Whenever I am having a bit of a low day, I’m going to pull this video up and play his rendition of Old Macdonald on repeat and everything will be a lot happier.
Feel free to do the same.
Archives for 10.26.16
Day 3 {Boom Boom}
It’s one of the prettiest rooms in China I’ve ever seen. Shiny floors. Lots of windows. Bright colors. Music notes that light up on the ceiling. And a spot in the middle of the room where you can whisper and hear your voice echo. Front and center in that 4th floor music room is a baby grand piano and a full drum set. And, no one on staff can play either of them, so I was told.
During our tour on Day 1, when we entered this room and were all ooo-ing and ahh-ing, the director asked if any of us could play either. Not really was our answer.
But, on Day 3, some of the boys’ pleading and leading and “boom boom”s made Kyle cave.
Art class became a full on party as Kyle tried his hands at the boom boom. His bravery was somehow contagious because as soon as he was ready to stop, Jen sauntered up to the scene in humility and surprised all of us with this.
And, I thought the orphanage was the only thing that was going to surprise me. Silly me.
Day 3 {hǎo bù hǎo}
I knew it would be a stretch. But, I really wanted to try it. Drawing with two hands at the same time is hard, but it’s really good. Simply put, it makes both sides of your brain work together, a dialog that helps us more fully express and understand emotions and thoughts and has even shown to increase measures of intelligence and processing.
We showed the children pictures of trees from all over the world–including some from our own yards and those of some of their friends from the orphanage who have already been adopted. Then, we asked them to draw one of them using both hands at the same time.
Some said they couldn’t. Some said it was too hard. Some simply said no.
But we said hǎo bù hǎo, just try it. Yes, it’s hard, but just try it. See what happens when you try something hard.
And, most of them did.
And, it was good. As their brains were making firing away and making connections, we were also making connections. And, I stood back in awe, wanting a recording of the scene happening before me to be forever recorded in my own brain.
Maybe this week that started rough with lots of surprises and some new structure and rules that seemed at first would hold us back wasn’t going to be so bad after all.
Day 3 {lunchtime}
At 10:45am everyday, here’s what you’ll see on the fourth floor.
Down to the third floor they go, riding an elevator down to minimize those cute stumbles.
They sit down around small tables in small chairs and wait to be served.
The nannies bring out a big pot and dish lunch into metal bowls. Then, each one as they are able, grabs their spoons and digs into their rice dish or noodles in a broth with tiny pieces of chicken or pork and vegetables. And, everyone is pretty happy.
When they are done, they potty and then climb right into their own crib, remarkably climbing into the correct one that has their name on it. There they all rest for the next 2 hours while the nannies do the same on the floor mats in the room beside them.
