Goodbye Nanning

Today was our final day in Nanning, China. We had until 2pm to do a little local shopping before leaving for the airport. David suggested that he knew of a great little local place for families to get full body massages or leg massages. My initial plan was to get a leg massage . . . but plans change :)

After packing up and breakfast, we headed to a local shop to get a “Loving Ball” for each of the girls. Traditionally, during a Nanning festival, girls throw the “Loving Ball” out to the boy they would like to date. It is a beautiful silk ball, looks kind of like an ornament. I asked David if he has received one and he said NO! We also purchased an ink set for Thea to do her Chinese characters. It came with several goat hair brushes and black ink pad - very neat!

Next came “massage time” – NOT GOOD! I don’t mean the massages, I mean the experience for Thea. David led us to a small room set off of a sidestreet building. One of the dads in our group wanted a full massage. We walked in to see what it was like. Before long, a few workers came in and the owner led in another worker, who was mentally handicap and blind. Both of his eyes were grey. The workers who walked in on their own were each missing an eye. I don’t know what was going through my daughter’s mind, but she was absolutely, positively terrified. She hid behind Mark, started shaking and wanted OUT of that place. We took her outside, hailed a cab and went back to the hotel as soon as we could. For the next half hour, Thea wanted to keep her sunglasses on. I was sick to my stomach for the rest of the afternoon and so sorry that she had to experience that.

Speaking of her eye, many people have asked me about it. The only thing I can tell you is that her medical states she is blind in her right eye. When she was found abandoned, she told the orphanage staff that someone put a needle in her eye. There is no record of it being looked at by a doctor. She let me look at it really close. The brown part of the eye has not changed (iris?). The reason her eye looks grey is because there is actually a white mass on it, like scar tissue or something. I don’t know what it is, but she has an eye appt. shortly after we arrive at home. If the vision in her eye cannot be restored, she can get something called a scleral shell cover, which is basically like a huge painted contact. It is cosmetic and for the most part, it will not be recognizable to those who look at her. She will look like she has two big, beautiful brown eyes.

We had our first BATTLE today!! In short (I’m trying here, because “short” is not easy for me!), she didn’t like Mark disciplining her. She pouted and cried for over an hour, as we were waiting in the lobby for the bus to take us to the airport. The good news is that she showed a lot of emotion and remorse. After an hour of her episode, she hugged Mark. Of course, during the entire time, he re-assured her that he loved her over and over – baba ai ni - pronounced “Baba I Knee” (means “daddy loves you”). The one thing that we did notice is that she shuts down when she is upset. She won’t look at anyone and she will not have a conversation with us, the guide, or anyone else. She does things on HER terms.

Our final story of the day was the airplane ride. One word to sum it up – UGLY :) The combination of the episode in the hotel lobby, along with being told she was going on an airplane just wasn’t good. She went from moments of being happy (like when we bought her a mango to eat!), to fear and crying. Getting her to go down the ramp to the plane was difficult enough. Then came pretty much the worst “first” airplane ride for her to experience. Mark was freaking out at the turbulence in the take-off (so were the other adults), the babies and Kam were laughing because they were bouncing up and down and Thea was screaming, crying and freaking out! I didn’t particularly notice all the turbulence because I was too busy trying to console her - thank goodness! The last half of the flight was okay and Thea settled down.

After landing, our guide met us with a bus and we all loaded up for the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, China on Shamian Island. We had pizza delivered to our room, took showers and I’M READY FOR BED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Goodnight family and friends,
Love to Ben, Janie and Eva (I know you love to read your names on here :))
Kari

PS – Did I mention that the White Swan is truly a “5 Star”, gorgeous hotel with the best breakfast ever? I’m excited to wake up!