Dr. Molad's Global Voyages

Finally, a formal statement from our sponsor....

2008-07-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

Cruise operator Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. reported sharply lower second-quarter earnings Monday, blaming higher fuel prices, and said it would cut 400 jobs.

Royal Caribbean earned $84.7 million, or 40 cents a share, in line with Wall Street expectations. In the same period a year ago it earned $128.7 million, or 60 cents a share.

Although demand for cruises remained high in the quarter, fuel prices soared 55 percent. As a result, the company said it would take several steps to cut costs by about $125 million including eliminating jobs.

"Too much of our profitability is being eroded by the increase in fuel prices," CEO Richard Fain said in a statement. "This is unacceptable and we are evaluating everything we do to find ways to do it more efficiently and effectively."

Royal Caribbean will eliminate approximately 400 shore-side positions. It also is getting rid of some non-core operations, such as "The Scholar Ship," an educational program for college students to study abroad at sea.

The company expects to incur approximately $15 million, or 7 cents a share, in charges in the third quarter related to restructuring.

Royal Caribbean said it expects third quarter earnings per share, including the restructuring charges, to be $1.65 to $1.70, nearly unchanged from earlier forecasts except for the direct increase in fuel costs.

Shares of the company closed at $22.70 and remained unchanged in after-hours trading.

In the news

Wow! End of a Voyage AND The Program???

2008-06-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

The Chronicle of Higher Education

June 16, 2008

Scholar Ship Cancels Next Year's Voyages

After just a single academic year in operation, an innovative program that offered students a chance to pursue a degree while sailing the world has succumbed to financial pressures and ceased operation, at least for the coming year. The Scholar Ship, whose sponsors included Royal Caribbean Cruises and an international consortium of universities, has announced that the next cruise, which had been planned for September, will not take place.

Ron Zighelboim, the program’s founder and managing director, said the current economic climate had forced the cruise line to cut its financial support of the Scholar Ship. “Amid the stratospheric costs of oil and food, which are Royal Caribbean’s two biggest expenses, they are understandably tightening their belt,” he said. “The shame of it all is that it’s happened just as we were coming off our first year of operation, when we had operated two very successful voyages and felt that we were really hitting our stride.”

Some 400 students from 35 countries took part in the first two voyages, and 350 students had enrolled for the coming academic year. Mr. Zighelboim said that students who had signed up for cruises this fall and in early 2009 would be reimbursed. Some 100 employees, including 30 to 40 academic staff members, will also be affected by the cancellations.

Mr. Zighelboim was optimistic that the program would find backers to support future cruises, but said it was too late to salvage the cruises planned for the coming year. If enough money is found, there might be a chance of operating a cruise in September 2009, he said.

Students determined to study on the high seas are not necessarily forced ashore. Semester at Sea, a program that dates from the 1960s, has posted a notice on its Web site encouraging students who had planned on participating in Scholar Ship cruises to apply for the rival program. —Aisha Labi

April 18 - The end of the voyage has come....And another one in September?

2008-04-18T00:27:00.000-07:00

The seas have been very rough and the sky is grey... Rain is falling and we all feel so sad...
here was very little partying last night. The students said this morning that it is the sea is signaling for us to get off the ship :)

Tonight we will have our closing ceremonies and I am sure we will see even more tears. The faculty is trying to keep their spirits up but I can feel that so many of us are torn between wanting to spend time with others while already making the shift to that tomorrow holds for each one of them...

I am off to New York City to see my kids and hopefully spend a week of vacation. My hope is that I will be bale to come back to this blog and update it with all the photos and writings I have not been able to post throughout the voyage. The big question will be -- will I feel like re-living the voyage so soon after "coming back to earth"?

We had a re-entry consultant come on board the ship to help us deal with the range of emotions and reactions we are and will be experiencing. Research shows that many people after an experience like ours have a difficult time adjusting. They have problems with wanting to tell their story while forgetting that their beloved ones have had also their own stories unfolding at the same time and may not have the inclination to be a passive listener to the "amazing times" the travelers had...

We shall see...

Meanwhile, I am smiling because I have been told I have been selected to go on The Scholar Ship's next voyage!!! Portugal, Panama, Ecuador, New Zealand, Australia, and China - here I come!!!!!!!!!!

Barcelona's Architecture - A Feast for The Eyes!

2008-04-07T01:29:00.001-07:00

Girona - A journey to my ancestory through the Jewish quarters

2008-04-07T01:22:00.000-07:00

Barcelona - Golf Lessons in The Middle of Town?

2008-04-07T01:17:00.000-07:00

What does it take to convert a dying club in the middle of Barcelona into a thriving golf range for young professionals and families?

This is the kind of question our international business learning circle students were asked by a group of 3 founders who took over the club recently. We got to hit some balls while pondering what can be the right approach to bring a sport that has been associated with stodginess and "old money" into the lives of young Barcelona urbanites....

Needless to say, the students loved the challenge!

Barcelona - Pronovias Company: Creating Bridal Fantansies with State of the Art Technology

2008-04-07T01:12:00.000-07:00

Barcelona - Tous Company: Luxury Jewlery and Accessories

2008-04-07T01:05:00.001-07:00

Cultural Shows - We are on our way to Broadway!

2008-04-07T00:42:00.001-07:00

Our students are amazing! Since we have started this voyage, we have been entertained by incredible cultural shows that they have put together to celebrate their respective countries' rich cultures - from Australian to Chinese, Indian to Canadian, Latin to American - we have show after show produced and performed by students that rival anything one can almost catch on Broadway! Using their creativity this way has proven to be a way for all of us to embrace each other's heritage to the point that now the cultural shows have students from OTHER cultures performing different cultures of their own and having a blast becoming someone different for a night...
So far I had the privilege of appearing on the Middle East show by reading together with our Egyptian-born psychologist such children's poems about peace. I also performed cowboy poetry on the American show with one of our other professors and a students. These are some of the fondest memories I will carry with me from this voyage...

Barcelona - OK - I know you are not going to believe this, BUT...

2008-03-27T02:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, right by this old farm house somewhere outside of the Barcelona, the students in my undergraduate learning circle for international business were introduced to... (drum roll...)
the most secretive manufacturing plant of the world's MOST expensive SUPER CAR!
Only 12 cars are manufactured a year for a selective group of customers who are willing to pay..........$700,000 EUROS PER CAR!
The cars are hand made bit by bit from the most advanced materials in the world and are designed like fighter jets, yet perform as well as a Formula One race car while being able to drive in regular streets!
Introducing the TRAMONTANA super car. Named after a wind the blows in the mountains surrounding ths tiny village where this secret factory exists, the car looks like something from another planet. Yet the 20 or so odd people who work in this incredible company are so warm and unassuming that you will never believe they are responsible for such a marvel.
Needless to say, we felt very privileged to share their story and their dreams...
www.tramontanagroup.com

A Wedding on The Ship??? Oh my...

2008-03-17T07:28:00.000-07:00

When the day arrived for Kirsten and Jovanni's wedding, we we thrilled. We almost did not get to experience this wonderful union after Jovanni broke his collar bone, and ended up having emergency surgery in Cape Town. We had so much fun planning the event, that I swear we were going to have the wedding even if he was on a stretcher:)

But everything worked out and the ceremony took place, as planned, on the deck with all the students and staff dressed up in their best cloths and the bride and groom wearing their colorful red, gold, purple, and green Indian and Chinese outfits matching the swaths of fabric used to decorate the ceremony area (we never miss a point to celebrate multi culturalism!)

The student band played music, the captain conducted the traditional ceremony, one of our professors read from the song of songs and our academic dean distributed red string for all of us to tie around out wrists as we all joined the couple spiritually as a community. And the Morrocan students led us all in a dance around the couple that got us all clapping and cheering as lound as we could!

Everywhere you looked you saw smiling faces and everyone talked about how fortunate we were to participate in such a festival of love! Kirsten and Jovanni read their vows in Italian (which proved again that this IS the language of love) and danced the night away to music played by no other but our crew's band.

And they even played a traditional "Mazel Tov" tune in my honor while the cake was being cut!

I can go on and on, but the pictures will tell a much better story... As soon as we get to Barcelona, I will share them with you!

Cape Verde - Music is Thy Love

2008-03-17T06:57:00.000-07:00

Cape Verde was just a short re-fueling stop for us with the possibility of a quick swim in the ocean and a local fish meal. Yet it turned out to be another lesson in life around our world that will remain in our minds and hearts for a long time.

The island of St. Vincent has not seen a drop of rain since 1984. As a result, it magnificent mountains are totally barren. Against their brown backdrop, the local population has painted their house in bright pastel colors and developed a local craft specialty in colorfully painted fabrics perhaps to counter the stark scenery surrounding them. Some even said the place looks like the surface of the moon...

And to stimulate the senses more, the locals delight your ears with amazing music that is prevalent everywhere you go. (pictures to come when we reach Barcelona). Since we arrived on a Satruday, we were able in a couple of hours to witness teens beating drums on the beach, formal bands playing in little town hotels and a band of youg adults jamming in an Internet cafe. We were even lucky to hear some drumming on African drums in the open market as one of our staff asked the vendors if they will let us hear how their drums sound and ended up getting the vendor from Senegal to compete with a local vendor as to whose drumming was better!

As you can imagine, the local music store was one of the nicest of all other stores and is the destination of the European tourists who love to come here. Music also dominates the yearly carnival and a big music festival they hold in the summer. We were told that anyone at Cape Verde can play some form of a musical instrument or at least knows how to drum. Music, they say, is what they have to pass the days that amny times lack any other interesting activity.

The pace of the island was as slow as they come, and no one rushed to talk to us or offer us anything except for a few poor kids, who we were told are sometimes part of an organized thieves group. Mostly, though, we were left to wonder the empty streets and enjoy the warm and mild sunshine...

In my business classes we talked about Cape Verde's ambitions to become a destination for foreign investments. Here and there we saw signs of new resort communities being built for possibly foreigners who would like a second home here. Yet, it was difficult to ascertain whether the locals' dream will become a reality soon. As an alternative, we learned that this Island has the best tasting tuna anywhere and the other islands grow some wonderful coffee. Our guide summed it all by saying "We at St. Vincente do not grow anything except for lots of beautiful children..." Judging by his good looks, many of us females understood why...

Internet Café s – The Saga Continues….

2008-03-07T01:37:00.000-08:00

I noticed that I have not had a chance to write about my ongoing quest for the ‘best’ Internet Café, so here it goes…

India: The café was hidden in the back of a shopping mall. Once you saw the sign, you had to go up a narrow flight of stairs to a space no bigger than a single small room that was divided among 6 computer surrounded by flimsy partitions. The place was packed due to the fact that it was Sunday and the very low cost of per-minute use (about $.5). From giggling girls chatting online with prospective groom overseas to job applicant filling out online application, and – of course – bewildered tourists who barely fit their bag and themselves into the make-shift cubicles, coming in seemed like bad timing… However, when approached by the guy-in-charge (holding an old notebook with a written log of the cubicles and the computer use), I told him I wanted to use my flash drive to upload stuff to the Internet. He gave me a dirty look, took away my flash drive and proceeded to plug it into a computer to run a scan on its contents (this was a first!). When he accidently click on doing a FULL system scan, the compute came to a screeching halt…So he pick up the flash drive and told me to move to another computer (not an easy task with the impossible small maneuvering space and so many bags everywhere) where he re-booted the computer to start the scan and walked away… Running out of time by now (I told my colleagues that it will ‘only take 30 minutes, so go on shopping,’ I used the opportunity when he had his back to me to move to yet another computer to try and get onto Blogger where I wanted to upload my pictures. Well, off course he had the last laugh! The minute I put in the URL address into the browser, the browser, moving at turtle speed, froze! Disgustingly I paid him $1 and dashed out of the place…
The next day I went shopping with a friend from our staff and as she was browsing and bargaining with the shop owner, I noticed his laptop sitting on the table. I politely inquired whether he has a ‘fast Internet connection’. He said “of course’ and turned back to my friend. Well, that was all I needed to hear! I approached him with the best smile I could muster and asked will he PLEASE let me check my email. Not wanting to stop his negotiations with my friend, he patiently let me get on the Internet and I logged into my Blog immediately and started uploading some of my pictures (I did not trust I could sit there long enough to also write a posting without him getting suspicious as to what the heck I was doing). Luckily my friend ended up purchasing some of his merchandise so my only ‘real’ Internet use in India last a blissful 20 minutes! Needless to say, when he looked up and what I was doing, hoping, I am sure, that I will myself make a purchase to justify ‘high jacking’ his computer, I smiled again and told him I will try to come back the next day since there were many things in his store I wanted to buy. I never went back…

Seychelles: I was so very much looking forward to the opportunity of coming to the islands and finding a cozy Internet café on the beach with great speeds so I could merrily write my blog, upload my pictures, and get a great tan – all at the same time. WRONG! By the time I finally let a group of students to the only Internet place we could find quickly, I ended up sitting across a computer at the local telecommunication company’s offices that was so SLOW, that all of us almost had tears in our eyes L Furthermore, Blogger was BLOCKED! So much for tanning and surfing the web simultaneously!

South Africa: OK, here was finally a country that had a good telecom infrastructure and we were docked near a mall! First thing fist – is there and Internet Café there? And the answer is………..YES! HOWEVER, with 9 computers in an open space to the mall area that were filled ALL THE TIME with other tourists and our wonderful students, sitting there for long stretches of time was not a great possibility. The only time I sat there, there was a Dutch lady speaking on the phone OUT LOUD to someone for 30 minutes while looking at something on the web! Time to find a different solution… My spy network of students that always try to inform me of good Internet access spots informed me that the beautiful hotel next to the dock has FREE Internet! Have I died and gone to heaven??? On the last day of our stay, I dressed nice and walked into the hotel lobby with my laptop. Looking around I noticed a few students trying to look like hotel guests working quietly on their laptop. I found a spot near the registration desk and off I went, FINALLY, being able to do my Blog at a normal speed…UNTIL…my computer ran out of battery and I found out that the type of electrical outlets they have in South Africa did not fit my converter! By that time the lobby filled out with our students some of whom were able to get a converter from the hotel staff. What’s a professor to do?? I tried sweet talking to the students, but they were all so immersed in their own Net browsing, that they barely look at me..ouch! Finally, I marched to the reception desk, asked for a convertor, took it and hastily found a corner near the bar with an electronic outlet that I could hide at…6 hours later, the hotel was swarming with our students all trying to catch some free web time before we had to get back on the ship and sail out of South Africa… The hotel staff looked at us with exasperated looks… I made sure to tell them that we will all turn to pumpkins at 4 PM if we do not leave the hotel and get back to the ship, and they smiled wearily… This is what I call a true Cape Town Hospitality!! By the time we all got back on the ship, we were all in agreement – WE LOVE CAPE TOWN!

Sobering Notes from Dr. Allen Whiteside - Director of Health Economic and HIV/AIDS Research Division, U of Durban

2008-03-04T05:12:00.000-08:00

Dr. Whiteside has been working for 26 years for HIV/AIDS research in Africa. He came to the Scholar Ship to give the plenary lecture during our conference on the economic impact of HIV/AIDS that brought in experts from all over world to a symposium organized by our research institute.

he shared with us stats that we have maybe forgotten about -- the 33.5 million people living with HIV (with the highest prevalence shifting to Russia and Asia) and how this data is being incredibly misused. He believes that it will take at least another 8 to 10 years before we will really see the infection manifest itself! Swaziland has now the worse epidemic in the world and no resources to fight it. 50% of young women between the ages of 20 to 25 are infected, while 45% of men between the ages of 35 to 39 are.

He is mostly concerned because, in his own words, "we have never seen in the developing world where there is less than zero percent population growth! When life expectancy is less than 30 years old, where do we go from there?"

The economic impact of this projection is catastrophic, in his mind, and points to a systemic crisis that Africa and the parts of Asia and Eastern Europe are now facing. As the population will drop, the per capita income will go up, and now counties will have a hard time getting foreign aid...

Some disturbing thoughts he left us with:
1) Do we have a responsibility to the citizens of the workd?
2) Do we have responsibility for this epidemic?
3) Is this just a Darwinian event?

West Cape Wineries - Or A Lazy Day of Drinking...

2008-03-04T02:28:00.000-08:00

I finished my sightseeing in Cape Town by taking a tour of the wine country. Needless to say, it was a tour full of guilty pleasure -- lots of wine tasting and even... Chocolate (there is no better combination than champaign and chocolate or even a nice deep red wine with chocolate, we discovered... especially when your chocolate has ingredients such as fresh ginger and even red pepper! )

The Dutch settlers were the ones that brought wine making to South Africa and to this date most of the "wine farms" (as they are being called here) are owned and operated by Afrikaners. However, a new generation of black and colored workers is now seen in all the wineries, as was the case with the ones we have visited. They have discovered the availability of training and jobs in this great industry and are slowly making their way into it. Of course, they are not owners yet, but clearly that time will come as well (all in all, our Zulu tour guide told us, the biggest problem in South Africa is land ownership since 87% of the land is owned by just 3 million people leaving black and colored folks with almost no way to acquire land. This is what has also given birth to the black and colored townships that dot the route between Cape Town and the wineries and are a very sore spot for everyone. Our guide claims that the government is going to try and build some temporary housing in front of the townships by 2010 when the World Cup will take place here, in an attempt to disguise the townships shacks from a view from the highways going in and out of town).

After tasting over 20 varieties of South African wines, our group was convinced of the wonderful quality of wine produced here and the care so evidently being taken in every one of the farms we have visited. They all looked like the belonged on a movie set!

Yet our Zulu guide reminded us that not too long ago, the black laborers on the wine farms were paid in wine bottles containing spoiled wine which many blacks believe was in the root of spreading infertility among the workers... Right now, during the summer harvest, you see a lot of blacks commuting to the farms from the townships to work in the vineyards, many of them happy for the temporary employment they provide.

We left the wine country in a mellow mood, having even visited a quaint and old French village in the midst of the sprawling farms. Right next to small bistros with French sounding menus, you were able to purchase African wooden sculptures of jungle animals. And down the road, we even stopped at a cheetah farm that raises baby Cheetahs as preservation of the species. Ah, Africa the magnificent!

OnBoard Workshop - Training Young African Scientists in Enterpreneurship

2008-03-04T00:11:00.004-08:00

Everywhere you go, you see the above smiling faces of young Black Africans working diligently and proudly. And you cannot help yourself but wonder - how do they do it? As we all receive warnings about the rampant violence in the country and the desperate battle with HIV/AIDS, coupled with tremendous unemployment and an energy crisis, we look at their faces and hear their voices and the word "hope" seems to be the only antidote...

With that in mind, I volunteered to give a one day workshop on board the ship to a group of 12 Black African scientists and researchers struggling with the challenge of transforming their innovations into the future commercial successes that will power their country's economy. They came from various African countries, like Kenya, Uganda, and Ghana, but were mostly from South Africa and they spend a full day with me drinking every bit of information and stories i have shared with them in total concentration.

I was humbled by their hunger and determination and moved by their request, "Please come back; stay here for a year and train us!".

I knew that I will not be able to teach them in one day the essence of being an entrepreneur, so I aimed for inspiring them and making them believe a bit more in their ability to be change agents and catalysts within their scientific community. I know that some of the examples I have given them were so US-Centric that it made me embarrassed at times for using them (where the hell will they find VC's to drop $2 million in their lap and then afford to fail??). But they re-assured me that they wanted to learn to place the bar high so their goals will be far reaching and powerful to motivate them to persevere.

When it was all over, they gathered around me and wanted me to give them a copy of all my presentations plus any other materials I had. It was the ultimate gratification knowing they will probably go on to share it with many and that this one day's experience will be multiplied many more times...

We are now at the mid point of our voyage. We have been taking more than giving to date. Africa gave me the chance to give back and for that I am grateful...

Rugby - How Dare We Cheer for New Zealand while in South Africa!

2008-03-04T00:11:00.003-08:00

OK - So rugby in South Africa is a very very important sport and most of us know nothing about it. So what? So that is the reason why we were in for an interesting surprise when we decided to follow our Kiwi On Board Excursions' Director, Kim, to go and cheer for her home team The Crusaders from New Zealand who were playing South Africa.

Can you imagine 60 of us, all dressed in black and red or in Crusaders' shirts, sitting amongst the South Africans who, by the way, knew in advance that they were going to be CRUSHED by the visiting team? It was one thing if we knew what we were cheering for, but most of us were clueless! Luckily for us the Crusaders led the whole time, so when we cheered, it was always for OUR team, or the winning team!

In the process, we learned a lot about rugby (what a fun game!) and how quickly the South African seating next to us stopped explaining it to us once they realized we were cheering for the wrong team!

A good time was had by all of us (especially with beer being barely a buck:), and we are all now "rugby converts"... That is, of course, until we get to Europe, where we were told we might be able to go to a local soccer game. Barcelona - here comes your Scholar Ship Cheerleaders!

The Cape Town Waterfront - A Model Development and Our "Front Yard"

2008-03-04T00:11:00.001-08:00

Our backyard has become this amazing waterfront development that is now the signature of Cape Town. It is a complex of shops, restaurants, live events, and hotels in the midst of a working harbor with magnificent views of Table Mountain. The whole development is designed with great care to keep the surrounding views unobstructed while allowing tourism to flourish alongside commercial port activities. This well developed and managed complex has gotten so much attention, that it is now used as a model for other countries to follow and the people involved in its creation and maintenance have become consultants.

