Adventures in Guangzhou!

I was excited to get the offer and then slightly overwhelmed to find out that they wanted me to start work, in a way, a few days later. I had to Princeton to be there for the PiA orientation, a four day information and fun carousal, in order to meet and get to know all of the folks I would be managing for the next few years. Yeah--big change. Meanwhile, I received this news while I was up visiting friends in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province. It was a little crazy to think that the next time I saw some of those folks, we would all be in the States, since they, too, were leaving at the end of June. So I took a few minutes away from our goodbyes, booked a flight in conjunction with the home office, and I was set to go a couple of days later.

My experience in the States was whirlwind. I got off the plane and was met by my loyal parents who shlepped all the way out to Newark to pick me up and ferry me down to Princeton. We had dinner and then it was straight to the office where we all worked until 3am. I was up the next morning around 7:30am and straight to work again until the wee hours of the morning. There is an incredible amount of work that goes into the orientation weekend and only a few people to actually do it, so I was glad to be around to contribute. The new fellows? They seemed like great components to the next chapter of PiA-ers. I was impressed.

Other than almost killing myself while playing ultimately frisbee and learning a new drinking game with the young-uns, nothing else too exciting happened. It was all too surreal to take it all in because I got on to the plane the morning after it ended and slept 14 straight hours to Tokyo, followed by another 4 back to Guangzhou. All of a sudden, I was back in China.

Other than that, the only noteworthy moment in China the last few weeks came while I was eating dinner the other night. I was catching a quick bite to eat near the place I pick up a bus to go tutor, and my eyes drifted out to a dozen or so men in uniform who formed a semicircle near a bank entrance. Eager to fit in with the natives, I joined the throngs of people peering in to see what they were doing. He was speaking in Cantonese so I can't be sure, but a man in tattered clothes was going ballistic at the bank tellers and the men in uniforms were there to regulate.

They let him yell for a while until the head guy gave the nod and all of a sudden they all converged on him, hitting and kicking him as he flailed his arms. They disappeared with him into a van right outside and he was driven away in a flash. Now, I have no idea what it was all about except to say that the man had done nothing physically wrong in that time to warrant getting beaten and thrown in the back of a window-less vehicle. It was a small reminder that despite the shiny skyscrapers, sparkling subway, and ever-increasing western food options, China still has a ways to go.

Meanwhile, I continued on with my meal and went off to tutor the my boys for the last time. With the American International School finishing earlier than Chinese schools, my services were no longer in need; so, with a handful of bittersweet goodbyes, I bid farewell to the two boys and two parents who had become a surprisingly large part of my life in Guangzhou. As I said before, it was time for changes and this was the first of what I know will be many goodbyes over the next month or so.