27 July 2007

Oh, China

Being in China was frustrating and more difficult than I anticipated. I experienced more culture shock than I expected, yet I also became "comfortable" more quickly than I expected. On so many levels, it was a wonderful experience.

It was the first time I visited a country where neither of my two languages is spoken. It's scary to rely entirely on hand gestures or something that a stranger wrote for you. I now have a far greater appreciation for folks coming to the US without speaking or understanding English.

It was also interesting to be in an Olympic city the year before the Olympics. The people of Beijing have a lot of work to do in the next year to be ready for world's stage. With the large amount of manpower and excellent examples of other cities in their country, they certainly have the capacity to pull it off. You better believe that I'll be tuned in next summer.

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