This week I mostly prepared by discussing the trip with people I know who are either form or had been to China in a visitor capacity. I asked people of different backgrounds to get a better idea of how the experience might be for me. In asking various friends and showing them the tentative itinerary we received the first impression I received was that it would be quite strenuous with most days seeming pretty packed in terms of the locations we were moving between. However this is about what I expected and I welcome the challenge if it means getting to experience that much more during my time there.
Additionally, I asked most of these people how they thought my vegetarianism might fare under the circumstances of being in China to better prepare, and the general consensus was that while the general metropolitan nature of most of the places we were going to would mean I would certainly not starve, but by the nature of Chinese cuisine I probably will not have to worry about having too many choices. My main takeaway from this was that I should probably pack small portions of food to have throughout the trip should I need to. I certainly do not wish to offend our hosts at any point of the trip by eating food from elsewhere, but I just do not have too much confidence on that I will enjoy the options given to me.
Other than that recurring concern, I am excited by the variety of places it seems we will be visiting, a list which has received pretty much unanimous approval from the various people I asked who have been there.
Hoeft T&M Class 24: China Immersion 