One clear measure of its success has been its recent acquisition:Dubai-based Istithmar & UK-based London & Regional Properties have won the race for one of South Africa’s most-visited property and leisure developments, as they confirmed that their joint venture had successfully bid US$ 1 billion for the V&A Waterfront Company.V&A Waterfront now attracts more than 22 million visitors a year, making it Africa’s number one property, leisure and retail development.
The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town is a mixed-use prime waterfront real estate development in which shopping and entertainment venues are intermingled with office locations, world-class hotels and luxury apartments in the residential marina and active fishing port. Its leading hotels include Sun International’s Table Bay Hotel and The Cape Grace.

A "One of Its Kind" six stars hotel is under construction. Once finished, it will be the most luxurious hotel in all of Africa!

Clotex - Saving South Africa's Dying Textile Sector

2008-03-04T00:10:00.007-08:00

With my international business students, we went to visit Clotex - Clothing and Textile Service Center - an NGO that was created to try and save the West Cape's dying industry. We met with the 2 volunteer executives who has been in the industry for many years and are now fighting to help many of the very small shops to survive. The base of the industry has collapsed and in 2003 South Africa was a net-exporter of clothing. In 2008, it is expected that there will be 700 million Rands of exports and 4 billion Rands of imports!
The German Government, through GTZ, came in to do a study about the industry only to find out that nobody knew what can make it survive and how. The local government decided to provide basic training to many of the smaller companies that had zero access to finance (especially since many did not bother to register as a small business being very afraid of the rampant corruption in the government sector after the fall of Apartheid).
Another HUGE problem, we were told, if the fact that training must be ongoing since so many workers actually die from AIDS every day!
Their mission:
CLOTEX aims - with respect to the growth and pipeline efficiency of the clothing and textile industry in the Western Cape - to facilitate access to information, advice, trade contracts and opportunities as well as councelling for SMME's in the industry and its related sub-sectors, with particular though not exclusive emphasis on the emergent and formally disadvantaged entrepeneurs. CLOTEX's current role is to mainly focus on increasing employment through the development needs of entrepreneurs operating small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME's).
Our host felt that the industry as a whole lacks benchmarks to success (such as those established by Zara and H&M), and its members need to also take advantage of the current exchange rate which really works to their favor in terms of exporting. Yet the organization can only serve as a facilitator outside the trade unions and use countries such as Italy as a benchmark for success in terms of creating high value textile and clothing products.
The small quarters of the organization and its humble leaders made it clear to us that this organization has an uphill battle ahead... Later we found out that many of the industries in this country face similar challenges.

Jewish Museum - Holocaust Survivors' Encounter

2008-03-04T00:10:00.005-08:00

CleaPart of our port program for the post graduate international business students included a visit to the Jewish Museum. Clearly i was delighted about the choice, but more so with the fact that the museum was chosen since it chronicles the tremendous contributions the Jews have made to the growth of South Africa's economy as a whole, and Cape Town, in particular. As we entered the museum, after going through a security door, we all of a sudden heard a huge explosion. Our guide, an elderly docent, turned to us with a puzzled look, while I felt fear gripping me... what was it? Another explosion erupted in what seemed like next door and the docent smiled all of a sudden -- "Ah," he said,"it is only the cannon from the parliament building which is next to us. Must be an important visitor coming in." Above you can see Natalie's picture with him. It was her president, Mr. Sarkozy, who came to Cape Town on the day we arrived...

Our docent went on to tell us all about how his great grandfather came to Cape Town and helped build a thriving Jewish community that went on to give birth to some of the country's leading industrialists as well as fighter of Apartheid (the museum was re-dedicated by Nelson Mandela after he became president). When asked about the future, he told our students about his kids, who grew up with all the privileges of the while society during Apartheid, but are now working hard to re-built South Africa...

Next to the Jewish Museum is the Holocaust Memorial which is dedicated to:

serServing as a memorial to the 6 million Jews who where killed in the Holocaust and all victims of Natzism and teaches about the consequences of prejudice, racism and discrimination while promoting an understanding of the dangers of indifference, apathy and silence. One of the most illuminating exhibits of the memorial is the comparison of ads and pamphlets showing the inferior profile of a black person that proliferated during Apartheid vs. the ones used by the Nazis. aparently, the creator of the Apartheid regime were students of Nazi propaganda...

One of the touching experiences I had after going through the exhibits was meeting the docent there who asked me the sign the visitors book and realized that both our parents were in Bergen Belsen... her mother, that dies recently, was older than my Dad, but somehow we felt a sense of c\immediate closeness as their offsprings. We hugs with tears in our eyes as we shared with each other tid bits about being the child of a survivor. It was as if we knew so much about each other, even though we were total strangers... I was so sorry when I had to rush to join my group but turned around to wave at her and say "Shalom!" out loud... Then I realized, I did not even ask for her name...

The Ostrich Farm - So Glad We Got To See It!

2008-03-04T00:10:00.003-08:00

OK, so I look stupid sitting on top of an Ostrich! But who could have resisted such an opportunity? We were delighted when we were told we will be visiting an ostrich farm to learn about the important industry of ostrich farming. But we were NOT ready to fall in love with those beautiful birds only to be told, in great detail while eating their delicious meat, how wonderful they are as a "product" since ALL of any bird can be used - for meat, feathers, leather, and eggs!

The South African owner of the farm was very proud to tell us how he makes designer purses from the leather and tries to sell the meat for profit either locally or abroad (depending on the bird-flu alert that exists each season) while using the egg shells for create beautiful works of art. We all learned about his opinion on how South African farmers lack in intelligence to push the industry forward while the Southern European are pushing theirs forward with a true long term vision. Yet somehow watching him having lunch with his wife and two children on a beautiful porch with amazing vistas surrounded by his big farm and beautiful birds, it was hard to relate to his words...
Yet, as business students we had to acknowledge that the he had a real challenge on his hands with an industry that has an extremely volatile demand curve and a highly fickle market, working with animals that can turn wild at any moment, even when you assume they have become fully domesticated that you try to climb on their back and take a stupid picture...

University of Cape Town

2008-03-04T00:10:00.001-08:00

The University of Cape Town is one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever seen! Furthermore it is overseeing this beautiful town from a mountaintop surrounded by plush greenery and blue skies, like in a post card! The business school, however, is part of the waterfront and is housed in a former prison that has been fully renovated and turned up looking like a series of classrooms in the midst of a tranquil courtyard with little signs left of any horrible sad stories of the people imprisoned in there...
We had a couple of lectures at the university; one that we shared with the communications group given by a local author/professor that seems to cause my business students to be grateful for having chosen to study a field like business that was less froth with philosophical musings, while the other being an observation we made of a graduate business class let by a dynamic business professor.
In both cases it was made clear to us that University of Cape Town is clearly a fine academic institution. We were also pleased to hear that....

During the apartheid era, roughly 1960-1990, UCT consistently opposed apartheid, and was a bastion of liberalism and racial integration. 1987 particularly saw frequent clashes between protesting students and police. The official student newspaper, Varsity, frequently had its journalists and editors come under scrutiny from the ruling apartheid National Party government.

As for the business school, their own words express it best:

The Graduate School of Business is developing new streams of learning around communication, leadership, entrepreneurship and sustainable development. This enriches the learning experience, helping to ensure that students gain the broadest possible perspective of business.

The school is the only business school in South Africa to make these streams an explicit part of its core curriculum.

The school also supports two centres that are dedicated to developing a deeper and broader understanding of these areas:

Some two-thirds of the world's population lives in emerging economies, which are characterised by an unusual degree of complexity and uncertainty. The significance of these regions to international business, and to the role of business schools in equipping leaders and managers to be effective in such circumstances, is obvious.

The GSB is taking advantage of the fact that it is located in Africa to respond to these challenges. It is pioneering a new model of a business school, one that is both international in orientation and suited to countries where simultaneously there are imperatives of socio-political transformation, international competitiveness and economic development.

The school believes that it is only by taking this route that it will equip business leaders with the knowledge, depth and vision needed to steer South Africa and other developing societies to success both at home and on the international stage.

Research focus

Through its research, the GSB is enlarging and articulating its understanding of the role and future of business in emerging economies. This research is laying essential foundations on which to build South Africa's international competitiveness.

Current research programmes range from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, which looks at South African entrepreneurs in a global context and at what makes them successful or not, to individual research carried out by faculty and students.

Local and national engagement

A key part of the school's philosophy is to ensure the relevance of the curriculum to local and national circumstances and needs, as well as to ensure that, wherever feasible, its activities are undertaken in a way that achieves positive developmental impacts.

In the Western Cape, the school has initiated a number of projects that are designed to add value to the local economy, as well as to enrich students' appreciation of context.

Examples include:

the work of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which is working with local businesses, ranging from township enterprises to those that are knowledge-based and internationally ambitious

the Centre for Leadership and Public Values (CLPV), which is running an Emerging Leaders' Programme that is engaging directly with the needs of, and challenges facing, young leaders across Southern Africa.

The School, in association with Cambridge University and the National Business Initiative, is also involved in running a programme that is grappling with critical issues around sustainable development in Africa.

African initiatives

In the last decade, the GSB has been building its connections with Africa.

The school now regularly hosts students and short course delegates from sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2002 it began a recruitment drive in East Africa.

Other initiatives include a distinctive programme for policy-makers, regulators and executives on the privatisation and regulation of public utilities in Africa.

There is also an executive development programme that is tailored to the needs of multinational companies operating in Africa.

The school also now runs its flagship executive short course, the Programme for Management Development, in Kenya once a year.

Beyond Africa, the GSB is working to form additional alliances with top-class institutions in Asia and other developing countries to complement and augment its partnerships in Africa and the industrialised world.

StreetWire - Using Profits to Save A Community

2008-03-03T23:22:00.000-08:00

Patrick claims he was born "with a silver spoon in his mouth." He got a great education which he was puzzled what to do with. Post Apartheid he felt that most young people in South Africa were voting with "their heads rather than with their hearts." But he wanted to empower people to move towards middle class. He believed that by that empowerment of real ownership (something the black population had been denied up till then), votes will not be able to be bought and sold anymore which will enable black people to be in control of their own destiny. So he was looking for a way to allow black township people to earn enough money to educate the next generation who will then have more formal skills that will get them true entry into the South African middle class.

He was aware of the incredible rich cultural history of black South Africa, especially the artistic one that ran very deep. He decided to build onto the value of the previous generation's rich culture in order to employ the new generation. So he started out by employing 2 artisans to create his design studio for wire and beads sculptures. The culture they drew from is labeled "closer culture" which is attached existed within the cattle people had in the rural areas. They turned that into a form of craft that gave birth to its own present value. So StreetWire was formally created in 2001 by Patrick as a for profit company that will employ black township people. Today the company employs 60 men and 60 women with the men creating the shapes from the wires and the women doing the beading (40% of what they produce gets exported to EU counties) With the 120 to 160 Euros a month they earn, each one supports about 7 people back home. Every person gets nurtured in terms of their career in the company so the current management came from within from people that started working in production.

People work in groups with a group leader being in charge. The group leader acts like a head of family. This mimics the tribal social structure where the workers come from. The group sets up their own goals for production and they get paid commission for every piece they produce.

"social Entrepreneurship" is what Patrick calls his enterprise. His workers used not to even have a bank account. Now they manage their money and he is even setting up an employee trust of up to 25% of the employee's income to teach them how to save and invest. The studio space has become the safe haven for the workers from many problems they face at home. It is also a source of pride for holding a job in a society where unemployment is the rule and not the exception.

Nowadays they are also learning about competition. Some places around the country have started importing the same craft made in China... So they are all putting their head together to create new revenue stream. They have started working on customized pieces. Anyone can send a picture to their studio and have it made into a prototype that can be used then for custom mass production or to make a unique one-of-a-kind piece. They are also faced with the challenge of a fluctuating currency that happens to be unpredictable, so they do not always know if they can export their work profitably. However, Patrick is confident that he will eventually be able to make himself redundant and let his people run their own company. He sees his country moving forward and is proud to say that the poverty in their midst in nothing like that of neighboring countries like Zimbabwe. South Africa has become a destination for immigration from countries like that. His people are now no longer to be pitied...

A Mission of Hope - Painting a School Building in A Black Township with Rotarac

2008-03-02T10:02:00.000-08:00

Simple Facts:

850 students.
10 Classrooms.
No books until this year for ANY student
1 Soccer ball for kids to play with during breaks
85-90% of parents unemployed
Over 50% infected with HIV/AIDS
Yet...
100% of students proceed to high school!
So...
50 Scholar Ship students and 10 Rotaracs took 5 hours to re-paint the whole school
Principal request: Can you get my students a couple of computers? The one we had last year got stollen... If my studnets can connect to the Internet, they can learn about the opportunities awaiting them in the world...

A promise made to come back and help...

Enough said!

Cape Town - We Are Here!

2008-02-29T02:47:00.001-08:00

Our Publicity Pictures - Look at Our Community, Faculty, and International Business Learning Circle!

2008-02-29T02:39:00.001-08:00

The Rolling Seas off The Coast of Africa

2008-02-23T02:46:00.000-08:00

It has been 3 days now that the sea has been "rough" (an official terminology they use when they give us the daily weather report) and we have been having periodical warnings to be careful when we walk around...

This is midterms time and, needless to say, this weather is not helping much. Both students and professors are seen looking somewhat "green in their faces" while still going in an out of study areas and the dining hall (we are told to always have a little food in our stomachs if we want to feel even a little better).

For the first time during this voyage we wittnesed a storm that we sailed through, with gusty windes, lightneing and thunder and heavy rains washing on board of the upper decks. Most of us watched in fascination as the rain pounded the windows and laughed nervously as the boat rocked back and forth. But there are always some who pay a price for feeling really sea sick :( Those were found even lying on the floor next to their cabin or on the reception area's sofa, moaning: "Let it stop..."

But this is The Scholar Ship and the show does go on! We are not changing the dates of the exams nor the many social activities we have planned. Today, for example, we are continuing the "star wars battle" between staff & faculty's and the students' teams. We, the staff, even prepared a rap song to irritate our opponents with (it is truly awful:) And then tonight the ship's crew has prepared a special talent show for us!

So as we put our "sea legs" on, and learn to use better balance for all activites, all I can think of is the stories we will tell once we finish this voyage of what a "piece of cake" it was to travel by sea for 4 months...

The Seychelles – Our Visit to Paradise

2008-02-23T02:43:00.000-08:00

As we sailed away from India, all we were fantasizing about is reaching the Seychelles for the 2 days off we had on the schedule. Visions of pristine white beaches and snorkeling among coral reefs were preoccupying everyone. All we talked about during our communal meal was, “so, are you just going to disappear once we get to the islands? Ha, ha?” We were craving some time away from each other and a chance to be back in nature away from car fumes and honking horns…
Some of the students actually slept on deck so they can get the earliest view possible of our arrival to the Seychelles. The rest ran to the deck when we started approaching the amazing view of the main Island of Mahe, with its tall maintains all covered with greenery and surrounded by calm blue waters… wow…
As soon as we got the “all clear” signal from the immigration officials, we scrambled to get off the ship and embrace even the clean and welcoming port area where a slew of brand new rental cars and taxis awaited us. Like any family (which we have now become), most of us ended up choosing to spend time with each other despite our previous proclamations to the contrary.
I joined a group of students who were hosted by the Victoria Rotary Club. As we got off the jeep, a group of 5 Rotarians arrived to greet us am immediately separated our group of 10 into the 4 cars they were driving to take us on a trip to the Southern part of Mahe, where they said we can have a day of swimming, snorkeling, eating local foods, and just relaxing. Huge smiles emerged on everyone’s faces as we got into the cars and immediately felt right at home with our gracious hosts. Being a Rotarian myself and having a father who has been one for many years, I was not surprised by their warm welcome. However, our students were deeply touched.
Our student coordinator chose a diverse group of students from: Germany, Morocco, Ghana, The US, Mexico and Canada to come to this activity and by that had allowed our hosts to get a real glimpse as to the global spirit of our Scholar Ship. On our hosts’ side, we learned how diverse the population of the Seychelles is, with our hosts coming from Chinese, African, Indian and Zimbabwe roots.
Driving along the winding road by the ocean, we ooh’ed and ah’ed as the turquoise beaches unveiled themselves on one side of it while the green mountains rose on the other side. As it was Sunday morning, we passed small townships and many people strolling in the narrow streets. Some of them where barbequing on the beach with local island music playing in the background in the Seychelles 3 languages: English, French and Creole (our hosts were chatting away to us in English while switching to the other two when speaking among themselves).
When we got to our destination at “Chez Batista’s”, we discovered a beautiful little compound on a secluded beach of an outside bar/restaurant with several bungalows. We all ran to the inviting water as our hosts watched with amusement our sheer delight in washing off the previous weeks’ experiences. The students were laughing and frolicking in the water while I swam and swam as far as I could until I could just float and look at the sky saying silently to myself, “I am so lucky…”
At lunch time, we were treated to a sumptuous buffet of local Island fair from sword fish, to octopus curry, red snapper grill, shredded mango salad, pumpkin salad, bread fruit in caramel sauce, and many many others. We shamelessly went back for more and sat down looking at the water and enjoying a lively chat with our hosts. We learned the story of the place as it was described by the brochure we got (note the English being used):
“In 1984 Mr. Batista Horter started work as a beach boy on AnseTakamaka. Eventuel he only fished for his own, before more and more guests on the beach were frequenting his “private BBQ Grill.” In no time at all the guests were sitting under a sunshade enjoying his fish and coconut drinks. Salat and garlic bred were added to the menue and out of this humble grill a small restaurant was born. Italian guests named the restaurant “Batista” and peu a peu, Batista was a “secret Tip” on Mahe island. Today Batista is considered the number one seafood restaurant on Mahe. Chez Batista’s beach, one of the best on the island, is renowned for great swimming and snorkeling. On some days, the coral banks and colorful fishes are host to distinguished “special guests”, such as Sea Turtles and Dolphins.”
After our lunch, the hosts took out several masks, snorkels and fins and took us on an underwater tour of the coral reef just further a bit from where we ate, by a collection of volcanic rocks dominating one side of the beach. Mid way, when I asked one of the hosts how much time do we have left, the answer was: “As long as you need… we have all the time in the world for you…” Did I mention this was paradise???
Eventually we got back in the cars and were driven to another beach where two of our hors wanted to show us the latest posh resort they helped build on the Island, the Maya Resort. Since the entry to it is fully restricted due to its exclusive status, we came from the beach side (there are no private beaches on the Island) to gawk at the beautiful villas built with volcanic black stone and grass roofs, all with private pools, outside dining patios and beautiful waterfalls amongst them. “This is the life of the rich and famous,” was the sentence I kept hearing in my head as we sneaked a peak. Did I mention that the Seychelles is a place so expensive that a can of coke in a discount store costs $1.5?...
We were whisked away through the inland road to the famous Mission Ruins on top of Morne Seychelles. As we drove through the national park, the hot temperatures of the beach were replaced with cooler ones and a nice mountain breeze. We were watching in wonder as the road climbing to the peak passed by tall trees surrounded by thick vegetation. The Seychelles have a population of only 80,000 with 60,000 residing on the main island. There are almost 100 islands in the archipelago, which makes the Seychelles a global natural treasure.
Standing in the Mission’s monument area (the mission was a school built by missionaries to educate the sons of freed slaves. The Seychelles was at one time a major hub for African slave trading) looking at the beauty everywhere, our hosts sheepishly admitted that they feel very fortunate to live amongst all this serene beauty. By the way, it is very difficult to become a resident of the islands. Many laborers from India, The Philippines and Madagascar work on the islands in the hospitality, construction and tuna canning industries. None of them can remain on the Island. They earn about $250 a month and live in special quarters supplied by their employers. A foreigner cannot buy property on the island either, even though we were told that there have been some major real estate deals by Russians and Arabs from the Emirates in Mahe.
We invited our hosts to come on board the ship on the following evening so we can thank them for all their wonderful hospitality. We were happy when they took us upon our invitation and came to have dinner with us and take a tour of the vessel. It was our turn this time to be proud in our environment and chuckle at the comments: “How do we come and live with you guys?”…

Women Business Leaders in India - Another Study in Contrasts?

