Pubs and bars are ubiquitous in Ireland.But I am not sure whether the real Buddha would actually run a bar, even in Ireland.
There is more than beef and potatoes to eat in Ireland (Galway, actually). Next to the Buddha Bar is a Chinese restaurant run by a couple from Hong Kong. My friend from Singapore, who cannot live without Chinese food, took me there. The food turned out to be quite good, and the place was doing good business. It is quite small, seating no more than 15 people, and a lot of people come for takeout. The young couple who run the place was from Hong Kong. And they seem to enjoy the more tranquil life in Galway. I wish them well.
There is also more than the Cantonese style and Shanghai style Chinese food. I was quite surprised to find Xian street food.
And Beijing street food in a convenience store.
Is this what is meant by soft power? Or simply an influx of Chinese students and immigrants?
There wasn’t much time to venture out of Galway because I spent most of my time at the conference on service-learning.But I did walk around Galway as much as I could and it was quite rewarding.
There were a lot of murals that were very attractive, even though I could not always figure out what they were or what they were trying to say. Such as this one with a big eye in it.
Many bars / pubs had such pleasing murals that induced an urge to go inside to find out more. On this account they are very successful.
Some are so vibrant that they became natural backdrops for street performers, or people who wanted to raise donations for some cause.
There were still some of the old-fashioned thatched roofs. Although I was told that they are becoming quite rare in Galway.
The campus of the National University of Ireland at Galway is beautiful. Such as this quiet quadrangle with perfectly kept green lawn, and vine-covered facades.
I feel that I am not sure whether I can say I have seen Ireland.I have actually only been in Galway for about 4 days.But I did get a taste of Ireland, at least that of Galway.
During this time, I have tasted some very nice wild boar sausage, washed down with a local beer form Galway. The only regret was that there were not more sausages. I have become quite fond of wild boars, perhaps from reading a little too much Asterix. Asterix and his pal Obelix always tuck into big, delicious roasted wild boars after a big fight.
They must have a lot of cows here, because the beef steaks were quite inexpensive. At least in comparison to Hong Kong. They seem to be quite meticulous about their beef too. You can get fresh beef, beef aged for so many days, etc. - even from a regular supermarket.
They have a lot of cheeses. And I did see a lot of cows, sheep and horses along the highway between Dublin and Galway.
The seafood looked fresh too. But I am not sure that all of them come from the seas around Ireland.
You can even pick up apples from the grounds of the National University of Ireland at Galway. They were edible, but small and sour. Not my favourite. But you don’t have to pay for them. So I couldn’t complain.
I am here in Galway to attend an international conference on the serious matter of Service-Learning at the National University of Ireland at Galway.Somehow I ended up staying at a hotel on the touristy Quay Street, with my room right on top of a row of pubs and restaurants.It was very hard to sleep until the din died down way past 2 am.
In the morning, on the way to the university, I get to count the number of kegs of beer each pub consumes in just one evening.
And to imagine how it feels to sleep in the street in near freezing temperatures. Somehow, the site of my hotel seem especially apt for the purpose of my trip here.
At the beautiful campus, we discuss staff development, measurement of impact, public scholarship, recognising engagement in promotion and tenure, …
In the closing session, the incoming chair of the organisation asked for input on diversification. I raised three issues that I feel are important.
Firstly, there are many more females than males in service-learning, among both students and teachers. What are the gender-based differences and impact? and how can the imbalance be addressed?
Secondly, much of the service involve social sciences disciplines. Why are the so-called hard sciences and engineering disciplines not contributing? Engineering exists to solve problems. How can we get the engineers to contribute more to tackle these social issues?
Thirdly, service-learning is dominated by the (North) Americans. But the culture and political situation is very different in other communities. For example, advocacy is considered favourably in USA. But it is not considered so favourably in places like Hong Kong, and downright dangerous in places like China. How should service-learning be practiced outside USA?
As a teacher, administrator and advocate in our university, these matters are of immediate and critical concern to me and my colleagues.
Imanol Ordorika of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Autonomous National University of Mexico, UNAM) delivered the opening keynote at the 2017 IARSLCE (International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement) Annual Conference in Galway, Ireland.
He asked: where were the universities when the UK debated on Brexit - the British exit from the European Union? … when the Occupy Wall Street was going on? … when corruption led to constitutional crisis in Brazil? … through the Black Lives Matter campaign? … against the “alternate facts” frenzy in the USA?
These are matters that captured the attention of the whole nation and were enormously important for the nation. Yet the universities in the respective nations were strangely silent. How can universities claim to be socially responsible, engaged in society when they are silent on issues that tremendously affect their nation?
He didn’t mention Hong Kong specifically. But we can equally ask the same question: Why were the universities silent on matters such as Occupy Central? Why do universities think they have no role to play in the debates in society of such enormous importance to everyone? Is it because of a lack of expertise? information? … or courage? How can we teach students to be engaged, responsible citizens when we ourselves are not willing to be the same?
Within just one week, I came through Heathrow again.This time, I was not going to London, just changing planes to fly to Dublin, and then to take a bus to come to Galway - to attend a conference on Service-Learning.
My first impressions of Ireland - both when the plane made landfall, and on the bus from Dublin to Galway - was that Ireland is very green.
It also has a lot of animals: sheep, cows, and horses. Particularly sheep, both the real ones grazing on the green fields and those cute ones decorating shop windows.
Ireland also has a lot of bookshops and restaurants, which I like.
Sometimes the two are linked, which I like even more.
There are many many pubs, of courses. Many are quite old, or at least look old.
There is a lot of music, on the streets, in the pubs, …
At the beautiful cathedral in Galway, there is a prayer that I like a lot, perhaps because it speaks to my heart.
What is the link between alcohol, books and faith?
Over the weekend I made a quick trip to London to attend an event.It was the Global Teaching Excellence Award organised by the Higher Education Academy of UK.The Hong Kong Polytechnic University was selected as one of the 27 finalists for the award. So I have to attend the dinner and award ceremony with my colleague G on behalf of the university, because our submission was based on our work on service-learning.
The award was eventually given to University of Huddersfield. Among the 27 finalists, 16 were from UK, 5 from Australia, and one each from Hong Kong, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, South Africa and Netherlands. We heard that ~300 universities were involved. Evidently PolyU is the only university from Hong Kong (in fact, from all of Asia) shortlisted as one of the finalists. But we do not know how many from Hong Kong (or Asia) have entered.
Being a finalist for the award is, of course, an honour for our university. It also caused me to think about how ti came to be. That fact that so much have been done in the past 7 years is nothing short of a miracle. If Prof. Walter Yuen had not become our Vice-President of Academic Development; … if there were no transition from 3 year undergraduate programs to 4 years, giving us one more year to design a proper general education program; … if we had not developed a extra-curricular, sizeable, community service learning program by then; … if we had not had some passionate service-learning advocates to lead the effort from the beginning; … if subsequently we had not had strong backers in Prof. Timothy Tong, Prof. Angie Yuen and Prof. Daniel Shek; … if we had not developed a community of passionate teachers; … if we had not had the funds raised by our alumni office; … if we had not had the strong support of “supporting” units and administrators … then all these most likely would not have happened.
People might consider this a happy coincidence. But some of us know better. It is God’s providence, more than anything else, that caused it to happen. I have been in the thick of it from the beginning. I certainly did not plan it this way, and I don’t believe anybody else did.
