Host families

The first 48 hours in China were busy ones. This morning (Sunday) we boarded a fast train for Chengdu. We packed as much of our luggage as we could in Wang Ying’s minivan and then took a small fleet of taxis to the Haigui/Sea Turtle Language Learning Center. After a lunch of fried rice, a devotional and some singing, we got ready to meet our host families. This is a time of some trepidation on both sides, but we know that hundreds of other SSTers have preceded us with similar feelings. As the families began arriving, excitement replaced (at least for now) any anxieties we were feeling. The room was soon filled with a cacophony of Mandarin, English, gestures and laughter. By 4 p.m., all 19 of us had headed home with our hosts. Jo-Ann and Joe, somewhat envious of the opportunity our students have to engage so directly in the lives of Chinese households, returned to their apartment to post these pictures.
We’ll report some other day about some of our first experiences in Chengdu.