It's About Time....

Wow. I honestly don't know where the time has gone. I realize that I have been a not so frequent blogger...I'll blame that on the craziness of China and the lack of good internet connections :)

I have been LOVING each and every day here. I am learning so much about the culture, the people, the language, the children, etc. My days are filled with one-on-one structured play with specific children to help them work on certain developmental skills that they are lacking, along with teaching a PE class to 6 of the older children, and helping with an older "preschool/beginning English" class to some precious little children. We are currently working on shapes and colors with the kids :) Funny story- the word "square" is very difficult for these little ones to say, so every day when we ask them what shape a square is, they all reply "Xi (pronounced shi) Gua...Xi-Guar!" (xi gua, in Chinese, means watermelon). The kids all think this is just hysterical and end up laughing at themselves. The PE class is ALWAYS an adventure, as I can't communicate with the kids very well, and they also don't know how to play many "typical" group games. Lots and lots of sign language goes on...and we usually end up playing duck duck goose to finish off the class :) I can see slow but steady progress in the children that I work with one-on-one each day, and it is going to be so hard to leave them in just 3 short weeks. My favorite time of the day is when I take a sweet little 5 year old guy out for a walk each afternoon. He has some severe special needs and was told that he would never be able to walk, but he miraculously has started walking about 2 months ago, thanks to help from a full-lower body brace. We have Chinglish conversations, and walk around outside so he can work his little legs. We usually make a stop by the goat that lives behind the foster home and feed him a few leaves. I am now very well versed in how to say "I want to see the goat" and "get me some leaves" in Chinese. :) I have Chinese lessons for an hour three times a week. I'm trying to pick up as much as I can, and I'm actually learning the most from the kids! It's a very difficult language, but I think it would just be really neat to learn.

We were recently able to take the kids on a field trip to the Beijing Water Cube, which was built for the 2008 Olympic games here in Beijing. We (me and the other interns/nannies) were each paired up with a little buddy, and we spent the day with them. We took a bus in (its about a 1 1/2 hour bus ride into the city from our village) and the kids LOVED the bus. They rarely get the chance to ride in a car or see big tall buildings, so it was definitely a treat for them to do this! My little buddy was a precious little 5 year old guy who talked to me nonstop in Chinese the entire trip. He is such a sweet boy- I told him on Tuesday afternoon that I was taking him swimming on Friday, and EVERY time he saw me the rest of the week, his face would light up and he would inform all the ayis that he was going swimming with me on Friday. It ended up being a crazy fun experience- interesting swimsuits (all the little boys wear speedos) and swim caps galore- and all the kids were completely pooped by the afternoon. We were treated to a fantastic lunch donated by a very nice Chinese restaurant in downtown Beijing, so we definitely enjoyed our break from typical village food!

This weekend, I had the opportunity to go into Beijing for both Saturday and Sunday. We got extremely discounted tickets for the Chinese acrobat show, due to our work in the foster home, and we ended up with 2nd row VIP tickets! The show was incredible and we had such a great time. They even had POPCORN there! (For those of you who don't know me...I love popcorn. It's probably the Western food that I miss the most over here.) We also went and spent the afternoon at a park downtown which was such a cool place. There was a water park, children's carnival, olympic volleyball court, and lots of cool statues! We rented a 4 person pedaling bike thing for about $10 and were able to use it for the afternoon pedaling around the park. It was such a HOT, humid day, so it was nice to have a little breeze from the bike! We went in for the international church on Sunday morning and went to a huge market/shopping area where we bartered to our hearts content.

This week is going to be pretty typical- tomorrow is one of the other intern's birthday, so we ordered a cake (which should be interesting...) and are going to attempt to make "chinese tacos". Our cooking adventures here in China have not gone too well- everything has a very different flair to it :) I am LOVING the mango and all the other fresh fruit here however! It is so cheap to buy off the street and it is always delicious! The village where I am is especially famous for their watermelon, so that is delicious. It is getting late here and week starts up again early tomorrow! I promise I will try to be better about posting in the next several weeks. I do have some pictures this time...but due to our verrryyyyy slow internet connection at the apartment, I will have to try to post them tomorrow! Thank you for your continued pr@yers.... They are so appreciated!

