My First Post

September 17, 2008

So this is my first blog and my first post on a blog so hang in there if its not up to par the first go around. The good new is that it will only get better from here on in! The first thing that I want to tell everybody about is this saying that a lot of Taoist people ( I think there Taosit) live by. "Everything is like water", meaning that everything in life can be compared to water in a really simplistic way. I like it because when it was explained to me the person used the metaphor of a river running, saying that a river has a set path and is guided but at the same time a river erodes the land and creates its own path. Another comparison is that when water is violent you cannot see the bottom however when its calm you can see things more clearly. I try to keep that in mind when things in China get a little difficult and it makes it a little easier.

I am half way thru my first week of school and I think my classes are going really well so far. The thing about TBC (The Beijing Center) that I like the most is the classroom atmosphere of the classroom. Never have I ever felt so welcome to participate and felt like my opinion really mattered in a class discussion. My Sacred Texts of China teacher is a really knowledgable person on the subjects, he has studied in China, Shirlanka, and Iwoa. The class has 6 people including me and has a very laxed atmoshphere. The first class we went over the orgin of Buddism and the first stories of Buddha. In that class we are going to go over the texts of Buddism, Taoism, and Daoism. My next class was Chinese and that was intresting because the whole class was Chinese, not a word of english. I understood about 40% of what was said in class, but on the flipside I am going to get a lot out of this class and learn a ton of Chinese. My next class was Art of China and my teacher super smart and young. She graduated from Dartmouth, masters from Harvard, and she is going for she PHD from Harvard in Chinese Art. Her class is going to be tuff becuase I have to memorize a lot of dates and names. I am actually excited for this class becuase we are going to learn a lot of histoy too. My last class that I have from 7-10pm on tuesday nights is Management and this class was made a ton better because it is about Chinese business and what it means manage Chinese people with their work ethic and values. Today I am trying to get into this Chinese Economic and tomorrow I have Chinese and marketing. After class tomorrow I am going to the beer fest in Tsingdao for the weekend. Not bad for my first post right? I try to keep them shorter next time, I guess. I am going to try to post every other day during the week and take the weekends off. Hope you enjoyed and don't forget to send me email so I know whats going down in your neck of the woods!
http://picasaweb.google.com/Jim.Lechleitner/SilkRoadTrip?authkey=bBrRcbYLG_w#