Day 3: Beijing, More Orientation

Today I got dressed up in a suit and walked over to the US Embassy--we had our orientation sessions today in the Beijing American Center.  I almost didn't make it: for a moment there, I thought the group had left me behind!  Still, I did make it.  When we got there, we had to attend sessions (really, listening to presentations) off and on all day.  The most important ones were about safety in China, how to tell stories about your experiences, maintaining your health in China, getting in touch with the consulates in Beijing or Shanghai.  Once we get to Shanghai, we may look into having Kerry do volunteer work at the Shanghai American Center (SHAC), teaching conversational English or playing games with folks.  I think that could be fun and I might even join him.

As far as food goes today, we had lunch at the LA Palms restaurant (I wasn't overly impressed--buffalo chicken caesar wrap and pasta).  In the evening, Kerry and I went to the home of the US Ambassador to China, where we were served wine and then a buffet dinner which included deviled eggs, salmon, leg of lamb, and several vegetable salads.  (Thank God there were forks and knives for this meal!)

During lunch, we tried to have a conversation with our waiban, Carol, who we met today, but it was SO noisy in there that this proved difficult.  We are a bit concerned at this point.  Carol seems to be new on the job and doesn't speak English as well as we were hoping she would. Still, she seems very nice, friendly, and accommodating.

Carol promised that she'd still work to help me get my class sizes reduced.  (NOTE: Yesterday we were all told that our class sizes should be a MAX of 25, so I sent a note to Carol about this.  Today two folks sat down with me and told me that, "Oh, it's actually 15-45."  This completely contradicts what we were told and feels very frustrating to me.  I'm sure I can expect more of this because this isn't the only time that we were told one thing by the Fulbright folks and then something else actually happened.)

Tomorrow....a trek to the Great Wall!!