown me how important a unified language is, specifically that of smiles and pointing; we used that language heavily during dinner while constructing, and consuming, a whopping 238 dumplings. So while that settles, Goodnight!