Barbie not Babi

The Ozzies from Adelaide are here again. Seven years in a roll (heh, make that "row"). What started out as a informal conversation (over beer, I think) with Steve Hamnett in Hanoi is going to become "mainstream", signed sealed, and one point for the KPI. I won't resist the inevitable. What's good for the School and the University, must also be good for the students? And for me? Who knows?

We had a session yesterday and I was leading the discussion, I said that the students will all have to  jump in to help with the "barbie" on Friday dinner; our traditional farewell after the final presentation and after two weeks of trials and tribulations. My students went "Huh? What?". I said "barbie" as in "barbeque"; you know the Ozzies passionate term for BBQ? "Oh", said my students.

I didn't think much about it until later. Oh, I get it. I think the USM students thought I was talking about "babi"; you know as in pig? Yah, that's cross-cultural learning for you.

They wanted banana leaf rice, so we went to Brown Garden. We used our hands to eat of course. Matthew beside me and for the first time in Penang, Jon, the head of planning at UniSA.