ShiJiazhuang
and suddenly we’re on a family vacation. All five of us are settling into a calmer rhythm. First, if I had a better internet connection I would change the banner graphic at the top of every page from “The Story of Kai” to “Hui-Hui’s World!” For that is Kai’s “REAL” name. He IS Hui-Hui. You say it sort of like Hway Hway, rhymes with Way-Way. Most people in China are given two character names when they are born. So he was originally given the name Dang Hui. Dang is pronounced “Dong” and means “The Party” as in The Communist Party”, because he was to be raised in the Social Welfare Institute by “The Party”. It is a common practice in China to nickname children by calling them one of their name characters twice, so his nickname in the orphanage was Hui-Hui. Well he is no longer being raised by The Party, so we have changed that character to Kai, which means Victory. We are keeping the second character of his name, Hui, which means Wisdom. So his nickname, Hui-Hui, means “Very Wise”. And when you meet him I think you will agree He IS Hui-Hui!
This morning began again with Tina and me waking up pretty early. Hui-Hui is a great sleeper, and waking up with him next to us in his crib is like waking up next to a Christmas Tree with a brand new Red Ryder BB gun with a big red bow underneath it! We can’t leave him in there, so we bring him to our bed to lay between us. He continued to sleep with us for another hour, then I mixed up a bottle for him and made tea for Tina and me. After his bottle he set to work on putting the plastic rings in the stacking cup and dumping them out again.
He’s been nothing but smiles all day today! I got the Big Brothers up at about 8:00 AM, and when they came to our room Hui-Hui was happy to see them.
We had breakfast at the hotel buffet again. Hui-Hui had the congee, which is like a rice porridge. Tina mixed mashed up hard-boiled egg into it. We only let him have two bowls this morning. He is an eating machine! Mealtime is serious business.
After breakfast our guide, Bob, took us to the Longxing Si. “Si” means temple. So far this has been the highlight of the touring part of our trip. (Hui-Hui of course is THE highlight of the whole trip!) The oldest buildings at Longzing Si were originally built in 1052 A.D. We saw so many amazing sites there! The design of many of the buildings here were used at the Forbidden City, but this site is much older. Also, since this site is located away from the major tourist routes it has a much more dignified and sacred feel to it. We were the only westerners there, and we were quite an attraction ourselves. There were children playing outside the temple, I think their parents were vendors there. They were very interested in us. Two little girls were playing with little beanbags which they could juggle and kick like a hackey-sack. Ben had his hackey-sack with them so he showed them his moves, and I juggled a little for them.
Bob helped us buy incense to burn as offerings inside the the Temple.
The grounds themselves were very beautiful and quiet. No tourists were there, and we had the whole place almost to ourselves. Outside one of the shrines was a group of monks with instruments. For 100 yuan they would play a song for you while you prayed before the shrine. While we were there a man came and gave them an offering and knelt to pray. It was very moving to hear the monks play. Bob knew much of the history of the temple which he shared with us. The artwork was truly awesome. I was so glad we were able to take Hui-Hui to this wonderful place. He seemed to really enjoy it too. He was very interested in the different statues of Pusa and Buddha.
He really looked at them attentively. In the last shrine we entered There is a beautiful bronze sculpture of 12 buddhas seated on giant lotus blossom.
Bob told us that it is good luck and will bring happiness and longevity if you walk around the statue 3 times. We had Hui-Hui place our last bundle of incense before this statue and then Tina and I took his hands and walked with him three times around it.
I really can’t explain how moving it was to be there with our whole family.
The other amazing thing was the weather. It had been overcast and foggy since we left Beijing, and yesterday it had poured hard all day. Then today it was absolutely gorgeous. Just like a nice day at home. Not too hot, and beautiful blue skies!
Afterwards, we went to lunch on our way back to the hotel. I suggested we go to the Cultural Revolution restaurant I had been to with him on Monday so Tina and the boys could see it. I learned the name today, “To Serve The People”.
We were the only ones there, and the manager recognized me from my previous visit. I decided to try a chicken’s foot as it was in the chicken mushroom soup.
Really good soup! Chicken’s feet are kind of tough to eat, but they do taste good. Hui-Hui loved the noodles and the chicken mushroom soup broth. When we were done he was completely trashed and so was the table.
We got back to hotel and dropped off Tina and the boys. Bob wanted me to go with him to the police station to check on the status of Hui-Hui’s passport, as he was worried about us getting it in time before we have to leave for Guangzhou. How could such a beautiful day be any more perfect? By finding Hui-Hui’s passport there waiting for us!!!
Buddha was truly smiling on us today!
When I got back to the hotel I found everybody resting, and Hui-Hui was down for the count.
After a late nap we took him to the hotel buffet again and let him gorge on soup. Tonight we tried him on the millet gruel, again we added mashed pumpkin too it for fiber and vitamins. The dude put away another three bowls. We won’t help him with the third one because it just doesn’t seem right. But that doesn’t stop him.
After he ate, we walked down the street and the rest of us ate at…
Yep, we caved on day 6. We were quite the sight in there. All the staff were very curious about Hui-Hui and a couple of them spoke enough English to visit with us. Hui-Hui wasn’t interested in what we were eating. He doesn’t like anything you can eat without a spoon. But we did buy him the Happy Meal toy.
Getting him to bed when we got back was a struggle. The late nap had left him wired and he was a crazy giggly monkey boy who wanted to show-off and laugh and play. Apparently while we weren’t looking someone must have stolen away the shy, sad, little orphan we found last Sunday and replaced him with a little clown!
Tomorrow is a quiet day at the hotel. Hopefully Cam and Ben will get some schoolwork done. Friday we may do some more touring and then we fly to Guangzhou on Saturday. Now that we have Hui-Hui’s passport our work here is done and we can relax.
We really appreciate all the email people have sent us, it’s nice to know people are thinking of us. If you would like to send Hui-Hui a personal email message you can, because he now has his own email address. It’s:
If you send him a message we will read it to him, and print it to put in his “Life Book”. I’m sure he would love to hear from you!
Here's a few more pictures from our day...
The view from our hotel room window
The street outside the hotel at night
Hui-Hui and Bob at lunch
Bob, Ben, & Cam
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