Big in Japan....

I've been working in China for a year now.

This is my third stint here.

First one was with Discovery Channel - back in 1994.

Next was with my company, partnering with a US company and a Chinese company in 1998-2000.

This is three.

Times have changed. The place has changed. The world has changed.

I learned Chinese growing up as a missionary kid in Taiwan. Wasn't something I set out to do. Just something that happened.

For some reason - moving to Taiwan in 8th grade was really good for me. Those difficult formative years were made all the more interesting by growing up in a foreign country far removed from American life.

I was fascinated with the people and the culture - and while I didn't really go out of my way to learn the language any more than taking classes in school - I found I could pick it up pretty well.

Most kids can. Language just seems to seep in better when you're that age.

At the time - while there was a large amount of internationals there in Taiwan - we still weren't the norm. I got used to being starred at everywhere I went. I also got used to getting away with things I would never dream of in the States - mostly because we were different - but also because most people didn't want to go through the hassle of trying to speak English to us and tell us what idiots we were.

I took Chinese all through High School - ending up in classes with kids who had lived there all their lives. Never got a long with any Chinese teacher I had - in fact, I think I was sent to the office more by Chinese teachers than any other teachers - and most teachers there hated me - to the point of one teacher actually announcing to the class that she hated me...

Ah the Joy of Missionary school...

But unlike most families there - we actually lived in the villiage as opposed to a compound - where families would all live together in a little walled off community in a semblance of the suburbs - surrounded by others with similar colored skin. Just being in an all Chinese enviorment meant that you had to learn. Had to speak.

I got to use my Chinese all the time. I worked in a pizza place. I taught English. I went out with my friends. Our school was a boarding school - but in my class there were 7 of us that actually lived in town - and we would go everywhere on the island - hiking mountains, traveling to the beach... where ever the train or bus could take us. We loved being there. In fact - out of the 7 - 3 actually still live in Asia - with me, the 4th - traveling back and forth to this day.

We couldn't drive till we were 18 - which I didn't turn till college - so bikes, buses, taxis and trains were our friends. We loved getting out as much as possible.

And then it all ended. Most missionaries do about 4 years, then head home for one - then back for four. Since I would have left for my senior year - we stayed an extra - so I could graduate there.

Then I headed back to the States for college.

My parents went back. After I got married - my wife and I went back for a month together. I spent a summer there in college with some friends. Got to go back and shoot a TV show there during my 98-00 stint.

I miss it.

But China is where the action is now.

The Olympics are less than a year away.

Watched Discovery Channel the other night and there was a big special on the building of CCTV's new tower here in Beijing. It's right across the street from me. I wake up every day and watch them building. Weird to see it being talked about in English...

I heard there are immersion schools in Texas right now teaching half the day in Chinese.

The Weinstein Company just announced a near 3 million dollar fund that is going to be totally devoted to doing films in Asia.

Never in my life did I think that my minimal language skills would come into play professionally.

Never imagined that I would keep coming back like a Yo Yo to this part of the world.

And now my kids have got to come and spend the summer here - getting it in their blood.

The world is changing. Don't know what this yet means for me. Guess in some ways, I'm lucky to have a marginal career on two different continents... :)

Never heard of me... but I'm big in Japan....