Please note: the previous email we told you to use is not consistent. Please use the following email for notes:
joseph.david.white@gmail.com
Today was a good start to our trip.
We started the day at 7:30 for an amazing breakfast at our hotel. When I say amazing....I mean, AMAZING. At least that's what every team member said as they ate every kind of Chinese delicacy they could and had speciality coffee at their fingertips. WOW. But this 5-star amazement was suddenly conflicted as we boarded the tour bus and headed 1.5 hours into the countryside to meet a local farmer and his family. It was the same family we visited 2 years ago...but this time, he invited us into his home. It couldn't have been a bigger contrast. A 5-star hotel and a 2nd-world estate. We have a lot learn here.
The family was very hospitable and allowed us to pick many types of fruits from his farm. We left for a very hearty lunch (i.e. 30ish course meal which included peking duck and an assortment of desserts), all provided by a friend of one of our team leaders. It was a VERY generous gift, and we were VERY full and took the food that was left over back to our farm friends. We left lunch ready for some work. So we returned to the farm and worked for a couple hours in the fields, picking weeds under fruit trees. We all took our jobs seriously and did the very best that we could.
After that, we were all feeling very tired, but were treated to another meal, again, very large, right next to the forgotten city. It was really really good! During the meal, the youngest member of our team got tired and fell asleep which seemed to remind the rest of the team that they too, were really really tired (we're still getting over jet lag, ya know) and so we decided to cancel the evening activities (which were to tour a market in Beijing）and instead, go back to the hotel for our team debrief and an early night of sleep.
We got back to the hotel, packed into one of the rooms, and went around the room talking about our morning thought located in our team brain and debriefed our team covenant and the day's activities.
We are looking forward to seeing our host organization tomorrow night. But before then, have an opportunity tomorrow morning and afternoon to visit museums, restaurants, and markets here in Beijing as a part of our cultural exchange portion of our trip.
The team vibe is really good right now. There is excitement, honest reflection, desire to "do something" and the beginning signs of true bonding. This is GOOD. We are very excited about what the coming days may bring. As I said, we will be at our host organization tomorrow night, so there will not be a blog tomoroｗ.We will try to blog in a couple of days though (its our hope to blog every other day if possible)
ｋｅｅｐ ｕｓ ｉｎ ｙｏｕｒ ｔｈｏｕｇｈｔｓ
ｒｅｇａｒｄｉｎｇ：
－ｃｕｌｔｕｒｅ ｓｈｏｃｋ
－ａｄｊｕｓｔｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｔｈｅ ｔｉｍｅ
－ｃｏｎｔｉｎｕｅｄ ｔｅａｍ ｂｏｎｄｉｎｇ
－ｗｅ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｌｅａｒｎ ｔｏ ｌｉｖｅ ｏｕｔ ｏｕｒ ｖｉｓｉｏｎ ｓｔａｔｅｍｅｎｔ
ｌｏｖｅ ｙｏｕ ａｌｌ，
ＣＳＴ１１
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