May Letter to all Bridge China Families

Bridge China Students and Families,

Greetings from Windsor Mountain!

The eyes of the world are on China right now. A natural disaster of horrifying proportions has dominated the news, and as the people of Sichuan province clear away the rubble and begin to rebuild, the Olympics are coming, right around the corner. As we offer our prayers to the victims of the earthquake, we can also give thanks that our summer itinerary is far from the affected areas, and that all of our friends and contacts in China are safe and sound. All Bridge China Families should rest assured that if our itinerary was unsafe, we would either change it or cancel the program. Fortunately, as of today, we are going ahead as planned with Bridge China 2008.

One month and counting--is everyone excited? I know I am.

In other trip news, I am sad to inform everyone that our Program Developer and Trip Leader, Carl Siegel, has been offered a fantastic opportunity to work for the Beijing Olympics, and due to the resulting scheduling conflicts, he will not lead the Bridge China this summer, but rather pursue this once-in-a-lifetime-chance to work on Beijing Olympics. Don't worry, though! Carl has done and continues to do an excellent job as our Program Developer, and we have an amazing program planned for the summer. Also, good fortune brought us a well qualified, motivated, and dynamic replacement: March Yi Peng Wang, a 25 year old Chinese-American schoolteacher from Atlanta, GA (by way of Beijing, China). March introduces himself in his bio and leader letter, so I won't steal his thunder!

All of our Winter work is about to pay off--Bridge China 2008 is right around the corner, and if you haven't already, it is officially time to get excited!

Best,
Angus, Marjorie, Lou, and the entire Windsor Mountain Team