NingDu - Mae's hometown

Mae has been a champ through her entire NingDu visit. We were worried that she might get shy, but she seems to have taken this in stride. The drive to NingDu was long, and it was apparent about an hour outside of Nanchang that this province and area are significantly poorer than where Zoe comes from in Anhui province. In fact, by the time we were in NingDu I was significantly unprepared for te level of poverty that I saw.

Our guide, an experienced adoption facilitor/assistant concurred that NingDu is one of the very smallest orpahanges in Jiangxi, and only 300 girls have been adopted oout of this place in the past 10 years. The area is overwhelmingly agricultural, with most of the production being rice and citrus. The building boom evident in every other place we've seen has not reaching this southern part of Jiangxi province

As we pulled into the small lane that houses the orpahange (the New NEW CWI, the NEW CSI where Mae stayed,and the old CWI, all are next to eachother with the new new CWI only having been open since Oct. 1, 2006) a long string of frecrackers was set off, and the staff were at the gate waiting for us.

A large banner hung over the doorway, to the effect "Welcome back to NingFu Hua and her family)." We were ushered in the front door and I instantly recognized Mae's nanny. The walls were covered in photos, with many of 'Mae Mae' included. After lots of fussing over Mae, we were led to a second room where a formally laid table waited us, with Mae's file. The director gave us a nice welcome speech, and then gave us time to really go over her paperwork. Mae sat on my lap the entire time, and Zoe sulked in the corner.

As we turned thge pages, we saw with our own eyes the note left with her the morning she was abandoned, and THEN, in the trip's most unexpected surprise and greatest gift, the ID card of the woman who found her When I asked if it would ever be possible to locate this woman, the director said, "OH, she works here...one moment." Within minutes this woman was standing in front of Mae, tears in her eyes. I was able to ask those vital questions every parent wants to know: What was she in, what was she wearing, was she crying or cold. And I felt greatly comforted to know that she had not been crying and had been in a small box for probably not very long, her red envelope note with her.

We visited the site later in the day, a site that we thought we had photos of but in actuality did not. The trip with all its expenses was worth it for this very moment and bit of information. We were able to see a few of the babies whose parents had sent letters and who had requested we try and take photos (Jiao Jiao was happy, Xin Xin looked sad and possibly recovering from a cold), and then went upstairs for lunch. The director and Cai Rong Ron were both there, and we were able to ask more questions about the CWI in general.

Mae passed out gifts to each of the nannies and we visited the napping babies. I took as many photos as I felt was appropriate, then it was time to leave. We were at the CWI for appproximately two hours but it felt like much longer. A hge string of firecrackers was lit as we pulled out of the gate. It was very moving.

A member of the staf took us to a local tourist site and we spent a couple of hours hiking around soem beautiful mountains and visiting a Toaist temple, where we had Mae's future read. I will post more on this later once I am back. It was a great experience. We spent the night at the NingDu hotel, reserved for party officials and one of the nicer plaes we've stayed. The disparity between the hotel and the town was shocking, and left me feeling rather pissed off. The CWI ran out of coal during the horribly cold snow/storms they had over new years, and the townpeople brought the orphanage coal to keep the babies warm. This was not a problem at the NingDu Hotel, no doubt. Do I sound a bit pissed at this? This is the yucky side of it all. I won't go on.

Truthfylly the rest is blur....a bad night's sleep(racing thoughts and could not really rest) long trip back to Nanchang (a changing city but one, sadly, after two trips I find no affinity with), a nice overnight train trip to Beijing which the girls loved, and a safe arrival back in Beijing...to, get this - BLUE SKIES AND BALMLY Weather.

We raced to the Lama temple, one of the most beautiful and tranquil places in Beijing, to really get the most out of it, and then back to our new courtyard hotel. Everyone took a nap, except ME who want charging off to the Lido area to shop, and made quite a dent in my list. As much as I love to shop in China, I find a bit of the fun missing....maybe I am tired , maybe my house is already full of the stuff I see for sale (likely :-) or maybe this trip has just not been about shopping (spending money hand over fist, yes, but shopping, not so much). I'll try to get over it....I still have two more days).

So much else to write, but I'll end it here tonight. A bottle of Dragon Seal awaits me.... ;-)
Lisa