WEST MEETS EAST!

Mr. William Baker of Mahon Investments showed an interesting insight about the differences between how people from two different parts of the world behave. To name a few, westerners are more direct to the point as compared to people from the east. Easterners tend to “dance around” before telling what the matter is. Westerners like to go to tanning salon while easterns like to be fair, they use umbrella to protect their skin from getting dark. Westerners are on a first name basis with their boss, Easterners address their supervisor as Sir or Ma’am. And the list goes on…

I’ve been here in the states for over six years and I often asked myself, where do I belong now? Am I one of those who call the westerns the “rich and the damned” as one of my friends who worked at a call center back home told me? Or am I one of the snobs who dreaded going to the third world countries in the East? Or will I choose to see the beauty of both worlds, the magnificent Great Wall from the East and Grand Canyon from the West, the uniqueness of each culture, the variety of food- the delicious mushroom soup and the Peking duck from the east and the steaks with mashed potato on the side from the west, the richness of the arts – the kung-fu show and the Broadway musical? Don’t these equally magnificent things make life more exciting? They do, at least to me, and the visit we had in China makes it even better. The idea of globalization excites me! Will there be a day that the words east and west just pertain to direction? Nothing more nothing less!

And yet another personal note, I had a good time in China. I was able to hike the Great Wall (only in ChinaJ), ran around the Forbidden City (many thanks to Rich!), sang on a karaoke (even though I was warned by my Dad not to sing), got to know my classmates better, and had a soothing foot massage!!! Hopefully next time when I go back it will be a business trip and/or if not, I will be able to at least stop by to Philippines! So till next time. Also, I want to thank our professors, Paul and Janet, Don, Tara, Grace and Isabel for this wonderful experience. zai jian!