More Pictures for last post

Here are some more pictures that were supposed to go along with the last post. 

The Last Night in Fuzhou

These are from our breakfast joint in the village. We always order noodles called "bon mien" and amazing dumplings! It cost ¥3 for the noodles and ¥3 for the dumplings. That's $.89! It's so delicious and filling.

Here's some sewing pictures from "Hands of Hope". Alice is holding up her quilt they made (with Julia standing in front). Debbie with her quilt. There's some of Lynn and her work. And even one of Ross working on the bib he made. He was so excited to learn how to sew! Then a couple of Alice and I working on the bunnies.

A few group photos from our time in Fuzhou. The first one is of us walking through the village. 2nd is in front of the massive fabric market. Third is of the couple that lives in and runs the guest house. 4th is Debbie and Ross with Debbie's Kum & Go cup from before we left the states 😂 5th is us shopping the fresh produce in the market.

Just a few random pics from Fuzhou. The backhoe that sounded like it was bulldozing the buildings down! And one of the little boys that lives in the village with his mom.

Debbie has done a little project during this trip. Instead of having a where's waldo or flat Stanley, she has the Kum and Go cup with Gene (her dad) written on the side. She's taken pictures with it all over the world! Mostly she took pictures in the village today 😂 That cup has all the places we've been written on the side. I told her she should have brought a 417 magazine! Here's some silly pictures for you to enjoy of the world traveling Kum and Go cup!

I'm writing from our last night in Fuzhou. 😭I'm so sad to leave tomorrow. It has been such an amazing experience, more than I can fit into words. As the others and I were going through our luggage and repacking today, we were reminiscing about the trip. We talked about how great we all got along, especially with me not really knowing them. We joked about what a huge risk it was to take a trip with people you don't know! Now, even though I've only known them for a couple weeks, it feels like a lifetime.

We spent the majority of today resting and getting our things in order and getting ready to make the trek back to the states. Before we went through everything we had bought (we did more shopping in Fuzhou than planned) we decided we needed another suitcase to be able to get everything home! We spent a lot of time today wandering around the village going to different stores to buy various needed (and not needed) last minute things.There's basically 3 stores in the village. 1 is the smallest and most convenient. 2 is a little further, newest, but a little more expensive, and 3 is the furthest, cheapest, with the biggest variety. We set out in search of the temple to see in the daylight. We took a few wrong turns but eventually found it. I was sure I was going to melt before we found it. I'm not sure what the temperature was today but I know it was well above 100 with the humidity crazy high. The temple was beautiful and I got lots of pictures. It was interesting to see all the candles and burnings. I pictured a closed building but it was all open and airy. Kyler told us yesterday that it wasn't a Buddhist temple but I can't remember what it is. It reminds me and Shyla of Mulan.

We stopped at store 3 first on our way back, where we bought water and the best popsicles ever. At store 2 we went in, intending to buy another umbrella. I think by the time we got to the register we had, 5 fans, 2 umbrellas, 4 packs of stickers, 4 pairs of shoes, 2 thermoses, some other junk, and a suitcase. The guy (and at least 5 other "workers") rung us up at over ¥500! Since it was our last day in China, we had very little money left. After counting out exactly how much money we had and re adding up our expenses, we ended up leaving the thermoses behind. We went back to our house with the new suitcase and reorganized our stuff. Now last time my family and I were in China, we bought a suitcase to bring stuff we had bought here in, and that thing barely made it home. It was missing wheels, covered in duct tape, missing a handle and possibly more. It did it's job then went right into the trash. This suitcase seems much sturdier than the last one though. As we went through and organized all of our treasures, we realized we had more space than we thought and didn't actually need the suitcase. So, we took it back to store 2 (where among all the many workers, non spoke English). We should be amazing at playing charades now because we successfully returned the suitcase and exchanged it for 2 thermoses and an umbrella! Now that everything is packed in the same suitcases we brought with us, I think we're pretty close to being ready for the trek home. 

We spent the rest of the evening talking and playing cards. We watched a video on another American run orphanage in Beijing called Shepherds Field (next on my visiting list). Tomorrow we are getting up very early to see the morning market where people bring all their fresh goods and produce to sell. Then we'll meet Malia for breakfast for Bon Mien and dumplings at our little breakfast joint. Then I think I'll go hang out with and say good by to all the kids until nap time. After that I need to finish up the last little bit of my bunny, pay for my purses, and pack up. Then it'll be time to head to the airport. 

Goodnight from Fuzhou for the last time

A Bunny Making Day!

Another fun day here in Fuzhou! Today Debbie, Alice, and I spent the day in the workshop making stuffed bunnies. We took the many pieces of fabric and stitched it up, all by hand! They took a very long time! We started at about 10am and were still working on our one each at 5:30! Mine is all done except for the emblem that needs to be stitched on the foot. I made a whole bunny by hand! Hope, one of the founders adopted daughters and her husband run the workshop. It's called Hands of Hope. They do several projects like that to help fund-raise for HTH. I was planning on giving the shop my bunny to sell but, while it's pretty good, I'd feel bad giving them my less than perfect bunny. So, I'm just going to buy him and take him home with me! Debbie and I made the same rabbit and Alice helped with ours. I'm glad I decided to keep it because once I started to think about it, it's a really special project that I can keep for many years and remember this trip and everyone who helped put him together. Ross, the guy staying in the guest house with us lives here in China going to  grad school, but he's originally from Missouri. He only came for a little bit so he just worked on mine for a bit. I think he did one arm and attached it to the body. Nine year old Julia, who speaks perfect English and Chinese, translated for her mom who doesn't speak any English when she helped us. So I have a few stitches in there from them. Alice did a leg and part of the face, and Hope attached the movable legs. There's a little bit of many people in that bunny.

After bunny making time, Kyler picked us up at the shop and we walked to his house. Shi Yu made an EXCELLENT dinner for us! We even had brownies and Chinese ice cream! They have been so good to us on this trip! We had a good time looking through old pictures first of the kids when they were babies and then pictures from their church and past trips. We walked a little ways from their house to the Chinese temple that sits right in the middle of the village. There were people doing Tai Chi outside the temple. Very cool cultural experience.

This whole thing of living in the village is a culturalexperience. I love walking down the streets where most tourists would never get to see.  I love walking the narrow dirt roads, seeing the artistic old buildings, constantly sweating due to the 115 heat index, not flushing toilet paper, turning off the AC before leaving a room, the giant window in the bathroom that we open while showering so we don't suffocate, ... etc! 😂 Yes, it's a different lifestyle than anything we're used to but it doesn't make them any less or us any better. Different is different and that's good.