March 18, class reaction

Last week Katrina and Yoyo led the class discussion. They began it with a game in which 5 boys had their backs turned to 5 girls. On each of the boy's back there was a sign listing a few characteristics of the boys, followed by the question "Will you marry me?". I choose the one labeled "I'm rich, good-looking, funny, adventurous, and I like to travel a lot." After the girls choose their mate, the roles were reversed and the guys got to choose their mates. At the end of the game, the girls turned around and everyone got to see if their mate was the one that they originally chose. To my surprise, Michael chose me (he was the one I chose earlier). I think this was the case because he was the only other American besides me who participated in the game. As a result, both of us chose the short-termed orientated description, which is what Katrina and Yoyo predicted for us to choose since Americans are more short-term orientated. 
After the game, Yoyo and Katrina showed a video which demonstrated the differences between how Americans and Asians like to handle business. The Americans (represented by Mr. McDonald and Ms. Wendy) were concerned with making money as quickly as possible whereas the Asian businessmen (represented by Mr. Honda and Mr. Toyota) liked to take more time and consideration into developing products with good quality. I think this is quite true since fast food restaurants sell food that's cheep, popular, but not very nutritious whereas car companies like Honda and Toyota provide good quality cars that last for years. 
Towards the end, the two presenters divided the class into two groups. One group contained all of the Asians, while the other half of the class consisted of the Americans. We were each asked the same questions but our responses were quite different. For nearly all of the questions asked the responses collected by both groups were close to what Katrina and Yoyo expected. In other words, the Americans provided answers that were more short-term oriented whereas the Asians gave long-term orientation responses. 
Overall, I think Yoyo and Katrina did an excellent job throughout the execution of their presentation. I learned a lot about short term and long term orientation and their presentation is something I will remember for years to come. I look forward to seeing what other novel ideas the other students will come up with when it becomes their turn to lead the class for discussion.