I hate you, I'm flying to Shanghai.

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I woke up with a mixture of excitement and nervous today about going to the orphanage. Having spent time in the Children's Home in South Africa I was worried that I had a basis for comparison that would hinder my time in this orphanage. However I need not have worried. We drove the 40 minutes to the orphanage and were greeted by some very kind nanny's in a very nice state run childrens home in a very deprived part of town. The kids were amazing, they are all under 3 years old and most of them are sick, either with some kind of facial deformaty or with another health defect. The place was stunning, a really nice home for the kids and they were all very well looked after with many nanny's to take care of them. We began the day outside playing with the kids, the rain has eased off today which is great and it was a nice place to get to know them. There are a few real characters and I found myself comparing some of the personalities to some of the kids from Africa. We played with them for the morning before the nanny's took them off for their feed and nap.

We spent this time cleaning the toys and the play areas and having our lunch (they had bread, tuna and cheese, it was so nice to have a sandwich and not Chinese food!) before heading back into the kids play rooms for the whole afternoon to play with and look after them. There are some very sick children here and it was heartbreaking to see some of them playing in the afternoon. There is a brain damaged little girl, another boy who was completely paralysed from the waist down and many of the kids had cleft lips that were awaiting surgery. However they were all active little things and really enjoyed playing with us for the afternoon. We had a great day and were sad to leave but we are glad to be heading back there again tomorrow.

The evening was spent chilling in building 6, having dinner, watching films and learning Chinese from an intern that works here in Xi'an. We are excited to get back to the orphanage tomorrow!

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