Day 8: Visit to orphanage and impromptu meeting...

We learned the day before that we would get a chance to visit the orphanage where Xiao Yu lived at for the first 9 months of his life.  It is an orphanage in the city of ZhengZhou itself but took about 50 minutes to get there because we had to drive across the city through all the traffic.

We boarded the bus at 9:30am and headed off.

In the last part of the trip, we were nearing the outer edge of the city.  For blocks and blocks we passed by buildings that we razed.  There were miles of rubble and torn down trees.  Elvin asked the guide what was going on and she explained that as the city grows, the towns and farms on the edge of the city would get demolished and replaced with high-rise apartments.  This was how the city expanded.  As to what happened to those who lived there?  They needed to move out and live somewhere else.  After the apartments were built, they would be allowed to move back and assigned an apartment with the same square footage as their dwelling that was demolished.

 We finally reached the orphanage.

 We are sure that Xiao Yu was too young to remember anything about this place.

There were two other families with us, whose children also were from this orphanage.  So we spent a couple of hours visiting the places where those children lived and spent their time.  There was a lot of hugging and picture taking where the children's former nannies would hug, kiss, and take pictures with their "kids" using their iPhones.  The nannies seemed quite attached to the kids and were sad and yet joyful to see them go.

The local orphanage official who was accompanying us then told Elvin and Emily that Xiao Yu's foster grandparents were here.  This was an interesting turn of events.  Although they live 20 minutes away, they were on the orphanage grounds because another boy they were taking care of was sick and getting checked out by the orphanage doctor.

Usually our adoption agency discourages contact between the foster family and the adoptive parents in order to simplify the situation and to not create a situation where the foster family is asking the adoptive family for money.  The official asked us if we wanted to meet the foster family and we very much wanted to.  From the beginning of the trip, we wanted to find out who they were, since they were such an important part of Xiao Yu's life.  We wanted to keep in touch with them, and periodically send them pictures of Xiao Yu growing up.

With the advice of our adoption agency guide, it would be just Elvin and Emily meeting the foster grandparents; Xiao Yu would stay with Erica and the kids in another part of the grounds.  So the orphanage official took up to meet them; we met his foster "Yeh-yeh" first.  We recognized him because the orphanage gave us a picture book showing pictures of Xiao Yu, with his foster family.  We talked to him and showed him pictures on our camera.

Then his foster "Nai-nai" (Grandmother) came in.  We chatted with her for a while.  We asked her about his sleeping habits (he doesn't like being held to fall asleep, just needs to be put on the bed), what he likes to eat (almost everything), and that he has a feisty personality and will bite when mad.  In the past two days, we had seen all of that!  It was obvious that Xiao Yu's foster grandparents cared very much for him.  His Yeh-yeh started tearing up when he talked about Xiao Yu.

Then it was time to go and so we took a picture together.  We thanked them for taking good care of Xiao Yu for the past year.  We promised we would mail pictures in the future.  They seemed like really good people...

As the foster Yeh-yeh was leaving, Emily was coming back in with the kids to see the room where Xiao Yu lived as a baby.  They happened to cross paths and at that point, we let Xiao Yu see his Yeh-yeh.  We weren't sure if this would confuse him, or traumatize him...

But he definitely recognized his Yeh-yeh and was so happy to see him.

 His Yeh-yeh was very happy too.

His foster Yeh-yeh brought him his hat, which he put on him.  It must be one of his favorite hats.  It was then time to go and Yeh-yeh got real teary eyed to see his boy go.  Such is the life of foster parents...to pour your life into a child and have to see them go...

We visited the wing where Xiao Yu stayed at.  Some of the nannies there remembered Xiao Yu.  There are about a dozen cribs between the two rooms, and about 3 nannies to take care of them.

At that point we drove back into town.  On the way back, our guide came by and told Elvin to take pictures of the hospital we were passing.  It was the University Affiliated No. 1 Hospital of ZhengZhou.  Near here, there is a dormitory for workers and that was where Xiao Yu was found as a baby--his "finding place" to use a term in the adoption community.

So in one morning, we had visited Xiao Yu's orphanage, saw his "finding place", and even met his foster grandparents.  These were all things we were hoping to do and it was great to check them off of our list.

For the rest of the day, we mostly hung out and ran errands.  We ate lunch at a restaurant where Gabriel was eating rice with soy sauce and ended up coating his mouth with soy sauce; it looks like a beard.

At the hotel, just after getting off of the elevator and before doing down the hall to our room, there is a set of stairs that we call the "Stairs to No Where".  It literally ends at a wall.  The kids like climbing it.

It's interesting to find out what Xiao Yu knows about and what he doesn't.  He definitely knows about cameras, even though he is holding this one up side down.

Also knows about phones...he picks up the phone in the bathroom and says, "Wei" which is "hello" in Chinese.  One time he got the front desk to answer.

But Xiao Yu does not know about ice cream, we think.  We were having ice cream after dinner and when he ate some, he made this face...  We'll have to have him try some Umpqua ice cream when we get home.