Liquid

Our first day of traveling was filled with delays, but we were grateful mechanical problems could be repaired and no disembarking was necessary. If not an omen, changes in schedule were a test, preparing us for the many changes in plans or expectations we would soon encounter. Students were surprised by squatty potty dorm bathrooms, small hard bunkbeds, and shared showers at the Beijing Foreign Language School where we stayed our first two nights in China. I was surprised by the way my stomach rejected Chinese food at breakfast, and by how strongly I was affected by disconnectedness to the USA.

We did receive promised calling cards, but many students had phones which rejected the calling ocdes or cards that had expired. They were a thoughtful gesture from gracious hosts, but didn't provide the international contact everyone desperately needed those first few days as foreigners. We were lost like Desmond between two time zones and having a hard time staying grounded without familiar contact. Our plans for posting blog content daily fell through when we learned we wouldn't even see a computer for about five days. Students are finding separation from family, facebook, t.v., and video games harder than imagined, and I find myself preaching flexibility and the power to be liquid fluidly moving where we're told, when we're told no matter how off the established track, so that we can find our way into the circle of communication which surrounds us.