2008-02-16T05:30:00.002-08:00

I did not expect to have an opportunity to meet so many remarkable women in India who embody the traditions of their country together with a sense of extreme confidence and belief in the important part they play in India’s future. They were all, by the way, wearing traditional saris and projected a great sense of pride in their heritage.
Of course it all started with Dr. Indira, the English professor at the university, who despite her age and fragile frame sounded ferocious and was so very articulate.
Next we met Sinduri who is the granddaughter of Dr. Reddy. She is a very confident young lady who took over this “backend services” business and transformed it from being only a service for Apollo hospitals to one that is expanding to other hospitals as well as new markets. She told us that having family connections is not always an advantage in India yet she feels is part of a growing trend of women entrepreneurs in India. He poise and ease of talking to our students was apparent.
The woman that met us at IBM Daksh, Veenaa Santhanam was the assistant manager of business development. She kept the IBM presentation flowing like a conductor, bringing in people from various departments to talk to us while also managing to maneuver us throughout their facilities without breaking any security protocol all while maintaining a constant flow of information. She answered all of our question patiently and when she did not have an answer, she brought in someone to help. Her efficient manner was a testimonial to the caliber of people employed at her facility.
At Xansa, a company that was started by a group of freelance women working from their homes in the 60’s, we were greeted by Vijayalakshmi Sankar, the delivery director of the company. She took her time to talk to us about the role of women in business and how she has stayed in her company for 9 years because they have treated her right and let her work from home, when she needs to. The call centers we visited all stressed the fact that they provide transportation to and from work and escort women to make sure they are safe. (A lot of the media has been recently preoccupied with the law suit against HP brought as a result of one of their women employees being assaulted and murdered coming home from her night shift). She told us that since 2000, more women are earning more than their husbands and some families are even starting to accept having to move for a woman’s career.
Typically 45 to 50% of call centers’ employees are women. Many did not use to stay in the companies beyond their marriage or left after having their first child. However, companies such as IBM are pushing more women towards management and have 25% women among their leaders.
Finally, BioCon, the biotech company we visited in Bangalore, was established by Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw who still serves as its chairman (no “chairperson” here). She is a first generation entrepreneur who was awarded India’s highest civilian award for her pioneering efforts in biotechnology in 2005. She started the company 25 years ago with only $2500 and up until recently took no outside funding! Her unique vision has steered BioCon’s transition from an enzymes company to an integrated biopharmaceutical company with strategic research initiatives. Most recently, she has been invited to join the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade & Industry in India. She holds 39% of the shares of her company and the rest in traded on the Mumbai stock exchange. She believes that in 5 years her company will be traded on Nasdaq.
Overall there are only 15% women managers in BioCon and 25% working in R&D. Yet at the lower levels, 49% of the employees are women. This is a high number for India which the company is very proud of.
As I scanned the February 18th issue of India Today, I noticed an article covering a recent survey of youth in India. The caption read: “Family is the defining motif in the fabric of urban Indian youth, more so for women, who look up to their parents and seek solace in their men.” The article calls that “selective modernity” – women in India do want change, but only within the paradigm.

Crossing the Equator - An Initiation...(pictures to come)

2008-02-16T01:57:00.000-08:00

Today we crossed the equator. This is a letter we found in the wee hours of the morning under our doors:
To The Puny Scholar Ship ,
This pathetic little vessel, with its passengers and crew of global nomads and vagabonds has dared to cross into my dominion without my permission. This displeases me.
You will halt your progression into my realm immediately – your failure to acknowledge me at the Equator was inexcusable. Further, you will assemble this Pollywog filth for my royal inspection. I will board your ancient and slow little wreck and, with my queen and a company of my most trusted Shellbacks, begin the process of deciding who is fit to remain. I doubt many are up to our Royal standards!
Those my queen or I do not feel are worthy of the title of ‘Shellback’ will be immediately cast overboard where they will most certainly drown, their meager remains food for my pet shark, Tilly.
I challenge you, puny humans, to disobey me! A storm the likes of which you have never seen will befall you. Your leaking old tin can, with its tacky interiors and rusting sides, will shudder and rend under my fury! You will pay dearly should you do not do as I command. You are warned!
Signed,
His Eternal Majesty
Neptunus Rex
Ruler of All The Seas
Emperor of All That is Beneath
Lord of the Most Trusted Shellbacks

Our executive director sent us a memo stating:
“We, the certified Shellbacks, those who have previously crossed the equator at sea, have been ordered by His Eternal Majesty to assist him and His Royal Court in initiating and certifying those Pollywogs onboard to become Shellbacks. “
So at exactly 12:30, while we were eating our lunch, a real ruckus began at the end of the dining hall and sure enough, there was King Naptune and his Royal entourage proceeded by our vessel’s crew hitting drums and using their whistles to alert us to all get up and go on deck immediately!

As we quickly changed into bathing suits or cloths-that-can-get-wet, we ran behind the procession to the deck where were suddenly surrounded by all the OTHER Shellbacks drumming on tribal drums accompanied by their pirate king ghost…

Slowly we climbed the stairs to the upper deck as we chatted nervously among ourselves…”what shall we do? what shall we do…”

I was one of the brave souls who ventured forward, proceeded towards the Royal seat by the pool and…SPLASH! Someone had poured a bucket full of fowl smelling white liquid on my head that smelled awfully like rotten fish! Ouch!!!! THEN I was sprayed ferociously by a fire hose with salty ocean water, AND – forced to kiss a HUGE dead fish!!!!!!!!!!!! With my eyes barely open and the taste and smell of dead fish fresh in my mind, hacking and coughing, I was led to the His Highness and had to KISS his ring!!! How dare they????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND to top it all, they put a color sign on my forehead and made me sign some certificate that could have been my death warrant! What a scandal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blindly I climbed the stairs to the deck pool and jumped in, hoping to get some relief only to find the water smelling further of dead fish………..YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dripping wet, I look over and saw all the staff and students of the TSS marching up the stairs… the poor bastards did not know what awaited them! Heh, heh, heh…….

So there you have it. We are now certified Shellbacks!

I hear that some of us did not dare join the ceremony and could very well be on their way into the bottom of the ocean……………………………

The Scholar Ship Hunger Banquet and Creative Capitalism

2008-02-15T22:26:00.001-08:00

From a Hunger Presentation made on the Scholarship following the Hunger Banquet
 Over 2 billion people are now living in poverty (<$2/day) and over 1 billion in ‘utter poverty’ live with hunger (< $1/day)

 Worldwide, out of a population of 5.5 billion, 840 million people live with chronic hunger

 Three dimensions of hunger
 Insufficient availability of food
 Shortfalls in the nutritional status of children
 Child mortality, attributable to under-nutrition

 90 percent of the world’s undernourished children live in just 36 countries, notably low- and middle-income countries, which has resulted in mortality and overall disease burden

 8.8 million people die of hunger-related causes each year

 More than 3.5 million mothers and children under 5 die unnecessarily due to under-nutrition and millions more are permanently disabled by the physical and mental effects of a poor dietary intake in the earliest months of life

 10% of these deaths can be attributed to emergencies (e.g. war or catastrophic weather)
 Most hunger deaths are due to:
 Chronic malnutrition caused by inequitable distribution
 Inefficient use of existing food resources
 Micronutrient deficiencies and/or common infectious diseases, such as diarrhea

January 24, 2008, World Economic Forum Davos, Switzerland: Excerpts from Remarks by Bill Gates, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation:

“The great advances in the world have often aggravated the inequities in the world. The least needy see the most improvement, and the most needy see the least—in particular the billion people who live on less than a dollar a day.
There are roughly a billion people in the world who don't get enough food, who don't have clean drinking water, who don't have electricity, the things that we take for granted."

" Why do people benefit in inverse proportion to their need?
Market incentives make that happen.
In a system of pure capitalism, as people's wealth rises, the financial incentive to serve them rises. As their wealth falls, the financial incentive to serve them falls—until it becomes zero. We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well."

" I like to call this new system creative capitalism—an approach where governments, businesses, and nonprofits work together to stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or gain recognition, doing work that eases the world's inequities...What unifies all forms of creative capitalism is that they’re market-driven efforts to bring solutions we take for granted to people who can't get them. As we refine and improve this approach, there is every reason to believe these engines of change will become larger, stronger, and more efficient."

"We are living in a phenomenal age. If we can spend the early decades of the 21st century finding approaches that meet the needs of the poor in ways that generate profits and recognition for business, we will have found a sustainable way to reduce poverty in the world. This task is open-ended. It can never be finished. But a passionate effort to answer this challenge will help change the world.”

Apollo Hospitals - A True Manifestation of Indian Ingenuity

2008-02-15T22:21:00.000-08:00

As we docked in India, we all rushed to the local Mall to try and get some shopping done before we had to go on our field trip with the students. I, as usual, went to the book store and picked up the local business journal called “Business India”, among others. On the cover of the magazine was the photograph of the chairman of Apollo Hospitals, Dr. Reddy with the caption: “Going Global after 25 years in health service.” How appropriate, I thought. The next day we were going to a meeting organized by the COO of Apollo Hospitals as part of their monthly meetyou.com chapter get together.
As we navigated, the next day, the very congested and busy streets of Chennai, I reminded the students of the copy of the article I gave them that morning so they can scan it before we got to our meeting. I felt the article was a great testament to the creative forces propelling India into a world leader in the area of globalization. The students, however, needed to take an actual look at the company’s main building to believe some of the words, since the route to our destination was froth with the typical scenery of Chennai of so many vehicles amongst droves of people, many of whom were clearly very poor. India, as we learned very quickly, is a study of contrasts. ..
The building we entered was like any other modern building yet in nestled not in a fancy office complex but rather in the midst what seemed to be an old non-descript part of town. Walking inside, however, we were taken to a beautiful conference room and greeted by a young man who introduced himself as, Dr. C.J. Vetrievel, the COO of the company. He projected an aura of ease and confidence that put us all at ease, despite the fact that we were late and the people we were supposed to meet from the ‘meetyou’ group were late too.
Apollo Group’s prospects are considered excellent by many analysts. Citigroup even put out a report a few months ago saying that “Apollo’s superiority in a growing sector with high entry barriers calls for premium valuations.” The founder of Apollo started the company 25 years ago. He is now 75 years old and his 4 daughters have been designated as the team to take over the group’s future. He said in the article: “I have been telling the government healthcare should be made into a priority sector. If that happens, the industry will witness an explosive growth within a couple of years.”
In the article he also talks about an exciting new project that is typical of Apollo’s pioneer spirit. In March of last year, they have entered into a partnership with IBM to set up a giant repository of health-related information to which every doctor in the country would eventually have access. Already 80-90 people based in Chennai are working full time on this project. The first phase, in which 100 hospitals and 1000 doctors would be linked with each other, is expected to become operational in the next 3 months. This will then be scaled up ten-fold during the rest of this year! The project aims to improve healthcare services, map disease patterns and alert the medical establishment about emerging problem areas. Even at an individual level, doctors would be able to make more informed decisions than they do at present. “The superhighway would function as a separate company in which Apollo would clearly have an important role to play.”
The COO wanted to focus his presentation on medical tourism. Apollo has recently hired a high executive away from HCA in the US to seek international investors as well as develop a customer base for Apollo in the United States by appealing to labor unions.
Currently medical tourism is associated mainly with Thailand and covers mostly plastic surgery. India is targeting countries such as the UK for all medical procedures. The UK government, Dr. C.J. told us, Can no longer support the UK’s health care needs that have exceeded $160 billion. Britons are still experiencing long queues in an ineffectual system. So now they are seeking an alternative with an emphasis on quality care. Thailand and India are well suited to meet a demand such as that because in a highly capital intensive industry, their people were able to absorb the technology and learn it quickly. Doctors’ soft skills are there and also many Indian doctors are willing to come back home from the UK and the US.
Currently Thailand and India are offering 15 days medical tourism packages that include 7 days of hospital care and 7 days of vacation all in one package! Pre and post links with home doctors have been established and tele-medicine plays an important role with the use of videoconferencing and the Internet.
Apollo has 4 hospitals that receive overseas patients. Chennai is a heart center with 150 foreigners coming there a month for treatment. The UK is highly supportive of medical tourism since it started developing a hybrid health care system of private and public systems working together.

Vanletine's Day on the Ship - Oh my, Oh My...

2008-02-15T22:18:00.000-08:00

From a Janaury 17th Time Magazine article on "The Science of Romance":
"Human beings make a terrible fuss about a lot of things but none more than romance. Eating and drinking are just as important for keeping the species going--more so actually, since a celibate person can at least continue living but a starving person can't. Yet while we may build whole institutions around the simple ritual of eating, it never turns us flat-out nuts. Romance does."
We started the day having to attend an emergency meeting concerning the possible spread of the Norwalk Virus among our community. The virus was brought on board the ship from India and was now spreading. As we were told how we should work hard to contain it, I joked to the students and said “stop having sex!”…
Feeling somber, we proceeded that evening to the dining hall only to be met with a dazzling array of sweets the chef has prepared for as a Valentine’s Day celebration. The students squealed with joy as they witnessed the piles of cakes and chocolate treats and the buckets of ice cream. They went on to pile up their plates and forgot right away about any possible stomach aches that may signal they may have contracted the virus.
As we stuffed ourselves with chocolate, the conversation at each table turned to the party we were having that night. As faculty, we were a bit reluctant initially to go into a students’ party, but then we decided we wanted to join them and, especially, see how they will get dressed! And we were no disappointed…
The students started coming into their student lounge in their finest cloths – boys in suits and girls in sexy dresses - and the place changed into a hip club with pulsating music and many of us on the dance floor.
In the midst of drinking Champaign and trying to keep up with the students’ dancing (lots of salsa mixed with hip-hop), two of our colleagues – Kirsten and Giovanni (The German and Italian lovers from Australia) decided to announce to their students their upcoming wedding. What a reaction! As the students hooted and hollered their encouragement, the shy couple invited them all to become part of the celebration by contributing to the planning of the whole event (I, of course, have already volunteered to lead the Bachelorette party once we get to Cape Town…).
We have truly become a big family!

University of Madras School of Commerce Lecture - or - The "Sudden" Rise of India's Economy

2008-02-15T21:07:00.001-08:00

We met with a professor in a conference room where he proceeded to give us a complete 45 minutes lecture with no notes and no interruptions. The students had a bit of a hard time listening to his elaborate analysis with no accompanying power point slides or handouts. He only allowed them to ask questions at the end, so we all tried their best to write down what he said and do the thinking after he finished. Yet, his lecture was very informative and gave an excellent overview that was critical to the understanding of all the next meetings we were going to have.

Professor Ranganatham talked to us about the change process to globalization that India has been undergoing since the beginning of the 90’s. He explained that in ’91 to ’92 a major reform took place in the country’s economy. Previously there was not a major process of change in the country. What triggered this important event was that several major events took place in those 2 years:
1) The Soviet Union, who was a major ally of India, has crumbled which caused a tremendous change in Eastern Europe. India had to start looking for new partners, especially trade partners.
2) India’s foreign exchange position reached a negative balance in ’89-’90 and the country had to borrow money against its gold reserves from the Bank of England in order to continue to run the country.
3) India had borrowed $5 billion from the IMF and was in no position to pay it back at that time, which necessitated an economic reform to take place
4) There was greater emphasis until that time on the public sector that controlled all private initiatives. The 4-5 trillion rupees the government was spending yielded not even a 3-4% ROI. So the manufacturing sector (that was controlled by the government) , for example, was totally failing.
5)
In 1989 Peter Drucker came to Bangalore (where 10,000 people came to hear him speak) sponsored by India’s premier watch making company. The question was asked why should a government-owned watch maker who has been only accumulating losses continue to be a leader in the country? Why should India continue to operate like that? This event made it clear that the country was in dire need of economic reform, which Drucker made a call for.

As a result, a push for economic reform has gotten off the ground which is still ongoing today. Here are some of the key areas of that reform:

I. The legal framework has undergone tremendous change in the last 15 years. All along the economy was labeled as a “controlled” one. There was no freedom for any economic activity. So that is why the reform started with the legal system. Private enterprises had ceilings for capital investments, for example. The law was Draconian, so the government diluted the MIT Act so they can re-state the economic engine. Only the “unfair trade” practices remained. FERA was the second foreign exchange. For everything you needed to be regulated by the government so no partnerships and FDI could take place. Now the Act is called “Foreign Exchange Management Act” and the government can only interfere if there is a breaking of the law. The Ministry of Company Affairs has a CCI that used to decide how much dividend can be paid from companies, what should be the value of the financial investments, etc. Now it all of this is abolished! Companies can raise capital, sell stocks as they please. The legal framework was a major impediment to India’s economic development! Now finally all private enterprises have the freedom to operate as they wish.
II. Capital markets and financial sectors have been formed as well. New institutions were established to regulate the market, like the Security Exchange Board of India. The manner in which capital issues are traded – a few individuals were controlling it but now it is more transparent. Stock exchange in Mumbai has introduced a scripless, ringless and security deposit risk. National security repository has been established and it is fully electronic so all stock exchanges are inter-linked and you can settle transactions instantly. Investors can verify stocks’ real value, so you have full transparency! India now has: VC funds, mutual funds were also expanded considerably. Stock brokerages are no longer held by individuals or families. Now they have corporations and foreign ones can also participate. FII’s are coming in a big way!
III. The insurance sector is also undergoing a reform with pension funds already being privatized. However, no life and general insurance have been privatized yet. The banking sector is privatized now and foreign banks are expanding.
IV. Stock investment instruments have been introduced which are given to banks as a guarantee so the investors do not need to provide “free income” to companies like before. Also, triple options bonds have been introduced into the market.
V. Exports have gone up and revenues of outsourcing have gone up as well but other sectors are NOT doing as well, like, manufacturing, agribusiness and so on.

VI. WTO disputes are huge still! Even though developing countries talk about transparencies, they are still to bring it into their own countries. They protect their own interests. If a trade dispute goes to WTO, many countries cannot face the resources to fight and have no legal way to do this.

VII. Intellectual property rights are a challenge in a country like India where word of mouth is the tradition so there is no way to establish the ownership of knowledge. For example, there is patent dispute right now based on a 1986 article published about a scientific breakthrough that has documented knowledge that has been around the scientific community in India for centuries but with no written records! WTO is currently helping India streamline its patent laws.

VIII. Developing countries are still finding it difficult to find fair treatment in international organizations. However, having negotiations is a good sign because it helps India reach its own consensus base. The most helpful are regional bodies.

IX. Despite all of this progress, there is still a great sense of helplessness in the country since it is very difficult to fight the government. In order to participate in the process, a new Act has been introduced so by paying less than 40 cents, any citizen of the country can now seek ANY information from ANY public institution!

X. Yet 25% of the population is still very poor (note: that number, by the way, keeps fluctuating between 70% to 20% based on whom we talked to) nad public opinion needs to be more mobilized.

We ended up by getting to ask some questions, some which centered on the companies we were going to visit who represented the outsourcing trend to India. And he is what he said:

“The youth of India think that outsourcing is a gift given to them. There is a huge movement in favor of creating BPO’s and Call Centers. This introduced work shift systems and forced women to work at night. Therefore the initial attractiveness is now lost. Most young people consider this industry as a short term employment only. Since no unions are allowed, employees have no protection and there is a lot of stress in that working environment (note: in our coming visits we learned what Indian companies are doing to combat that). With young people working in that industry the power has shifted in their families form the parents to the children. This represents a HUGE social change. Marriages are being postponed and young people’s time stay in the family is reduced. As a result of this, call centers are now moving to smaller towns in search of capable people who are willing to work in the industry.” He told us that he feels China can outbid India on many jobs in the next 10 years unless the political parties learn how to accept the globalization is irreversible.”

He also talked in general about India’s seemingly lead in IT know-how: “ The IT and IT services sector is perceived to be doing great in India but the administration is not fully ready for it. It is NOT part of India’s industry and government yet. Services need to be improved and lots of inefficiencies eliminated. The domestic market has not been tapped. There is a lot of work to be done. But at the university, we have introduced distance learning and this weekend have a number of representatives from African universities coming our university to discuss how they can access courses we are offering online. Laos, there is now a reversal of India’s “brain drain” with many IT people coming back to the country, which is a good sign”

He concluded by answering a question about entrepreneurship in India. He said that in his opinion entrepreneurship initiatives should not come from the government. Just providing training to people is not enough to make them successful as entrepreneurs. Banks are investing in providing training to those they lend money to for opening a new business, the government has training institutes in all states and all major universities have programs in entrepreneurship. Yet the rate of success in the country is less than 14%. “Business sense is NOT found in all students. Very few of them even show an interest in the stock market. “

India's Amazing Leaders: S.K. Venkataraman – CFO, Apollo Group

2008-02-13T23:02:00.000-08:00

Mr. Venkataraman came onboard the Scholarship to give us a lecture of Apollo and the Indian Healthcare industry and surprised us by actually giving us 2 lectures – one as a CFO and one as an emerging philosopher/spiritual leader. The combination of the two has left us speechless but in a way summed up the power of India as a nation. The leaders that we met seem to be on a mission greater than themselves and view much of their success in a multi-dimensional manner. Their religious and cultural upbringing in inter-woven into everything they do. Mr. Venkataraman is 48 years old and even though he talks and thinks of money all day long, he said to the students:”Money you make as a consequence of other things. There must be other layers in your life!”

The following are my notes on the 1st lecture concerning India’s healthcare industry and Apollo’s place in it:
Healthcare in India is a $28 to $35 billion industry and accounts for only 5% of GDP (vs. the US which is 13%). The industry is completely fragmented. Many hospitals are run by doctors, not professionals. The doctors tend to sell the hospitals for profit to investors who rarely care about improving the overall system. As a result, India’s healthcare system is still in the 15th century! So the private sector is left to take the initiative to fix the whole system.

Apollo deals with 15% of the Indian market as whole, providing mostly low frequency, high risk, tertiary care. This make their services highly capital intensive; depending on land and buildings as well as new equipment (that cannot be more than 5 years old!).

