Day Nine: Visit to Gansu Foreign Affairs Office

Our second class took place this morning, this time on 'Spoken Chinese'. It covered much the same material as yesterday, but more in depth and was actually quite fun.

In the afternoon was our first visit to the Gansu Provincial Foreign Affairs Office (GSFAO), where we were welcomed by Ms Zhao Shenglan, Deputy Director-General of the GSFAO which she delivered in clear English. She impressed us with the development of the Gansu Province and the Sister City relationships and again spoke of the trials of the earthquakes suffered earlier in the year.

Next, Xu Yan Li spoke about the purpose of our visits to the GSFAO as being information sharing exercises, and their willingness to help us with any of our needs. I spoke with Xu Yan Li later and thanked her, but saying that everything is so well prepared for and organised, and that with the kindness of the people we were lacking little. Honestly, the kindness of these people is breath-taking! A video of previous Training Programmes was shown, giving insight to other activities that we would partake in and the perception and purpose of the programme. I am proud to be part of this and hope that I can meet their needs.

Also in attendance were Stephen (Zhu Yuming), Mr Ding and many other staff of GSFAO. After the presentations we were allowed free discussion and it was great to talk with many of the staff about their experiences and also to catch up with Stephen again.