What have you been up to lately?

Often, people ask me - "So… what have you been up to lately?",  the less polite version being - "What IS IT that you do all day?!". It's also being noted that - blog wise - I've being over-obsessed with Asian stuff and that I haven't been writing much about myself and my life.

My automated response is usually "ah, you know, not too much happening , just this and a little bit of that", which doesn't really say much and leaves people hanging with little information.  But, you know what? let me see… what have I been doing lately?

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Well, I'll start with the easy stuff. Obviously, I'm very much involved with some Asia related subjects. Coming back from Taiwan to Israel, I've been introduced to the concept of "far-east studies", which has intrigued my curiosity. Ever since my return I've attended a few conferences and seminars  about the east and each of those gave me a new perspective and an understanding about things I care about deeply.  It's an endless cycle : the more I hear - the more I want to hear, the more people I talk to - the more people I want to meet to talk to some more.

When I did talk to people, especially professors from the academy, after a story or two they would ask me - "That's all wonderful adventure stories - but we don't quite understand - what is it exactly that you're interested about?". Putting aside the fact that it's not really important to have a "research question" in mind, I did decide that it might be neat to try and put on paper some of my thoughts and directions regarding what I'm curious about. Or, at least, see if there's something that this might lead to, not in terms of "gain" and "profit" but more in the sense of knowing where I am and maybe finding out where I'm headed.

I've been seriously thinking about going for a PhD that combines all the fields that I'm currently interested in. Coming back, I've met with my mentor - Dr. Sagiv - to exchange some thoughts, and I've decided that I'll start working on a paper I've been wanting to write for a while now regarding the concept of "Fit" in Organizational Behavior and in the meanwhile collect some ideas that might prove as a basis for a PhD thesis proposal. I also found out that almost all of my professors have done some sort of research that relates to what I'm interested in.

For example - Dr. Sagiv has done a lot in the area of "Values" (with Prof. Schwartz) and the way that Values relate to the construct of culture. Dr. Sagiv has also done some interesting research with Prof. Kluger about the interaction of cultures between Israelis and Jordanians and what happens when two such different cultures meet to conduct business. Dr. Elron has shared with me some of her very interesting research regarding multi-culture - some of which you might have read with the Chinese person interview, mainly focusing on the UN peace-keeping forces stationed around Israel and the way they try to bridge the cultural gaps. Although he's not my ex-teacher, Dr. Baraz has sat down with me to tell me about his research regarding culture in a Global Japanese company (Toyota) and the interaction happening within local company branches between the global company's culture and the national culture. Aside from that, I've sat down in a few seminar presentations in various topics, and have managed to somehow see how they all relate to my subject.

So, reading what I've discussed with my professors and the things I write about in my blog, one can guess what I'm intrigued about. The meeting of cultures, or in specific - the meeting of Asian and "western" cultures, is something I can't get enough of. I also have a small glitch in my "western upbringing software" that has convinced me that the academy - as I know it today - is very "western" oriented. That has raised my interest in trying to understand how the Asian researchers view this subject, and from the little that I've read and emailed - it seems to be quite different.

I've been toying around with the fantasy of enrolling into a PhD program that will allow me to research this subject while living in Asia, as some of the Israelis I've listened to in the conferences did, and I think I'll probably try our for a few schools, scholarships and research grants next year. We'll see.

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I know what you're thinking - That's all relatively boring stuff, right? Let's face it - when people ask you "what were you up to lately?" you could tell from their faces, or by them actually telling you - that what they mean is - "so, common, tell us… do you have a girlfriend? Are you seeing someone?".  People want the juicy stuff. So… ehhh… well… hate to disappoint you there. How should I put this simply… ? - I don't. Yep, it gets lonely at times and I would sure rather be with someone that I care for, but let's just say that… hmm… I'm not there yet, I might have a little issue with "letting go".

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(to be continued… hopefully…)