50% to 60% of people who come to Apollo hospitals pay out of their own pocket. Insurance coverage is less than 1% of the market! Many sell their homes to seek treatment. Most of the public in India does NOT have access to healthcare just like most of the population does not have access to toilets and clean water (he claims that it is 70% of the population, which negates much of the official data we got about India).

For Apollo to set up an hospital, it costs $100,000 per bed (vs. $1 million in the US) and the patient gets charged $200 per day for that bed. This has become a main catalyst for Medical Tourism. It represents 1/8th of the cost in the US, 1/5th of the cost in the UK, ½ of the cost in Thailand, and 1/3rd of the cost in Singapore. 20% of Apollo hospitals’ revenue now comes from exporting medical services. Yet most of their “medical tourists” are from the Middle East and Bangladesh. They are also getting involved in tele-medicine especially in radiology, when the diagnosis is co-authored with a radiologist in theUS.

Another revenue source is pharmaceuticals. The CFO claims that over 1/3rd of the drugs in India are fake, but Apollo is known for being a reliable source of drugs so they have built their business to over 600 drugstores around India. India, he told us, has a large pharmaceutical industry that supplies generic drugs at a fraction of the cost. Apollo also gets very good discounts when buying drugs for their pharmacies, so they have no problems staying competitive in that market as well as very attractive to overseas visitors!

As far as purchasing their medical equipment, they deal with the 4 major suppliers in the world who have special pricing for India, so they have no problem getting the equipment they need for their hospitals.
One of the businesses they are promoting is medical insurance but the problem is that of access. With most of the population being illiterate or semi-literate, they do not understand that they should demand healthcare as a fundamental civil right (like in Western countries).

Apollo is working with hospitals chains, like Tenant in the US, exchanging training and knowhow. However, due to the weakness of the dollar, there has not been a foreign direct investment from them. India now allows 100% FDI in hospitals, and the opportunity is vast since the healthcare system currently resembles the one in the US in the 20’s and 30’s.

Apollo has strong relationships with hospitals in Cuba and Brazil. They also started offering consulting services to lesser developed countries, like Nigeria. They have currently 30 consultants and their services contribute 2% to the total revenues of Apollo. Their expertise is in marrying technology with commerce. When they undertake a consulting project, they usually share in the hospital’s profit and sometimes leave people to run the place for a longer term.

The speaker made a strong statement about the future of India. He said: “We have some of the best skills and minds in the world!” India is seeing a developing trend of professionals, such as doctors, returning to the country. A take-home of a doctor in India, he told us, is higher than the US and the same is happening in IT. So the financial incentives are now there for those people to come back. “There is a comfort in crowds,” he smiled. “We are 1/6th of the world population!”

Finally he told us that there is a big gap in education of hospital administration and management and Apollo is addressing it by setting up their own schools. The problem is that the majority of the population has still to perceive hospital administration as a good career, but that will come. “We are the pioneers,” he concluded, “Someone else will get the credit…”

Second Presentation: Corporate Yoga

The Supreme Lord is situated in
Everyone’s heart, O Arjuna, and is
Directing the wanderings of all living
Entities, who are seated as on a machine,
Made of the material energy

Man had invented religion. God is in all our own hearts. The longest journey that you will take in your life is from your head to your heart…

The last thing we ever want to learn is about ourselves. What are you? Take time to mediate daily. Spend time with yourself. We always want to fill our lives with activities…
Objectives to Realize:
• Take time out from daily life (sit still for 30 minutes a day and you will find the answers within you)
• Introspect
• Instill a senses of Balance
• Get in touch with yourself
• What are you doing REALLY?
• Get a little rest in the “dressing room”
• Demystify spiritually and remove the veil
• Corporate are countries/kingdoms today

Why can’t we relate to each other when there is only one world or one consciousness? Why can’t we go beyond ourselves INTO ourselves and learn that we’re all the same?

Reflect a bit on your past:
• Birth
• Schooling
• Childhood ambitions
• College – changing goals
• Job – first, second…
• Marriage, children
• Where are you now?

Our thinking levels are very low. We need proof that things exist, even love!

Fundamental Relationships:
• GOD or SELF or ABSOLUTE
• Relatives
• Work
• “From the sweat of the brow shall you earn…”
Knowledge:
• Belief – we act from our beliefs not from knowledge
• Understanding – a man is his understanding!
• Impressions – we are living in a world of illusions
• The limitation of our six senses – what you are experiencing is coming from you; faulty equipment leads to faulty conclusions
• Where do thoughts originate – do you own your thoughts?
• The mind too is an organ – it catches thoughts that are beamed to us universally

Just once a day, clean up your thoughts! You may be catching the wrong ones!
Centers of Existences:
• Physical/intuitive
• Emotional
• Intellectual
• Several personalities within us…
• Automatic existence
• Several realities simultaneously exist!
• Time and space can be destroyed at will
• The world, you and God all exist at once

We are all victim of inertia. How do we make my existence as alive as possible so it will not be only a memory or just become a ritual?

Balance:
• As important a concept as gravity
• Equilibrium is an important necessity for dynamic systems
• Consequences of imbalance?
• Mental balance – the key to life!
• The ripples of imbalance throughout society
• Seek balance in – money, work, relationships, exercise, food, boss, subordinate

Leaders should act as centers of balance!

Mr. Venkataraman summed it all up by telling us that he is building a website devoted to “Corporate Yoga” and invited the students to participate if they believed that what he said had merit. “There are 30 of you. If you really believe in this, you can make it 300,000…” he said.

India and Trains - and - What is the difference between India and China?

2008-02-09T23:58:00.000-08:00

In a recent book published by Viking called:"How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours", Tarun Khanna writes:

"Indian railway carriages are still routinely crowded with two to three times as many passengers as they are meant to carry, making every arrival and departure a stampede of hundreds of people; a massive surging sea of humanity josling to find their place and bags in the caboos..."

He goes on to compare trains in China and India: "Sleek, efficient, immaculate, and orderly were adjectives that immediately came to mind during my first high speed train ride from Shanghai airport to Pudong...The Nanjing Station resembles a modern airport, not the New Delhi like higgly-piggledy of human activity... Nanjing's modern escalators are in sharp contrast to the dilapidated stairs, often crowded with beggars, that one is forced to climb in New Delhi."

His concludes with the exact thoughts I now have in mind: "Whereas order, harmony and hierarchy have been the constant goals of the Chinese state, India has a proud tradition of pluralism, dissent, and debate. Anyone seeking to engage in a dialoge with these countries must undestand the fundamentally different ideologies and political antecedents of their current practices. They are deep seated and long lived."

While we missed the opportunity to ride the Maglev train in China, we did have a chance to ride the super new and modern Skytrain as well as the subway in Bangkok. And I almost wished we never did it before we undertook our train ride in India...

We took the night train from Chennai to Bangalore leaving around midnight and arriving early at about 5:30 AM, repeating the same trip on the way back. When we arrived to the train station in our bus, the bus driver told us to stay on the bus and wait till he goes to check and see whether the train is in the terminal before we can leave the bus and enter the station (we, of course, did not know why he did that). As we joked about what lay ahead (who will be sleeping in what compartment and with whom), we were given the signal to hurry up and start walking toward the station and the train's platform.

As we entered the station, we felt like we walked into a strange movie scene... everything felt beyond real -- the bodies of people sleeping on the floor in every corner, the terrible smells, the dirty surrounding were a shock. The guide kept pushing us to move fast so we will not be able to look around too much or be approached by the beggars and lepers around. As we half ran with our backbacks facing the front, for fear of thieves, some of the students tried to take pictures mumbling "this is ubelievable, unbelievable..."

Once we found our compartment, we realized we will be sleeping in groups of 8 with people in 3 or 3 bunks above each other (just like in a prison cell). We were given what seemed to be clean sheets and a wool blanket. As the students sat on the bunks trying to absorb their new environement, we kept being reminded by our Indian guide to keep our backpacks under our heads and guard our possessions very closely. Trip to the toilet were a test in holding your breadth so many of us avoided them. As some of our girl students discovered cockroaches crowling out of corners, they began screaming but later on were told that if they turned off the lights and took no food out, they should be bale to avoid them... Needless to say, have AC in the compartment was the only perk... Once everyone fell asleep, I tossed and turned on the small bunk bed getting up every hour to check on the safety of the students. Luckily they were all sleeping and I finally dosed off for an hour.

As the train screeched to a halt in Bangalore, we rubbed our eyes and sleepily walked out only to be, once again, assaulted by the horrible sights and smells of the train station. As we hurried to our awaiting buses, the students started reassuring each other: "that wasn't so bad, was it..."

By the time our field day was over and we got back to another station in Bangalore for the trip home, the mood was less optimistic. Some of the students expressed dread of having to go through the whole thing again. I was somewhat relieved when they ended up being so tired, that they all fell asleep quickly, allowing me to finally grab a couple of hours of sleep...

The final test was arriving to the station in Chennai at 5:00 and having to walk the length of the platform through hundreds of people who were just waking up from sleeping everywhere they could in the midst of filth as stray dogs were wondering around looking for food. Wearily we all eyed them with ah eavy heart. We have just retuned from visiting the gleeming headquarters of some companies in Bangalore, ate a decent meal at a small hotel there and had a nice bus awaiting to take us to our cruise ship... I felt like an alien returning to the mother space ship...

Randon pictures from Chennai

2008-02-09T03:47:00.001-08:00

Madras University - An Unusual Introduction

2008-02-08T21:59:00.000-08:00

As we climbed the stairs to the conference room we were allocated, our eyes tried to avoid the sight of broken doors, rooms flooded with reams of paper, filthy toilets and dying plants in an inner court surrounded by walls with peeling paint. Once our hosts realized our group was too big to fit into their relatively modern conference room, we were ushered into a large lecture room where we were warmly welcomed by 2 professors from the university - the director of the International Center (a tiny elderly woman named Dr. Indira) and the director of the newly formed Gandhi Center for Peace and Conflict Result ion (our official host institution).

Dr. Indira proceeded in perfect British English to tell us about the school and interject her strong opinions as to the rapid changes taking place in it. The students were informed that in spite of what they have seen the university is considered one of the finest while struggling to maintain its stature due to lack of government funding (mostly being directed now at schools of engineering and technology where the biggest job growth is occurring). Quoting from Shakespeare's critic, Sir Johnson, she talked about "Quibble" having a great place at a university and something that is also, she notes, that our Scholarship represents.

The university, she told us, is relatively new, having been established in 1857 and modelled after London University as a liberal arts and science school. Everything was copied from the British, even the exam questions!

In the mid 70's the university was changed to a teaching and research school and graduate studies were offered. Further changes took place in the mid 90's when the university introduced the American credit system and the university was detached from its British heritage. That led to a bigger emphasis on political science, for example, than philosophy and literature (an important point to her, since she is an English professor!). For the first time professors got to know each other since the new system encouraged an inter-disciplinary approach to education. However, lots of confusion entered into the system as well. She called this "a revolution in the Indian education system."

In the year 2000, the international centers were created and she was put in charge of one of them. The university is striving to not only bring in more international students and scholars, but allow their own staff and students to go abroad. She herself has been a Fulbright visiting scholar twice.

At this point, once done with the "official introduction", this little woman started voicing her opinion on various subjects. Her first controversial comment was on how the revolutions in higher education as well as in industry in her country represent "the new colonialization of India". She talked about how India's new Finance minister who is presiding over India's tremendous industrial growth has deemed universities such as this one as creating "unemployable students". In her particular fiend of English, she claims that new attempts to introduced "soft skills" into the curriculum (a term we have heard over and over again at the various businesses we visited as core to their training)which now include "spoken English" and "foreign language acquisition."

The streets of all cities in India are now full with private institutions that are "industry friendly" that pose a great threat to her English department. Her conclusion was that "government policies are rosy, but implementation us very very hard." (This notion of India instituting many new policies at once in order to reform the country while having a difficult time following up with implementation is a very common theme among scholars and industry leaders).

Students and industry members have entered the board rooms of universities to help them "catch up" with modern time, she told us. Yet, the American notion of student appraisals, all based on American criteria, has scared some of the teachers. She herself did not feel comfortable knowing that students are asked about their professors' efficient use of technology since she dos to use any in her classes..."So I improvise, and my students luckily understand," she said with a big smile.

She then went on to blast the "Commercialization of Education" where scientists at the university have found a market for their knowledge while liberal arts professors have become "second class citizens"... But in the case of the English department, one thing that has kept them popular is the fact that knowing English well is "an elitist badge" and 90% of students see English as a "mobility ticket". Yet they want to learn "international English" and not the English she was trained to use and teach. And since the educational system has been liberalized, the universities now have "different" students than before, so she has become a minority...

As Dr. Indira (whose name means appropriately "thunder"), bid us - "migratory birds" as she called us - goodbye, I wanted to hug her... After 32 years of teaching under very difficult circumstances, she is still a fighter :)

Chennai and Education; The University of Madras

2008-02-08T21:50:00.000-08:00

Schools in Chennai are either run publicly by the Tamil Nadu government, or run privately, some with financial aid from the government. The medium of education in private schools is English. Government run schools offer both English and Tamil medium education, English being preferred by a majority.

The prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras (1959), is located in the south of the city and is internationally renowned for its engineering program. Located nearby, is the main campus of Anna University (1978), which formed from a merger of the College of Engineering, Guindy (1794), the Madras Institute of Technology (1949), the Alagappa College of Technology (1944), and the School of Architecture and Planning (1957). Almost all colleges in Tamil Nadu that offer programs in engineering, technology and architecture are affiliated to Anna University.

The Madras Medical College, established in 1835, is one of the oldest educational institutions to offer medical education in the Indian subcontinent. Madras Veterinary College established in 1903 was the first institution of its kind in India.

The University of Madras (established 1857)
The University has three campuses in the city and offers a range of programs in liberal arts, science and commerce. A large majority of city colleges are affiliated to the university and offer programs in medicine, law, science, Arts and commerce. The University is one of the three oldest universities in India (along with University of Mumbai and University of Calcutta). In 2004, all engineering courses of the University were shifted to Anna University.
The various departments of the University also conduct research in addition to teaching. There are nearly 43 external research institutes in addition to centers of excellence within the University. The university has been granted the 5 star status, the highest grade by the NAAC of University Grants Commission.

Notable Personalities from University of Madras

Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930 for his discovery of Raman effect)
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his contributions in astrophysics)
Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India
Dr G.N. Ramachandran (biophysicst who solved the structure of collagen)
Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy (former President of India)
Palaniappan Chidambaram (Finance Minister of India)

(notes on our visit to the university to follow)

Chennai (Tamil: சென்னை)’s Economy - Debrief

2008-02-08T21:44:00.000-08:00

Formerly known as Madras, Chennai is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu and is India's fourth largest metropolitan city. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. With an estimated population of 7 million, the average literacy rate is 80%, much higher than the national average of 50%. 20% percent of the city's population is classified as living in slum conditions. Chennai is among the densest cities in the world in terms of population per area. The majority of the residents of Chennai are Tamils / Tamilians and speak Tamil. English is also widely spoken, especially in business, education and other white collar professions. Tamil spoken in Chennai uses words from other languages such as English, Telugu and Hindi liberally and is referred to as Madras bhashai(Tamil for "Madras language").

Chennai is the third largest commercial and industrial center in India. Chennai is considered the automobile capital of India, with a major percentage of the automobile industry having a base here and a major portion of the nation's vehicles being produced here. This has led to Chennai being referred to as the Detroit of South Asia. Chennai is the base for around 49 per cent of India's auto components industry and 34 per cent of the vehicle industry. A large number of the automotive companies in India are based in Chennai. Several global and Indian automotive companies such as Hyundai, Ford, BMW, Mitsubishi, TVS, Ashok Leyland, Caterpillar, Royal Enfield, TI Cycles, TAFE, Dunlop, MRF have manufacturing plants in and around Chennai. Hyundai has a major engine plant in the city. The Heavy Vehicles Factory, Avadi produces military vehicles, including India's main battle tank: Arjun MBT. The Railway Coach building factory of the Indian Railways, the Integral Coach Factory manufactures railway coaches and locomotives.

Since the late 1990s, software development and business process outsourcing and more recently manufacturing have emerged as major areas in the city's economy. Chennai has been rated as the most attractive Indian city for offshoring services according to A T Kearney's Indian City Services Attractiveness Index 2005. Software services giants like Accenture, Cognizant Technology Solutions, CSC, EDS, HCL, HP, IBM, Infosys, Satyam, Sun Microsystems, TCS, Verizon and Wipro have development centres in the city. The city is now the second largest exporter of IT and IT enabled Services in the country behind Bangalore. The IT Corridor, on Old Mahabalipuram Road in the southeast of the city houses several technology parks, and, when completed, will provide employment to close to 300,000 people. The Mahindra World City, a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is one of the world's largest information technology parks.

Multinational corporations like Dell, Nokia, Motorola, Cisco, Samsung, Siemens, Sony-Ericsson, Flextronics and Foxconn have or are in the process of setting up Electronics / Hardware manufacturing plants in the Sriperumbudur electronics SEZ . Ericsson and Alcatel have research and development facilities in the city while Texas Instruments' R&D facility is in the pipeline. Semiconductor companies like SPEL and Tessolve have announced plans to set up or expand manufacturing and R&D centers in the city. The city has two main biotechnology parks, TICEL bio-tech park and Golden Jubilee bio-tech park at Siruseri that house biotechnology companies and laboratories.

Several Petrochemical companies like Chennai Petro Chemicals Limited (CPCL), Manali Petro Chemicals Limited, Madras Refineries Limited (MRL), Petro Araldite and Orchid Pharmaceuticals are situated in the outskirts of Chennai.

Chennai is an important center for banking and finance. At present it is home to three large national level commercial banks and many state level co-operative banks. Several large financial companies and insurance companies are headquartered in Chennai. Many Indian banks, multi-national banks and the World Bank have located their back office operations in the city. The city serves as a major backup center for operations of many banks and financial companies in India. The city has a fully computerised stock exchange called the Madras Stock Exchange.

The city is also home to the Tamil entertainment (motion pictures, television, and recorded music) industry which is the second largest in Indian entertainment industries. Because the film industry is largely centered around a local area called Kodambakkam, the Tamil film industry is popularly referred to as Kollywood. The industry makes about 300 Tamil movies a year, and its film soundtracks dominate the music scene in the city.

Transport (of which we are now part of..)

Popularly known as "Gateway to South India", Chennai is well connected internationally and to other parts of India. Five major national highways radiate outward towards Kolkata (Calcutta), Bangalore, Trichy, Tiruvallur, and Pondicherry. The Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT), is the largest bus station in South Asia. The city is connected to major hubs in South Asia, South East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America through over thirty national and international carriers. The airport is also the second busiest cargo terminus in the country.
The Chennai Port and Ennore Port contribute greatly to the city’s importance. The Chennai port is India's second busiest container hub handling general industrial cargo, automobiles etc. The Ennore port handles cargo such as coal, ore and other bulk products.

The Chennai Central station, which is the city's largest railway station, has trains to all the major cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Coimbatore and towns in India.Buses and trains are the most popular form of public transport. The main problem Chennai faces is traffic congestion and resulting pollution. Chennai has a fairly well developed transportation infrastructure in terms of coverage and connectivity. The majority of city's population uses public transportation thus burdening the system which gets overcrowded during peak hours.

(the story of our train trip to Bangalore to follow...)

What Day Is It?

2008-02-03T23:38:00.000-08:00

Here on the ship, we have long lost the ability to figure out what day of the week we are in. We work around the clock with no weekends off and our classes are basically divided between "blue" and "green" days. Visitors that come on board as amused to find out that we discuss any scheduling using these terms with zero consideration as to the date and/or day.

Now even our time of the day has gotten messed up because we already adjusted the clock to gain one hour a couple of days ago, and yesterday we adjusted it by another half an hour! How weird is that! So we contiously check with each other what time it is, what day it is and what date it is as we also configure how to adjust that to the dates and times of the various countires we come from.

We the Americans, just got thrown off by trying to track the Super Bowl and the coming Super Tuesday of the elections. We seem to always be behind on any news story even though most of us try to get on the Internet at least once a day.

This all leads to a sense of "living in a bubble" that is at time comforting and at other times disconcerning. We love the sense of "living in our own world" since it feels somewhat safer, but we do feel also that we may get off the ship and find out that world events have shifted so many things while we were gone that we might feel like strangers in our own countries...

