May 1 Book Club

This week I spent with Bill Stafford of the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle. Bill is bringing a study mission of business, government, and education leaders to Daejeon in a year and was here to plan the itinerary. Their program will include presentations from local experts regarding science, technology, transportation, and education. It should be pretty interesting.

One place they will visit is the National Science Museum of Korea, which is located in Daejeon. The museum is a lot like the Pacific Science Center in Seattle except that it includes a large cultural history section (not really science) and it is less interactive. To its credit, they have an outdoor exhibit which includes a larger-than-life replica of the swine flu virus.



Speaking of which, I am already worrying that the spreading pandemic may cause Seoul and/or Seattle to close its airport to international travel just when I am leaving to come home (in ten days!) Fortunately, I was not asked to work in Seattle’s other sister city, Mazatlan. Although, come to think of it, other than the danger of an agonizing death, there would have been some advantages.

Yesterday I was invited by some people at work to join them for book club. Book club is held in a restaurant after work on the last Thursday of each month Instead of everyone reading the same book and discussing it, this group has found it more fun for each member to read a book of his or her choice and then give a brief report on it while everyone eats and drinks beer. Last night three of the five attendees (besides me) were men. There were no reports. Instead we just talked about literature, culture, and travel. They asked me for some recommendations on books to read, and naturally I could not think of any. Perhaps it was the beer.