First day in the office

June 8, 2010

Still quite jet lagged when I woke up from my so so sleep. Had a nice breakfast at the hotel. They had normal things like fruit and bread and eggs. But also salad and beans and soup. It seemed like a lunch buffet to me. But no matter. Had the front desk call a taxi for me and handed him a card with the address of the East Asia IFRC office on it. It was quite uncomfortable having absolutely no clue where I was going and zero knowledge of the language. But I made it!

Met with Qinghui, my advisor, to talk more about what is going on at the Red Cross. He asked me to give a presentation on June 10 at a conference of Disaster Managers in Mongolia about the global implications of climate change. For some ridiculous reason I agreed. I had to quickly put one together by the evening so I could email to a translator. Thank goodness for Bec at the Climate Centre who sent me a couple presentations that I used as I guide. I had lunch with Qinghui and Francis, this funny British guy. We had a nice candid discussion about climate change and it made me feel really good about being here. Francis showed me how to take the underground home. Man I thought NYC was crazy. People here are way pushier. But for approximately 30 US cents a ride, I guess I won't complain too much. The hotel is then about a 10 minute walk from the subway stop. I had to walk a bit of the ways by myself and had to brave crossing the street. They need driver's ed over here or something!