Chulalongkorn (Chula) University – Bangkok (pictures to come once I get to an Internet Café in India)

2008-02-03T01:31:00.000-08:00

Chula University’s campus area covers 456 acres of land in the heart of downtown Bangkok. We all gathered at the beautiful Center for Peace and Conflict Studies to be welcomed by the university officials. To my surprise, they were both young women, one the chairperson of the Thai Studies Center and the other the deputy chairperson of the political sciences Asian studies program. Later I found out that the president of the university is also a woman (Apparently Thailand prides itself on being the country with the most respect for women and a strong growing influence of women in many sectors).
As we looked around our elegant surroundings set in the midst of an incredibly beautiful campus, we were told that we are visiting one of “the foremost institutions of higher education learning in Asia. It attracts the best and the brightest in Thailand.” The university is considered a “Temple of Studies” and all Thais are very proud of it. When President Clinton was awarded an honorary doctorate there, he called it “The Harvard of Thailand.” The university is considered a great influencer of trends and ways of thinking in this country. One example we were given was of the daily greeting everywhere of “Sawadee” that originated after WWII by a professor here that first popularized it among his students and then it became a cultural trend!
The university has the highest pedigree because it is also considered a royal institution since it was established by King Rama the 5th (the grandfather of the current king) almost 100 years ago. It was one of the ways the king believed his country can avoid colonialization by offering modern education to the brightest in the country.
The university was first established as a school for the royal government officials. King Rama the 6th took the money the Thai citizens collected for a monument when his beloved father died and used it to expand the school into a regular university. In 1917 the university had 340 students and it now has over 30,000!
The university has established many strategic partnerships with highly esteemed schools around the world. For example, its business school partners with that one at Northwestern University. Many programs at the university are conducted in English and attract students from all over the world. The university has programs in all subjects, from and ancient languages philosophy to computer science and nanotechnology.
The university is considered a conservative one. All its students wear uniforms with an emblem representing the headgear worn in the royal palace. Female students wear a short-sleeved while shirt with a special pin (“Phra Kieo”) on their chest while male students wear a blue necktie with the university emblem. Both wear also belts with the emblem on the buckets. Freshmen femals wear while socks and longer skirts.
The university’s official color is pink since that is the color for Tuesday which is the day King Rama the 5th was born (today’s king Rama was born on Monday that is represented by the color yellow. Everywhere around the country there are pictures of the King adorned with yellow decorations and many yellow colored flags fly around the capital). Pink is even the color of the shuttle buses around the campus!
On a side note – we arrived to the university during the time the country of Thailand was mourning the death of the King’s sister. In a country that highly reveres its royal family, this was treated with utmost solemnity. Everyone wore dark cloths (preferably black) and the King’s sister portrait hung in many place (including the university) with shrines built around it to pay your respects by lighting candles or incense.

During my program with the international business students, we visited the university again and had a chance to a) hear a lecture, b) go to the students’ cafeteria, and c) visit the university bookstore. The lecture was delivered by another young female professor, Professor Somchanok Passakonjaras from the faculty of commerce and accountability. She studies for her PhD in the US and spoke excellent English. Her demeanor was very friendly yet she commanded great respect in her proficient delivery. She engaged in a wonderful Q&A with my students and made them feel very comfortable. They all gave her very high marks for her teaching ability!
She gave us a lecture on “Consumer Behavior in Thai Culture” which was just outstanding. We learned that the Thai culture is different from others and thus causes consumer behavior in Thailand to be different as well. The strong Buddhist religion is apparent everywhere with monks even coming in and out of the university to receive food. It is infused with a sense of happiness that is evident in the smiles on so many people’s faces. That sense of warmth and compassion is also described as “namjai” or “water of the heart” and allows families to make anonymous sacrifices for friends and to extend hospitality to strangers (you can so a lot of examples of this in advertising themes).
The belief in fate and Karma leads to “mai pen rai” or “never mind, it does not matter” attitude. Thais believe that when something unfortunate happens one must gracefully submit to the fact that external forces are beyond one’s control (which alleviates the need for extensive customer service departments. Thai Airlines used not to even have an answering machine for their phone line). The professor told us the story of a Thai woman who bought a Honda CRV and had a lot of problems with it. She called the TV station’s news department and had them film her taking a hammer and smashing her car in anger. The Thai people were so shocked by such display of anger over a product’s malfunction that they stopped buying the car!
Group conformity is very strong and is part of the value of “krengjai”. Thais believe that social harmony is best maintained by avoiding any unnecessary friction in their contacts with others. There is an extreme reluctance to impose on anyone and disturb his or her personal equilibrium by direct criticism, challenge, or confrontation. In general, people will do their utmost to avoid personal conflict! This, of course, does not apply to bargaining J
The Thais also put great emphasis on the role of the extended family and respect for elders is taught very early on. Our professor did note, however, that it also results in very little privacy which some of her generation are opposing and is one of the reasons she has moved her family to live away in a condominium building…
Other characteristics of Thai consumers that she had discussed were:
Particularism or relationship-based behavior (the basis for the Thai bargaining style)
Collectivism which supports group’s rights over individual rights (except when it comes to fighting traffic!)
Neutrality of emotions when emotions need to be subdued and expressed indirectly (especially negative ones)
Diffusion when the focus is more on the context of a situation rather than a specific issue (a professor will always be one even when outside the university)
Ascription when status and respect are ascribed by “being” (if you dress nicely, you will be treated differently)
All in all, she told us that shopping, for example, is a social activity in Thailand (one reason why e-commerce has not been successful here) and even going to the movies is done in groups (their theaters, by the way, have VIP sections!). The Thai value long term tradition but make a lot of their buying decisions based on word-of-mouth. And they are highly superstitious so you cannot wear black, for example, unless you are in mourning; 9 is a lucky number while 13 is not and everywhere people hang objects to bring them “good luck”. Last, but not least, do not use sex-related content when promoting anything (kissing or even hugging should not be shown in advertising, for example)!
Our short visit to the school’s outdoors cafeteria was fascinating as well. The students have a choice of many different foods cooked in small stalls similar to what you will find all around the city. Most of the food is typical Thai but you can also find Coca Cola and smoothies. (BTW – Thai’s eat mostly by using a spoon and a fork (no knife). They only use chopsticks when eating certain foods). The food was dirt cheap and seemed highly nutritional. And, therefore, we saw no overweight young people. As a matter of fact, we were told that Thai’s love to eat and eat many times during the day but they eat much smaller portions than we do! The students avoided looking at us as we shamelessly stared at them and took pictures. Some of them giggled a bit but mostly they went about their business eating at long communal tables and chatting with each other.
The book store was a revelation. Unlike Fudan University in Shanghai, where we saw an “official” university store with university branded item that was clearly meant for visitors and a much smaller crammed and falling apart store where students were buying books and supplies, this store was big and full with students offering aside from books in Thai and English, many university branded products (all in pink!), foreign magazines and a full stock of student supplies. Needles to say, we all went a bit crazy getting lots of items carrying the university’s logo even though none of us bought the Pepto Bismo colored t-shirts…

Fudan University – Notes on a Lecture by Dr. Chouwen Zhu (MD) Vice Rector of University

2008-02-03T01:26:00.000-08:00

We were ushered into a modern looking auditorium and told that the last person who gave a lecture there was Michael Dell! Dr. Zhu was also happy to inform us that the Scholarship group of 150 students was the largest to date to have visited the university and it demonstrates Fudan’s great support for the internationalization of education.
Fudan University is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China and one of the key national universities. It also had 10 affiliated hospitals. The 1st modern medical college that was established in China merged with the university in 2000.
The university had 4 campuses with the newest one established recently in the heart of Shanghai’s financial district. The university is continually growing in numbers.
The strategic plan for the university focuses on the Triple “I”:
1. International globalization
2. Information
3. Interdisciplinary studies
The university partners with over 200 universities around the world (such as Yale, in the US, the National University of Singapore, and others). 300 of its faculty visit abroad annually and it has hosted over 1200 foreign students in 2006.
Its current challenges are:
· how to cultivate leadership
· how to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship
· how to win resources for sustainable development
Its vision is to become one of the top universities in the world! FUDAN stands for “the pursuit of truth and seeking daily improvements and learning”.
In the Q&A that followed, Dr. Zhu talked about how the university supports “freedom of thought” and does not restrict access to any Internet resources (even though he acknowledged the government does). He commented, “You can the openness to answer your questions… this is new in our society.” He proceeded to say, “we have made a lot of mistakes as a country. We have learned from history to focus on human life and mind. That is why we opened the country after 2000 to the outside world and I am sure you have seen a lot of changes in our ideology. But there are still problems in our development.” Finally, he said to us, “we believe in cultural globalization and work also on global values; not just Chinese. We need to change while we keep our own ideology.”
I had the pleasure of joining him with his staff at lunch and he seemed like a person who enjoyed his duties as a host to foreign visitors. Yet, his answers to questions during lunch seemed to be a tad more evasive and he spent a good portion of it laughing while conversing in Chinese with his colleagues which had made me somewhat uncomfortable… He seemed to have signaled that the open door he had offered during his lecture has been shut…

Fudan shames cheating scholars

2008-02-03T01:25:00.000-08:00

By Wang Hongyi (China Daily)Updated: 2007-12-25

Fudan University has publicly shamed nine teachers and students for their involvement in three separate cases of plagiarism, a first in the school's history.
The Scholarly Standard Committee released a circular detailing their misdeeds and punishment on the university's website. The unprecedented move triggered heated discussion on campus.
Three professors, four lecturers, one doctorate student and a post-graduate student were named and publicly reprimanded.
One instance of plagiarism came to light after the book "Academic & Technical Writing for Graduate Students" was published last year by the Fudan University Press. The book's authors - Lu Xiaoyong, a professor at the university's Foreign Language and Literature College, and four other young teachers with whom he worked - were found to have copied long passages from books that had been published aboard.
And Liu Hongjian, a postdoctoral student at the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital at Fudan University, was found to have used fake pictures and plagiarized in an article that he co-authored with his tutor, Chi Lufang.
Chi said he was unaware that any plagiarism had taken place, but was still asked to submit a letter criticizing himself for the lapse in supervision. He is also barred from recruiting students for two years.
In a third case, Ye Wei, a post-graduate student applying for a doctorate degree at the university's School of Information Science and Engineering, was found have copied the work of others in two papers. His tutor, Gu Ning, was also held responsible for dereliction, according to the announcement.
Ye was expelled, and Gu received a two-year recruitment ban. He was also asked to resign from his post as deputy director of the school.
"The purpose of releasing the announcement publicly is to emphasize our high academic standards. Self-disciplinary action is an important way to prevent academic misconduct," the circular said.
The Internet has made it hard for plagiarists to hide their misconduct as two of the cases were uncovered by netizens, it said.
"It is good to see that concrete action has been taken," a student at Fudan University who declined to give his name said.
"Academic misconduct at universities and research institutes should be consciously resisted, and this time Fudan University has sounded the alarm against plagiarists," Zhuang Jun, a doctoral candidate at Shanghai Jiaotong University, said.

Hong Kong vs. Shanghai

2008-02-03T01:21:00.000-08:00

New York Times, January 16, 2007

Hong Kong and Shanghai Duel for Financial Capital

By KEITH BRADSHER AND DAVID BARBOZA; KEITH BRADSHER REPORTED FROM HONG KONG AND DAVID BARBOZA FROM SHANGHAI.

Hong Kong and Shanghai are locked in an increasingly public struggle to become China's main financial center as a top-level committee in the capital, Beijing, prepares to meet later this month to map out a national financial regulatory strategy.
On Monday, Hong Kong's highest government leaders and best-known business tycoons made the city's case at a series of televised conferences and briefings. They called for China to continue letting the biggest state-owned companies make their initial public offerings here, allow the Chinese currency, the yuan, to circulate more widely here and dismantle many remaining financial barriers between the mainland and Hong Kong, a former British colony.
Shanghai's efforts have been less public. They have also been harmed by a spreading corruption scandal that has led to the arrest of the city's top Communist Party official and a growing number of business leaders.
But as the traditional center of Chinese business life, Shanghai still has many allies in the capital. It has also emerged as the center of Chinese bond trading and as a favorite headquarters for Chinese and foreign companies.
The jostling between the two cities is coming close to name calling. Ronald Arculli, chairman of the company that runs Hong Kong's stock exchanges, said that just as New York is the main financial center for the Americas even though Chicago or Toronto may not like it, Hong Kong is poised to become the main international financial center for Asia.
Asked if he was suggesting that Hong Kong was becoming like New York and Shanghai like Chicago, Mr. Arculli said twice that this was his goal, adding, ''We stand a decent shot of making it there.''
That is hardly the view from Shanghai. City leaders and academics point out their biggest advantage: the currency circulating in the streets and markets is the yuan, which foreigners can buy and sell only with difficulty.
Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, has its own currency, the Hong Kong dollar, which is linked to the United States dollar. The Hong Kong dollar is internationally convertible but cannot be easily exchanged for yuan on the mainland because of China's capital controls.
''The independent monetary system restricts Hong Kong's ambition to become the financial capital of the country,'' said Pan Yingli, a professor in the School of Management at Shanghai Jiaotong University.
Hong Kong and Shanghai are not just competing with each other -- they are also vying with Tokyo and Singapore to become the most important financial center in Asia. Each wants to be the place where investment banks, hedge funds, insurance companies and other big investors send their best and brightest to oversee trading during the hours after the sun sets in New York and before it rises in London.
But the most intense rivalry is between Hong Kong and Shanghai. Each strives to impress businesses and regulators that it is the best place for Chinese businesses to raise money and investors to give it to them.
It is one of the oldest rivalries in Asia, dating back more than a century. The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, these days HSBC, was started in Hong Kong on March 3, 1865, and opened for business in Shanghai a month later.
While Shanghai overshadowed Hong Kong in many ways before World War II, Hong Kong regained leadership after the Communist takeover in 1949, and benefited from the emigration of thousands of Shanghai business people. And in the 1990's, the rise of a Shanghai faction of politicians in China, including President Jiang Zemin, resulted in many policies that favored their city.
Since taking China's top jobs in late 2002 and 2003, President Hu Jintao has tried to limit Shanghai's influence. Hong Kong is trying to seize the initiative again. As Hong Kong's leaders repeated again and again Monday, Hong Kong has advantages now that include the rule of law, extensive financial expertise, a tradition of strong corporate governance, widespread knowledge of English and close ties to global markets.
As a result of listings by big Chinese banks and other institutions, Hong Kong's main stock exchange had a greater volume of initial public offerings last year -- valued at $41.22 billion -- than any other stock exchange, although more money was raised in London over all.
But while Hong Kong aspires to be an international financial center, it is sometimes derided in Asia as a one-legged stool -- a powerhouse in equities trading, including a doubling of trading in stocks and derivative warrants last year, but without another leg to stand on.
Close to 200 bond issues are listed here, but local banks and insurance companies tend to buy them up when issued and then sit on them for years, with minimal trading. The local government runs a budget surplus, and while it has issued a small volume of bonds to help create a market, these also trade in very low volume.
While corporate bond trading is still in its infancy in Shanghai as well, the trading of government debt securities there has picked up. The Chinese central bank has had to issue tens of billions of dollars worth of notes to sop up the enormous amounts in yuan it is pushing into the market to prevent China's currency from appreciating in value against other currencies.
But although Shanghai's stock market is still considerably smaller than Hong Kong's, it is also rising faster and was the world's top performer last year, up 130 percent. Shanghai is also becoming an important center of commodities trading. It has just passed Tokyo in the biggest market for trading natural rubber.
Experts said that Shanghai was likely to become an increasingly formidable competitor in years to come, and expressed doubt that Hong Kong leaders would succeed in persuading the Chinese government to give their city clear regulatory preference over its rival to the north.

“The Harmonious Society Program in China” – A presentation that taught me more about today’s China than any other thing I read so far…

2008-02-03T00:49:00.001-08:00

Note: The following are excerpts of a a lecture by LIU Chunrong, PhD, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, at Fudan University. Dr. Chunrong is a young man whol tried his best to go over an elaborate presentation that was followed by an open Q&A session (most unusual!) in which he did his best to answer all questions with integrity. He clearly demonstrated the now deeply routed belief within the Chinese people we met that an “harmonious socialist society” is within reach for them. He defined the key elements of that society as being: democracy, rule of law, equity, justice, sincerity, amity and vitality. In spite of his seemingly open criticism of much of China’s weaknesses, he led us to believe that they will eventually succeed in giving full scope to people’s talent and creativity, enable all their people to share the social wealth and forge an even closer relations between the people and the government. He also supported the belief that this will result in lasting stability and unity in China and further stressed the party line that the actions called for accomplish this are as follows:
1. Sustainable, rapid,and coordinated economic growth
2. Socialist democracy
3. Law enforcement
4. Ideological and ethical building
5. Social equity and justice
6. Fine-tuned social management systems, and
7. Strong enviromental protection
===============================================================

Harmony = A Democratic and Prosperous Society

We Ask: Is China a “Society of Harmony”?
– It’s on red banners
– It’s on billboards
– It’s the name of the new high-speed trains
– But, It is not so much a reality!
The bright side:
• 2008 witnesses the 30th anniversary of launching reform and open-door policy.
• Annual GDP Growth Rate: 9.7%
• Annual Trade Growth Rate: 17.2%
• More than 220 million people were lifted out of poverty
• China’s Current Status in the World
– GDP, the Forth in the world
– Trade, the Third in the world
– FDI, the Second in the world
– Foreign Reserves, the first in the world!
The dark side:
• Low per capita
– The proud record of economic growth will be reduced amazingly once divided by its 1.3 billion population
– Still over 26 million people living in absolute poverty
• High income & regional disparity
– the bottom of 20% of income earners earns a mere 7.4% of the total income; while the top 20% take home 50 %.
– Gini coefficient: 0.45-0.53, one of the highest levels in Asia
• Cost of growth
– Pollutant emission per unit of GDP over 12 times higher than developed countries
– China’s energy use per unit of GDP is 7 times higher than Japan’s, 6 times higher than America’s and 2.8 times higher than India’s
– Environmental degradation
• More alarming…
– Social discontent, instability
– official incompetence, corruption
– Legitimacy undermined
Consider These Facts:

Environmental degradation
• 16 of the 20 most air-polluted cities globally
• ¼ people drink polluted water; 1/3 urban population breathe polluted air, 70% of cancer deaths are pollution-related
• In 2004, only 2 (7.5%) of the 27 lakes can be classified as good water quality. 5 are fair (18.5%), 4 are bad (14.8%), 6 are worse (22.2%), 10 are the worst (37%)
• In 2004, 298 cities suffered from Acid Rain, accounts for 56.5% of cities in survey.
• Acid Rain affects 1/3 of national area (Green Peace, 2007)

A growing active society
• The first surge of unrest, in 1998
– correlates with the firing of tens of millions of state workers, mandatory planting of low-profit grain, and the bursting of a real estate and financial bubble.
• The second surge of unrest, in 2004,
– reflects accelerated encroachment of urban construction on rural land.
• Recent protest activities
– broader in scope, larger in average size, greater in frequency, and more brash
• China has been predicted by some western observers to go into collapse in the aftermath of Tiananmen crisis, the Soviet Union disintegration, the death of Deng, Asian Financial Crisis, Falungong, and more recently the outbreak of SARS.
– But all these forecasts turned out to be wrong
– China survives and moves on.
– Now people talk about China rise/threat.

Thai Massage - A Group Exeprience

2008-01-28T22:47:00.000-08:00

As part of my students' learning experience in Bangkok, I took them to have a traditional Thai massage. All 7 girls were put in a single room, given cotton PJ's and were laid on the flour to be tended by s group of tiny Thai women who proceeded to make us all very happy (photos to follow). Just in case people wonder why I would take my students to engage in such a 'questionable' activity, I am enclosing an article explaining what amke Thai massage such a unique epxrience.

Traditional Thai Massage, like many aspects of Thai culture, derives its origins from ancient India, and arrived in Thailand through Buddhist missionary monks who were also trained as healers. Along with the spread of Buddhist faith, the traditional massage techniques gained popularity for their abilities to relieve ailments like backaches, headaches, tension, and fevers. First time recipients are often amazed at its rejuvenating abilities, especially after a cramped, long-haul plane ride or a tense day hunched over their computers at work. Many people may think of massages as self-indulgent pampering, but Thai massage's surprising rejuvenating abilities come from the fact that it is actually a holistic therapy with ancient roots in traditional medicine and has been practiced over the centuries as a form of healing.

Thai massage technique is based on the concept of invisible energy lines running along our bodies. It is linked to the ancient Indian yoga philosophy that our life energy is supplied to our bodies along 72,000 lines that run along our bodies. That's why some of the stretching poses of Thai massage resemble the stretching poses of yoga - to give the body the same holistic benefits. Thai massage focuses on ten key energy lines along our bodies and uses pressure techniques to release the blocked energy along those lines.

Along with releasing blocked energy, there's a spiritual element to Thai massage as well. It's believed that the masseuse is healing the recipient by giving love to the patient through his or her hands. Back in ancient times, the masseuse would say a prayer to centre the mind in a meditative mood before performing a healing massage. This meditative awareness gives the masseuse the power to sense the energy flow and blockages in the recipient's body so that the ailing parts can be healed. When done properly, the masseuse should feel as relaxed as the recipient, because Thai massage is supposed to be a spiritual act that nourishes both the giver and the recipient.

Thai massage is very different from other types of massage. Unlike western massages, Thai massage doesn't use oils and you remain fully clothed. A pair of clean, loose-fitting cotton pyjamas is always supplied for you to change into at the start of the Thai massage. The masseuse uses pressure and stretching techniques, done in a rhythmic, rocking motion. A Thai massage session usually lasts two hours; for the most part, you are lying prone on your back or stomach, but the massage ends with a series of stretches in which the masseuse twists and flips your body sideways, backwards and forwards.

