AIC Training, American Constitutional Law, Vivaldi Concert

The day began with AIC training. The AIC is responsible for approving and regulating all businesses in China, basically, and I decided to take on the job to coach them for an upcoming speech contest they have against 19 other offices in Shanghai.

Working with the XuHui office contestants has truly been fun. For two hours each meeting, we practice the co-written speech and how to deliver it persuasively. It is like directing an orchestra, at times. When we work on dissecting a particular paragraph, for example, we focus on the rhythm, pronunciation, and intonation to make the speech persuasive. Although I know nothing about music theory, I know that public speakers often use a musical rhythm to make their speeches effective, so we work on that kind of thing. There was one point today when the student's words were desert-dry and lacking any emotion, so I grabbed his hands and in a sympathetic tone, I recited the line from the speech so that he understood the necessary emotion. Needless to say, that made for an awkward, yet entertaining moment for the group.

Law Group. For the second week, I gathered some law students to meet at Starbucks to discuss American law. We are focusing on Constitutional at present 

Vivaldi Concert. One of the things that is very important to me is getting people together to have a good time. In the past, we've met for conversation at Starbucks, cut a rug Salsa dancing (tiao sha sha wu) or went for drinks at various entertainment districts. This week I wanted to get some culture, so I organized a group of 9 people to hear a strings concert in Pudong.

The orchestra played Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" concerto, which was nothing short of sensational. Each of the seasons had distinctive characteristics that summoned images of the seasons' respective weather and emotions. As the orchestra played, I could see people throughout the auditorium with their eyes closed and hands moving in-sync with the music like a director. You could see the sense of peace that they felt. To be honest, this was the first classical music (gu dian de yin yue) concert that I've attended, and I really enjoyed the change of pace.