tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44375972192657772142012-02-16T17:46:38.866-08:00A group of students from Susquehanna University, joined by Professor of Management James Brock, are studying at the University of Macau during the spring 2008 semester. Here, Brock shares a faculty perspective on study-abroad experiences in Southeast Asia.James Brocknoreply@blogger.comBlogger211100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-87271670606864565652008-04-17T21:50:00.000-07:002008-04-29T12:49:32.281-07:00

Having studied German and Latin in my youth, I can “sort of” get around in Europe. I frequently can understand signs and menus, and when I can’t, there typically are fluent English speakers nearby. I recall trying out my German on a shopkeeper in Austria who smiled sympathetically and then said: “Let’s talk English, OK?”Well, Chinese is so different that I have absolutely no clue what people or

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-3187980713430951062008-04-13T12:28:00.000-07:002008-04-29T12:37:02.229-07:00

Five years ago, I was privileged to direct the Sigmund Weis School of Business (SWSB) London Program. Now, of course, I’m with the first cohort of Susquehanna students in our exchange program with the University of Macau. As the current experience in Macau has developed, several people have asked how the two programs compare. In many respects, the programs are so different that in many dimensions

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-1441374606345768872008-04-05T10:53:00.000-07:002008-04-09T07:04:18.309-07:00

After all of 10 weeks as a resident of Macau, China, I’ve repeatedly observed two related phenomena:This is not a free country. And it’s not a democracy. Political dissidents are swiftly and brutally repressed. The all-powerful state has a low threshold for disagreement. There is virtually no crime here. I feel safe on the streets at any time of day or night, in any location. I don’t fret for the

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-70247988257758978812008-04-04T06:55:00.000-07:002008-04-09T07:23:08.543-07:00

We get news on at least three political levels here in Macau. For example, depending on the source, the recent “issues” in Tibet were: a) killer terrorists executing a heinous plot by the “Dali-clique;” b) a frustrated people who want more autonomy and religious freedom, but not independence from China; or c) the latest chapter in a history of heavy-handed and repressive responses to anything

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-7594312763318724632008-04-02T17:32:00.000-07:002008-04-09T07:16:21.484-07:00

Years ago, when living very remotely in Montana, I was keenly aware of the state’s population density (6 per square mile, or about 2.3 persons per square km). At the time, I noticed that the tiny colony of Macau was the world’s most densely populated area, never imagining that someday I’d be living here! And enjoying it immensely! Then we moved to Pennsylvania (106 per square km), Portugal

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-49006020079780561492008-03-23T14:12:00.000-07:002008-04-09T10:05:35.039-07:00

Friday was a free day for us to do whatever suited our fancy. Elaine and I were eager to see some of the countryside and to hike to the top of at least one of the hills. We invited the group to join us, but they all had other equally tempting plans, and thus it was that only she, I, and our guide Chris headed out of town on new single-speed rental bikes (about $5/day each). We rode for miles,

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-79456376665471780162008-03-20T23:21:00.000-07:002008-04-09T10:03:21.406-07:00

Chinese often think of Guilin as heaven on earth. Steep and rugged limestone hills create a magical area of over 5,000 square kilometers, a seemingly endless succession of jutting exclamation marks with rivers, pastures, and occasional towns in the flat valleys below. Words cannot do justice to how awesome they really are.Ten of us flew to Guilin for Easter break, leaving Macau on Wednesday

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-49447555195981023842008-03-10T20:18:00.000-07:002008-04-09T07:24:05.455-07:00

There’s a lot of concrete in Macau, many tall buildings, much noise and people almost everywhere, which is what made our “discovery” this afternoon so special. Needing to get out of the apartment for some fresh air, Elaine and I caught the bus to the sleepy, quiet village of Coloane on the southern tip of Macau. From there we walked along the beaches and rocks to Cheoc Van Beach, just the two of

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-13840033468926187412008-03-07T07:57:00.000-08:002008-03-14T08:30:50.850-07:00

The University of Macau holds many things: serious students, dedicated teachers and scholars, breathtaking views of the Macau Peninsula and the South China Sea, a great rock climbing wall and many others. It also is about stairs. Growing up, my image of China was always of a broad and fertile valley dotted with rice fields and a few homes, with dirt roads winding through. The reality of Macau is

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-25550877738236752452008-02-24T09:19:00.000-08:002008-03-14T08:26:52.320-07:00

Although Macau is fast becoming a city of steel and glass and gigantic modern buildings, there are dozens of Catholic churches and Buddhist temples scattered everywhere. Some of the churches date from the late 1500s, and the one we’ve discovered, on a hilltop about a 20-minute walk from our apartment, was built in 1865. Sunday Mass in Chinese is at 9 a.m., in English at 10 a.m. and in Portuguese