Instead of the standard massage table, Thai massage is done on a mattress on the floor. The masseuse uses her thumbs, arms, elbows, knees and feet, so expect her to climb all over your body and even walk on your back. Don't be alarmed or embarrassed if you find the masseuse suddenly on top of you straddling your groin area - its all part of the traditional technique. Like most Thai people, Thai masseuses are usually quite friendly and may chat or giggle to put you at ease, but there's no need to strike up a conversation with the masseuse, nor is it expected. The best way to enjoy the experience is to simply lie back, close your eyes, relax and let the masseuse do her work. At some point you may actually fall into a snooze as y our aches and tensions get kneaded away.

After a Thai massage, it is normal to find your body aching in places that didn't ache before. That's because some people may suffer from repressed stress or tension that has made their muscles tense unconsciously. This muscle tension may be so subtle that it's unnoticeable by the sufferer, but these tensed up muscles are the cause of energy blockages in the body. These energy blockages are released during Thai massage, which causes the resulting discomfort. A few more massage sessions usually relieves this type of ache.

History of Thai MassageThe Traditional Medical Massage of Thailand, more commonly known as Thai Massage, is one of the world's oldest healing modalities. It originated in India during the Buddha's lifetime, over 2500 years ago, and was brought to this world by a saint, the "Father Doctor Shivago Komarpahj", a contemporary of the Buddha and some say his personal physician and the physician to the King of India.

As Buddhism spread out from India, this healing medicine spread with it. Early in its development it found its way to Southeast Asia where, for centuries, it was performed by monks as one element of indigenous Thai medicine. The Thai people, like many others in the orient, saw illness as an imbalance in the body/mind/spirit and they would seek help at the local temple. They were treated with the four elements of traditional Thai medicine:

nutritional counseling (focusing on diet)
herbs (given both internally and externally)
spiritual counseling (primarily meditation and the Buddhist principles)
Thai Massage (which formed the backbone of the physical treatment).

While its evolution is clouded by the passage of time and the lack of written records, one can see that it is greatly influenced by yoga, Ayurvedic medicine, and traditional Chinese medicine from the movements (which often mimic the asanas of yoga) and attention to pressure points (similar to the nadis of Ayurveda and meridians of Chinese medicine).

Thailand is situated along the great trade route between India and China. Its history and culture, along with its medicine, is affected by its location. While Thai massage appears to have its roots in both Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, there has been some research which suggests the terminology used is more closely akin to Ayurveda, possibly indicating a closer alliance with India. However, many scholars believe India to be the root source of Chinese medicine also, so it is possible the Thais simply had a greater familiarity with the Indian language, particularly since this tradition was handed down along with the sacred Buddhist teachings, often inscrolled in the Indian languages of Pali or Sanskrit.

Traditional Thai massage today still retains elements of this strong spiritual connection. Practitioners start their work day with a prayer to the Father Doctor, which is recited in the original Pali language, and are remined of the Four Divine States of Mind of the Buddhist teachings: compassion, loving kindness, joy, and balance. For one must begin with compassion - for self as well as for others - and from that compassion springs forth loving kindness - or simply the wish for well - which leads to a feeling of vicarious joy which enables one to find balance or equanimity in life.

Thai massage has undergone a subtle shift as a result of western influences, which greatly increased in the 1950's and continue to this day. Traditionally practiced in Buddhist temples by monks specializing in this "manual manipulation", the work in Thailand today is no longer limited to the temple setting. When western medicine came into vogue, traditional medicine suffered a downswing. It went somewhat underground, and re-emerged years later after western medicine was no longer viewed as always superior. There was undoubtedly always a "folk" element, being the massages given by family members to each other within their villages, particularly as women were not allowed into the temples and so could not receive Thai massage from the monks.

Now Thai massage is practiced throughout Thailand, at massage schools, old traditional hospitals, in hotels catering to westerners, on the beaches, and seemingly around every street corner where there is an enterprising Thai! Some of these venues are not legitimate, particularly within Bangkok, and many therapists have received only minimal training. Yet other venues offer astounding treatments by masters of this blend of stretching, acupressure, meditation, and healing art.

Source: www.bangkok-hotels-bangkok.com

China Opens Our Eyes

2008-01-28T22:25:00.000-08:00

It seems to be our community's impression that what we witnessed in Shanghai is pointing out the most overwhelming threat to the West in terms of what the Chinese are currently doing and planning to do in the next 50 years. It does not matter how much one has read about it or saw pictures and TV shows about it. Walking the streets and hearing the Chinese people talk about their future gives you the chills... There seems to be no stopping them... And how do Western countries fit into this, we ask?

As Americans, we clearly are the economic driver for much of China's current development. As we continue to consume everything in sight with our huge appetite, the Chinese proceed to build a power house that is going to dwarf us very shortly. And guess what? They do NOT consume much themselves. Yes, they are buying cars at an alarming rate and even apartments, but - at the end of the day - they save, and save, and save while we go further and further into debt...

My gut reaction to China has been -- I need to re-learn everything I have been teaching my students in business school!! Our text books are already outdated... our case studies are outdated! China's economic model is vastly different that what we have been teaching our students in the US, and it is working! Now what do we make of that as business scholars?

from Newsweek Special Issue 2008, Can America Get Back on Top?

Fareed Zakaria, “The Fearful Superpower”

“When the history of these times is written, surely the great trend that will dominate the accounts…will be the rise of China and India and how they reshaped the world… Global growth is a marvel to behold. But it is also producing massive complications and dislocations. It creates high demand for raw materials and energy. ..Envrionmental degradation proceeds in much of the world on a colossal scale. And these problems get exacerbated by changes in climate, rainfall, and habitation…. There is no way to turn off the underlying global growth, nor should one try. Every previous expansion of global capitalism has led to greater prosperity across the world. But this is a massive, complex process that requires enormous focus and attention…The world we are entering will need new solutions to its problems. There are too many new players for the old structures to work… Welcome to the post-American world.”

Minxin Pei, “An Unlikely New Ally”

“Like many people, the majority of Chinese today don’t care much for the United States. Even though most Chinese continue to admire American culture and to like Americans, 57 percent of Chinese in a recent Pew poll said they viewed the country “unfavorably”…China’s government, however, does not share this antipathy. Many Chinese leaders are quite happy with the United States these days…Washington’s preoccupation with the War on Terror and its costly adventure in Iraq have given Beijing valuable strategic space…During this period, the Chinese economy has doubled in size and Beijing’s global influence has grown beyond recognition… Tsinghua University’s Chu Shulong, a highly regarded specialist on the United States…puts it best: “The U.S. has lost its prestige-or soft power”…the United States has suffered in terms of reputation, moral superiority and overall capacity to shape the global political agenda. ..

Kishore Mahbubani, “Make Way for the Rise of Asia”

“Having transformed the world, Americans should be asking themselves whether and how they too need to adapt. Yet there are no signs that this process is taking place. .. There is not even a hint of fresh American thinking on a range of global challenges. An Indian academic, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, once said that the difference between India and China was that while India was an open society with a closed mind, China was a closed society with an open mind. The same comparison can be made between China and the United States today. America’s leaders are acting like China’s emperors did in the 19^th century. Then China failed to adjust to the rise of the West. Today the United States in failing to adjust to the rise of Asia.”

==============================================================

I am very tempted to go back to China to Fudan University, that is one of the Scholarship's Charter schools. I talked at lunch while there to the university's deputy rector and he said they have a constant need for foreign professors and would love to have an e-business exeprt come... All I want to do is go there for a longer period of time so I can REALLY comprehend what is happening there...

Thailand -- The Land of Smiles and Commerce

2008-01-26T00:35:00.000-08:00

Thailand has left many of our students smiling and happy. Everywhere you look, there are kind people bowing to you and saying "thank you" with a smile on their faces. And they have surrounded themselves with the most colorful bits and pieces of their culture like a psychedelic sea...

And while they are at it, they bargain and bargain and sell you anything they can :) And it is all so cheap, that you feel so lucky that you jusy buy and buy and buy... From trinkets all the way to momentary pleasures...

Thailand is a middle income country with 95% literacy (mostly in urban areas, though). It is also a homogeneous society with most people being Thai with an 11% Chinese minority in the country. The majority of people are Buddhists.
Here are the key features of Thai society as told to us by the professor who gave us the lecture at Chula university:

1. Buddhism
2. Belief in fate and karma
3. Group conformity
4. Role of the extended family

a. Little privacy

b. Respect for elders taught very early

5. Role of the family in decision-making
6. Growing influence of women
7. High respect to monarchy

Thai Values include:

1. Namjai, “Water of the heart”

2. Mai pen rai, “Never mind, it doesn’t matter”

3. Krengjai “ It’s ok, No problem”

And, in addition:

An act of direct criticism is regarded as a bad manner

As a high context culture: may more readily learn and remember the totality of images and messages than those from low context cultures.

They prefer Western products

Collectivist culture: word of mouth communication is quite influential

They value tradition and long-term commitment

Bao Steel - A Chinese Giant Run by "The Iron Lady"

2008-01-26T00:32:00.001-08:00

With the incredible boom in construction and manufacturing in China, steel is one commodity that is in great demand. Therefore, the steel industry is at the core fo the Chinese economy. We went out of Shanghai to visit Bao Steel and drove into a vast industrial area close tothe Shanghai port to enter the company's industrial complex. The Bao Group owns many other enterprises, once of them being the hotel we had our lecture at. We were met by the deputry manager of one of the steel plants who spoke no English and had no lecture prepared for us. He clearly was told only to welcome us and take us on a tour. When our students proceeded to ask him tons of questions, he seemed somewhat taken back by it. And, oh by the way, he received several phone calls on his cell phone while talking to us and proceeded to answer them! At the end of his talk and our short Q&A, he took us on a tour of one of the plants which was undergoing maintenance work, so we saw no production taking place. Even then, we could not take any pictures and were rushed through the facility quickly with zero explanation as to what we saw!

Bao Steel is one of the largest and richest companies in China. It is run by a woman nicknamed "the Iron Lady" who is an anomaly in Chinese business since she is an engineer who came up from the ranks to head this huge conglamorate.

China Eastern Airlines - A Chinese Company in Transition

2008-01-26T00:25:00.001-08:00

During our field visit to Shanghai, we were invited to the training center of China Eastern Airlines. The Airline has been in the news lately due to its talks with Singapore Airlines (SA) who offered to buy over 20% of the company in return for SA getting an entry point into the lucrative and fast growing Chinese air travel business. SA offered close to $1 billion to China Eastern. China Eastern desperately needed the cash infusion since its debt to asset ratio is about 94 % (during their presentation to us they claimed they do not have to worry about profit, which makes them a stronger competitor)! Since the Chinese government owns over 60% of the company, the government immediately got involved in the M&A talks by encouraging China Air (its offical airline) to offer even more than $1 billion to China Eastern to difuse the SA offer. SA announced that it will not enter into a bidding war with the Chinese Central government and withdrew its offer.

Our presenter, the deputy director China Eastern's training center and the former director of the airline's maintenance department, told me privately that he was hoping SA will come back to the table and the merger will go through. China Eastern is not known for its service and the offer from SA is an incredible opportunity for them to learn from the best in the world. In addition, their offer would have immediately put cash into the company, which China Eastern really needs right now.

To date we have been watching the news to see what will be the end result of this negotiation. However, all the indicators are pointing to the Chinese government getting its way and forming a larger airline that will be locally owned and controlled right before the Olympics and the World Expo, not allowing a foreign entity enter their market.

Our presenter spent a good portion of his lecture talking about a marketing campaign the company launched last year to honor China's diverse culture by holding events in flights (a different one every week) to demonstrate the various cultural aspects of their country. Yet when asked whether the campaign was extended to foreign markets, he quietly responded that it did not. We wondered, therefore, why would the company spent a whole year almost to tell their own people about their own culture without taking the time to use this extensive effort to draw in new foreign customers...

Lastly, we visited an area dedicated to flight attendant training (see above pictures), where our students had fun getting into the airplanes' parts and pretending to close and open emergency exits. We did not get any official explanation while there and it seemed clearly that it was not something they were prepared to do for us. Once we finished wondering the srea, we were sent on our way...

China Eastern, by the way, is the 3rd largest airline in China and it does offer flights to several overseas destinations. Currently you cannot use the web to purchase tickets online from them. The presenter admitted that they are still far from knowing how to invest in web technology.

========================================================

From The New York Times; January 9, 2008
“A decision by minority shareholders of China Eastern to reject a tie-up with Singapore Airlines and a Singapore government investor has set the stage for an unusual corporate battle in China.
It has paved the way for a possible counterbid for China Eastern by China National Aviation Holding, the parent of Air China, the country’s biggest carrier. China Eastern, which is based in Shanghai, has vowed to fight any counteroffer to retain its independence.
Both China Eastern and Air China are majority state-owned companies.
At stake, analysts say, are plans to force the consolidation of China’s aviation industry and turn Air China into the single dominant carrier in China, which has the world’s largest aviation market outside the United States.
The outcome could give Air China a powerful grip over China’s two main aviation hubs, Beijing and Shanghai, and the lion’s share of the Chinese market for domestic and international air travel…”
“China Eastern’s chairman, Li Fenghua, said after the shareholder vote that he would oppose any bid by China National to replace the Singaporean investors and would attempt to keep the deal with Singapore Airlines and Temasek alive.
But China Eastern might not have much choice, analysts said. Singapore Airlines and Temasek are expected to walk away from the deal rather than offer a higher price.
China Eastern, which is carrying a huge debt burden and has suffered a succession of losses, still needs a strategic partner. Technically they would be bankrupt in any other country, but they still have government ownership plus government subsidies.”

================================================================
The presenter during our visit to China Eastern talked about China Easter’s goal to become a “one stop solution” for the Chinese travel industry but acknowledges that the airlines net asset is “pretty low” and is therefore a “problem.” He stated that the airlines goal is by 2010 to become “the leader in all aspects of safety and security management and maintain the reliable operation record in East Asia. No air accidents!” They expect at least a 10% growth rate annually and aim to become “a leader in all aspects of aviation management in Asia and place Shanghai as the hub of their net operation system by 2010.” Furthermore, they want to “achieve a four star level of SKYTRAX in service quality, be the best carrier for domestic flights and competitive in international flights.” One curious note, they want to become “the most tasteful company in the world” with the best food aboard planes!

A Visit from our Global Scholar – HE Jan Nordlander

2008-01-21T01:23:00.000-08:00

Throughout the journey we have diplomats/business people/researchers/scholars/experts in their field sailing with us for a leg. Typically, our visiting Global Scholars offer 2-3 seminars available for the entire community as well as taking meals with our students and staff. In addition to these roles, Global Scholars are also available to join our classes to give a short presentation and speak about their job or their expertise.
Of first visiting Scholar is His Excellency Jan Axel Nordlander, who is Sweden’s Ambassador for Human Rights (there are only 8 such ambassadors in the world!) . His tasks are threefold: to represent Sweden’s seat at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and in other international organizations such as OSCE’s Human Dimension meetings; to undertake country visits, alone or with other EU Human Rights Ambassadors; and on behalf of the Swedish government to liaise with Swedish and international NGOs. He has retained his interest in education, and has been for many years a trustee of a graduate school in Asia and a fellow of a Swedish research institute. His Excellency studied law at Uppsala University in Sweden. After starting his career at the Ministry of Higher Education, he joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1974 and subsequently served in several postings in the Middle East, South and South East Asia as well as North America. During this time he also continued studies in arts and political science; for example, the Swedish Foreign Ministry sent him to Cairo for one year to learn Arabic and Arabic history. In several of his postings, international public law and human rights were high on the agenda. Such was the case in Jerusalem, Damascus, Beirut, New Delhi, Phnom Penh and Rangoon. He gave 2 seminars: The Global Status of Human Rights and Human Rights Education and Human Rights Defenders as well as visited my classes. During his first lecture, I took the following notes:
When it comes to Human Rights, we need to ask ourselves 3 questions: how do we measure them? What can we expect? And how do we implement them?
If we pick up any major newspaper’s headlines for a day, like the Bangkok Daily, it is clear that there is a dire need all over the world to protect human rights. We see violations in many parts of the world: Sudan, Congo, Sri Lanka, North Korea, Burma, Iran, Russia, China… and the list goes on…
How do we assess, however, where we stand? The UN has a count and a list of the countries that have ratified and various Human Rights Conventions, which are those covering: Children rights (most countries- 193), Women rights (185 countries), Racial Discrimination (173), Civil/Economic/political Rights (160), Anti-Torture (145), and Migrant Workers Protection (37).
The numbers show that we are making progress in terms of the legal framework of human rights. Those that ratified the Conventions are required to report to the UN about their compliance and be scrutinized by a committee that will publish the results of their scrutiny. It has now become politically incorrect not to comply. A country can “lose face” and be shamed for non-compliance by the global community, which many (but not all – look at North Korea) want to avoid. So the UN is playing an important role as are NGO’s that file “shadow reports” from the countries themselves, but it is the individual duty of each country to protect its human rights.
The organizational structure that supports this legal framework consists of the UN General Assembly whom the Human Rights Council reports to. The Council is supported by Treaty Bodies who are further supported by special rapprerteurs (sp?) that deal with specific topics. We cannot expect them, however, to act as courts of appeal (The European Union already has its own court of appeals)The question is what should they provide? Should they provide emergency help when needed? Serve only as inspectors? A Mandate of peacekeeping can be a problem for place like Darfur. Sri Lanka is another example of a country that is rapidly closing its borders for further UN monitoring and they are backed up by India and Pakistan. China has been advised to get closer to the opposition building in Burma for the mere reason that one day there will be a regime change there and it is in China’s interest to be close to them as well. However, that advice has so far not worked.
However, the role of the UN is to not only criticize countries about their Human Rights violations. It is to offer assistance and built confidence that they can actually accomplish better protection of Human Rights. Most countries will be willing to accept this assistance due to the “shame factor” even if they are not always sincere in accepting it.
Yet, the time has come to shift the attention of the world from legal action to implementation of the UN Conventions. It is time for countries to adapt national frameworks following these international conventions. Building and strengthening national institutions to create or improve the rule of law and its enforcement should be the new focus. And there should also be access to justice by underserved groups who are the targets of Human Rights violations. Most important, there should be an individual right to complain if your rights have been violated AND proper compensation given (although not following the US example).
Furthermore, there is a new concept being introduced of “Universal Periodic Review” which will mandate that every 4 years, there needs to be an assessment using equal standards for all countries. The scrutiny will be based on the data collected by the Commission of Human Rights and the countries themselves. Once this will be done the right way, it will be the most useful tool! The final report will need to also include measures to improve the situation in the specific country but not include any punitive measurements.
In essence, the truth is more important than penalties! The victims need to hear that someone has assumed the guilt in order to start the process of reconciliation. Reparations happen seldom but are just as important and there is a growing global consensus that they are needed!
Economic sanctions do not always work. They worked in South Africa but they will not work in Burma, for example. They are not smart tools because they usually hurt the population at large. In Burma, posing visa restrictions on the ruling regime and their families has been effective in spite of the fact that they are the equivalent of a “mosquito bite to an elephant”… Once they restrictions were published by the media and on the Internet, they became person-non-grata in the capitals of Europe where they were used the spending their money lavishly.
So the forecast is; “the sky id still cloudy, even though I see some rays of sunshine”… There has been improvement is freedom of religion, racism (the Durban Conference was very well received), and so forth. In the fight against terrorism we need to be cautious not to play into the hand of the terrorists by violating their human rights, which is what they are seeking as a justification!
In conclusion, we have made progress, but not much progress. But be patient and we shall most likely succeed further!

Random Pictures from Around Shanghai

2008-01-18T21:40:00.000-08:00

Have been having lots of problems getting picutres to upload onto the blog both on board the ship and in the nternet Cafes. Just bear with me while I try and best way to resolve this problem!

Side note -- sea has been very rough as soon as we left China. Although the son is finally shining and it is much warmer, we are all reminded about the challenges we face daily teaching and working under an ever rolling sea :(((

Now I am now in Bankok and at an Internet Cafe where I seem to be able to upload some random pictures, including one from the local newspaper about the terrible fog in Shanghai. So here they are!

At the top you are seeing a model of the city I photographed at the Urban Development Center that shows how the city will develop by the year 2010, when the World Expo will arrive here. It is trully incredible and makes you re-think China as a "developing country"...

