Monday, 2 July 2007
Cuisine and Conversation
With any trip, there is always a tendency to overindulge...especially when it comes to food!
As many of you already know, the Chinese are generous and gracious hosts. At every stop along my travels here, they have held banquets that offered endless opportunities to overindulge. The way meals are conducted over here demonstrates a sense of community and openness for discussion. Meals are served family-style on a round table with a Lazy Susan in the middle so everyone can see everybody else, chat and share exotic dishes. Dishes range from different types of salads and vegetables to both cooked and raw meats. Once your plate is empty, more food will be brought out and placed on your plate! I've learned it's best to keep a little food on your plate and stop eating to signal that no more food should come out of the kitchen. So far I feel like I have gained about five pounds!
As I mentioned, this set-up is really conducive to conversations around the table. Conversation is lively and multiple toasts are offered randomly throughout the meal. As part of these dinners I chatted with various civil engineering professors and department heads, as well as deputy director generals. We discussed developing relationships between their institutions and ASCE and other engineering topics. I found that most of our engineering colleagues in China understand spoken English, but translation is required for official business. I feel at a bit of a disadvantage since English is the only language I know well. Being bilingual can really help you succeed in the business world as our profession becomes even more global.
How has being fluent in more than one language helped you in your career?