Today we went to the orphanage (Fengxin County SWI) where Mei spent the first 10 months of her life.

It is in Fengxin County, which is about 1:30 hours from here. Together with the Moore’s, we loaded into a small van for the trip to the orphanage.

It seemed to take longer, mainly because it was raining/sleeting and the roads were a mess. Once we got out of Nanchang, things picked up a bit.

We passed through very poor countryside. The houses and fields are what I would call dirt farmers. In fact, the side road we had to take to get to her city reminded me of south Georgia. Very rough road, farms and red clay.

Once we arrived, the orphanage director met us and we followed him to the orphanage.

Like most buildings here in China, only a few rooms have heat. The hallway was the same temperature as outside, but when we went into the room, it was warmer. It was probably 50 degrees in the room.

The room had about 15 to 20 little cribs in the center of the room. About 5 Nannies were standing around looking after the kids. When we walked into the room, two Nannies came running over to us. One pulled up Mei’s hat and said, “Yun Man!!!!” which is her Chinese name. The Nanny lifted her from Jen and just loved all over Mei. They did the same with the Moore’s baby. Here is some video of the moment:

And here are some pictures of Mei with the Nannies.

We got a chance to talk with the director. He answered what he could. They brought in a bag of clothes that had Mei’s name on it and said they were the clothes she was found in. They let us keep it. That was pretty cool.

Us and the Director

After that, he took us to where they found Mei. She was found at the gate of the local power company. It was in the middle of town on a busy street.

Where Mei was found

I am very glad we got to see her Nannies and where she was found. These will all be things she may want to know about as she gets older.

For lunch, the director treated us to a lunch at a local restaurant. It was the best food we’ve had since we’ve been here. No joke. The area is known for rice noodles and bamboo…both were wonderful! It was a nice lunch and the director asked us many questions about what we do for a living and where we live. I tried to explain what a pecan is, but they were clueless. Next time, someone remind me to bring a bag of pecans with me. I think he would have gotten a kick out of them.

It was a long day, but very worth it. Jen and Mei are sleeping now and I am heading that way myself. I hear we are doing more sightseeing tomorrow. I hope the weather breaks. We have not seen that sun since we have been in China.

Until next time, good night.