Birthday Party.....

This morning, most of the kids went to an outdoor restaurant type of place for a "birthday party". Apparently, they occasionally have a party for whomever's birthday it was for the past month or two. It was pretty chaotic. There were animals around for the kids to look at. Jasmine was infatuated by the Koi and other fish, as well as the geese and birds, but she was very afraid of two dogs that were tied up nearby. I am not sure how she is going to do with my dog, Spirit. She seems to be getting a bit more attached to me, especially when the nannies are not around.... like today. She was leading me around the place showing me the pond, and the fish and flowers. She still refuses to take food from me, but did let me peel a bananna for her. She refused to eat any of the food at the party, but when they brought out the banannas, she ate almost two whole ones.... for such a little tummy, that was alot. All of the other kids ate like crazy. At the orphanage they are fed the same thing three times a day... cold rice, with a couple of little vegetables on top with maybe a little piece of meat or tofu.... so this party was a huge treat for them. I think they did it partially for my benefit and partially since I just paid them my cash "gift", so they had some extra. They call everything around here a "gift", when it is a required fee. It's ok.... I was glad to do it. I will get to pay many more "gifts" in the next couple of days that I am just learning about .
Here are some photos from today.

I got lost today:)

This morning I wanted to do bunch of shopping before going back to the orphanage for the day. I walked pretty much everywhere in the entire city, but couldn't find my hotel:) It was kind of fun until the blisters started forming on my feet. I purchased two little aoi dai's.. the traditional Vietnamese dress,... some lacquer art, and some gifts to give to Jasmine each year on her adoption day. I have quite a few more things to buy. I finally ended up flagging down some guys riding motorcycles, which is everyone, and found one who could understand the word "orphanage" and I just paid him to take me there. I overloaded his motorcycle with all of my stuff.

Jasmine accepted me a little more today. She only cried for a few seconds instead of the entire time that I held her. I was kind of surprised at what I saw at the orphanage on a weekend day. All of the smaller kids were in the one bedroom with a few nannies. They had no toys or stimulation. They just lay around and sleep all day long. The older 5-6 year olds had no supervision at all. All of the doors to the play room, dining room and offices were all locked. When I walked her past the play room she started to cry and tried to pull me that way... but I showed her that the doors were locked. I don't think she understood.
Later I ran into one of the volunteers who said that it was like that every day of the week until the organization she volunteers for had purchased and donated the toys and started the play room. They had absolutely no stimulation whatsoever. Not even a radio or music. She said that Jasmine is much more subdued on Mondays because of the lack of stimulation over the weekend, then by Friday she is more lively and smiling. I didn't get her to smile at all today.
I believe this is probably the reason that she does not yet speak. She has not even reached the babbling stage yet. I was told that an Australian speech therapist evaluated her last week and said that she is at the 3-6 month level in her speech development. We have some work to do, for sure. They recommended a sign language program.

Tomorrow morning we are going to a birthday party which is held every month or two for the children who's birthday occurred
that month. Then I meet Jasmine's grandparents in the evening, which should be the most emotional, but hopefully helpful part of the trip. I hope to learn more about her mother and just be able to get pictures of them so that she can see them as she grows up.

I didn't take alot of photos today, but took tons of video.