By: Stephanie Chan
We have arrived in China! It finally hit us that we have embarked on this once in a life time journey as we stepped off the plane and onto the busy streets of Beijing. We know that we are in China straight off the bat when we meet our tour guide who only speaks Mandarin to our group. Instantly, an opportunity for one of our international service project objectives presents itself: to fulfill a cultural exchange and make new friends. This pushes our English-speaking contingent outside of their comfort zone as we had to have a few Rover Scouts exercise their language skills and translate the tour guide’s speeches to the rest of the group. Some had very unique opportunities to improve their Mandarin ability, especially when Brandon, our Rover Scout Group President, was put on the spot to introduce our group to our tour guide. Brandon proved himself capable, but some of us have got some work to do if we’re going to make some new friends on the trip!
