October 2006

The Gulley Sisters Chronicles

Fifteen families travelled to Guangzhou which is in Guangdong province in south China to receive their children; One family travelled to Nanchang, Jiangxi and another family travelled to Wuhan, Hubei. The 17 families reunited in Beijing for the last week of the trip.
Joanne & Dennis Gulley were among the families who received their children in Guangzhou. The Gulley family brought along their children, Rachel (9), Bekah (10), Hannah (13).
We pressed Rachel, Bekah, Hannah to write about their trip. And we asked them not to hold anything back but to tell the real truth. And so here we present the reports from our three China correspondents.

Rachel’s Account

When I went to China, I figured out that if I ever went back I would go when I was older because all I ate was rice. I know that some of you would say, “Why does she say that?” Well the reason is because when I am older I know I will eat more Chinese food.

When I went to China I found out that China is always crowded and when you cross the street you are risking your life. I know this because one of the days we were in China, my sister and my dad went to McDonalds. They said it was so busy.

I thought that China was very fun.

According to Bekah

My trip to China was an eye opening trip. It was fabulous and fun. I just remember the room full of screaming babies. Though it was hard sometimes I had an awesome time.

The one funniest thing there I’d say would be that people would come up and ask for my picture. It did show me what a movie star feels like.

While we were on the trip I made many friends and met amazing people. This trip encouraged me to share my life with a child when I am married, which won’t happen for a long time. But it really showed me how many people are starving and are home-less when I’m in Canada throwing good food away and taking something that other people can have.

If I could I would live in Hong Kong and be a teacher or a missionary. Well that’s what China showed me.

Hannah’s Observations

A month ago my family went to China to get my baby sister, Abby. I had a great time and it was an awesome experience for me and my two younger sisters. I would go again if I got the chance. I think something very interesting in China was the food. I pretty much don’t eat Chinese food, so most of the time I was eating rice.

After a while I was getting sick of it, because it really has no taste. I also like fried rice, but they only had that at breakfast. Some things I liked, like the chicken or pork, but I mostly ate rice. It was a little bland but at least it filled me up. I wasn’t going to eat the fish or the soup with chicken feet in it.

There was a lot of shopping on the trip and I loved it.

I am in love with shopping and I bought a lot. The street vendors were a little in your face but it was still exciting. I loved the indoor markets because you could get anything. There were mostly stores that sold one thing each, like one store for electronics, one for fans, etc.

The people I met on our trip were so much fun. I just saw some of them recently. I mostly got to know everyone by their adorable babies. I love babies so this trip was a great experience for me. I got to know everyone’s baby personally and I loved it. My sister is adorable also. I love playing with her and dressing her up.

It was a fantastic trip and I would love to do it again.