London!

I'm in London... set up another blog for UK adventures.

The US is SOOO different!!

I'm in St. Louis, Missouri teaching a course at the EY office. Here are some interesting stats about my class:

- 100% of my students are white
- 85% of my students are married/engaged, including two who are engaged to each other
- 1 is preggy, due in July
- 25 is their age, being SA2s

INSANE!!!

Also, I was in Cleveland for a "train the trainer" session last week, about 45 participants in total. Participants were from all over the Americas (ie North and South), and Israel. Aside from the South Americans and Israelis, there were a total of TWO visible minorities - one being me of course, and the second a brown guy -- also from the Toronto office!

I'm so used to cosmopolitan Toronto, and the normalcy of having visible minorities, that coming here is a shock. Kinda gives me an idea how immigrants in small towns of Canada feel, and the kind of pressures they might be under. Don't get me wrong, everyone here is great, no one makes a big deal out of it at all. But it's odd to be thinking, I might be one of 6 visible minorities they maybe have interacted with in their entire life! No joke, my co-leader (also white) can count on one hand the number of visible minority auditors she has worked with at EY. I'm number 6.

It's also the strangest thing, hearing my students talk about booking churches, getting a mortgage, having babies. In Toronto I don't think ANY of the SA2s in our group are married, I can only think of one who's engaged and will be married in the summer of 2007. No wonder during the Cleveland session, so many of the managers/senior managers participating said they have 3 or 4 kids, they get married and start having kids at such a young age! Or maybe it just seems young cause I know how old I am, and I know I'm not thinking about marriage and kids right now.

I couldn't resist. I downloaded a map of the US, and circled Toronto, St. Louis, and a couple other cities mentioned during class. When I pointed out where Toronto was, you should have heard their responses when they realized that Minneapolis is actually north of Toronto! Of course, I did have to admit that I had no clue where Des Moines (in Iowa) and Kansas City (in Missouri, NOT Kansas as I previously thought) were until I looked it up on a map.

Definitely the biggest challenge of teaching in the States is that I have no idea what knowledge or experience they come with. In Canada, even across the country, I have a better assessment of what my students have faced while at work. Over dinner, I realized that all of my students ONLY know the world of SOX, they were never around during pre-SOX US public accounting. Can you imagine that, the SOX 404 environment is their NORM!!!

I learn something new everyday...

Work is too busy...

I haven't even finished my vacation blog from the summer and I'm already starting another one!

Europe -- leaving tomorrow. Still at work, tons to do. Need to pack. I'm SOOO dead!!!

See blog here: Gotta go... Europe!!

Less than a week...

...and I'll be on a plane to HK!

Scary. I have TONS to do still, within the next seven days. And that's not including packing!

As always, I have a vacation blog, though postings will be dependent on which country I'm in, and type of connection I have (ie. cable, dial-up, or none).

Link is on the right, or you can click here to go to Chinese People.

My Heart

Change my heart oh God
Make it ever true
Change my heart oh God
May I be like You

You are the potter
I am the clay
Mold me and make me
This is what I pray