Wuxi Social Welfare Institute

Yesterday we boarded a small bus for the three hour ride to Wuxi to see what was our daughter's home. The ride from Nanjing to Wuxi brought us through some older suburbs and some farm land. There were pockets of factories and manufacturing along the way. Often manufacturing facilities - where all those goods that we all buy from toys, to clothing, to, well, everything - are visible by the blue roof tops. 

We left one wealthy city and journeyed to another. As we drove into Wuxi the air thickened and had that familiar gray hue we saw everywhere we went two years ago. There is some industry in Wuxi which explains the change. And construction projects abounded. Cranes swung around future rows of apartment complexes. 

The Institute was, well, what it is. As institutes go it's one of the nicer ones. They make a great effort for the children and clearly have goals in the classrooms. The classrooms looked very much like any in the U.S. The other day we were given a binder of Lila's school work containing all the familiar projects, coloring, lettering, of any pre-schooler. 

But, still, it's no home and Lila was conflicted about going back. They were very generous to us and the other two families and gave us a meal which included dishes with eyes in tact, etc. The gesture was meaningful and the representative answered all of our questions. I ate a lot of rice :)

On the way home we detoured through downtown Wuxi to locate the finding spot of the child of one of the other families. Downtown Wuxi, like Nanjing, could have been Manhattan. This part of China is clearly booming. Though our guide did say that there have been recent layoffs and a dip in manufacturing because of the US economy. 

When we got back we walked back to another part of the Hunan Road with one of the families. It lights up at night so there is the neon China again. It's a great place for us to stroll with lots of restaurants. The kids wanted pizza so we ate in Pizza Hut. 

Today is sightseeing day. Sandra, our sweet guide, will bring us to a few sights in Nanjing. 

Steven left at 5:30 this morning. One more week for us.