A Day at Starfish

Guess where Cai-Lean and I walked to today? Yup, Starbucks! I couldn't believe I was walking down a street in Xi'an, China, with a baby heading to Starbucks. Life is crazy! :) I successfully strapped (with help from Amanda) Cai-Lean in a carrier and away we went. I was excited to get outside with Cai-Lean and now that I know I can look out! I don't think the little guy has had a chance to get outside much. He loved it and was a asleep in no time. I went with four other volunteers and six other babies! Five Caucasian ladies and 7 Chinese babies attracted a fair bit of a attention. The staff at Starbucks were very excited to see the children. They were the same staff that made a visit to Starfish last week. The walk to Starbucks took about 30 minutes. We had to successfully cross four major intersections which is pretty scary in China!

A staff member from Starbucks staff giving Gabriele some milk

We decided to call our Driver to pick us up at Starbucks rather than Starfish. The walk was a bit longer than we had anticipated and we get picked up at 4:30. There we were loading six babies, five adults and a stroller for four into a 8 passenger van! We would have been arrested in Canada! Cai-Lean was happy in the carrier the entire time.

In addition to the trip to Starbucks it was another wonderful day taking care of babies. There is always a child waiting for some lovin'. I am really starting to see their personalities. Here are some photos from the day at Starfish. One of the other volunteers brought in a cute Chinese outfit so we took some photos. They LOVED getting dressed up!!!! They were lining up.





Here are some photos of my cycling trip last night on top of the City Wall. It was absolutely spectacular and one of the best tourist things I have done in Xi'an so far. The length of the City Wall around the old part of the city is 14 km. We could hear music from down below everywhere. One thing I noticed last night is that everyone is out in the evening sitting in squares playing music. It is lovely. Words can't express the beauty that I saw last night while cycling around the Wall. We only ran into about three other people on the wall but down below the city was alive. Everything was lit up and breathtaking. Here are some photos.

Train station - I was looking down from on top of the City Wall.

Here is a little video clip of the music that could be heard on top of the City Wall. I would hear the music then look through the wall and see people singing in the square.

Tomorrow is another full day at Starfish!!! I think I will be going for a walk.