3
Location: Beijing, China
Our wake up time was 7:30 but most of us woke up super early because of the time difference. Once everyone got out of bed, we ate breakfast. Then we got ready to go and went to the van for an hour drive to the Great Wall. When we got there, we began to walk up the pathway that led to the Great Wall. The walk to the Great Wall was steep and strenuous. Once we finally made it to the Great Wall, it was sooooo beautiful. Although it was a bit smoggy, the views were amazing. We spent around 2 hours at the Great Wall and then headed back to the apartment. When we got back to the apartment, we ate lunch. We relaxed a little and then went to the baby home for orientation. During the orientation, the babies were so distracting because they were so cute. Thomas explained how Little Flower began and what the organization does now. Then Lisa, the head of the baby home, told us how to hold the babies and explained a few of the rules. After we listened to both Thomas and Lisa talk, we got the chance to spend time with the babies and the toddlers. I’ve never been so happy looking at the precious babies. I had a permanent smile on my face looking at all the kids. We got the chance to rock a baby to sleep and play around with the toddlers. Watching the baby slowly fall asleep in my arms was one of the best experiences. After a tiring morning, seeing the babies were well needed. We spent an hour playing with all the kids and then we went back to the apartment to have dinner. Our chef made us rice, cucumber with rice noodle, garlic roots and short ribs. It was delicious. After dinner, a few of us went to a market in the compound that we are staying at and bought ice creams. We then walked back to the apartment and sat as a group playing games to get to know each other. Once it turned 9, we all went to bed to get some needed sleep.