The Beijing Amazing Race

My team is here! They and all the other new teachers arrived yesterday at noon. Today, in order to help them get over jet lag, as well as get them acquainted to the city where they’ll be staying for the next several weeks, we had a “Beijing Amazing Race”, a scavenger hunt of sorts. It came out pretty early that our team is not very competitive, so instead of checking off boxes and finding information, we visited the required neighborhoods and just wandered around.

First team photo! (L-R: Drew, Tony, Abby, Elise, me)

Keeping the sun away with umbrellas, hats and sunglasses

Tony enjoying a massage?

While we were wandering around near the Drum Tower, we came across a bunch of clowns doing magic tricks. As it turns out, Drew can also do some tricks, and so the two sides began showing each other what they could do. It didn’t take long before they were drawing a crowd.

So, even though we didn’t come anywhere near winning the Beijing Amazing Race, we had a fun and successful first outing as a team. Hopefully it’s the first of many.