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-87653544059654424072008-02-23T09:11:00.000-08:002008-02-26T09:33:09.292-08:00

My wife, Elaine, a 55-year old grandmother of Scots, Welsh, and Germanic lineage, is also a full-time student here at the University of Macau. Like other Susquehanna students with us, she has had some encounters with prejudice. This is from a note she sent to one of our daughters:I had a terrible/wonderful experience in my first Community Psychology class, last Friday morning. Arriving early, I

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-54747634084283273232008-02-21T04:48:00.000-08:002008-02-21T07:11:13.146-08:00

We have returned to Macau from our study tour of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. Classes have started, the weather has warmed (finally) and we all have begun a new chapter here.Here are a few select photos of the many, many that were taken during the two-week excursion: The group poses with some children in Vietnam, after a trip by sampan to see some fish farms. We visited Angkor Wat, the huge

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-6525299211954937242008-02-10T22:00:00.000-08:002008-02-21T04:16:35.291-08:00

Like most of us who watched the news during the Vietnam War, my images of the conflicts, battles and torn lives on both sides consisted mostly of grainy, black and white photos transmitted by wire to the U.S. Even thinking of friends I lost there, or friends of friends, the images in my mind were always low-resolution B&W.How different to be there, to see the Viet Cong tunnels at Cu Chi, to tour

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-33392513689042417972008-02-09T21:11:00.000-08:002008-02-21T04:20:53.645-08:00

In Can Tho, Vietnam, I walked through a street market late in the afternoon, where people were buying food for the evening. Imagine a supermarket with one very wide and long aisle, and instead of shopping carts, everyone is on a motorbike, buying fish here, vegetables there, and pineapples down the aisle, haggling over prices, and receiving their merchandise in plastic bags that drivers put into

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-66651815023093508572008-02-08T20:21:00.000-08:002008-02-21T04:27:39.109-08:00

Highways in Vietnam are packed with zillions of motorbikes, many carrying entire families. It’s not uncommon to see a couple astride a motor scooter, with a small child or two on its mother’s lap, sandwiched between mom and dad. There are also large vans, buses, and trucks, and everyone is vying for position on impossibly narrow two-lane roads. It was terrifying to witness from the passenger seat

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-25672889281845185462008-02-05T19:44:00.000-08:002008-02-21T04:41:06.817-08:00

We flew from Siem Reap, where we’d seen the amazing structures at Angkor Wat, and landed mid-afternoon in Pnom Penh. Our guide took us immediately to the “torture prison” where Pol Pot and his cronies imprisoned and tortured some 17,000 of his countrymen before sending them – beaten, blindfolded and broken – to the killing fields outside of town. Official estimates are that 1.5 million Cambodians

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-28750108052674270582008-02-02T18:21:00.000-08:002008-02-21T07:14:39.422-08:00

One feature of our time in Thailand was a 45-minute ride on an elephant. We’d all eagerly looked forward to this unique experience. I’ve concluded that thinking about taking an elephant ride is more fun than actually taking it. Pictured here are Susquehanna students Alex White '09 and Amy Markowski '09.

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-19238695643275933742008-01-24T12:27:00.000-08:002008-02-21T07:04:27.994-08:00

A group shot of this semester's exchange students at the University of Macau during a tour of the city, in front of a Buddhist temple. Note the multinational character of the group - and our students' experience.

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-56395390348158929222008-01-23T11:35:00.000-08:002008-02-20T12:39:53.145-08:00

We anticipated that this semester in Macau would entail a lot of exposure to difference, and are pleased to report on some we’ve encountered so far.The first is the wonderful variety of nationalities among the exchange students, who hail from, in addition to mainland China, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, France, Germany, Holland, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Thailand, and the U.S. As a

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-72154164288079825542008-01-20T18:13:00.000-08:002008-01-23T04:41:51.878-08:00

In the mid 1500s, the Ming Dynasty allowed Portuguese traders to use a small, remote and all but forgotten peninsula in Southeast China. The most distant outpost of European influence, Macau enjoyed a heyday for over 100 years as the only permanent Western access point to the region. European traders at Canton were not allowed to stay beyond the trading season and maintained permanent homes in

James Brocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4437597219265777214.post-45166669101846196812008-01-14T12:11:00.000-08:002008-01-18T05:34:44.577-08:00

One February several years ago, a colleague learned that he’d be traveling to Japan in June. He promptly set about to study Japanese culture, history, phrases, etc. in order to learn as much as he could before actually arriving. He told me later that he learned more about Japan on the bus ride from the airport to his hotel than he had in all of his studies over the previous five months.His remark

James Brocknoreply@blogger.com