When she was not busy keeping the Quest on track or watching fireworks in a rural village with the Miao community, Melanie Katzman emailed us to share some of her experiences on the recent China Open Quest. In keeping with Chinese philosophy which sees numbers as a mystical part of the universe, here’s a 3 x 3 list of what went on during the Quest.
Three things we experienced…
Farmers and Questors staying up late, watching the stars, drinking wine and telling off-color jokes about marriage that somehow translated across cultures.
Tears about inequality and reflections about personal and corporate responsibility, but there was also a great appreciation for the opportunity to laugh for hours and dancing for even more.
In China there are things that are legal, some things are illegal and many things that are between the laws (as in between people). Anything is possible as we saw over and over.
Three things that made us smile…
We met a Chinese doctor who diagnosed a participant’s psychology by listening to her pulse for ten minutes while we watched. She was totally freaked out. He was proud as it was his ‘first western body’.
When I arrived in the rural village, an organic farmer in the middle of a field asked me if I could get his son into Massachusetts Institute of Technology (never underestimate the determination of the Chinese).
On Friday I saw a dancing dog, a monkey on a leash, I met a living Buddha (and he was loving the chocolates we gave him and he took more pictures of us than we took of him), I danced on the stage of a Chongqing nightclub with an Indian NGO leader, a private equity advisor from England, the head of all BA pilots and the woman in charge of muffins for Starbucks.
Three things we’ve learnt…
To make dumplings in a traditional houtong.
What it means to be fully engaged with all your senses, with Chinese foot massages that go all the way up to your shoulders.
On a mountain top, after meeting the living Buddha our group shared what they learned from the week. A lot about China of course, but lots of great comments on challenging expectations about people – not the least of which was about each other. People realized the suffering of others and the inequities in the world. They also realized how important friendship and laughter is.