Hi everyone!
I am leaving tomorrow morning to go to Songpan. We will be back on Monday evening, I think. If you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songpan_County
Things here are good...there's actually not much to report right now. Yesterday we met with some pharmacists from the US who are here with an organization called MSI. It was really interesting to talk to them because they are a Christian organization and (obviously) a NGO, but they have developed a really good relationship with the Chinese government. Basically, they put themselves out there as an organization that was willing to help and now the Chinese government requests that they do certain projects. We'd heard that it was difficult for NGOs to work here, but based on our conversation with him it seems that the approach makes a big difference. They were here conducting pharmacy seminars for students at Sichuan U.
Other than that, we've been going to the pool, which is fun because we meet a lot of people there. They're so friendly and really like to practice their English on us. On Monday, we met with a student named Lily and her friend Anita, just to talk. She had wanted to come to one of our workshops but couldn't because of exams. Lily wants to get her MPH in Hong Kong and then a Ph.D. in the US- she seems really ambitious. They want us to come to their hometown one day when we get back, so we may do that.
I finished Harry Potter and now am reading book one over again. ;)
I'll check in when I get back! Hope everyone's doing well.
