Aloha.

My name is Bob. I'm Anthony's friend and partner. "Aloha" means "love" in the Hawaiian language. I come from the state of Hawaii in the United States, although I'm now staying in the city of Shenzhen, Peoples Republic of China. Shenzhen is about an hour by train from the center of Hong Kong.

I'm a lawyer and a teacher. I started my professional career as a university English teacher, and I did that for a number of years. Then I went to law school and started to practice law in Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii. But I kept on teaching as well. Lawyers are teachers, too, and their primary tool is language, so my two professions are not really that different.

I like to write a lot. I write fiction, poetry, and (of course) a lot of researched scholarly work. Over the years, I have published much of my work in journals, magazines, and law reviews. My writing has won a number of prizes.

When I was nineteen years old, I moved to Taiwan for several years, and I have lived in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and now China, on different assignments during the years ever since. I speak and understand Mandarin (sometimes called Guo Yu or Pu Tong Hua), but Anthony's language is Cantonese. When we communicate with each other, we either write Chinese (the written language is the same regardless of the dialect you speak), or English.

My hobbies and passtimes includes all ocean sports (swimming, surfing, boogy-boarding), racquetball, hiking, and bicycling. I love to travel, and my goal while in China is to visit the fabled area in the West called Dun Huang. It is the site of world-famous Buddhist art and is the subject of a wonderful movie (made in Japan) entitled "The Silk Road." It's on video tape (and maybe DVD or VCD), and I suggest you watch it.

I have two daughters, both of whom are smarter and richer than me! :)

This column is called, "Ask Bob", so if I can answer any questions for you about the law, English, or China, I'm happy to do so.

Bob

bobmorris@mysimplelife.net

Oct 2000

May 2003

mysimplelife

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