Sorry I have been quieter the last few days, but I have been busy here. Presentations are due at the end of the week (mine is Thursday afternoon) and I have been spending Monday night and Tuesday night after the movie working on my presentation. It is done--I finished at 12:45 am last night! So that is one relief off my shoulders. The talks on Monday were interesting, with one on modern Japanese popular culture including Hello Kitty, and the other was on Chinese power and water problems from a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC. The popular culture lecture was interesting, but too many people were asking "me too!' questions which meant that she really couldn't finish what she was working on. The afternoon presenter was very political, and while I didn't agree with everything in her pro-environmental stance, it was nevertheless an interesting and informative talk. It's one of the reasons to come to something like the EWC and the ASDP institutes: to learn and to hear about topics from angles you might not consider.
That went ditto for yesterday's lecture on feminism, food security and nuclear power. It was a very political discussion and while I didn't agree with most of it, I again learned something I didn't know much about before hand. It is interesting, in hindsight, that some days I knew a lot already about certain subjects, and on others I was a complete neophyte. I am certainly leaving here with more information than I had when I arrived, but unlike the institute two years ago, I don't think I am leaving with tremendously more knowledge than I had when I entered. Mostly I think that is because where the gaps I have, especially in historical information, really wasn't filled in, and areas that I did have, sometimes the material didn't do more than gloss over the subject briefly in the need to be comprehensive. Don't get me wrong, this has been a rewarding experience, I just wish it had been more. Maybe the idea of covering two countries really needs to be only one. I don't know.
There was a movie from Taiwan last night. It was a comedy, romance and musical and it was interesting in its own way. I did pay attention for most of it (though I was thinking about my presentation for much of the 1st hour). I do have to say that the movie choices were far better than those in 2010.
Yesterday afternoon was running about and sending packages off to respective parties so I have less to carry home in my luggage. I still have some last minute shopping to do. This morning it's off to class on Japan again, then a special extra lecture on Tibet, then later this afternoon I think I am going to Waikiki to do some shopping. I did decide to get a car on Friday afternoon, and then drive it back to the airport on Saturday. It's not much more expensive than a tax ($60 versus $40 for the taxi) but it gives me some transportation to spend Saturday morning after early check out (10:00 am) and before I have to leave for the airport (3:00 pm) doing something on the island. Maybe I'll take a run out to the Dole Plantation or head to the Bishop Museum. I haven't decided yet, but it worked out last time and it should do so again this time.
Anyway, time for a shower and get ready for class.
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