Today we fell in Love....

Today was (outside of Gotcha Day!) our best day in Hunan! We spent a cold morning at the large, Martyrs Park. This is unlike anything we have in the US, well, maybe like Central Park in NYC....anyway....people were everywhere, singing, dancing, doing exercises, playing games. Jay got to play badminton with a local! There was a koi pond with thousands of fish, and a small amusement park (Jay called it Six Flags over Hunan!). We are definitely a spectacle here! People of all ages come up to us and ask questions, take our picture, or try out their English on us. Most are very curious about why we have a Chinese baby with us as they are, in large part, unaware of the orphanages and the plight of orphans. Some say, "lucky baby" and others are worried that she will not fit in in America (our guide obviously translates:) One woman came up and seemed almost defencive as to why we had her....our guide told her that Ashley was our biological child! HA! The lady said Avery looked like me but Ashley did not and our guide shooed her away.
We had a wonderful morning and an amazing lunch!! The food here is sooo good, soooooo much better than in Beijing! We ate and ate at lunch. It was a bittersweet day as I am beginning to feel sad that Ashley will be gone from this place soon and who knows when she'll return. It's a torn feeling really. Over the last few days we've gotten to see much more of Changsha and you can feel the darkness here. The people are so lost. Our hearts are turning to them and although we cannot wait to get to GZ and HOME, we realize Ashley is leaving so little, but so much behind.