Ex-pats and their down-time

My time outside of class seems to be getting busier by the day with social ex-pat activities:

 

I have begun attendance at a group study session Tuesday evenings on philosophical-economics by a true English gentleman with all of the wit that I would expect from such a character, who also happens to be blessed with the name "Richard."  Imagine that!  He's a businessman, by profession, and former marketing head for The British Library, who's found a new home in China teaching business at a local college and loving every minute of it.  He's talked a lot about the School of Economic Science of London (http://www.schooleconomicscience.org/), with whom he was actively involved while in London.  SES appears more Libertarian than anything else.  He and I continually having some great global-business and development conversations and has borrowed my Cowboys and Dragons to peruse.  With his background and two-year residence here, I can't wait to hear his comments.  The next book he wants to borrow is Culture Matters, by the revered Harrison and Huntington, that I brought along to read and understand thoroughly, after only skimming through it in college (forgive me Dr. Stern).  It's pretty dense reading, but very insightful, especially after my experiences at CSIS.

 

Movie nights at a local western restaurant are on Thursday evenings. On Fridays, there is always an ex-pat get-together on the south-campus of the university.  The last movie of this month is Mona Lisa Smiles, but next month will be a long-promised theme of American westerns, no Bonanza I hear.

 

Until next time...

 

 

Some local Chinese gentlemen who were happy to have their picture taken at the plant store. They sold aesthetic plant accessories for the home.

Went to a plant shop to search for two saplings to try my knack with a green thumb (I will show my results later). Here are some of the mature trees that they had for purchase.

More of some of the streets and shops.

A back street in the city.

Colleagues and friends at local restautant called "The Pigeon" (no they didn't serve any, to my knowledge, at least). There are about six different nationalities at this table.

A full class with eager students. Yes, that is indeed a digital projector hanging from the ceiling and that large metal contraption at the bottom left of the picture has various mutli-media mediums. I will use my laptop for all of my lectures. Gotta love it!

Front of the class. If you can see them, the Chinese characters in shiny purple on the wall above the board essentially read, "Work hard."

My classroom before class. That's my teaching colleague at the front of the room, Amy Newman.

Weeks three and four

It's been too long since I last updated the blog.

 

I've had a lot with classes the past few weeks.  My fellow instructor and I had the class see an American film and we reviewed some of the idioms and things that are portrayed in the movie that are not normal in American life.

 

It's interesting that the Eastern perspective of the West does not consist of a differentiation between America and Europe.  It does make sense, but coming from the West, we have always separated the two into a "similar, yet different" category.  Our histories are intertwined, yet there is so much dissent between the two.  And I am sure that some of our populations consider either side alien to each other... two different worlds.

 

This past week, we had a Eastern-coined "English Corner," which consists of discussion of any topic of conversation using the English language as a medium.  The students chose their own apolitical topics and conversed in small groups.  The other professor and I went around and saw how the discussion was going and answered numerous questions from the groups about their relative topic and what the Western/American view might be.  The students love hearing about America and how things are done in the West.  Every-day events are addressed ever-so slightly and largely different, in some cases, in the two cultures.  Topics included:  blood donation, tourism in China, travel, young-professionals and the dating scene, and the country's one-child policy and possibility of a change to two-children.

 

I have been getting out more and engaging the local ex-pat community; spending time with French, Canadian, British, Australian, Brazilian, German, and other Americans, as well as, many Chinese who like to attend the events and practice their English.  We have had some lively discussion of current events (I am sure that you can think of many of them).  More often than not, it has been an examination of world history and how we have arrived at where we are today.  I am surprised to hear a new French friend recently express that she had never really studied American history pre-WWII and now has a better educated perspective of her western neighbor.  (As a part of her comments, she said that the Louisiana Purchase has never really been openly discussed in her country.) 

 

Throughout all of the conversations, it has been pleasant to have an "agree to disagree" understanding amongst everyone.

 

I begin lecturing on stem cell, cloning, and bioethical issues come a week from now and the series will last for a month.  Surely more to come...