May 16, 2007

The joy of instant messaging!

While I M ing with an undergrad about the list of Asian and Asian American student leaders for this year's graduation awards ceremony, three things happened. First, the undergrad's view of being a business major and not being a global traveler was out of sync with reality. Second, the graduation awards url we were updating contained a photo of Chris Cataldi and his Dad when Chris graduated in 2005, and I was reminded of his global family story. Then third, Chris came online - direct from Japan.

So by the end of 'talking' to Chris, we realized he was not just a perfect alumni update story but a perfect 'small world' and getting smaller story. That yes, Harvard is right to make ALL of its undergrads do at least one semester of study abroad. That hopefully, since not enough SBU students go abroad, to be like Harvard preppies in the competitive job market they will eventually make the choice to become globally sophisticated too. And that we should do whatever we can to foster that!

First - the Chris Caltaldi alumnus update news. He is at the end of his second year working through JET, the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. JET started in 1987 to increase mutual understanding between Japan and other nations. Participants can be Coordinators for International Relations (CIRs), working on international exchange activities; Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs), teaching their own native language in Japanese junior and senior high schools; or Sports Exchange Advisors (SEAs), who promote international exchange through sport. www.ny.us.emb-japan.go.jp/en/i/01.html

Because of Chris' language abilities he was able to become a CIR. He works for the International Affairs Division of Joetsu City in Niigata prefecture. He teaches English classes, has lots of dealings with Japanese children to teach them about America, does translation interpretation for foreign visitors, English website, newsletter and pamphlet writing, and even leads an annual delegation of Japanese high school students on a study abroad home stay.

You can read all about what he does in more depth at their website for him. Anyone who is interested in talking to Chris, his current phone number and email are on this url too. www.city.joetsu.niigata.jp/english/contents.files/CIRE.html

He will be back in NY next month to be interviewed and take the exam for the Japanese government scholarship for grad school. Although winning a scholarship is a long and complicated process, it is well worth the effort. If he gets it, all of his tuition and fees will be waived and he will receive about 1500 US$ per month for the duration of his studies.

He even has his research proposal topic chosen already - "The 1964 Tokyo Olympics as a model for sustained economic development in Asia." It was the first Olympics in Asia, the first to switch pre-game prep from focusing on building big sports complexes to basic infrastructure (highways / bullet train / water supply), the first to send live broadcasts over satellite relay from Asia to North America and Europe, and subsequent games in Korea and now China are following that model. Sounds like a great topic the Japanese government would love to have verified academically!

Now to the global family and ongoing cross-cultural relationship story. Chris' Dad, a red haired northern Italian American, met Chris' Mom in her native country of India. They fell in love and opposed to all the arranged marriages that are the norm in her country, she married him and came to the New York as his bride. Chris, their only son, was born here and is a hapa - the Hawaiian word to describe someone who is part Euro / part Asian. As a child his family lived in India for 5 years so he had a good experience living a bi-cultural life well before heading off for Japan.

Chris came to Stony Brook University where he majored in Business and minored in Japanese Studies. He did a year of study abroad and fell in love with a girl in Japan. But was she Japanese? No. She was from Sichuan in mainland China, also studying in Japan.

After his semester abroad Chris came back to SBU to finish his degree and then applied to the JET program to be able to go back to Japan. He is still with the girl he met on study abroad and their common language, to this day, is Japanese. She is now in Tokyo University for grad school.

Chris is also learning Chinese for two reasons. He said, "as a business major... Asia, especially China, is very important to know for the future, (hence why I will be starting to learn Chinese)... that and my gf's parent's threats lead me to believe that it's somewhat important to them."

Anyone interested in foreign study - the SBU Study Abroad website is ws.cc.stonybrook.edu/studyabroad/. You can go to India, Japan, Korea - or anywhere in Europe - and this summer will even be the first SBU Chinese language program at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, ranked as one of China's top 3 or 4.

Check out Maria Ng's article on the summer abroad program she did in Rome: www.aa2sbu.org/aaezine/articles/vol12/RomeStudyAbroad.shtml.

Here are Chris' graduation photos: aa2sbu.aasquared.org/gallery/sbugrads2005

And welcome home Chris, even if it will be for just a short and stressful visit. We hope your interviews and exam are a success!
 
by Ja Young
Alumni Editor
www.aasquared.org