Today was another day filled with lots of fun!! We took the second group of children out for the day. They ranged in age of 7-14 yrs old. There was a little confusion on our actual meeting time, so they were there waiting on us when we arrived.
Our translator from the orphanage said that all of these children attend the local school. They have 1 primary caregiver during the week, and the orphanage sent her with us today. This particular caregiver grew up in the orphanage herself and is now 35 yrs old, married, and has a 10 yr old son. Everyday she walks the children to and from school, helps them with their clothing and meals, and also helps them with their homework in the evenings. Basically she is a "mom" to these 16 children.
Since these children were older, they were allowed to pick out what they wanted at McDonald's. Our translator said that on National Children's Day in China, their McDonald's brings food for the children to the orphanage, so that is a very special treat for them. But today was the first time that any of them have actually been at a McDonald's restaurant. We had a lot of fun watching them enjoy their meals. All of them ordered these drinks that were like floats, rather than just plain pop.
After we finished eating all of the children lined up in pairs of two's. They had this procedure down to a science. Every older children was assigned to a younger child, with the older child positioned to be on the left and the younger child on the right. I was told this is how they line up to walk to and from school every day.
We headed to a local department store and the children were permitted to pick out one outfit (either a top and bottoms or a dress), as well as a pair of shoes. While we waiting for the children to try on clothes and shoes, the kids would take our hands and point to everything they could think of and want to know how to pronounce it in English. So they had a very good English lesson today. They all could say their ABC's, as well as count in English. Our translator said that all of the schools teach their children some English as part of their curriculum.
After we finished shopping there was an indoor play area, so I asked the nannie if the children could play in it for a while. She was happy to agree to this, so the kids spent about half an hour playing and boy did they have fun!! I video taped this because I knew that pictures could not even begin to capture the fun they were having.
Once they were finished, we bought them all a cold can of Coke or Sprite and then we said our goodbye's. It was incredibly hard to say goodbye to all of them. They were all so sweet and fun to be with, we could have easily packed all of them in our suitcases and taken them home with us. They just kept coming up to us and saying "thank you". They wanted to hold our hands and would hang on our arms. They were just so sweet.
The ZKO Team
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