Fundazzle

Author: Hannah H.
Location: Beijing
This morning, we woke up to the speakers blasting Old Crow Medicine Show's "Wagon Wheel" which made me smile. After preparing for the day, Aidan, Steph and I headed over to the see the younger Group Home kids! With our coloring books and huge bag of beads, we were ready for a long day of playtime. Right when we arrived, one young boy that remembered me from last time grabbed my hand right away and from that moment, I knew it was going to be a great day. We colored for hours, and when I say color, I mean that they point to the part they want to color next and it's my job to pick out the correct crayon. After coloring in numerous pictures, it was time for jewelry. We took our our enormous bag and then the kids started to put them all together. Most of the kids had about 4 bracelets, 4 ankle bracelets, and 5 necklaces. No big deal. After that, Aidan and I laughed harder than we ever had due to the horse-play that took place with all the boys. The younger boys ganged up on Aidan and threw toys at him, which was followed by tickling and wrestling. It was quite funny, due to the face that Aidan lost. Then, I surprised the kids with friendship bracelets that were made by the Tully After School Program kids. I was so happy to hand them out because the kids back home worked so hard! After a long day of play, it was time for even more. After lunch, we headed to the bus and met up with the older Group Home kids. Fundazzle... Prepare yourself. The kids were extremely excited for what was to come (as were we), and when we arrived, we knew it was going to be glorious. Nobody knew what to expect, but when we walked into the play area, we saw a huge ball pit and the kids slid down the slide with huge smiles on their faces. We all felt like we were young kids again. Once I convinced Mary to go down the slide, she never left. After about five minutes, the battle began. Balls were flying in every direction at crazy speeds. The kids all attacked Aidan instantly. Within the first few minutes, we knew he was going to sleep well tonight. But Aidan wasn't the only target, Sophie was right up there, too. The boys would attack her from all angles, and just when she thought she was safe, there they were again. I walked Tom down into the ball pit as well. He would lay down in the pit and we would bury him in all of the balls. His laugh is the best laugh I have ever heard in my life. I wish I could record it to play whenever I'm having a bad day. After playing around for hours, it was sadly time to go home. On the bus ride home, I handed out even more friendship bracelets and they absolutely loved them. After we said goodbye, us Lifeworkers headed out to dinner at our usual spot with Fei Fei. We had another amazing meal and ever had a deep conversation about the reasons we were here and what our futures have in store. When we arrived back home, we had a forum about living in the now and then watched some more of "Freedom Writers". It's crazy to think that we only have 6 days left here in China. Only one more day until Taiyuan!

Ps: Sorry I haven't called in a while mom and dad, your phone will be ringing sometime tomorrow. Don't worry. Love and miss you ! Oh, and Andy says "what's crackin'?"
Flickr Photos from Today
Flickr Photos from this Voyage