Beijing Dance Company at Byham Theater, November 15th.

The Beijing Dance Company will be making its Pittsburgh debut at the Byham Theater on November 15th.

Bringing alive the masterful choreography of Zhang Jianmin (House of the Flying Daggers, The Butterfly Lovers) and Chen Weiya's classic Emperor Qin's Soldiers, the Beijing Dance Company, housed at the famed Beijing Dance Academy, presents an exciting program of classical Chinese dance fused with vibrant, cutting-edge new works. Don't miss this opportunity to experience the magic and mystery of China's best dancers who have already captured Europe and Asia by storm!

The show starts at 7:30 p.m., with a free "Meet the Artists" session at 6:30. Tickets start at $38, but discounts are available for current University of Pittsburgh students by using promo code Pitt1112.

Pitt Nationality Rooms start winter holiday decorating November 12th.

It's way too early to think about Christmas, according to my old-school calendar, but nevertheless the Nationality Rooms in the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning will begin decorating for the winter holidays on November 12th. December 4th will be an Open House with free admission and a variety of performances, crafts, and foods. Check the schedule for more information on visiting.

There are 27 rooms representing different countries and cultures, including China and Japan. Thai and Korean rooms are still in the planning and fund-raising stages, and the Philippine Nationality Room is scheduled for Fall 2012 completion.

Local student "immersed in South Korean culture" during summer mission trip.

Suburban Pittsburgh is served by numerous smaller newspapers that were absorbed by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review many years ago. The news in them is often of the "Local horse has baby" or "Library gets new DVD" variety, but occasionally there is stuff with a larger scope. In a recent issue of North Journal, a local high school graduate was one of several students to spend the summer in Seoul during a mission trip.

[Christine] Moudry, along with four other young women, applied to participate in the New Wilmington Mission Conference's Summer Service Team. She had seen other participants take service trips and admired the powerful experiences they had.

"I feel like I'm being called into doing mission, whether it's short term or long term, but I had never been outside of the United States before," Moudry explained. "This was a really great opportunity to go and see what that is like and be immersed in another culture. I never would have had that opportunity before."

While in South Korea, the group learned about history, politics and religious heritage, with a focus on the history and character of Korean Christianity. The students visited many sites, including prayer retreat centers, churches, a Christian school for disadvantaged children, a Buddhist temple and the royal palace.

Westminster College---roughly between Pittsburgh and Erie---has a write-up of the trip on its webpage.

"An outstanding memory for me was the opportunity to talk with a few young men who were North Korean defectors," Moudry said. "They had risked their lives and sacrificed several years to travel through China to the freedom of South Korea, where the government accepted them as citizens and helped them adjust to the new culture through a mentoring program. One of the men we met had only been in South Korea a year and had never met an American. That afternoon, he had a dream that he met an American and by evening, we were talking and praying with them. It was a very powerful experience."

Regardless of your religious leanings, you can glean some interesting information on South Korea from the work of local missionaries, such as the Sisters of Charity, active in the country since 1960.

Other stories with Asian angles out of small local papers include a write-up of high school students taking a trip to Japan, a Gambare Japan Benefit Concert after the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and local educators talking about lengthening the school calendar to match those in East Asia.

Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, November 2 – 8.

The 2011 Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival will run from November 2nd through November 8th, with screenings at three venues:

the Ibrahim Theater at the International House (3701 Chestnut Street), the Asian Arts Initiative (1219 Vine Street) and the Prince Music Theater (1412 Chestnut Street).

The official site has a schedule.

Sandpresso brings “Korean twist on breakfast and lunch” to Pittsburgh.

Sandpresso (샌드프레소), a Korean coffee and sandwich shop, opened its first location in the United States in September. The Pittsburgh store (map) is just west of the Strip District, an international(ish) neighborhood with blocks and blocks of Asian, European, American, and Pittsburghese restaurants, shops, street-food vendors, and cafes.

From the Pittsburgh City Paper’s review earlier this month:

After eating the best egg salad I've ever eaten in my life at Sand Presso Coffee and Sandwich Bar, David Kim is mum on exactly what makes it so tasty.
"That's our magic sauce," he says with a smile. Likewise, he's little help on why my vanilla latte seems deliciously better. The co-owner of the new eatery in the Strip (just steps from Downtown) isn't telling; he just keeps smiling.
Sand Presso has only been open since last month, but a steady stream of customers stop in for coffee.

In South Korea, Sandpresso is pretty ordinary, and is one of many shops that offer wimpy-but-expensive sandwiches. We’ll see how it does in a neighborhood people visit almost purely for the food. The menu includes a bulgogi burger and an $8 bowl of bibimbap that's the going rate for bibimbap in the city. To succeed in this Pittsburgh neighborhood, though---one that includes the locally-famous Primanti's---I think it will have to rely on the strength and the pricing of its coffee and smoothies.

Japanese, Chinese films at 2011 Three Rivers Film Fest

Three East Asian films will be showing in Pittsburgh at the Three Rivers Film Fest in November: Love in Space, a 2011 Chinese movie; Outrage and Quill: The Life of a Seeing-Eye Dog, both from Japan. Plenty of other international and domestic films, too.

Pittsburgh Sakura Project at North Park, November 12.

It would have been very lame to title this “Dig the Pittsburgh Sakura Project this November”, so I didn’t. The Pittsburgh Sakura Project has been active the past several years in planting cherry blossom trees at North Park, and will be doing it again on November 12th. Check the Meetup.com page for more details.

JET Information Session at University of Pittsburgh, November 2nd.

If you’re a University of Pittsburgh student interested in teaching English in Japan with the Japan Exchange and Teaching [JET] Programme, there will be an information session on November 2nd from 5:30 to 7:30 in 4130 Wesley W. Posvar Hall. Says the Pitt Asian Studies News and Events page:

The Consulate General of Japan in New York and the Pittsburgh JET Alumni Association welcome anyone interested in applying to teach English at K-12 schools in Japan or work as a coordinator for international relations in local and state government offices in Japan to join us for this information session about the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program.

. . .

This information session is open to anyone interested in applying for the JET Program this year or in the near future. For full program information, please visit www.jetprogramme.org - this session will feature a panel of JET alumni, discussion of the application and interview process, placements in Japan, salary, qualifications, etc.

If you’re a JET alumnus, check out the Pitt JET Alumni Facebook group.