‘As long as you’re enjoying yourself, it’s worth it’

Day 8- Rest Day

We woke up in Qingyuan and set out to find some wifi. After 30 minutes of walking around without finding a connection, we hired scooter drivers to take us to McDonald’s. It turned out to be just up the street from our hotel. After updating the world on our adventures, we were picked up by the 

volunteers. The Qingyuan volunteers offered to take us to a  group home for people with disabilities. This was such a great opportunity- our first chance to talk to people with similar interests on this trip. We arrived just as the students were eating lunch. Upon arriving to the home, we sat on a couch in  the office and talked to a few of the staff members. As we talked, we worked. The staff and students spend time doing various assembly jobs in order to raise money to keep the home functioning. On this day they were assembling what seemed to be e-stimulation pads. Jobs like this provide revenue for the home and help the students develop motor skills. It was described to us as a kind of occupational therapy. We helped, inhaling the medicinal fumes as we peeled back the wrapping and stuck metallic beads onto the pads. The woman who runs the home invited us to have lunch. Ann talked to her and translated for me as we listened to her story and asked her questions. As we talked, a little boy was buzzing around us. He was eyeing me as we ate, and

eventually felt brave enough to investigate further. He grabbed my hand and led me to the next room where he put me in 'jail' behind stacked school desks. As I pretended to be trapped, he laughed and laughed. Then he went back for Ann, bringing her to jail a few moments later. Satisfied with himself, he left us to find more potential prisoners. This little boy was ornery and hilarious. It was impossible to get a picture of him that isn't blurry because he never stopped moving. We played ( and by 'played' I mean he led me around the room and showed me himself in every picture on the wall) while Ann chatted with the grown-ups. Eventually, I came back to the conversation. Ann filled me in on the woman's story. She started the home in 2009 to fill a need- nobody was properly caring for the adolescents and adults with disabilities in Qingyuan. She told us of the triumphs and struggles of caring for people with disabilities in China. She mentioned that now, after years of taking the students to the local park, people seem to be much more receptive and kind to them. She told us what an exhausting and sometimes thankless job hers is, and how it frustrates her when parents seem to dump their unwanted children on her. She has hopes for more money, programs, awareness, and acceptance for people with disabilities in China in the future. Funny- we have the same dream. 

Day 9 KM count- 105

The next morning the volunteer leader took us through the edge of town and pointed us in the right direction. We struggled Annimal’s cart out of the trunk and set off, ready for a full day. The road was absolutely

BEAUTIFUL. We walked down this two-lane road all morning. It was lined with beautiful red pom-pom like flowers and the traffic was minimal. Late in the morning we stopped at a small village shop for a rest. According to our calculations we were coming up on our 100^th kilometer, so we purchased a beer in anticipation of our celebration. Just as we were leaving, a young woman came up to us with an important message. She seemed to have a disability of some kind, and she was as happy as can be.

‘As long as you’re enjoying yourself, it’s worth it’ she told us in Chinese. I don’t know if she knew how much I needed to hear that. But I did.

We continued on, excited for our pending victory. Not long after leaving the village, two cyclists passed us. The woman behind looked back at me, then circled around. Lola and Ana are English teachers who live in Guangzhou. Lola is from Ireland and Ana, Colombia. I was SO happy to meet someone 

who I could speak English to. The ladies decided to walk to our 100^th KM with us, which was only a few steps away. We opened our beer and celebrated together, cheers-ing and drinking Budweiser from our camping cups. It was the perfect way to celebrate. We took a break to talk to the women, exchanging stories, laughs, and contact information. We made plans to meet up when we’re back from our journey, then said goodbye. 

We had some lunch and kept on. Since the road we turned on to was under construction, we had one whole side of the highway to ourselves. It was fantastic. A few hours later, we took a break to do a daily dance, then turned off of the main road toward our town for the night- Jiangkou Zhen. I LOVE this old town. There are mountains in the distance and a river just outside of town. We were the town spectacle as we paraded through the market street to find a hotel. Women looked up from their sewing machines, men looked up from their games of dominoes, and children stopped playing  in the street to watch us pass and comment. We checked into the hotel and received our key to the room on the second floor. We had the Laoban (boss woman) film as we struggled to get Ann’s cart up the stairwell to the second floor, jokingly cursing the name ‘Gordon Styles’ the whole way up. Unfortunately, the video was too dark to see. But take my word for it- it was comical. That night we walked around the beautiful little town and let a rambunctious little girl guide us a place to eat. The people were very kind and ABSOLUTELY in awe of what we are doing. I plan to go back and grow old in that little town.

We went back to our room, laughed at the videos of the day, said goodnight to the world, and slept.