June 13 was Daniel's fourth Family Day. Wow, we have come a long way in the last four years! For his Family Day, Daniel chose a weekend visit to my grandmother to attend the family reunion of my grandfather's family (and, perhaps not so incidentally, so he could fix her antique record player with a part that had been ordered by mail since our last visit). Unfortunately, Daniel got sick on the 13th and ended up spending much of the day in bed. He attended the reunion briefly, thinking that he was on the mend, and then felt worse again and had to be run home. He was especially disappointed that he wasn't able to stomach the delicious chicken and noodles dish that is one family's traditional contribution. (Joel, who was feeling just fine, chowed down on said dish. He also polished off most of my pickled beets.)
By the next day Daniel was feeling better and was able to enjoy a very long side trip to Best Buy on the way home, where he carefully considered several different potential birthday presents, but in the end purchased none of them. Tim and I replaced our beloved point-and-shoot, which had recently met an untimely end when it slipped out of Tim's hands as he was photographing kids on a carnival ride.
In honor of Daniel's family day, I'd like to share (with his permission) an article he wrote in his ESL class this spring. As he has gotten enough experience in American culture and family life to look back on his first fourteen years from a different perspective, he has become interested in sharing his life experiences with others who might find them useful. So, here is Daniel's first autobiography:
I went to the orphanage on
June 20, 1997. I was one month old. The orphanage was in Shandong China. There were upwards of 300 children
there. My first memories come from 2003,
when I joined a group of disabled people who were learning to sing, dance, and
do comedy to perform publicly in our town of Jinan, in Shandong Province. I sang, which was a big step for me. I entertained in plays and with songs for 10
years, competing with others throughout Jinan.
I received honorable mention.
The staff included many kind
people who gave their time to kids unselfishly, but other staff were just
interested in their pay, not in us. Unmotivated
staff just sat and watched sad, scared kids.
They were deaf to tears and crying.
They disciplined kids harshly; maybe, for example, putting them into a
dark room until the child stopped crying.
I was given the name of Fu
Huang when I entered the orphanage. “Fu”
was the last name of every orphan.
“Huang” means yellow. No thought
was put into this name.
Breakfast in the orphanage
consisted of eggs, milk, and a starch every day without variation. Lunch was the main meal of the day. This was meant to impress the administration,
which took the noonday meal with us each day.
For dinner, we had soup and vegetables.
Often our food was overcooked and tasteless.
On weekends the menu was about
the same, except more poorly cooked. On
Sundays, rice was serve with tomato and egg soup.
School starts in the orphanage
at age three. School is in the orphanage
until age 6. At age 3 the curriculum
consists of potty training and learning to walk. Four and five year olds learn counting
numbers and basic words. Six year olds
continue to learn more difficult words and numbers. They also learn classroom behavior. At age 7, students go to public school. Here are a variety of schools available. I attended a general disability school which
minimized academic challenge. For
example, I didn't learn about adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing
numbers until I came to America in seventh grade. Until then, all we did was to count to higher
and higher numbers. I did get to
continue to sing in school.
No religion was allowed in the
orphanage, so in China I knew nothing about God. When I came to America, I heard about Jesus
from my parents.
The orphanage financed itself
by private individual donations. Toys
were purchased, but they were not for us to use. They were stored in the storage room. Because the staff was not always motivated,
we learned self reliance and self awareness.
We made our own beds, cleaned our rooms, etc.
In the orphanage the schedule
was fixed and inflexible. In America, we
have more freedom and flexibility. For
example, in the orphanage, lights were out at 9:00 every night. All three meals were served at specific
hours. Chinese orphans have to eat all
the food on their plate. Even though the
orphanage was a hard place to live, it
is much better than living on the street without food or clothes and
shelter.
I am happy I had the orphanage
and I am also happy to be adopted out of there and taken to America.
I have vision problems. I can see things that are very near, but I
can't see far away. People tell me, “You
can't drive or fix electronic things very well.” These people can't stop me from going
farther. If I cannot drive, I will still
get where I have to go. It might take
longer, but I will get there, and I will be able to see more along the way if I
walk. I also find that I can repair
simple electric items. Again, it takes
more time at first, but practice makes perfect.
Behind every cloud is a silver lining.
I always look for the silver lining.
Do you look for the silver lining when you see others? With work anyone can reach his
potential. I believe that if I continue
to work steadily, opportunities and unexpected joys will come.
