beijing day 1

we got into beijing last nite. it's hazier and smoggier than i remembered. part of this might be the heat and lack of breeze.
today we went to new day creations, an american run foster home. WONDERFUL place. i held this baby (born in march or april) named emma. her special need is a cleft lip/pallate, neither of which is severe. although her cleft is on one side, her nose isn't the least sideways. she also had no problem taking a normal bottle, although it's obvious that her pallate isn't perfect. she will get snatched off a list in no time; i dont think she's old enough to be placed quite yet, though. i bet she's on new day's website, newdaycreation.org or .com or something like that :). it appears that they have a constant stream of help; there were lots of college age groups there, some staying months, some just in for the day (like us). father: new day is located amidst an agricultural area. corn was growing. there were orchards and plots where it looked like wheat or some other grassy something was recently harvested. (i got to see lots b/c we kinda got lost since there are no street names/numbers in this district apparently. hmmm) not a very wealthy area, though... new day also has a factory which employs many of the locals (who are obviously struggling monetarily) they make the stuff you can buy from them onsite (or online i believe). very neat place. their receptionist (who looks like she's about 14 which means she's probably nearing 30) told me that they just got back from fujian province. she asked if i knew jack chang. everyone- even those at new day- love him and think he's just about the greatest thing since sliced bread (or whatever the chinese alternative to sliced bread may be; instant rice, perhaps?). small world.
mother: i got trace a panda in the hotel giftshop today. it has a red shirt since jade's has a blue shirt. also, i found A FEW fruit snacks. maybe 5 that i was able to purchase. i am keeping my eyes wide open for more!
tomorrow we head off to urumqi. we may be able to get some shopping accomplished before that. time will tell.
alrighty, it's almost 11pm and i'm getting tired and am in dire need of a shower. next post will be from urumqi!!
g'night!