Now that I’m 69, I’m quite enjoying a bit of local cub reporting but I’m not sure the people I focus my eagle eye on find it quite so pleasant.
Like Lu Xu below, an unwitting recent target that I fell upon at an event yesterday the Gran Sasso Science Institute, a prestigious international PhD school and research centre here in L’Aquila, Italy.
We were at the opening ceremony of the institute’s new Visitor Centre. Local dignitaries were there and quite a few eggheads too of course, and there was an unusual art installation, an experimental violin recital and the entire thing had a warm, couthie feel to it.
On arrival I had ‘worked the room’ and spotted someone I thought would be enlivening for a quick chat. He was Asian, and outsiders often have fresh things to say.
I had also immediately clocked trays of meticulously-prepared Parma ham crostini, canapés, and prosecco being carried into a little marquee nearby ( by an agile grey-haired man in expensive shirt and Ferragamo trainers) so was looking forward to a bit of delicious grub after trying to speak to the Asian guy.
* * * * *
“That’s my name in Mandarin, I’m from South East China, not so far from Shanghai. I’m a professor of mathematics. I’ve been here in L’Aquila for 6 years, love my job – my students are very motivated. They’re from all over the world, it’s interesting, it’s good.”
Lu Xu was shy, respectful, unaffected and charming….also kind and open enough to speak to me, a total stranger.
My questions for another time are these, though: Yes but what does it feel like to be a Chinese academic living in small-town Italy? Why did you come ? How are the classroom dynamics in your lectures ? Are the Eurocentric ideas of China accurate, in your opinion? As a brilliant mathematician, are you optimistic about the future ? Do you like Parma ham ?
We did discover however, that we shared something else apart from our five-minute conversation yesterday; we had both lived in L’Aquila and Tokyo.
( photo below from a few years ago, of my desk wall at Asia University, Muasashino, Tokyo )
Out There & In Here 