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Hi friends and family,
Today started off with me heading off towards the pre-k room since my two favorite boys, Blue and Friendly were supposed to be there since it was Monday. However, once I got to the room a lot of the other volunteers were already in it so instead I headed off to the room with a boy I called Brace. Immediately as I entered I saw only the nanny, the bouncing baby in the crib, the two girls running around merrily, and both Brace and Friendly laying on the floor crying their lungs out! I immediately went to the two boys and tried my best to comfort them, Eventually I ended up sitting Brace up and held him while also stroking his head and he simmered down a bit. I tried to do the same for Friendly but soon the pre-k teacher came in and so she took him and he slowed his crying a bit. I was able to make Brace happy by holding him tightly and stroking his hair. In the room a small little TV was playing Chinese children's music and so I started bouncing Brace on my lap and he started to sing a long to the songs which was super adorable. Eventually Vivian joined me and she picked up the cute little girl who has a fixed cleft palette (I will refer to her as "Rosy") and the nanny brought the cute cleft palette baby down an he bounced back and forth the the beat of the music. Later, a box was brought in and all of the babies were super interested in playing with it and specifically sitting on it. Morgan came in after a while and updated me that Blue was taken to the hospital last night to fix something after the scare that happened the previous day. I was very saddened by this and I hope for his quick recovery. Back in the room Vivian and I were trying to make Rosy stop crying so I lifted her up and instantly she started smiling. As I grew tired I would try to sit down with her but she would start crying again. I ended up doing squats with her in my arm and she laughed like crazy when I did that. I handed her to Vivian to take a rest and Vivian started dancing with the girl. While she was doing that Brace reached out for me to do the same thing with him and so for a few minutes Vivian and I twirled around with the two babies and the room was again filled with laughter and happiness. For the last few minutes I played with Mia F. with the boy with the casts and he was a troublesome as ever, throwing toys out of his crib and giggling. Unfortunately, our time with the babies ended around 11AM as a lot of the babies were being put to sleep early.
After lunch we took the subways and a bus ride to get to the Temple of Heaven. At the location we viewed where emperors of the past would fast during certain holidays as well as the actual temple in which they prayed to the gods for a good harvest. The scenery was beautiful, with a multitude of trees planted symmetrically and the architecture was superb!
After sightseeing we walked to the Pearl Market which was basically a mall with stands where we could bargain for items. Anna N assisted me with getting deals on items as she used her calculator to convert RMB to USD and came up with lower prices. We were often given a price of 760RMB and were able to bring it down all the way to around 100RMB. I have definitely learned to be more careful with my purchases and not to take the first price given but rather shoot for 60% below. That's all for now.
Your friend,
Sadie