from Jeff

Yesterday I saw some countryside for the first time. I think you could buy all the farm machinery in southern china for about 20 dollars. The main form of power is water buffalo. Many of them around walking the streets, if you can call them that. I saw a guy trying to run across a rice patty to cath a water buffalo that got away I could hear him cusing at him in chinese. The driver said that someone hit a farmers dog along the road and the driver had to pay 2000 yuan 1 dollar is about 7 yuan. So I made the joke that if I was farming that I would have a bunch of dogs. Canola is the current crop it is blooming now. They have a long growing season so they can grow more than one crop a year. The people here waste nothing so most of the motorized vehicles on the road look like it would take all day to get them started and not make it across the road. I saw where Grace was left yeaterday it was a good thing Tammie was not there horrible is not a strong enough word. I cant even think of how to describe it It was about 10 times worse than the elevator in Gladstone. Raw meat laying on the counter full of flies no refridgeration dirty dogs and water buffalo in the street, very small about the size of a single garage. It was much worse than I expected. The orphanage itself was impressive from the gate but the rest was very cold and dirty and poor. They do the best they can with what little they have . The director told us they had 21 healthy babies and not to worry about them because they will get adopted. But they have so many special need children that need more than they can provide. Polution is a problem but it seems that living conditions and poverty are improving.It was very clear that Grace is unbelievable lucky.