Being at graduate school here in Japan has been pretty amazing for the sheer fact that I've had a chance to become good friends with people from so many countries, and in some cases -- it's the first time for me to properly get to know someone from that particular country.This is especially the case for my Middle East Studies class --- as we represent Cambodia, Nepal, Lebanon, Georgia, Kyrgzstan, Syria, Thailand, Egypt and...boring old Australia. Ha ha -- just kidding.
Then in my Security and Conflict Resolution class we represent: Brazil, US, the Philippines, Mongolia, Japan, China, Zambia, Korea, Uzbekistan, Canada amongst others. So very multinational / multiethnic....with a diverse range of opinions to match.
I think it would be so fascinating if we could develop some kind of technology (or brain power!?) to enable to us to speak in any given language at anytime. So instead of us always speaking English in this kind of multi-ethnic setting...imagine if we all dec
ided to speak Portuguese -- and then it was so! Hmmm....new innovations for the late 21st century perhaps!?In each class however, the greatest make-up of students is usually from the Philippines...so here's a picture of me with my Filipina (and one Mongolian) sisters last week, celebrating Vivian's birthday. She has two little kids back in the Philippines who her mother is caring for, as well as a boyfriend in the Philippines Army. Wow!!
No comments:
Post a Comment