Le Grand Tour D'Asia: Day 55 of 58

Jung Ji Hyun performs the Hwaseon Dance

Wednesday, March 3rd

Learning Moment: Seoul, Korea

Tonight we scored front row seats for a traditional dance performance at Seoul Namsan Gugakdang. The winter series of performances featured Jung Ji Hyun, a master dancer and professor at Kyungsung University.

We were the only foreigners in the building, which attracted the attention of her husband and producer. He gave us a warm and friendly greeting, wanting to know where we were from, what brought us to the theater and where we got our tickets.

The performance was stunning - easily the best traditional dance performance we've ever seen. The choreography was creative, the costumes were beautiful, the music was powerful, and the venue was perfect.

Of course, Jung Ji Hyun was outstanding - graceful, beautiful, athletic, and able to convey a myriad of emotions through her face and body. This was truly the highlight of our trip.

Le Grand Tour D'Asia: Day 24 of 58

Singaporean Chinese Beauty, thanks to plan B!

January 31st, 2010

Learning Moment: Singapore

Today, we strolled the streets of Singapore; though Little India, up Orchard Road, and down back alleys. Tonight, while I reviewed the photos I took, I (re)learned two lessons:

1. Always check your settings.
   Always. Check. Your settings.
   I was using my SLR camera in manual mode the other night and never changed it back to aperture priority. As a result, all 150 photos I took with that camera today were either under or over exposed.
2. Have a plan B.
   Redundant systems are our friend.
   Today, I was carrying my pocket camera. For no apparent reason, I took 250 photos with my pocket camera. I never do that when I'm carrying my SLR. Well, almost never. Because I did take those pictures, I captured the Singaporean beauty above, during a promotion for the upcoming Chingay parade.

It was an important - but relatively painless lesson.

And that, my friends, is the best kind of lesson.

Training is a place where we can experience important, but painless lessons.

My job as a facilitator is to make sure that:

A) The lessons are painless, and

B) You realize how important they are.

When I do that - you learn, I learn, and life is good for both of us.

Don't You Dare Me...

As we were sitting at the dance festival in Mamallapuram on Saturday night, a ticket collector came around to check our seats.

"Here comes sour face", said the man next to me. "We've been coming here for 5 nights straight and she hasn't smiled yet."

Hmmm... I don't know a lot, but I know a couple of things. First, I'm pretty confident that I can make anyone smile at least once (it's easy if you're willing to make an ass out of yourself). Second, it isn't that hard to make an Indian smile.

"Really...", I said to him, as I turned around to her.

I would have placed a bet with him, but he'd already said he was spending US$16 a night on his hotel room - so, the stakes would have been too low to bother. This exercise would merely be to make a point.

Within three sentences, I got a smile out of her.

And no, I didn't have to do anything stupid.

"Wow", the guy said, "That's the first smile I've seen from her".

"Well, you had to challenge me", I replied, as he put up his hands in mock surrender.

She has a face built to smile. This photo is my proof and my reward.

The Multicultural Bride - Hsinchu, Taiwan

I'm back in Santa Clara, so I'll be posting some images from Hsinchu over the next few days.

As I was leaving the hotel this morning, a wedding party arrived.
This woman got out of one of the cars and smiled.

"Beautiful dress," I said.
She then gave a response that I had never heard, in my previous 13 years of Asia experience - "I know".

I almost fell over.
In Asia, modesty is king (and queen).
Typical responses would be "It's the best I could do on short notice", "All the good ones were taken", or "I wish I could do it justice".
Even "Thank you" is typically considered too bold.
I had to give her credit for her unusual boldness.

She then asked me where I'm from.
"California", I said.
"REALLY!!! Me, too".

Ahhhh, an American. That explained everything.