Macau

The Fulbright general education team went to the University of Macau last Friday to be part of that university's general education program discussion. Macau was a Portuguese colony (as Hong Kong was a British colony) but went back to Chinese control in 1999, two years after Hong Kong. It was always something of a backwater to Hong Kong.

We started the morning in absolutely packed subways. We could hardly move. Then we went by ferry. Macau is a one hour ferry ride from Hong Kong. While my cell phone didn't work in Macau, when I was close by I started getting text messages--"City of Dreams", etc. Yes, Macau's economic development plan is basically to become the Los Vegas of the region. Casinos are the main business activity. As you approach the group of islands that make up Macau, you see what looks like a huge medieval castle--of course it is a recreation.

There was a certain power in being able to go through the "Hong Kong resident" line in immigration.

Macau is a city, but it feels less crowded than Hong Kong. As a colleague said--it looks like downtown Milwaukee! And then of course you start to see chinese and Portuguese language.

We expected to have a roundtable discussion but came into a huge tiered classroom with everyone making formal presentations on the GE courses they were developing (7 minutes each). The "big man" of the whole initiative at the University of Macau was consulted on every point. Young women, who were clerical workers, stood on the side of the classroom to take care of anything that needed to be done--get people water, the microphone, etc. This is very typical. Even when I do a workshop, all the staff aids arrive to hand out things when you need to, etc. The only woman to speak in the first session was a woman faculty member. She asked a question in the Q and A session, and the "big man" immediately called an end to the session and announced a break. As I walked into the bathroom, a British woman who works at the university started ranting about--"did I see that?"

On the way home from Macau I saw rocky islands--this is what both cities are built on. I arrived back at Kowloon at dusk. As I walked to the train, the streets were teeming with people as the city came alive and lights were coming on everywhere. The train was absolutely packed again as I went home. When I walked into my apartment I collapsed.