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Not the South China Morning Post Interview with David Nunan [Each week, the SCMP publishes an interview with someone who has achieved fame, fortune or notoriety in the Region. As I achieved none of these things, my interview didn't make it, so I'm including it here.]
Where are you likely to be
on Saturday night?
Sitting on my balcony drinking a glass of red wine and painting watercolors.
What are you most likely to
be doing on Sunday morning?
Tearing up watercolor paintings and then jogging to the Hong Kong Peak.
What are your three proudest achievements?
My two daughters and my Ph.D.
What has been your greatest professional achievement?
Giving a plenary presentation at the TESOL International Convention in front of several thousand participants.
What is your greatest virtue?
Not having a virtue.
What is your most haunting experience?
Working for the UNHCR in a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand. My job was to go among the refugees and bring out the dead children.
What's the most amusing thing that's ever happened to you?
Being mistaken for a famous TV actor in a bar in Atlanta, signing autographs and getting free drinks all night. Because the actor was American, and I have an Australian accent, I had to feign laryngitis.
What has been your most challenging experience?
It's a toss-up between being a parent and being President of TESOL - although one role did kind of prepare me for the other.
What's your favorite building?
I.M. Pei's Bank of China Building in Central, Hong Kong
What are your favorite books?
The ones I've read, or the ones I've written?
What has kept you in Hong Kong for so many years?
The fact that it's so easy to get out of.
What's your favorite possession?
A painting by a former colleague, teacher and artist Tom Gleghorn.
What's your favorite quote?
One by Oscar Wilde. "Education is a wonderful thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing worth learning can be taught."
Give us with some wisdom.
It's better for people to underestimate than to overestimate your intelligence.