Today, we had the day off! We loaded in the buses at 8:00 in the morning, and we traveled to Tianjin, a city about 70-80 miles from Beijing. Judging distance in this country is sometimes problematic, as traveling by car and bus is much slower than in the States. For one, the trip is frequently interrupted by tollbooths along the road, and vehicles aren’t allowed to go nearly as fast as cars in the States. So If you’re riding somewhere in China, bank on traveling at about 40 miles an hour.
I read on the way, and I finished reading my copy of Blink. I highly recommend the book to anyone who hasn’t read it yet, and I might even recommend that those who have already read it read it again! I tried to read some of my Chinese book, but I tend to fall asleep rather easily in cars. I was out in no time, and only woke up once we were in a suburb of Tianjin.
I would like to remark that cities in China seem to spread out indefinitely, until something physical blocks their progress, or some major infrastructure downfall checks cities’ alarming growth. We found ourselves in a suburb of Tianjin over 60 kilometers from the city center (!), riding through what looked like a giant industrial park. After several choice words by the bus driver, a frantic call to one of his friends, and a few u-turns, we found ourselves in front of our destination – Tianjin Suburb Orphanage.
I don’t know if I made this clear in the last message, but I have been pretty anxious about gong to this orphanage (if you do not know, I have 3 adopted siblings). The institution of the orphanage is in every country a fairly dismal institution, and although Chinese orphanages are much better than orphanages in other parts of the world – due to a larger budget from the Chinese government, but that does not make me want to visit an orphanage any more, especially as I am not in a position to help either the orphanage, or even a single child over the long-term. I know all that I need to know about orphanages, and I am not particularly interested in going to this one.
I have been hesitant in writing this journal, and I have been rather in the dark about what exactly I want to talk about. I have been attempting to determine if our act of going to this orphanage had any defined goal, and I have come to the conclusion that the teachers wanted nothing more than to take us somewhere to look around. We were essentially tourists at an orphanage. Upon our arrival, the teachers and the administration floundered about, unsure about what to do with us. I was unsure of what to do with us. A stray dog wandered up to be petted. It was petted. We were admitted.
The group of some 30 college students was split into 6 groups, and we were each assigned to a specific house. In each house resided a number of children, ranging from 12 months old to 21 years old. One of the girls in the group looked at me and said, “I’m not very good with kids. I can’t relate to them very well…” You’re in the wrong place, sister. I was in the last group to break away, and we were shown into a building where ten 12 to 18-month-old babies lived with three caretakers. One more thing: the teachers did not elaborate on the nature of children who are abandoned in China. Almost all of them are girls or special needs children. When we entered the room, it was full of smiling little special needs kids. They were all very cute, and seemed to developing well – considering the circumstances. However, the rest of the group stood agape. They weren’t expecting special needs kids. They gawked at the little kids.
I jumped in and scooped up a little girl with a clef palate and hearing problems, and we read a storybook together. We read a few books, and then it was time for naps and lunch (we had come at an awkward time). A few of the people in the group were a little freaked, I could tell, and they headed outside to play with the older kids pretty quick. I stayed in with the babies and helped the ladies feed the kids lunch – rice mush. I prayed that the rice mush had formula or vitamins in it, as the caretakers didn’t look like the brightest ladies on the block.
The teachers talked among themselves as they swung on the swing-set.
Soon, we were told to gather our things. It was time to leave. We sat through a rather awkward information session, in which one of the orphanage workers told us about life in a Chinese orphanage. Any questions? A few hands went up, and a few halfhearted questions were asked.
On the way to Tianjin, I pondered the meaning of the rather strange trip that we had just taken part in. I was confused, to say the least. I slept.
I awoke in Tianjin. The bus pulled to a stop in front of the Tianjin South Eateries Street – a tourist trap. Again! The teachers had taken us to a tourist area and told us to fend for ourselves. Wes, Hannah, and I went in search of food, and we dined at a “certified tourist restaurant” that specialized in baozi. The specialty of the restaurant was a baozi called “the dog won’t even eat it” baozi. Not a very encouraging name, huh? We ordered some of the dog baozi, and I also ate a bowl of zhou, the Chinese version of oatmeal. Zhou can come in a number of flavors, ranging from corn to rice to black rice to green beans to whatever you’d like to eat in mashed form.
Then, we looked around the area. We found a curious set of buildings, which appared to have been built within the last 5 years, and then promptly abandoned. Of the 30-40 buildings that we passed, only 2 were occupied. One was an office for the development park, and the other was an architecture firm.
From there, we walked over to what had once been the south gate of Old Tianjin, a 4-story-tall bell tower. The inside of the bell tower had been converted into a museum, which “made the best of the CCP’s systematic destruction of traditional housing and forced relocation of thousands of citizens,” to borrow a phrase from Fodor’s. The museum was the most interesting free museum that I have seen, and according to Wes, the museum also receives the award of being the most ill-designed museum that he has seen. The museum was full of dioramas of life in the dangerous, old, Hutong-like houses contrasted with dioramas of symmetrical, manicured parks that would have looked more at home in Orwell’s 1984.
Keep in mind, dear reader, that I am still a little under the weather, and all of this physical exertion (actually very little exertion at that) had me ready to fall asleep. We walked back to the bus, and I read for about a grand total of 5 minutes before falling asleep.
I awoke as we hit 5th ring road in Beijing. We had a while yet to get to the dorm, and we had been on the road for almost 3 hours by the time that we stopped in front of the MinZu University.
I was hungry and a little snappy (we had been in traffic for 2 hours!), and I went to get some food. I felt a lot better after that, and I came back up to the room to check emails. I watched the movie Blindness, which I thought was a passable movie.
I fell asleep with prayers that I would get better soon on my lips.
I’ll write soon!
Love,
Jamey
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