Monday, June 20, 2011
Lan Bao
Two years ago my brother and his wife, Bob and Anne Baines, spent a year in China teaching at the University of Nanjing. Bob taught law, and I guess, writing as well and Anne taught English. One of his writing students was Lan Bao, or as her name would be written in China, Bao, Lan (with the surname coming first.)
After Lan completed her undergraduate work at Nanjing University, she travelled to Taiwan for a year as an exchange student and was then accepted to the Monterey International Institute to do graduate work in translation and interpretation. This summer she is living in San Mateo about 25 minutes from here translating a business management program from English into Mandarin for a start-up software company there. We have had the delightful privilege of getting to know her. She is a confident, capable young lady who has a zest for learning new things.
We have learned a few helpful tips along the way also: don't feed the Chinese dairy products, they love sweet potatoes, the dark meat on chickens, and watermellon. Oh, and don't worry about any sweets because they don't eat them and then you as a host have to finish them all off. I'm capable of doing that! They have not yet learned the value of good chocolate!
On our first meeting, we took Lan out to dinner at an Italian restaurant...not the best decision. After that we did better. She has attended English class with us, been introduced to the young missionaries and met several young members of the Chinese Branch. One works for a large software company that may have an opening she would like when this next school year is over. Anyway, it's been a lot of fun.
After Lan completed her undergraduate work at Nanjing University, she travelled to Taiwan for a year as an exchange student and was then accepted to the Monterey International Institute to do graduate work in translation and interpretation. This summer she is living in San Mateo about 25 minutes from here translating a business management program from English into Mandarin for a start-up software company there. We have had the delightful privilege of getting to know her. She is a confident, capable young lady who has a zest for learning new things.
We have learned a few helpful tips along the way also: don't feed the Chinese dairy products, they love sweet potatoes, the dark meat on chickens, and watermellon. Oh, and don't worry about any sweets because they don't eat them and then you as a host have to finish them all off. I'm capable of doing that! They have not yet learned the value of good chocolate!
On our first meeting, we took Lan out to dinner at an Italian restaurant...not the best decision. After that we did better. She has attended English class with us, been introduced to the young missionaries and met several young members of the Chinese Branch. One works for a large software company that may have an opening she would like when this next school year is over. Anyway, it's been a lot of fun.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Sunset Cruise
Last night five senior missionary couples went on a sunset cruise. The Visitor Center in Oakland was closed for carpet cleaning and it was preparation day for Tom and me; so we all were free to go. We left from Pier 43 1/2 in San Francisco harbor and sailed by notorious Alcatraz Island, around Angel Island State Park, passed Tiburon and Sausilito, under the Golden Gate Bridge and back to San Francisco. We left at 7:00PM in the daylight and returned at 9:00PM in the dark. In between we were able to see the sunset and the city light up for the evening. The cruise included a light dinner and live guitar music. Yesterday was cloudy and cool so I was concerned about how cold it would be on the water. Actually it turned out wonderful... there were only about 50 people on the cruise whereas the boat could accomodate 600 and the outside evening air was comfortable. All in all, it was a fun outing.
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