Learning about Chinese Tea

2008-01-18T21:39:00.001-08:00

We took off the visit the famous city of Hangzhou so that we can get away a bit from the hustle and bustle of Shanghai for a day and go up to the mountain area. The city is known for its tea growing sector (the best in China) as well as the West Lake which is a major recreational area for those seeking to get away from the city. It is 3000 years old, versus Shanghai that is only 700 years onld.
We drove for almost 3 hours in miserable weather as the temperatures dropped further and the rain kept pounding the bus. But as the bus started climbing the road leading to the tea plantations, everyone perked up. There were beautiful little hotels and tea house everywhere we passed a tea plantation and the air felt so crisp as the scenery became greener and greener (Shanghai, by the way, claims to become a truly green city in the next 10 years with over 40% of its land dedicated to “green spaces”. Hard to believe right now, in spite of the landscaped beauty of some of the center city’s parks).
Dragon tea, that came from Hangzhou was considered to be of the best quality and was strictly used 2000 years ago as herbal medicine due to its rich nutritional content. After the Han Dynasty, when tea was only drunk by rich people, local people learned how to plant it in the mountains and thereby made it more accessible and affordable to everyone. The reason this region can still produce the best teai n China is because of the mountainous location, the 16 degrees Celsius temperatures which keep it fresh and the downward flow of the water, says our guide.
One important fact – tea leaves must be picked up by delicate fingers if they are not to be damaged. So only women do the picking of the best tea leaves. The best tea is picked up only early in the morning when there is dew of the leaves. The leaves are left indoor to dry for 2 hours. Then they are heated and pressed slowly by hand into steel bowls. They can never get too dry (must have at least 5% moisture left) or else they lose their nutrients. Green tea that is mostly grown around here is supposed to clean your mind and flush away any fat. It is even good for your eye sight, they claim.
One hundred families used to run the whole tea business in Hangzhou up until 10 years ago. The central government has now allowed no more than 500 families to become growers and sellers. These families, our guide says, have all become rich as a result even though they share their profits with the government due to the very large number of foreigners that now visit Hangzhou and buy the tea grown here. Over 20 million visitors come each year to the area. A Maglev high speed train is being planned to bring in more people from shanghai with a ride that will only cost 40 Yuan and will take 2 hours.
Once we get to the tea plantation, we are taken to a presentation room where a young and perky tea grower’s daughter proceeds to give us a light and funny talk about the tea grown here. She opens by telling us that all the tea made in this plantation is handmade, which is what makes it so pure and precious. The tea therefore is not only drunk, but eaten as well since it so rich in nutrients. Tea can be used for so many things, she proclaims; teeth cleaning, face mask, losing weight, and even an “eye massage” (when you put the water into the cup with the team leaves, first put your eye close to the cup and let the steam cleans it). We even got a recipe for making a tasty tea mix with a mix of green tea, dried orange peel and dried huckleberry as well as advice to add to teaspoons of green tea into a chicken’s cavity before making chicken soup in order to absorb all the fat!
She tells us the proper way to drink green tea – use 2 finger pinches for 1 cup and pour water into the cup 4 times. As the tea leaves soak more water, they release a progressively sweeter taste. Never use boiling water. Your water should be no more than 190 degrees Fahrenheit and try to steep the tea leaves for about 3 minutes.
Green tea varies based on the time of the year it was picked. Spring tea is the best and the earlier you pick it (like April), the better. The lowest quality tea she called “mother-in-law tea”, while the best was “virgin or empress tea”. The best tea was rumored to be picked up with girls’ lips so as not to damage its delicate leaves! Empress green tea sells for 250 Yuans for 125 grams and is supposed to have the equivalent nutrition of eating 5 apples a day. She also told us to remember that the lighter the green color of the tea, the better. In order to maintain its freshness, put the tea container in the freezer and it will last up to 5 years!
As any good salesperson, she proceeded to unveil packages of empress tea and started packing them into containers on the spot demonstrating how generous she is with over-packing the containers so you can get “more for your Yuan.” Of course we all ended up buying some of the tea so that we can take home with us not only the tea itself, but the tremendous traditions surrounding its making and memories of its fresh scent and taste we felt while listening to this amusing Chinese girl…

More about the Internet in China

2008-01-18T21:32:00.000-08:00

As you guys already know, I have dedicated a lot of my career to studying and teaching about the Internet. And this voyage is no different. I resolved to visiting as many Internet Cafe's as possible and reporting back on my impressions. So here we go.....

My first Internet café visit was in Hong Kong, in a room adjacent to a large and modern gaming area in a shopping strip floor full with computer stores. I had little trouble connecting and working on my blog. The young man at the reception desk knew English and ventured even a smile while greeting me. I felt at home despite of the fact that somewhere in the room a guy was blasting Britney Spear’s music with no consideration for other while watching a music video online.

The second Internet café I visited was in Shanghai right across the street from where we docked the ship. It was up 4 flights of dark unlit stairs behind an entry way covered with a blanket and some plastic sheets. It had more than 200 computers but was mostly empty. The reception we got from the young girl sitting at the front desk seemed very cold and unpleasant but it could have been because she did not speak English. She and a guy smoking a cigarette standing next to her at first refused to show me how to plug in my flash drive. After insisting that they do (with hand gestures), the guy crawled under the cubicle with my designated computer and plugged it in. However, from that point on, I was not able to use the content on the flash drive to upload it on the Internet (into email or my blog). Every time I managed to get on the Internet, my connection timed out after a few seconds. I was cold (it was freezing with no heat in the building) and agitated and somehow felt being controlled. I lasted 30 minutes before I gave up and left. On my way out, the guy gave me a strange look. I wondered whether he was the one playing with my access…
My third Internet café was in a business area in Shanghai. On a 3rd floor of a building decorated with large posters of the World of Warcraft videogame, another large and dark room filled with cigarettes smoke awaited. The room was full with young people many of whom had headphones on and were playing video games. When I started inquiring again about using my flash drive, I was directed to a special section in the room that had extensions for plugging in the USB drives. Initially I could not navigate through the Chinese characters online to get to the files on the drive but could not get a single person who spoke little English to help. The one person I approached that seems to know what I was saying, backed off when I pointed to my screen and asked where my files were. Then I started having problems connecting to the Internet and even once I did, I could not reach my blog and had problems uploading my pictures to my gmail account. As I started asking my colleague who came with me to check her blog and found out she could not get into it either, my sense of discomfort grew. And then I noticed the presence of a guy that was not there before sitting right behind us smoking a cigarette and observing us behind out backs… Despite my discomfort I decided to carry on an online chat with my son in New York, which went on without any interruptions. However, when I tried to download a music file he had sent me of his recent jingles, nothing worked despite a seemingly successful download. So off I went (I was once again very cold and agitated)…

Finally, I also had a talk with our young tour guide (a 21 years old recent college graduate who spoke excellent English) about her Internet use. She told me that many of her peers circumvent the Chinese Central Government’s blocking of Internet sites by using proxy servers (I posed the question to the vice-rector of Fudan University about the university’s role in restricting Internet access to students and, after consultation with his other colleagues in the room, he said the only restrictions are those imposed by the Central government). Those servers need to change all the times because the minute they get discovered, they are being closed. So the Chinese Internet users are constantly sending each other phone text messages to update the safe proxy servers list available. She also told me the Facebook and YouTube are very popular right now in China and that she has been spending lots of time on Facebook since she is new to Shanghai and have been able to make good friends that way. Yet she also said “this is very bad. The Internet takes time away from real relationships and I have to make sure I do not use it too much.” She pays 1000 Yuan a year for her ADSL access and says all her friends have Internet access. When I asked her about using the Internet for business, she said there is very little use of it for that purpose. Having told he about my specialty in e-business, she said I ought to come to China to help built that business sector since many Chinese have become very inspired by the success of the Alibaba Internet site and its IPO.

From the New York Time's Article, February 4, 2008
Great Firewall of China Faces Online Rebels

For a vast majority of Internet users, censorship still does not appear to be much of a factor. The most popular Web applications here are games and messaging services, and the most visited Internet sites focus on everyday subjects like entertainment news and sports. Many, in fact, seem only vaguely aware that China’s Internet universe is carefully pruned, and even among those who know, a majority hardly seems to care.

But growing numbers of others are becoming increasingly resentful of restrictions on a wide range of Web sites, including Flickr, YouTube, Wikipedia, MySpace (sometimes), Blogspot and many other sites that the public sees as sources of harmless diversion or information. The mounting resentment has inspired a wave of increasingly determined social resistance of a kind that is uncommon in China.

This resistance is taking many forms, from lawsuits by Internet users against government-owned service providers, claiming that the blocking of sites is illegal, to a growing network of software writers who develop code aimed at overcoming the restrictions. An Internet-based word-of-mouth campaign has taken shape, in which bloggers and Web page owners post articles to spread awareness of the Great Firewall, or share links to programs that will help evade it.

In almost every instance, the resistance has been fired by the surprise and indignation when people bumped up against a system that they had only vaguely suspected existed. “I had had an impression that some kind of mechanism controls the Internet in China, but I had no idea about the Great Firewall,” said Pan Liang, a writer of children’s literature and a Web site operator who first learned the extent of the controls after a friend’s blog was blocked.

Ann Li China's Debriefing

2008-01-18T21:31:00.000-08:00

Ann Li is a student counselor on board the ship. She is from Shanghai and despite the fact that she looks like a teenager, she has a master’s degree and is highly intelligent. She gave us an important briefing before disembarking in China:
· The Chinese flag is read with four stars. The center big star stands for communism while the other four represent the 4 classes of people
· 3rd biggest country in size in the world (same as US)
· Most population in the Eastern part of country that is also more cosmopolitan
· Western part of mostly agricultural
· Yangtze and Yellow river crossing the country are called “the cradle of civilization”
· There are 23 provinces as well as autonomous regions (like Tibet and Mongolia)
· 5 key municipalities (like Beijing and Shanghai)
· The Han Chinese are the biggest ethnic group and therefore follow the “one child policy”
· There are 56 different ethnic groups
· 2 provinces – Hong Kong and Macau – are rules by a capitalistic system. You need a permit to travel between them and the mainland
· China has 3000 years of written history with 2 key dynasties – Xia and Qing.
· The dynasties created a pattern of change that influences the way Chinese thing about provinces splitting and re-uniting and that is why the Chinese believe the Taiwan will be some day theirs again, for example
· The Chinese people were responsible for 4 great inventions: paper, printing, the compass, and gunpowder
· One of the most important events in Chinese history is the Opium War from 1684 to 1840 which marks the beginning of semi-colonialization
· 1911 is the year of the Revolution that marks the end of the feudal system in China
· The “Anti Japanese War” took place from 1937 to 1945 (not WWII)
· The Civil War took place from 1945 to 1949 (marked by the creation of Taiwan)
· The PRC was founded on October 1, 1949
· The Cultural Revolution, led by Mao, took place from 1966 to 1976
· In 1976 a period of reform and opening up began when the Central Government declared that “Getting Rich is Glorious!”; a Chinese saying developed “It does not matter if a cat if black or white as long as it can catch mice”…
· A core value is the Chinese society is harmony between humans and nature and in interpersonal relationships. It is supported by Confucianism that preaches being kind and hospitable to others
· The social order in China is divided into 5 cardinal relationships:
1. Father-son
2. Emperor-subjects
3. Husband-wife
4. Older-younger
5. Friends
· The society is hierarchical in nature with respect for elders being emphasized
· The culture is based on particularism (the concept of self), formality (rituals and tradition), and Guanxi (the bigger your social network and the more long term, the more powerful you are).
· A key cultural concept is the concept of “face”; “giving face” means agreeing to do a favor for you, “losing face” means being refused, and “gaining face” means having many support you publicly
· China is a “high context society” which means “yes” does not really mean agreement unless in the right context. There is always a hidden meaning and one should try to read between the lines
· The religious cornet stones are:
1. Confucianism which promotes inner reflection
2. Taoism which promotes exultation; no need for verbalization
3. Buddhism which promotes inner peace
· Key cultural guidelines: speak only when you have something of value to say!
· During an academic lecture, the students do not interrupt the professor with questions; you need to allocate time after class for that
We were also reminded of the saying that while we visit China we should “take only memories and leave only footprints”…

We were also informed by her later in the “Cultural Café” about the importance f the upcoming Olympics to China. The 2008 Beijing Olympics them is “One World. One Dream.” The games are going to open on 8/8/08, eight being a lucky number in China symbolizing luck and prosperity. The Olympics mascot come in different figures representing China’s national animals (like the Panda) and key nature elements (like fire, ocean and air).

Later on, Pat, our academic dean, who is a Buddhist and was once a Buddhist nun told us more about the pillars of China’s spirituals belief.

Confucianism is based on the belief that the heart and mind are one and human nature is essentially good. Its values are sincerity, righteous behavior, humanness and similar others.

Daoism (or Taoism) belief is in the Dao = The Way which is based on the principles of Wu Wei (action through inaction), Chi (the universal life force), Ying/Yang (the male/female balance), and Hsien (immortality). Buddhism came to China from India in the 1st century CE and emphasizes that everything has a potential to be good and that we can get out from under a life of pain and dissatisfaction and achieve nirvana (the balance between passion and wisdom). Harmony is a critical element of all those three and a word we heard repeated over and over again during our stay in China.

Shanghai As Explained to Us by Our Local Chinese Guides

2008-01-18T21:29:00.000-08:00

Our guide, a pretty little girl named Irene (so many of the girls around are slim, petite, pretty and ageless looking that it makes you wonder about their growing cosmetics industry and how it still manages to sell them any products) introduced herself by letting us know that every Chinese person’s English name is one they have actually just picked up from the dictionary! She went on to guide us through a bus trip of the foggy, cold, and rainy streets of this huge city of 22 million people emphasizing that it is by far not the largest in China one of the most important ones as it is the economic center of mainland China.
As we shivered in the bus, she also shared with us the fact that most places we will visit in China do not have central heating (including people’s homes) so we should not expect to feel much warmer and that the rain is a constant in Shanghai (they basically have 3 seasons of rain). Just as cold as it was during our whole stay in Shanghai (close to zero degrees Celsius with even some snow flurries at the end of our first day), it can get brutally hot in the summer here, with temperatures reaching about 40 degrees Celsius. Each one of the guides we had reiterated the fact the global warming is the cause for every bad weather we may experience. China has embraced this notion even while back in the US I have friends who refuse to believe there is such thing as global warming…
It is hard to believe when you witness the skyline of Shanghai with all its high-rises that Shanghai used to be a small finishing village and its name actually means “go to the sea” in a local Chinese dialect. The new city is now labeled the “Manhattan of Shanghai” and its amazing growth only began in 1997. Every single guide we had was very proud to let us know that there are now over 2000 buildings in the city with 20 floors and above!
Another element of the city the locals are very proud of is their public transportation system. As we sat in traffic jams every time, we were re-assured that the current 9 lines subway is going to be expanded to 12 lines by 2010 so that all over the city every residence and office will be no further than 900 meters from a subway station! Subway tickets are only 3 Yuan’s and buses are free for seniors so everyone can actually use the public system. Furthermore, many of the big freeways crossing the city will be turned into 3 story freeways to ease congestion and the roads in the center of town will all go underground to allow for pedestrian traffic everywhere.
2010 is an important date for Shanghai since it marks the year the World Expo will open here. Just like Beijing is preparing everywhere for the Olympics, Shanghai is using the Expo as its milestone for many projects around the city. Its curtain call will open the stage of over 60 million visitors within a 6 months period and unveil the extremely hard work that went into making Shanghai a metropolitan force to be reckoned with.
All this tremendous growth comes with a heavy price for the residents of the city. Many of our young guides talked about how expensive it is to buy an apartment in Shanghai now. Before the 1980, all apartments were owned by the government who then made them available for purchase to the public for very cheap prices in the beginning of the 90’s. Since then, prices have escalated to a point that a regular apartment in the city costs $2000 per sq. meter on the average. We were also told that there are now some apartment buildings asking as much as $10,000 per sq. meter! Many young people can no longer afford the buy and end up living with their families. Some places have started renting apartments to tenants who live with “flat mates”. Renting is still considered in China to be a ‘no no’ because every family wants to own some property and use it to build their assets. Everyone, I have been told, believes that prices will continue to go up therefore renting will be a grave mistake; “like throwing away your hard earned money.” Residential construction is everywhere and the new buildings have names such as “Likeville” (that one had a banner on front with a quote from Frank Sinatra, of all people, about enjoying life!)
Many outside investors are enjoying the boom in real estate in the city. The Japanese have built the biggest shopping mall recently. However, not too far from the shopping center (whose front resembles a Disneyland attraction, not any different than others, even though Las Vegas comes to mind more often), the old streets of Shanghai are still full with traditional merchants selling in open markets anything from produce to household items for “real prices”, not the prices only Expats and tourists and upper middle class Chinese can afford.
So how do you reconcile the Maserati/Ferrari dealership with the street dealers asking you, “want Rolex watch?” everywhere on the adjoining streets? In this Chinese labeled “Golden Land”, that lights up the skyline at night and had every Western luxury available, what does the average person feel about this juxtaposition? One of our guides is an older man. He was laid off from being an engineer a few years back when many local factories closed to make room for the new foreign investments. Now he works as a guide after spending 3 years teaching himself English (he is working on his Japanese and German as well). He claims he is finally making some good money (I presume a lot of it has to do with the tips he is getting) and smiling he tells me: “Chinese are best in two things: making money and cooking! Chinese food is best in the world and now we are also allowed to make money again.”
Money is the most pervasive talk everywhere and it is mixed with a great sense of pride of where China is right now. The future is the focus of every talk we get. Referencing the past is only to discuss briefly the darker times while moving on quickly to the promise of the future. As Kissinger said, China wants to prove to the world that its last 500 years have only been a slight diversion from its 5000 years of glory. In other words, China is “back on track”!
We cannot help ourselves feeling slightly cheated having our guides try to sell us a Disneyland-like version of Shanghai peppered with a few hard facts such as that Shanghai has moved way from being a city of light manufacturing to having 80% of its jobs in the service sector. And, according to one of our guides, being a teacher right now is a very good job because many of them make money on the side tutoring students after hours. And university professors still get government housing for free. He wants his daughter to study to be a teacher or a banker. There are more and more women, he says, that are choosing careers in the growing financial sector of Shanghai. “Shanghai women strong because they all work,” he says. “So their husbands now all learn to cook!”
One of the young guides tells me that no matter how far along women in get in corporations or private companies, Chinese women will always put their family first. Considering that all of them only have one child and that children here go to school from 8 AM to 5 PM, you wonder whether the emphasis on family is strictly attitudinal or do these working women actually have a lot to do in their homes? One thing became clear – as we passed an elementary school at noon and saw students leaving, we were told almost all need to go home to have their lunch served by their mothers or grandmothers. A small number of schools offer lunch in cafeterias now that works are moving to live out of the city into more affordable housing.
And speaking of kids, I was also told that kids in the city are all studying almost around the clock seven days a week taking many extracurricular activities mostly focused on academic topics rather than sports. So many of the parents are convinced, I was told, that good grades are the only way to ensure a child’s future as a member of the middle class. Since the Chinese culture is driven by a strong family structure, there is little rebellion from the children. Yet, the Internet café’s I have visited were full with youngsters doing nothing for hours except playing video games, smoking cigarettes and seemingly having no other care in the world…

Our Captain - Our Hero

2008-01-18T21:18:00.000-08:00

Captain Dionysus (like the Greek God) says jokingly when asked what does he do: “My crew does the work, and I take the credit!”. A Greek, that is one quarter American (his grandfather was an American reporter in Greece) and has American born children, has been on the sea since he is 16 years old (over 30 years). He was born to a farmer in one of the Greek Islands and worked his father’s land that extended to the seashore. Like many in his Island, he dreamed since he was a child to go off and join the marine industry. Being “old fashioned”, he claims he always tried to work for the ship owner and not for the corporation that now run the cruise industry. (BTW, He worked for the Israeli owners of the ship Topaz for many years). Today there are only 2-3 companies dominating the cruise industry market. Crew’s slaries have dropped down considerably as consumer prices have been diluted. For the crew members, the standards have really gone down, he claims. The irony is that the industry will continue to expand and there will be more and more cruise ships. The ships that are being built today will be able to carry as many as 500 passengers! “However, we are not ready for it!” he emphasizes.
He has already sailed 9 times around the world, lately with a Japanese group of wealthy individuals who were visiting VIP’s in the different ports he took them to. But he likes sailing with our students, he says, since we are a “lively bunch”. And yet he claims, “the worst cargo on a ship is passengers!”
He believes his job is one of the most difficult there is but also one the proof that “society can work with different nationalities and cultures peacefully and productively.” His crew has over 20 nationalities working. “Mutual respect is the most important leadership skill for working in a multi-cultural team.” He said. “Remember that you cannot force
He worked on many ships and told the students he regards those ships as his children and therefore had loved working on all of them. He also told them he loves his job very much and that they should all strive to work in a profession that they have a passion for. He also told them they are very lucky to have this Scholarship experience and to remember that this voyage may be the highlight of their lives!
He told us that the ship we are on was built in Scotland and has more open deck then the current cruise ships so you can feel the sea more. However, because it has so much word in its interiors, it will be taken off the sea in 2010, which in his eyes will be a pity since he thinks it is a beautiful ship.
Finally, the students wanted to find out whether he has seen the deterioration of the oceans due to environmental problems and climate change during his recent travels. He responded by saying that “pollution is everywhere and is only getting worse… But we all are responsible for it! We are hypocrites if we do not acknowledge that!”

With Students in Shanghai

2008-01-15T22:01:00.000-08:00

Brrr.......cold Shanghai was a challenge to our touring schedule and our bodies, but we made the most of it. I managed to upload this pictures in anotehr Internet cafe in the city after considerable problems with blocking on this blog by the Chinese servers. So, folks, it is ture -- China does have imposed a lot of restrictions on Internet access. The Internet cafe was mostly full with over 200 young men playing video games, watching videos and listening to music. Smoke filled the drak room and a big guy situated himself behind me and Karen (another professor from the ship) while we tried to write email, chat online and post to our blogs... Brrr..
I will spend time tomorrow, hopefully, transcribing my notes from our stay in China. One bottom line lesson tonight, though: I am going to have to re-think a lot of what I have been teaching my students concerning international business! China has re-written all the rules!!!

