As far as I’m concerned, only when we break our own routine and openly accept others’ opinions can we spurn old custom and understand a new world.
Shared Action:Finally, we knew the hardship in negotiation
We hoped to maintain a long relationship with American volunteers through this Shared Action and spread our experience to more people.
Though with a happy beginning, our conversation went heavier and heavier. We were born in two greatly different surroundings, thinking differently and speaking differently, some words which came out of our mouths naturally seemed to be an impact to the other.
The major differences rooted in the objectives of action. They hoped that Obama could launch a clean-energy reformation, develop the employment in America, double the output using wind power, and improve the use of solar power. While, we hoped that we could gain positive support and active affirmation to the value of our cooperation.
So, we got the problem: how could we seek the solidarity without abandoning the differences? Had we better remain the differences or put more stress on the solidarity? And I thought this problem was the same to the essence of the international environmental negotiation. We still couldn’t reach to an agreement on such a small problem, let alone the long-term negotiation. So, we should show our understanding towards the negotiation.
PPT Preparation: We held new opinions towards Americans.
They were astonished at the rapid development of China, and those regulations regarding environmental protection, but their questions greatly showed our differences in thinking. One of the American volunteers asked if we felt angry about the inconsiderable regulations that Chinese government carried out, which we never thought about before because we might have gotten used to accept it and obey it with respect.
Then, I asked American volunteers several questions. After hearing their answers, I felt a little bit angry. A developing country with so many problems still kept trying to improve its environment, how could America just did nothing about it?
I became calm later because I realized that we had differences in our thoughts, and only when we understood each other and openly accepted others’ opinions could we break the old routine and reach to a new one.
Food Exchange:We lived together!
The communication was a special experience in our life.
It was already 9 in the evening when we finished our talk, and we suddenly realized that we didn’t have dinner yet. We cooked different food, but during the whole meal, we didn’t have a try on each other’s food. I thought it due to our different habits of eating.
While, we have to understand each other little by little, just as we walk step by step.