Beyond Ideas: Beijing Day 1

August 3, 2012
Yesterday was our first full day of training in Beijing! We (meaning over 60 teachers) had a fantastic breakfast at the hotel (with lots of gluten free things!) including hard boiled eggs, rice, cucumber salad with peanuts, ham, coffee (!!!), tea, watermelon, yogurt and potatoes. Definitely the best hotel breakfast I’ve ever had. Then we went to a meeting room in the hotel and started the day with singing together and a brief reflection time. It was wonderful to start our time together that way and to remember that even though we all come from different places, we are one Body. After that we had an orientation meeting, and then we divided into our teams to explore the city. We started with lunch at a local restaurant with the director of our program. It was so inspiring to talk to him, and he also ordered for us, so that was nice :) In Beijing it is more common for places to serve “family style”, so we had four dishes and some white rice. (Oh, in case you were wondering, I’m a chopsticks champion. All of my dedicated practice totally worked.) My team’s leader had not arrived yet, so we were on our own to have a Beijing adventure! We totally rose to the occasion, if I may say so. We took a bus to the subway and made it to Tiananmen Square!

Carissa, Tim, Elijah, Ann in T square! It was pretty sunny :)

First off, the subway is much nicer than the Boston T, and they are really similar, so Tim and I figured that part out. Elijah took charge with reading the map and making a game plan, and I’m happy to say we made it there and back! It was an absolutely beautiful day in Beijing, with clear blue skies, which apparently is really rare, so it was perfect for walking. It took us a little bit more effort to figure out how to get back, but we made it!

Where are we?

Once we got back to the hotel we met up with several teachers who have been in Mongolia for 5 months, and we went out to get pizza with them at the coolest pizza place I’ve ever seen. And I’m pretty sure the restaurant’s radio was set to Jammin 94.5. The teachers told us a lot about the amazing work happening in Mongolia and it was a really encouraging time. I finished off the night talking to my roommate and team member, Ann. She has a very thoughtful spirit, and I am so thankful for her already.

Cat's Eye Pizza

I absolutely love this adventure so far. I know it will challenge me so much, but I know this is exactly where I need to be.

A few more pictures from Days 2 and 3:

The best place to get Beijing duck! My uncle's former student and his family took me here for an amazing meal on August 4 with duck, goose liver, lobster, and a ton of other food. The hospitality here is unbelievable!