Emotional Day

Waking up happy.



Dancing with Julie and catching a ride wtih the bellhop.


"Up! Baba!" and "I win!"


Kisses, 'PEEK!' and the favourite fingers.

Today was a day “Free” from scheduled events… But we stuffed it full just the same. We found out late yesterday that our guide had found the man who discovered a nameless baby who became OuYang, ChunWen and then AnnaWen Sampson. Our first mission of today was to find an appropriate gift for him. I asked our guide if liquor would be appropriate and his response was “yes, but find something different, not from around here”. But we’re HERE. Julie and I headed out to a local department store where I found a photo album and some nail polish for Wen. I also found some books for Wen, Kira and one other baby we’re travelling with. But the only thing at the liquor part of the store that was not Chinese was Bacardi Breezers and some European whisky. We checked the liquor stores on the way back, and stopped into the bakery for lunch where I bought a box of chocolates for the gift. In the end, after several liquor stores, we never did find anything imported and I had to settle for two shot bottles of Bacardi from the hotel gift shop. This mission took all morning, which was way longer than I had expected or hoped.

Back in the hotel room, I wrapped up the gift. I had left over tissue paper, and Julie had tied a ribbon around her suitcase handle for easy identification which she sacrificed for the cause. In the end I put together the picture frame with Wen’s picture in it (the smiley one we got in July), a box of chocolates, two little bottles of Bacardi, a beaded bookmark made by my mom, all wrapped in tissue paper with the ribbon holding it closed and a Canadian lapel pin on the ribbon. It was finished just in time to head out to the finding spot with our guide.

I’ve written before that AnnaWen comes to us with so many unknowns in her life, we believe the details she does have of her history are hers alone to share. We won’t be sharing the details of her finding with anyone. In general terms, though, the building is actually just down the street from our hotel. We drove there and met the gentleman outside. He was very open and friendly. Our guide picked up AnnaWen and handed her to him and he held her very naturally. He carried her for a bit, then put her down and took her hand to lead us to her finding spot. There he told us about what the place looked like two and a half years ago, and what he found that morning. We found out some very valuable information, and asked some questions about details. Meanwhile our happy, healthy, spirited little girl that was that baby ran around us in circles laughing and screaming. Thankfully Auntie Julie was there to keep her entertained while we talked. After that, Wen gave the gentleman the gift and we took some pictures of him and her, and of all of us. Saying goodbye was suprizingly difficult, I was choked up and ready to cry. I wanted to hug him, but wasn’t sure it was appropriate.

After that, Julie, Wen and I headed to a bookstore across the street. I bought two maps, 7 Spot books (Spot the dog, with English and Chinese text), a pretty book in Chinese I’m hoping someone can translate, a smurf cartoon book for Steve and a handful of little flip books that had English, Chinese and pinyin – all for about $25! Score!

We then met up with another family to go to a local “sport park”. There was a hardtop with basketball and badminton courts, grass all around. On the walkway between the hardtop and the grass, were stationary exercise pieces. We had seen these discussed during the Olympic coverage and were interested to see them in person. Steve played ball with the local “punks” and we played on the equipment then on the grass. AnnaWen played very nicely with Kira for a while, but had a few incidents of aggression towards the end. Poor Kira, she’s taking the brunt of Wen’s behaviour and being so patient and forgiving about it.

We returned to the hotel and met the other families at the restaurant for dinner. We’re back in the room now, Wen is bathed and she and Julie are in their pjs. We’re going to paint some nails (Wen had nail polish on when we met her) and then head to bed.

Tomorrow is our last day in Lanzhou as we fly out in the early evening for Beijing. I’ll leave here with mixed emotions. It’s a busy, loud and dirty city, but the people we’ve met have been friendly. And this is ChunWen’s home. The people here have welcomed us warmly and we are leaving with the greatest gift. I plan to bring Wen back here one day, but Heaven knows when that will be.

Off to paint nails… I’ll come back at bedtime to add pictures.

N

PS: Here are the random pics from the park: