On Meeting an Old Friend in Beijing

July 8th

Hey all, we completed our training yesterday, although I feel like I am in no way qualified to teach. Our train leaves in six hours, and i'm super excited for the five hour ride, even though I shouldn't be. It's going to be hot, smelly and crowded, which I suppose is no different from the rest of China. I met up with Betsy last night for dinner. All day I was thinking that it was so weird that I could be so far from home but still able to meet up with an old friend, and the exact same thing was the first thing out of her mouth when we met outside the subway stop. Oh, about subways: they're really crowded after 5PM. I thought the photos of people being crammed in with baggage carts was infrequent, but it's very much not, as I discovered last night on the red line. Betsy and I went out to a dumpling place and had some delightful food, dumplings, mushrooms and pears in this blueberry sauce that tasted like wine. Positively delightful. Had to catch a cab to get home before curfew, but it was completely worth it.

One thing I've been meaning to discuss is my culture shock, or complete lack thereof. Language hasn't been that much of a problem, and if I want to, I can make it feel kinda like home. I've gotten around on the subway just fine, and I haven't felt any different than I do when I'm home. Plus, American goods and brands are ubiquitous here. It's possible that when we go out away from Beijing that the other shoe is going to drop and I'm going to be completely thrown, but I'm not sure that going to be the case, or at least I hope it isn't. I'll know later today when I go to a 'small city' of 2.4 million people on a five hour train ride. 

The people that we're teaching at this camp aren't kids, they're teachers, which is going to make for an odd dynamic. I'll be fine, I've dealt with flop sweat before, and lord knows I'm going to have to deal with it again. More when I'm able, I think we're going to have our hands full.

-Cooper