Made In China

Author: Cason
Location: China
So yesterday was one of the more relaxing excursions of the trip: shopping day. We worked with the kids in the morning and then after lunch headed out into the city to the Silk Street Market. We spent three hours navigating the chaos of this "market" which is really just a compilation of crammed stalls selling the same goods for exorbitant prices so all the tourists can feel like they're "haggling" when in reality they're still paying enormous prices for cheap, low quality products. Frankly, after buying two overpriced shirts I was a bit disgusted with myself for supporting this institution which in my mind demeans the entire shopping culture. Everyone else seemed to enjoy this experience, for reasons I am not capable of comprehending. Wen did agree with me though; she only bought a copy of Maos Little Red Book. She swears shes not a communistwere having second thoughts though. (Kidding.we love Wena lot.) Emily wants her name in this blog, so lets chitchat about her for a bit. Emily is having a wonderful experience in her second year leading the China trip. Now, back to the kids. Taylor (Dixon)s favorite child is Lily, who seems to be the most popular, as she is also Chris, Emily, Pat, and a few others favorite. Taylor (Harrison) also loves playing with the kids, especially when shes not dropping them. She also loved the veggie dumplings we made specifically for her J . The dumplings were a huge hit with all the older kids from the group home. They had performed their own abridged version of The Sound of Music for an audience of about 50 volunteers and neighbors. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of the trip so far, many in the audience were in tears by the end. Some of the kids have exceptional English, probably better than Emilys when shes speaking to non-native speakers in her own version of broken English--Chinglish. Everyone else wants a shoutout, so: Jessica has been sleeping a lot lately, but she managed to get up the other day to talk to her boyfriend over skype; Caroline has been very busy orchestrating the various 'Dino-pic" photoshoots (all from the wonderfully creative mind of Ms. Caroline Ruhl); Lanier is getting more and more talkative by the second--she cracked a really funny joke a second ago, but it probably wouldnt be appropriate for the blog; Virginia has been online a lot wishing happy birthday to the numerous friends she has who have birthdays this week; Sammie improved her ACT score; Chris and Pat have been improving their haggling skills; Michael has been acting the Master Photographer role with his super cool camera; and Callie has mastered the art of the Chinese postal system. Oh--almost forgot, our group added a member the other day: Pierre. Pierre is a red inflatable donkey and he poses in all the group photos with us. Today we go to the zoo, so Pierre can meet all of his long lost relatives.
peace out,
cason