How are you? Is everything good with you? I do hope that you are doing well and enjoying your weekend.

Today is the 299th day that I have been in the US.

This week, I got two 9/10 in the 3 quizzes of my Management of Information System on Wednesday and Friday; rented my new apartment on Thursday; attended my religion lesson on Friday, had a traveling for my art learning between Missouri and Kentucky via Memphis of Tennessee and Chicago from 4:30 am Saturday until 10:10 am Sunday; and created 3 new peony paintings to appreciate the people who have helped me while to explore some one new style of peony painting...

The luckiest and happiest thing is that the hardest traveling in the US (my flying for 3 hours from Missouri to Kentucky was kept for 12 hours, for my first flight from Springfield to Memphis was canceled in SGF airport, I had to check in 4 times, security checking twice and boarded twice) has brought me the best lucky and happy result:

-- I have visited Dr. Bill. Booth ? A famous historian, Art critic and professor and his wife Ms. Booth - An artist and musician by the introduction of Mr. Yiran Z.
-- Dr. Bill Booth has been and would be my mentor of art learning and studying.
-- Dr. Bill Booth has checked some of my original paintings, gave me a lot of meticulous directions face to face.
-- We have also made some significant discussions on my personal art exhibition in the US next year...

In the short first week, I have experienced, learned and felt so much from my adventures of studying in the university, art creating, houses finding, national traveling, especially visiting Dr. Booth.

Once more, I have seen a part of how these great Americans work, live and push the US forward, become the strongest country in the short history of several hundred years. As a famous American professor, Dr. Bill Booth has had everything already, as an famous scholar with the age over 70 years old, Dr. Bill Booth needs not work so hard as a younger man, but, can you imagine? Dr. Booth still works for 16 or 17 hours every day. Just for my visiting, he worked from 8:30 am until 1:00 am on his Saturday. Just because of this kind of hard working, one of his projects -- to carry a part of the Terra-Cotta Army of the Qin Dynasty into the US and to show them to American people made it great successful in 2000...

Via the short touching with Dr. Bill Booth, I have also seen and felt how an American professor's serious and responsible work style, just as I had seem and felt in my studying in Missouri State University, how they educated their national and international students, to help this world more beautiful and in the more civilization. Spending most of time, Dr.Bill Booth checked, commented more than 100 pieces of my works, pointed out each one's advantage, shortness and improvement ways, not only make me know how I should correct, improve my working level, but also offered me a wider international eye-shot...

When I saw Dr. Booth and Mr. Yiran Z at the airport, we went to the hotel, his home, office and restaurant by Dr. Booth's car, I could not help thinking of Dr. David B Meinert ? the leader of the Business and Administration College of the Missouri State University, how he picked up our Chinese students at the airport Sunday night last September, carried our luggage, drove us to Wal-Mart, sent us to our apartments one by one, and even he carried a mattress as my temporarily curtain in person... Once more, I have felt the special and advanced American Management culture with my own eyes... I was so touched and I have been thinking what and how our Chinese managers should learn from them...

Another deep impression is that how deeply Americans study Chinese culture already. If saying that my first time felt that in the courses of Organizational Behaviour Management and International Marketing Management from the textbooks and the lectures by the professors in the classroom, the traveling to Kentucky, made me know how Dr. Bill Booth as an individual to study China and Chinese cultures ― My first feeling when I entered his home was: if I did not know who is the host of the house, I would think that I had been in a small size Chinese culture museum...

As far as the cloud mountains in the blue sky and over the water, the golden "clothes" of the white clouds by the sunshine, the different color, tone and inside architectural styles in the 4 different airports and the so squared city design of Chicago have all stayed in my mind, brought me a peaceful heart and endless thinking and enjoyment...

How about you? Have you has anything special in the past week?

I am just a learner on art of painting, music, English and Chinese language, to work on the web site in my free time. I would really like to do a few things with what I have learned to make this little web site to be an Electronic Bridge of Culture Exchange, Chinese Language Learning & Friendship making. To help the others while to improve myself.

I would like to appreciate your understanding, directions, supports and hope to get your friendly direction and help.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, you are welcome to write to shirley@ebridge.cn or Yiping007@MissouriState.edu, or to publish your opinions in the forum.

Shirley Yiping Zhang
Sun, July 27, 2009 From USA