This was another foodie and experience weekend. I’m training (sort of) for a marathon. I can’t train fully as I still have a chronic hamstring issue. But I can run a half marathon and if I go slower I could run the full marathon. At worst, I can run and walk it and still finish in the time limit. It will be my one and only marathon and it is here in Guangzhou. I ran the half there last year. Crazy but up for the challenge.
After my 9 km morning run I had a leadership class on assessment at 8 am. At least I get the class done early enough in the morning. After that I went to dim sum with colleagues at the Luck Win Teahouse. Dim sum is the same in a lot of places. They have the same foods which you share as a table and sample everything. Each dim sum restaurant though has their one special dish you can’t get anywhere else.
Other dishes we ate:
Then off to a doctor’s appointment to check on the 4 stitches in my head (I had a cyst cut out the afternoon before. How many do I need in my lifetime?). I walked home and passed this little farmers market. I bought honey. The day before I stopped and bought pumpkins.
I went to a Diwali dinner that night but had to leave to go to another event. Shalini and Sai are wonderful people I’ve been working with while they help until all our teachers are back. A great night with authentic Indian food and spending time with friends and the meaning of the festival of lights and dispelling dark.
The next day was TedX Guangzhou at the Garden Hotel. It was a pretty long day but some great messages from a variety of speakers. They had translator devices we could use. The gardens there are beautiful. (Pictures a few paragraphs below.)
The theme was Embracing complexity. The first session was: It’s about us. It focused on having empathy for our own transformations. Another speaker spoke of the kids lack of connection with the natural world and the result we see in how students and people think about one another and the resources around them.
The second session was Nitty Gritty. One message about climate change is that it is all around us and how small changes in temperature have made large changes where others are not aware. Another speaker spoke of complexity in systems from large scale (Earth) to small scale (cells). The energy constraints on systems are a common property as well as feedback loops. Another speaker spoke of protecting animals, and not just the cute ones. An educator spoke of perception opening hearts and ensuring that education is not indifferent. I like the speaker on the food crisis. She engaged with people to make the point of knowing where raw materials come from, learn recipes, make food, eat, clean up…. It brings up the motto from 4-H: head, heart, and hands….. Know how everything is used and what it takes to bring food to our table.
Lunch was delicious and I followed it with a walk around the gardens.
The third was Full Spectrum. There were many messages here including migrants who want a better life and should be trusted that they are motivated to do just that. It also discussed economics such as inflation and other items that affect society.
I chose a breakout session where we broke in groups to find evidence of various things in a neighborhood. We then moved around groups to look at what each group found and heard interesting stories as each group interacted with people differently. There were some common assessments of the neighborhood and similar stories from the residents.
The fourth session was Onward and Upward. It focused on high density areas that are dealing with high livability issues. It also looked at serious environmental issues and local groups stopping destruction of old neighborhoods and environmental areas.
