Everybody was Kung Fu Fightin'

Author: Callie B.
Location: Beijing
It was sad to wake up and realize that this is our last Wednesday, so, like everyday, we made sure we would made the most of it. It's crazy how fast time seems to move in Beijing. We took the older group home kids to the park to play basketball and baseball, but some of them were less interested in sports and more into constructing booby traps for each other in the sandbox. They dug deep holes, then cleverly covered them with sticks and took turns falling into them. The younger GHers went to play at the playground at the park. And Jess loved her new hairstyle from Hui Hui! They had a dance party, too. At the baby home, Caroline and I both fell asleep next to the babies. It was exciting to hear that one of the babies had returned to her orphanage so that the SWI (Social Welfare Institute) could work on her adoption paperwork. We ate "brownies" after lunch and had a relaxing afternoon before our Kung Fu lesson. A few people went to the market down the street to practice bargaining and learn just how small Chinese shoe sizes are. Some got intense Chinese massages and pedicures. Lately at the apartment we've been doing lateral thinking problems, courtesy of Steph. (Ex: Anthony and Cleopatra are lying dead on the floor in an Egyptian villa. Nearby is a broken bowl. There are no marks on their bodies, and they were not poisoned. Not a person was in the villa when they died. How did they die?) A group of kids who are studying Kung Fu performed their most impressive moves, and they taught us how to use some of the weapons. We were taken out to Papa John's for dinner and walked to Jenny's Supermarket to stock up on non-Chinese snacks. Tonight we had a forum on perspective, and it got us thinking about how we'll take these three weeks home with us next week. It's been humid the past few days, so we've been using the bug-zapper-racquet like there's no tomorrow. Caroline and Ben have been keeping zappers handy at night, storing them in their beds. We're leaving at 5:15 tomorrow morning for the three hour train ride to Taiyuan... we have a busy three day trip ahead of us!
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