Meet His Excellency, US Ambassador to China, John Huntsman Jr.

Every day is a new adventure. After we finished teaching our English classes today, we went on a new, different type of adventure. These are photos of our most recent adventure here in Jinan, China. It was a normal Tuesday afternoon until this happened.
We were invited by University officials to attend this event and we certainly enjoyed the afternoon activities at Shandong University with former Utah Governor John Huntsman Jr, now serving in China under the Barak Obama administration as the United States Ambassador of the Shandong University Business School here. This seemingly small set of books you see, contain a complete set of "American Law" Books translated into Chinese. The books were presented and they were very well received by the Shandong University President, (President of a 70,000 student body in several campuses). It was a media event and as foreign english teachers, we were invited to be a part of it and to be in the photos. It was a real thrill.


We also attended His Excellency's presentation to the Shandong Business School in a conference room in the impressive 40 floor, Shandong Hotel, were the Ambassador was the keynote speaker for the event which included a large historical photos display/show. He gave a great talk and even spoke in Chinese for part of it. However, most of his talk was translated into Chinese by his official translator, a tall, caucasian looking, older American man who probably lived in Taiwan or in China most of his life. There were media men everywhere. I personally talked in half Chinese, half English, with one magazine reporter/photographer and one newspaper reporter just to be sociable. We left as friends.

Many of our English students were also able to attend this event. Some teachers brought their whole class. Dana brought three students who managed to get their photo taken with the Ambassador.


We watched Ambassador Huntsman in action on the TV last week in Beijing with President Obama where he was his right hand man in discussions on North Korea, Economic Recovery, Global Warming and Climate Change, etc, etc. and this week he is here taking photos with us. Whoda thought? We were all glad to see him and to talk with him simply because he is from our home state of Utah. He specifically wanted to know something from our group of English teachers -- "How was China treating us? ...or was he just making friendly conversation? You decide. He is the ambassador and a good diplomat and just a really nice guy.

We as foreign English teachers here, are sort of like US ambassadors too, on our own time, and in our own way. We are happy to do it. We do it every day! We teach English.


Here is a little example of the feedback we experience in our jobs teaching English to Post Graduate college students in China. We have wonderful students who appreciate us and who really want to succeed and to be better people.

We are lucky to be teachers here where we are trully making a difference in their lives.
Dear Jay, Thanks to your reminding, I know that tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day! In this mail I want to express my thanks to you! I am so lucky that you are my foreign teacher. After that, you have taught me a lot of things, especially a lot of different experience.
Since the first time that I met you and your wife in hospital when my classmate and I looked after Babara, you have left a deep impression on me. Because the cultural differences, we have a lot difference in life and that also enriches my life. After you have become my teacher, you told us the correct pronounce that we always make mistakes in. You have told us to practice our oral English at anytime and anywhere. I still remember that once when I was on the bus, I thought of your words and practiced the “V” pronunciation at that time.
You are such a kind and optimistic person that sometimes your optimism affects me a lot. Every Monday I see you, I will become in good mood. You invited me to your home to attend the English Conner, and that was also a wonderful experience. You asked us to have a play performance. You let us to find p penpal to improve our English so that now I can type the English more quickly.
Our class has plenty of wonderful activities that we are happy to join in. You also remind us that tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day so that we have a chance to thank the people we want to. That is also a good way to express our appreciation. You also let us to write a letter to our parents, and that is great! That is a good chance to express thanks to our parents!
Thank you again and good luck!
Best wishes,
Yours, Sun Junzhe (Sharon)