Day 37: Still in the Philippines. In the morning I went to a feeding in Tent City (on the outskirts of Manila). In the afternoon we had a meeting to talk about our upcoming time in China. I went out to dinner with some of my squad-mates from other teams.
Day 38: Woke up at 5am for worship, we were on the bus by 6am and on our flight to Hong Kong at 10:30am. From HongKong we had a 3 hour bus ride across the boarder into mainland China. We arrived at the train station with time to spare, but soon realized the bus driver had dropped us off at the wrong station. Fortunately we met a girl, who spoke broken English, and she helped us purchase subway tickets to the correct train station. We then ran about a 1/2 mile through the station carrying 70lbs of gear and stepped onto our train at 8:45pm with less than a minute to spare. We were still searching for our seats when the train started moving.
Day 39: This was the second half of our “travel day.” We had been on the train since the night before. We attempted to sleep in a various number of awkward positions (being ok with physical touch is a must for the race because your seat buddy often becomes your pillow). By morning, we were eager to arrive but our train continued its 20 hour trek until 4pm. When we arrived we quickly purchased bus tickets and hunkered down for a 3 hour bus ride to our final destination of Jaiozuo. Donna, the director of Eagle’s Wings (read my blog "God Knows My Heart" for more information on Eagle’s Wings) met us at the bus station and we returned to her house for a quick meet and greet before she took us to our housing (I moved into the Baby House with Raquel).
Day 40: We spent the morning getting to know the kids in our house. For Raquel and I that meant chasing toddles around the room and bottle feeding Ai Bi (our 8-month old with a clef lip). In the afternoon we met up with our teammates for an orientation with Donna followed by celebrating Peter’s birthday!
Day 41: In the morning Donna gave us a tour of all six of the Eagle’s Wings houses. After the tour, we met several local college students (with very broken English) who offered to show us around their school. We got a jump picture with our new friends at the bridge on campus. I spent most of the afternoon at House 6 playing with the kids who can’t walk (many have Cerebral Palsy or Spina Bifida).
Day 42: Raquel and I spent the entire day covering a 12 hour shift at the baby house. With 9 babies currently living in the house, I am sure you can imagine the number of diapers I had the pleasure of changing. Luckily one of of toddlers is potty-trained. Unfortunately, every time he went pee in his little toilet the other babies thought it was was fun to splash their hands in it.
Day 43: Today we traveled two hours into the city for church at a fancy French hotel. A foreign passport was required to be present at the service (so no locals were in attendance), however, we did meet a significant number of Christians from around the world who are working in China. We had lunch at a little American run cafe (yeah for french fries and cheesecake) before our return trip home.
Day 44: Matt and I started work on a new promotional video for Eagles Wings. We spent most of the morning storyboarding and starting filming in the afternoon. At night we went out to explore and found a great street market with cheap street food!
Day 45: Matt and I spent the morning filming a program the kids put on at the school. In the afternoon I worked a shift at the baby house. In the evening we all went to the market for street food.
Day 46: I spent most of the morning editing video from the day before. In the afternoon Matt and I filmed an outing to the park/zoo with the kids who need wheelchairs.
Day 47: I spent the entire morning editing video. In the afternoon I went with Megan and Sara to teach English at two different schools. One of the schools gave each of us a bouquet of flowers as a thank you.
Day 48: Our first day off in China. We decided to have a girls only adventure to a Buddhist Temple just outside of the city. We did handstands and made friends with a group of local students from the university!
Day 49: Raquel and I finally got our electric bike working (no more need to take a taxi home). Megan, Sara, Raquel and I spent most of the afternoon cooking a taco dinner for everyone (including homemade tortillas, salsa, and apple crisp). Afterward Sara, Dusty, Matt and I led a worship night.
Day 50: Raquel and I spent the morning covering a shift at the baby house and had to say goodbye to one of our little boys who moved to Beijing to attend blind school. In the afternoon we had a team meeting following by a meeting with Donna to plan our shifts for the week.
Day 51: I spent the morning at the Eagle’s Wings school. In the afternoon Dusty, Matt, Jen and myself went to film / hang out with kids at the orphanage.
Day 52: Today Plum (one of the volunteers at Eagle’s Wings) took Matt, Dusty, Sara, Jen, and I to visit a TV studio. We got to meet several actors (who all wanted pictures with us) and we were even invited onto the set to watch a scene being filmed. We also got the opportunity to dress up in the costumes and take awesome pictures. After the studio we stopped at the zoo (which only has about 15 animals) and I got to pet a baby lion!
Day 53: Today was a big video day. I edited footage all morning and Matt and I filmed interviews in the afternoon. In the evening I worked a shift at House #6 (home to the kids who can’t walk).
Day 54: In the morning Matt and I took Wei Tao (one of the blind kids) outside to film with him. In the afternoon I worked a shift at the baby house with Kristen. In the evening I had a shift at House #6 with Matt and Dusty.
Day 55: Both teams spent the entire day renovating House #2. We had to move all the kids to the school and were able to get most of the house coated with primer by dinner. In the evening Matt and I had to cover another shift at House #6.
Day 56: I spent the day covering a long shift at the school, while the rest of my team continued to paint. In the evening we had Worship/Game Night at Donna’s house. My Chinese friend Plum was able to come and said she felt “so good” after worship.
Day 57: Both teams spent the entire day painting at House #2. Matt, Dusty and I finished the bench for the girls room.
Day 58: Peter, Sara, and I took three of our boys on an outing downtown to get lunch. It was their first time being on a public bus. We also stopped at McDonalds to get ice cream and ran into Matt and Dusty who were also out on an outing with two kids. In the afternoon, Matt, Sara, Dusty and I had a second outing with three additional kids. We picked them up on the electric bike and took them to the park.
Day 59: Matt and I worked on the video all day. We wrote the script for our voiceovers in the morning and filmed with WeiTao in the afternoon. I spent the evening editing video, while watching Matt and Dusty give each other Tattoos with marker. Their sides may look cool, but don’t be fooled – the Chinese says “chewing gum.”
Day 60: Matt and I spent the entire day filming our transitions and voiceovers for the video. In the evening Ann, Jen, Matt and I went out to a nice dinner.
Day 61: Matt and I had to edit video the entire day. At night, both teams went out to dinner and video karaoke to celebrate Halloween (it was already November 3rd). Sara and I dressed up as Matt and Dusty.
Day 62: I spent the entire day at Donna’s house finalizing the video. In the evening, Donna took both teams out for Hot Pot. Each spot at the table has a built in burner and you cook your own soup at your seat.
Day 63: In the morning, Team H.O.P.E. worked a shift at the baby house. Afterward, Raquel and I had to move out, so we said goodbye to all of our babies. In the afternoon I went to the orphanage with Dusty to say goodbye to the kids there. When we arrived we met a pre-mature baby who had just been dropped off the day before.
Day 64: We went to House 6 early in the morning to say goodbye to our kids and then left for the bus station. After a 2 hour bus ride and a 5 hour train ride we made it to Beijing and we were reunited with the rest of Z squad at Leo Hostel!
Day 65: In the morning we went to the silk market to go shopping. In the afternoon we explored the city and headed to the site of the 2008 Olympics.
Day 66: We spent most of the day at the Great Wall of China. Our guide took us to a “secret” part of the wall, so there were no other tourists around.
