It was snowing when I arrived, not what I'd bargained for. Fortunately, six years in Chicago and NY had taught me the value of layering. Still, I'd been hoping for warmer weather, non-slippery tracks on the mountains, and really nice colours for photography.
So, as I'm climbing down Huanglong (took the cable car up...I'm not THAT tough), I'm thinking - maybe I shoulda come later in the year, like the OTHER tourists. Fewer puddles on the ground, more water in the springs, fewer layers needed...then, I finally got to the "Five Colour Pond" - and wow. Surrounded by snow, the crystal blue water was in what looked like a series of nature's own infinity pools. I could hear crackles as snow melted and water trickled down the descending lakes. That one moment was worth the trip and worth the trek.
I'd been feeling kinda down about the learning program that my friends and I were working on at Whampoa. Attendance is inconsistent: 18 kids one week, and then 8 for the next few is frustrating. I want to impact more kids, not just a few! And we've got some really great, passionate volunteers who work hard to make learning fun - and they REALLY care about the kids. Engineers, graphic designers and marketing execs have little enough leisure time as it is...wouldn't more kids mean better ROI? I was mentally calculating their billable rates and dividing it by the number of kids in class.
Yes, the kids' behaviour had improved tremendously over the past three years, but was there any way of empirically measuring impact?
