It's raining in Chengdu

I arrived in China last night (or early, early morning depending on the time zone). It was long; it was exhausting, but we made it without any major complications. I did get here in time to see England's heartbreaking loss to Portugual and then fell fast asleep.

The food here has been awesome so far. But I've only had two meals. It'll take a while to figure out what I like and don't like, but I'm pleased.

We're staying at a hotel in Chengdu for the first week of training, and then Thursday we're scattered among our host families for the next 9 weeks. I get to sit in language classes every morning for four hours each day.

The people in my group are great. I think I've had a chance to talk to almost everyone--not bad in a group of 61. We come from various educational backgrounds and range in age from 21 to 72. But there are quite a few people my age. We have 6 or 7 married couples. My roommate is a former corporate lawyer, who's using this experience as her recovery program. I'm glad I've been placed with her, as it's worked out really well.

Thanks for all the emails I've received. I'll respond individually when I get a chance. Otherwise, read me here.