Love,
Meredith

Ni Hao, China!

Good morning from China!!

I have woken up at the bright and early hour of 5 AM for the last several days, thanks to jet lag. It is HOT and HUMID here in China. Yesterday it was so muggy, we couldn't see the end of the street we were walking on. I have been having a great time- the last few days have just been spent getting to know other interns, the Chinese staff, and of course, the precious little kids in the foster home.

On Friday, I got to spend almost the whole day in the foster home with the preschool aged children. There was a huge rainstorm the night before, so we took them all outside to splash in the puddles- they had a blast and it was just the cutest thing ever to watch. The special needs of the children here range from mild to very severe. They all seem happy and well cared for, however. This weekend has been spent getting to know the village where I will be living for the rest of the summer- it is very rural China, with lots of street food vendors selling lots of "exciting" dishes, as well as the very typical chicken on a stick, etc. The most adventurous thing I have eaten so far has been cow tendon/veins that was cut up and on a stick. The taste actually wasn't awful- very VERY chewy texture however. I'm not sure I'm a fan. I've been told that this week I will get to experience other local delicacies such as dog, chicken kidney, and perhaps even donkey. Mmmm.... :)

This weekend has been spent getting to know all the staff here, Chinese and American. We played soccer at an outdoor "cultural activities center" in the village for about 3 hours with some of the Chinese locals, and I don't think I have ever sweated so much in my life. It was so much fun though, and the people here are just the most genuine, loving people. In about two hours we will be heading into Beijing (about an hour and 20 minute drive) to spend the morning at an international service, then going to the Temple of Heaven and maybe some shopping at this 6 floor mega-center. It will be fun to get out into the city and see and experience more of the "big city" China!

I will hopefully be including pictures with my next post! I would LOVE to receive any emails from back home that you would like to send! My email address is meretoering@gmail.com- You can facebook me as well, but I can only access that on certain computers. I appreciate all your thoughts and p**yers for this week- that I will be able to love these kids, and be a help and a light to the nannies, as well as p**yers for my language classes! It is so frustrating not to be able to communicate well- especially with the ayis (nannies) and the children, though sign language can definitely get across more than I thought! More updates to come!

Zài Jiàn!!
Meredith

Journey of Hope

Well. If you had asked me a year ago whether or not I would ever start a blog, my answer would have been a quite staunch "HA! Maybe when pigs fly! I'm not a writer!!" Now, in case you are worried, pigs have NOT begun to fly.  My current bloggy-ness is due to an upcoming journey. A journey to China, specifically. For those of you who may not be aware, China is very close to my heart and I have been looking forward to a summer when I would finally be able to return ever since we came home with my baby sister, Erica XinLeigh, in May 2006.

(Finally 3 Toering girls- 5/23/06)

Erica- 8 months old, right after "Gotcha Day"

Erica now- 5 years old

Over the last 5 years, I have been able to stay closely connected to the adoption world, through dear family friends who were in the midst of their adoption journeys, as well as through multiple organizations that I began to read about and look at getting involved in. Last year, I have had the privilege of volunteering as a report writer for a wonderful organization called An Orphan's Wish, a special needs non-profit organization created to provide medical care and support for Chinese orphans in need. This care is funded by a sponsorship program much like a Compassion International, and you have the ability of watching your child that you sponsor grow and flourish under the medical care that they are receiving. We are currently in the midst of a summer campaign, called A Summer's Wish, with the hopes of finding 65 more sponsors, so that each child at the House of Love will be fully sponsored. 

This summer, in 2 short weeks, I will be leaving to spend 8 weeks in a special needs orphanage much like the House of Love, which is the name of the orphanage run by An Orphan's Wish. I have the incredible opportunity to live and work with the beautiful children at New Day Foster Home, where I will be spending most of my time working specifically with the children, as well as doing a little bit of language study and learning the inner workings of how a successful 501c3 organization is run. I am EXTREMELY excited, to say the least, and I am packing and preparing over these next few weeks. I am so thankful for all of your prayers and support, and welcome emails and comments as I'm preparing to go, as well as during my time in China! I hope to post updates and pictures every few days or so while I am in China, so that you can follow along with me on my journey. Check back for updates as I'm getting ready to go! 

-Meredith