Internet Cafe Shanghai

2008-01-12T00:25:00.000-08:00

We made it! After a long night sail, we got up in the morning to a cold and rainy view of Shanghai harbor... shivering we wondered the streets close to where the ship stood and got a glimpse of many empy street (considering that it was a Saturday morning). Yet we managed to go to a local supermarket and get a view of the Western worl re-packaged in Chinese packaging next to small eateries where food was cooked outside on a hot plate or big pot for steaming soup and vegetables.

Later we got on a tour bus and dro0ve through the city to take a look at thev impressive developments all around. Images of new York City come to mind with a mix of Disneyland as you ooh and ah at the tremendous building and shopping centers. The streets are clean and it all seems like almost part of a sci-fi movie... The students keep asking for shopping areas and ignoring the gleaming buildings. I am trying to peek around corners through the foggy bus windows for a glimpse of side streets that may conceal the old China, with little luck.

Tonight we are off the see an acrobat act. Clearly a tourist attraction but one that hopefully will relay some of the amazing traditions of Chinese culture. Shanghai does have a bit of a Vegas showmanship to it, though. Lots of hotels with gold decorations and greek sculptures adorning the entrances. Or maybe it is only the view from the bus...

Well folks, I have not been able to upload pictures here to my blog. Will try again tomorrow. I am also very cold, sitting in this Internet room full of empy booths and little lightingwith no heating....

This is ironic...

2008-01-10T22:51:00.003-08:00

I have not blogged for a few days since I have been waiting to land in Shanghai, find an Internet cafe, and spent some quality time writing and uploading my pictures...
HOWEVER, here we are, still on the river leading to Shanghai Harbor for more than 2 days with no movement!

From the local news...

Coal ships stranded as fog causes power crisis
By Dong Zhen and Lu Feiran 2008-1-11

THE fog engulfing the city this week has had major flow-on effects, including a dire shortage of thermal coal, disruption to water, air and land traffic and a deterioration in air quality.

The Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration yesterday opened emergency water channels to allow coal-supply vessels to make deliveries. Administration officials said continuous fog had caused water visibility to drop below 100 meters on the Huangpu River and waterways at the mouth of the Yangtze River. Shipping traffic was suspended, keeping regular coal-supply vessels out of city waterways.

By yesterday, the city's coal supply for electricity generation had reached crisis point, prompting the authority to open green channels for large delivery vessels.

The administration is giving priority whenever possible to the coal ships that must use the deep-water channel to reach the city's major power plants. Coal vessels with minor defects will also be allowed to operate as a temporary measure to help relieve the shortage.

Daqing 63, a vessel carrying 20,000 tons of coal pulled into Luojin dock under heavy fog yesterday. The coal arrived just in time to support continued operation of the Luojin Power Plant.

General shipping traffic at the mouth of the Yangtze was only open for about an hour after 9pm on Wednesday before all vessels were required to stop and anchor or return to ports.

As of late yesterday afternoon, shipping traffic was still suspended, with some vessels already stuck for days.

Authorities said yesterday more than 500 incoming ships were waiting at sea to visit Shanghai.

SO...

I will get back to you as soon as we find out whether we will even go into the city on not :((

STAY TUNED....

The students are here!

2008-01-03T17:09:00.000-08:00

Off we went with our 150 or so students on board (we will pick up some more when we get to China), and almost immediately hit rough seas :( Not a great introduction to life on the ship for many of them... The lines at the doctor's office were pretty long that first day.
But with all that, we managed to have a "circle of global friendship" ceremony on the deck (pictues to come) and found out all the different countries people came from. It turns out that with the crew members on board, we have over 50 countries represented here!
We have all learned to speak slower and look into a person's face when we talk to make sure they understand us!

The students have brought lots of excitement into our fold. Many of them it is the first time they are on a boat like this and/or traveling so far from home. Many seem very young to me, so they remind me of my kids every day :)

Here is a part of the speech our executvie director made as we welcomes the students:

“The buzz word in a lot of campuses nowadays us the internationalization of education, essentially through study abroad programs. If you go on a semester abroad, you experience mostly a certain university, a certain country, a certain culture. On this voyage, The Scholar Ship, you experience several of the above in one…Moreover, the intensity of the program and life on the Scholar Ship campus provides a total immersion type of environment with an abundance of learning opportunities. The program we are in is a unique project that is fully international in the constitution of its faculty and student body, transnational in scope, vision, and a combination of theory and field study.
While this environment offers so many opportunities, it also imposes some constraints on our freedom of action, of movement, because others need to enjoy their freedom as well. Therefore, the respect of others’ freedom us not only desirable but necessary for the physical, emotional, and intellectual comfort and integrity of all of us…this environment provides countless opportunities for learning and experiencing different ways of seeing and doing things; from classes taught by different faculty from various schools and traditions around the world, to classmates and shipmates from very remote parts of the globe, to the challenges of a closely knit community the members of which come in with different values and habits.
I invite all of us not only to seize the opportunities that present themselves to us, but to be entrepreneurial and take initiatives to help create other opportunities in the very fertile environment we have been fortunate to find ourselves in. You are the young men and women of today, future leaders of tomorrow. As the world is getting smaller and smaller, this is a wonderful and one of the best simulations of the study and work environments many of you are likely to find yourselves evolving in.
You have chosen the Scholar Ship for its richness, its diversity, its mobility, its multi-institutional courses and its program based on standard classroom education as well as experiential learning, its perspective and mission, in which intercultural communication skills and the awareness of global issues hold highly privileged places. ..
Let us open our eyes, our minds, and our hearts, and start the most exciting journey together as a multicultural learning community. With our collective will and effort, nothing can stop us from reaching the goals of our voyage and beyond!"

I had a chance to meet some of the students I will start teaching tomorrow. I have students from the US, Germany, Spain, Finland, Denmark, Ghana, Russia, Mexico and Bermuda so far. They are all trying hard to mingle with other not from their home country and the staff is working hard to initiate many such encounters. It is amazing to see that already on the second day of the drip, the breakfast tables are mixed and convesations are flowing freeily between people from very different backgrounds.

Today I met one of the few "adult learners" on board. She is my age and comes from Montreal. She is haring a room with a girl from Finland who is her daughter's age. She confessed that they both feel a bit out of place, but she is trying to connect with others while her rommate is somewhat reserved and shy. We have a wonderful psychologist on the ship (an Egyptian woman) who, I am sure, will be very busy in the weeks to come...

I am off to a planning session for our "learning circles" which are the equivalent to an academic department and will govern our port programs. I will help lead at least 4 of those programs in different countries, which will be a challenge, I am sure. We will need to make sure students are learning not only in the classroom but also as they visit each country. My students will be keeping a video journal to document their experiences. I plan on posting them all to YouTube once we are done, so everyone can share in this unique learning experience.

What is a Learning Circle?
A Learning Circle is an academic “home” in The Scholar Ship program, similar to a university department or division, which organizes the exploration of themes in an interdisciplinary area of study.
A Learning Circle is also a group of students, professors and other staff who explore a set of related themes through classroom study, planned activities onboard, port programs, and informal interaction.
A Learning Circle is a set of related subjects (classes) addressing themes that meet the programmatic objectives of The Scholar Ship.
Throughout the voyage, members of each learning circle participate in academic field study during port calls to explore themes belonging to their learning circle. Members also gather in small groups to share how their knowledge and perspectives gained through study and experiences relate to the themes of their particular learning circle. Through these interactions, students attain a broader understanding of the material they are studying, and from a more practical and holistic perspective.

Some Random Observations

2008-01-01T19:58:00.000-08:00

Our Executive Director is from Morocco. He is so mellow and full of positive energy. He reminds me of a father you do not want to disaapoint because he has been so fair and non-judgmental... I am looking forward to having many more discussions with him about his Muslim religion... There is so much we need to know now more than ever... The ship was supposed to go to his home country but for some security reasons, we are not. That is why we are going to Turkey, instead. the voyage was planned to give students an insight into Hinduisim (India), Budhism (China), Christianity (Spain), and Muslim (Turkey) with potentially some others cultural influences coming from Africa (South Africa).

We had an interesting discussion during dinner the other night. One of the staff asked our Chinese IRC a question concerning the over population of males in China and whether this will bring to an possible increase in the "perceived value" of females in that society. It was fascinating to hear her response. She was uncomfortable at first to discuss the concet of "value" as it relates to women but after awhile started discussing how closed her society is and how unlikely it is that Chinese men may seek brides from other countries due to the lack of eligible Chinese women... It is these kind of discussions that I have so much looked forward to before I joined The Scholar Ship...

The academic staff is starting to form strong bonds but we are told much will be tested once we have been confined to closed quarters for a long time while struggling to get our work done and keep our students engaged. A couple of the staff memebers have been on the previous voyage so we clamour to hear of their experiences. At the same time, however, I want to keep a totally open mind and not be biased in my expectations. So I really do not know if my individual experience will end up being somewhat similar to theirs or not. One thing is clear, those of us that came with companions on board, may have a different view on things. Will my "single status" be a benefit or a disadvantage? Time will tell...

Last Day of Training -- Are We Ready Now?

2008-01-01T19:37:00.000-08:00

We spent a tremendous amount of time in our faculty group being briefed and trained to a point of almost information overload. A lot of what we needed to learn is still being formulated since we are only in a post-pilot stage. So there are many grey areas and our key word has become our "f - word" or "flexibility". We promised to point it out to anyone who may sound like they are getting stuck in seeking a rigid answer to everything (I fell quickly into this predicament several times...). The other moto we developed is: "everything is a teacheable moment" which enables us to welcome ambiguity into everything that may happen...

Peggie, our inter-cultural training director is leaving us after 5 intensive days of training. Somehow I wish she stayed on board so that all the things she has tried to make us aware of and sensetive to can be re-checked with her once we meet our students... Due to the fact that we are actually going to develop our own community as we go along, there are so many unanswered questions regarding our ability to handle inter-cultural issues that will surround us, no doubt... Yet somehow it seems that everyone on board is very dedicated and serious about our mission, so Peggie's departure may be be just at the right time for us to test our choice to be on this voyage...

Last, but not least, we were reminded that we are embarking on an ocean crossing and MUST be always ready to evacuate the ship... oh boy... that part, however, was coupled with a comment from our Greek safety officer that in his 30 years on ships, he never worried about safety issues that were a result of a natural disaster rather he most feared the danger posed by having many drunks on board... Therefore, our students have a 4 drinks limit while we have none:)

New Year 2008 - Celebrating on Water

2008-01-01T19:20:00.000-08:00

See the wonderful the view of the downtown lighte that we were SUPPOSED to see from the ship? Well, as we stood in the freezing wind trying to hold on to each other and peek over the mountains blocking the fireworks, we saw... NOTHING!

Actually we ended up having a BBQ on the deck (see our cooks above) and drak a lot of Australian wine (that is me with Frank, our ESL specialist from Rome who also happens to play trumpet in a Jazz street band:)

But we brought the ship into Hong Kong harbor the follwoing day and ended up docking right next to a huge mall that was beautifully decorated. The stores and the people were a clear indication as to the amount of wealth that has accumulated on this island... We certainly looked like the poorer tourists with wide eyes looking in amazement at the luxury stores everywhere...

Training, Training, and More Training

2007-12-30T01:52:00.000-08:00

It has been 3 days, and we have not had a minute to think... The Scholar Ship staff has prepared such an extensive training program for us that my eyes are glazing over (on top of still being jet legged:(

Certain aspects of the training are just fascinating, as we start learning about this unique opportunity that we got to build a community for 4 months that has its own intention and moral compass with a strong value system supporting multi-culturalism. We are slowly grasping the responsibility of not just having to teach our students, but also shape their grasp of a more compassionate and cooperative attitutde towards the world...

The IRC's (who seem to be much younger than most of us, the teachers), are bringing in a much needed infusion of high energy while we start fading a bit from the building pressure of knowing that our students will be here in a few days and we have got to prepare fantastic lesson plans for them to be able to incorporate theorty with group interactions coupled with experiential learning and topped with strong ties into the facts about the countires we will be visiting!

The staff had an evening yesterday where we started slowly sharing some of our personal background and motivations leading to our work on the ship. Most of the people talked about being "global nomads" who always walked the fine line of living among multiple cultures and trying to fit in, while not really wanting to be tied down to one cultural self-definition.

We have people here that have lived on sailboats, survived revolutions, explored the rain forest, and served in hidden corners of the world in the Peace Corps. All the colors of the world are represented, and togehter with the international crew memebrs (mostly greek but also many Asians), this is going to be one hell of a floating global village:)))

Our Ship (Previously Known as The Mona Lisa...)

2007-12-28T14:55:00.002-08:00

This ship is an “old lady” born in 1966. It is full of spaces that used at one time to look grand, yet in a way make you want to chuckle. We had an introduction yesterday by one of the key people from Royal Caribbean as to why they chose this ship. It is better suited for transatlantic long term travel and can carry enough supplies for a whole month at sea. And – it was affordable! With only 150 students come on board for this voyage, the income level for this trip is way below what was expected. I talked to some people briefly about how they should further the student recruitment, but deep inside I am so pleased to know I will have to teach small classes and really get to know my students! I am going to be teaching an undergraduate course in international management and a graduate course in international business strategy. We are supposed to spend the next 4 days cramming to get our syllabi ready having gotten our books only yesterday. This is going to being a real test of our teaching abilities! We have a mixed faculty from countries like Italy, Germany, Australia, Morocco, U.A.E., and the US. Seems that most of them are in their last fifties to sixties (clearly those than can afford to leave home for so long). We have one young professor on board, though, that brought his wife and 2 kids who will be home schooled during the trip. It feels good to see those kids running around the ship. It somehow makes the place look less of an educational laboratory with serious looking professors discussing important subjects at all times…
We are going to be teaching in converted classroom with windows looking to the ocean. A couple of professors who are here for the 2nd time talk to us at dinner about the various distractions the ship represents and how those will grow exponentially as the students spend more and more time cooped up in a small space away from home and, sometimes, away from shore for long periods of time… I am taking all of this in since I am trying to figure out a way to keep them excited for the duration of my courses without losing them mid way… Make me almost want to go play hide and seek with them around the various parts of this ship that are still very much unknown to meJ

Paradox at Sea

2007-12-28T14:55:00.001-08:00

The whole world was shaken by the news of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination yesterday in Pakistan. And here we are, getting ready to embark on a breakthrough educational experiment in teaching students about international relations and we had to learn about this important news as part of a casual discussion during dinner time! So lesson #1 was: being on this ship, we have entered a bubble where isolation from everyday news and world events is going to enable us to focus closely on helping our students hone their abilities to be culturally evolved and sensitive while attuned to the needs of international business and community. BUT we will spend a lot of time in that bubble, away from any breaking news…
As a person who had devoted her professional career in the last 10 years to promote the Internet with its “web of inclusion”, I find my position here ironic somewhat. Immersion in a four months journey while mostly disconnected from this lifeline of knowledge and news, I am experiencing a great level of discomfort… As I rush to one of the only two computers on board with Internet connection to read more about the impact of Bhutto’s death, I keep telling myself, “my students will need to understand that; especially as we head towards India!” yet I know that part of what we are here to learn and to teach is how NOT to be swept by the lore of constant connectivity so we can turn and look into each other’s ‘true being’ and what it is that will allow us to use our human commonalities to communicate effectively with no external tools at our disposal…
But did George Bush’s look into Putin’s eyes help us all understand better Time Magazine’s Man of the Year, Tsar Putin? Or are we obligated, in this world of ever accelerating global change to be as knowledgeable as we can about the developing geopolitical conditions at all times in order to become better leaders, business people and members of the global community? What shall I teach my students? How shall I teach them while potentially being disconnected from the world at sea? Do we all need to disconnect at times in order to learn how to better connect???

Hong Kong

2007-12-27T16:50:00.000-08:00

Well, if I wanted a good lesson in intercultural relations, I could not have chosen a better day than yesterday! As I arrived to the Hong Kong airport with my 2 very heavy suitcases, I realized I needed help finding my way to a taxi to take me to the port. A nice short Chinese man approached me right out of customs and asked if I needed a cab. Being so tired I said yes, even though somewhere in the back of my mind I was wondering whether I was doing the right thing talking to a stanger... The guy proceeded to caryy my laguage (barely making it:) and took me to the curb outside the terminal where he stoped and used his cell phone. There was no cab in sight... He turn to me and said, "I just go get the van. You stay here." I decided right there and then that I was not going to dash back to the terminal and look for a "real taxi", but rather trust this guy... Minutes later, a van with a Pakistani guy (in Hong Kong?) screeched to a halt in front of us. I got in together with the short Chinese guy and off we went...

As the van was speeding through the highways, the 2 guys were busy talking on their cell phones and I was left to wonder what the hell did I get myself into. Yet somhow, the Chinese man's smile seemed so genuine, that through the fog of my great fatigue, I let my fears go and watched the skyline of Hong Kong passing by through the windows...

When we arrived to the port, the Pakistani man took off with the van and I was left on the sidewalk with the Chinese man who kept asking me "Where do you need to go? Where is your ship?" Of course the answer to that was "I have no idea. My instructions only tell me to go to the public pier and wait for some tendering vessel to take me to the ship..." The man smiled an amused smile (probably thinking I am total nut case) and told me "Let's go!". He took my biggest suitcase and started rolling it toward the pier and I followed him with the other suitcase and my backpack, barely able to move, feeling dizzy all of a sudden with the incredible city lights surrounding me and the uneasy sense that I have no idea where the heck I am and where he is taking me...

We wondered aimlessly up and down the pier as my Chinese friend (by now I decided he must be friendly if he went through the trouble of helping me carry my stuff looking for my ship) kept asking everyone where we can find a tendering vessel that goes out to the large cruise ship...

After 20 minutes or so, I was starting to feel very bad for the man and sorry for myslef. My jet leg did not help much either, since I realized I no longer felt in control of the situation. Then the man stopped and said "I call the police!" Well, little did I know that this is the BEST thing that could happened to me! After a few minutes, 2 policemen appeared and started questioning me about where I thought I was going. Trying not to become irritated, I told them again and again. They stayed very polite but seemed to have a look on their faces that said "This lady is a bit flaky..." Then they asked to take my passport... Not something I relished doing as I stood there with my Chinese man and my lauguage and they dissapeared...

Another 25 minutes went by, and I became aware that I truly felt like a fool! Just off on my "big journey" and already lost???? Yet, the 2 policemen came back with a police inspector; a good looking man in civilian cloths who used his cell phone to find the docking Scholar Ship, get their coordinator on the phone and be given insturctions on where I should wait to be picked up!

As I said my goodbyes to the Chinese man (by now I saw his little daughter's and wife's pictures and heard his life story), the police inspector took me to his little office to put my luggage there and from there to... Starbucks! Sipped coffee, he told me about graduating 30 years ago from Pace University in New York City, retiring from the Corrections Office and taking this current job after a 7 months vacation around the world when he realized he will go crazy if he did find a new job and ended up joining the pier's police department...

When he heard what I was going to teach, he started a series of questions about the China-US global economic relations and ths I ended up giving my first lesson at a Starbucks in Hong Kong to a policeman!

The kind policeman (or Allan, as he wanted me to call him) ended up escorting me back to the pier and making sure I got on the right vessel to take me to the ship. Before he left, he asked fo my business card and promised to email me so we can continue our discussion on the economic future of China and the US... Unbelievable!!!!

I am now awake and just finished exploring my new "home". The ship is an "old lady", and I feel like I have gone back in time 20-30 years just looking at the old fixtures and the amount of reall wood everywhere... But I will leave the description that for next time... Now I am off to my orientation and drug test (I guess it is a requirement)...

Merry Christmas and Packing

2007-12-25T06:38:00.000-08:00

This morning I got up to a silent world surrounding me... Everyone seems to be celebrating Christmas (probably opening their gifts by now)... Being a Jew in America always made me feel a bit jealous and out of place on a day like today... Very fitting feeling for packing up my books and study materials on global diversity, isn't it? Something to share with my students when I see them next week!

Tomorrow I am catching the flight to Hong Kong to reach The Scholar Ship. Here it is! Isn't she a beauty???

Why Macedondoc?

2007-12-23T15:53:00.001-08:00

I spent 2004 to 2005 in Macedonia as a Fulbright Scholar. I chose Macedonia because it is the birth place of my parents. Re-connecting to my roots proved to be an amazing experience...

Who I Am Going To Miss the Most

2007-12-23T15:49:00.001-08:00

Itinerary

2007-12-23T15:24:00.000-08:00

The itinerary for the January 2008 Voyage of The Scholar Ship is as follows:

Port	Arrive	Depart
Hong Kong		02 January 2008
Shanghai, China	10 January 2008	16 January 2008
Bangkok, Thailand (Laem Chabang)	23 January 2008	29 January 2008
Chennai, India	05 February 2008	11 February 2008
Port Victoria, Seychelles	17 February 2008	18 February 2008
Cape Town, South Africa	27 February 2008	04 March 2008
Saint Vincent Island, Cape Verde Islands	15 March 2008	15 March 2008
Barcelona, Spain	21 March 2008	27 March 2008
Istanbul, Turkey	01 April 2008	07 April 2008
Lisbon, Portugal	15 April 2008	15 April 2008
Amsterdam, Netherlands	19 April 2008