Malasong Changpao

My first official day in China (6-16-2008) started off with Guian Li, my host, introducing me to his colleagues in a formal meeting. Guian worked very hard to organize my trip and wanted to get off to a good start. So, he introduced me with a very detailed PowerPoint presentation. To paraphrase Cher from the song "Dark Lady", he told me more about me than I know myself. He talked about and included a picture that would become a recurring theme in future introductions – my participation in marathons. Marathon is "malasong changpao". Ma-la-song is the word "marathon" phonetically converted to pinyin, the phonetic system of the Chinese language developed in the 1950s. Changpao means "long run". The introduction theme was especially appropriate on day 1 because it was a marathon, in duration and in unexpected challenges. After the introduction, we had lunch. I will not bore you throughout this blog with descriptions of mundane events. That would be like the first time I tied my shoes. Back then I took one string in my left hand and one in my right. Then I looped the left string over the right. Not one time but two. Next, I tucked…. Oh, sorry. Back to the subject of lunch. It seems that two things impress my hosts as much as my knowledge of American education system: my ability to use chopsticks (thanks LKG) and my knowledge of a few Chinese words and phrases.