Visit to Alicia's Hometown

It is hard to believe it has been a week now that we have been in China. The time has gone by fast. So far we have enjoyed our time here a lot. Alicia is making a lot of progress. We have taught her to pick up cheerios and put it in her mouth. She has also managed to figure out how to hold a cup and her legs are stronger. She is not as wobbly on her feet. Yesterday I bought some squeeky shoes for her and ever since all she wants to do is walk up and down the hall to make them squeek. Everyone knows when Alicia Noth is around! Everyone laughs and encourages her.
Today we had a 2 and a half hour bus ride to Xinyu City, Alicia's hometown. We took a ton of pictures of the countryside. When we got within a block of the orphanage, we had to get off the bus because the street was to narrow for a bus. There was some construction going on and everyone stopped to look. They don't see foreigners very often, so it is quite the sight for them to see White people with a Chinese baby. The orphanage had watermelon and bananas for the babies to eat. Alicia ate 2 bananas and a little watermelon. They also brought out some yogurt drinks for them. We found out that they are starting construction on a new orphanage next month a few kelometers away. The current one is much to small. They showed us some drawings of what the new orphanage will look like. It will be so nice. Everyone one in our group donated some money and they were able to buy a washing machine and not sure what else, but the boxes were there when we arrived. It may have been an air conditioning unit and a TV or two for the kids to watch. After our visit we went to a local restaurant for lunch. The food was good but very spicy (Greg's dad would have loved it). The waitresses loved the girls and we took some photos with them. The bus ride back was uneventful as most of the girls slept for their afternoon nap. Alicia slept for 2 hours. A bunch of us are ordering pizza for dinner tonight.
Tomorrow we have nothing scheduled. We may venture out and go shopping.
It has been very difficult getting on the internet the last day or so. Therefore don't be surprised if I don't post the next couple of days (although I will try). I will add the photos to this blog later, We are going to join the others for dinner now, our pizza should be here soon.
~Judy