Dong En Present, Dong En Past ... plus the Zoo!

Dong En has been doing well. She has had a couple of sad crying spells, but nothing as powerful as we described earlier. For the most part, she remains happy and very active. She is a girl of intense emotions. When she is happy, which is most of the time, she is really happy, and when she's not, well, she's really not.

Benjamin is also doing great. Every day we walk past a restaurant near the hotel that has the different types of seafood they serve in big tanks, alive, in the front window. One of the tanks is full of eels and Benjamin thinks they are really "handsome." He also thinks it is a pet store, not a restaurant. We haven't had the heart to tell him the truth.

Benjamin loves China and has told me several times he will be sad to leave because "it is so beautiful." He wants to come back soon and bring his best friend Josh with him.

He has also been interested in the fact that little children in China do not wear diapers. They wear split pants instead. When they need to go to the bathroom, they just squat down wherever they are and go. A day or so ago, Ben saw a little boy urinating on a tree as we walked past. He asked if he was "marking his territory."

The day before yesterday, we visited Hannah Dong En's orphanage. We only saw only a small part of one of several buildings. What we saw was meticulously clean and well maintained, but also well used. Both the director and assistant director came out to meet us and were very gracious. They told us there are 1,000 kids in the orphanage. Most of them have special needs. If the children are not adopted, they will live in the institution their whole lives. Some will attend college. The orphanage will try to find jobs for all of them. I'm sure it is not easy to find them jobs. While in Beijing, our guide Joy told us that 30% of all college graduates here are unable to find work. Joy's own parents were forced into early retirement to make way for younger workers and they were very bitter about it. I did see a girl who looked to be about 12 years old and blind polishing the handrails at the orphanage.

Yesterday, we visited the Guangzhou Zoo. Dong En seemed very interested in all the animals. She had an animal picture book with her, and every time we saw an animal that was also in the book, she would point, shout "OH!," then page to the same animal in the book and show it to us. She especially liked the giraffes and didn't want to leave that area.

There was a small fenced area with lots of different animals you could have your picture taken with. We didn't go in, but took pictures from behind the fence. The animals were all on short chains about 2 feet long. Among the parrots and monkeys, they also had two pet dogs. Dong En became a little fearful of a small monkey (who was very near the fence where we were standing) when it started to approach.

The zoo, like all of China, is a study in contradictions. It is huge and beautiful, but also lacking in resources, excepting, of course, human resources. For example, one of the camels was sick and needed to be transported somewhere. Rather than use a livestock truck, they had a regular flat bed truck and about 10 people had tied the camel's legs and were attempting to physically lift it onto the truck. What was also odd to our Western sensibilities was the fact they were moving the animal out in the open on the zoo's path next to the exhibit. While dealing with sick animals is a reality in every zoo, in America, I believe, the staff would have gone to great lengths to do all of this "behind the scenes."

After we left the zoo, we stopped at the hospital where Dong En's birth family abandoned her. Everyone else waited on the bus while we went in. Our guide kindly showed us the exact spot. I can see why her family chose it. It was crammed with people. I have no doubt they wanted her to be found and helped quickly. I became very emotional while I was there. It is difficult to conceive of the desperation that led her family to do what they did.

Again, thanks to all of you who are sending email. We really appreciate hearing from you!