Saving the World, Day 1

Thursday was my first day of work, and I have no photographs to share. I am sorry!

Also, this post is late because blogspot has not been working for me. It is also being written while at work, because there is a certain lack of things for me to do here. I asked about every project I could think of and sent off some emails. I think Simon knows I am anxious to actually do some work, but need at least SOME leads before I can exercise the "good ability to work independently" required by the internship. I am far from having lost hope, though...I think I just need to be a little patient right now. If I don't have some projects that are ready to be worked on by Monday, I shall make a fuss. A polite, professional fuss of course.

So, Thursday I came to work and had some frustration connecting with Simon at the bus stop, but we eventually found each-other and I headed up to the office. (The main problem is that I had arrived earlier than planned..."The early bird misses the worm" says Simon.) The office on the 27th floor of a building, and I have a nice view out the window near my desk of a bunch of tall buildings and a river. I use my own laptop because it's better than what they have here. I drink lots of green tea. There are no other interns in the office (tear) but Simon and the Administrative Assistant, A Guang, are very nice. Simon and I speak mostly English, but I switch to Chinese when I can, and any conversations involving A Guang are in Chinese.

I spent the day reading everything I could find about the organization, and really found it interesting. It (Chi Heng Foundation) is the only large NGO allowed to work in Central China, allowed because of its low-profile and its focus on education (not a politically-charged topic, apparently). It does both AIDS prevention and work with AIDS-affected children. I'm going to working with the latter, helping to organize two sessions of Summer Camp in Shanghai for these children, who come from various villages in Central China. The primary focus of working with these children, however, is in funding their school fees. (Primary and junior high education is free but there are still supply fees, and senior high and university have tuition.) They are not all AIDS orphans, but they all have had a least one parent die of AIDS, and often the other is currently inflicted. Paying for school fees ensures that the family does not have to choose between treatment and their child's education. It's strange, because I really don't know what my stance is on charities in general, but as they go, this seems like a very smart one doing some very important work.

Came home from work pretty tired, and walked to Walmart (really. Walmart.) to buy some groceries so I can actually know where my next meal is coming from sometimes and not have to rely on going out to eat. Made myself a sandwich (no, I'm not going to become a master Chinese chef while I'm here, sorry) and did some much-needed relaxing at home.

I've been thinking a lot about what exactly my goals are for being here. I meant to write them out before I left, but there just wasn't the time, and I don't think I knew then either. In a perfect world, I would (in the span of two months) have a meaningful and educational internship, learn how to live like a native, improve my Chinese dramatically, and have a lot of fun. I'm starting to realize these goals are ambitious - none of them come automatically, and it would be impossible to accomplish all of them. At the same time, it's hard to AVOID feeling like I'm learning here. As long as I am sure I am learning and experiencing, I am fairly satisfied.