The past couple of days we went on the 3 day hike to Tiger Leaping Gorge. It was a little challenging, but everyone made it to the end and it was so worth it. It had some of the most beautiful views I have seen all trip, but now the last leg of the trip is approaching and the program is coming to an end. While many of us are going into the Lashihai home stays pretty scared, I think it will be a great experience for us all. None of us have met our family’s before and it’s a much different living style than in Beijing, but everyone always says the home stays in Lashihai are their favorite parts. It is our first night here and I am already having a blast. The food is amazing, the house is beautiful, and the host family is so welcoming and nice. Over the course of the next two days we are dedicating our time to helping the village and its people. As many know, in China there is a huge shortage of clean water. I learned today that only 8% of the water that makes up the world is drinkable and with China being so populated, clean water is a huge problem. Tomorrow we are going to be looking at the water source in the village and are planning to go around and conduct a needs assessment. Myself and 3 others will go around to 20 houses each and ask a series of 18 questions pertaining to problems such as clean water or even to the problems dealing with the schools and trash. We don’t want this to be a one time thing. We want this to be the base of a bigger project for the future students that participate in this program. We believe we can actually make a difference, but a solution to these problems isn’t going to magically appear. This weekend will be an amazing experience and have no doubt that we as a group can make a change.

Andrew