Staging: Day 1 - Introduction

We arrived in San Francisco! Today was our first introduction to the entity that is "the Peace Corps." We learned quite a few interesting things, the first of which is a general definition of sustainable development:

"Any process that promotes the dignity of a people and their capacity to improve their own lives"

My questions are these: what defines the dignity of a people; what defines the shame of a people? Especially North Americans and Chinese people.

Some other good quotes from today were these:

"I'll buy you dessert; I don't have the balls to go teach English in China" - waiter at dinner

"Hey, buddy, this isn't a strip club, it's a trolley -- grab the pole and lean inside the car" - trolley operator to another Peace Corps trainee