THE VIP PROJECT

This morning, we Group 10 go to the Macau Labor's Children Middle School to interview Rector Tang Zhi Jian. As a recognized leader, Rector Tang is quite amiable and easy to approach. I once thought the interview must be very serious and boring. However, to my surprise, Rector Tang has a lot of sense of humor, which made the chatting relaxed and go on smoothly. I believe that is the charms of a successful leader, who can influence people with his or her expression, gesture, words and tone, and make people calm down as soon as possible.

Also, Rector Tang is wise when answering our questions. He reflected very quickly and stated his points logically, "firstly...secondly...thirdly...in conclusion...". I hope I can have this communication skills, too. Learning from Rector Tang, I realize that is how a good leader listen to others carefully and patiently, responds wisely and fluently.

In addition, when we asked if he wanted to be a leader since he was a child. Rector Tang said, he never thought about the leader thing, and even now, he does not always realize that he is a leader in the Macau society. What he does is to think about serve the society, which is always the first thing to him. Therefore, in my opinion, a good leader like Rector Tang is not satisfied with his or her privilege, but by how many happiness and help he or she brings to others.

In the end, Rector Tang emphasized that the university students should not just study in the school, but make some contributions to the community and society. Only by this way can a students understand what the society and community need so that to apply what they learnt in class to the practice better.

In conclusion, this is an impressing experience to interview Rector Tang Zhi Jian, I can learn from him as a leader. I have confidence with our VIP project, and we will do much better after talking with Rector Tang.

PREPARING FOR THE BBQ~~^_^

In the coaching session with Dr. Udani, I decided to organized the BBQ in April for our HC students. I feel a little bit stressed, because this is my first time to plan an activity, and because the hot pot was so successful, I hope the BBQ can also satisfy all of my classmates. Thus, I should prepare for it carefully.

In the class of Wednesday, we celebrated Ray's and Ida's Birthday togather. We sand birthday song and Echo brought caked she made. I never celeberate my friends' birthday in class since I entered the primary school. I feel warm. Even though it was not my birthday, I am so happy to join in this kind of party. Because everyone smiles from his or her heart and wishes them a happy birthday. I believe Ray and Ida will never forget this impressed birthday.

Therefore, I hope my classmates can enjoy the BBQ, and that is the best reward for my work. Also I am thankful that Dr. Udani did not let me work alone. I will work with Christine, Jackon, Albert and Ray. This made the job easier for me. And it is a good chance to cooperate with others. I need this kind of training.

About the BBQ, if anyone has suggestions, please tell me and my friends. I will try my best to prepare a wonderful BBQ for my dear classmates.

By the way, I want to ask does any body know how to add video in my blog? I tried several times but failed...

WORK SHOP IN CHILDREN AND HOT POT

I just return from the HC hot pot. Sitting in front of the computer, I want to record the thinking and feeling of the unforgetable day. In short, today is tired, but impressed.

This afternoon, I went to the children house with other volunteers from HC. We have learnt how to get along with children last week, and prepared carefully, so I expected there won't be so much problem to play games with children. However, after this experience, I realize that social work is not a easy job. Getting along children also need patience and ability. At the beginning, we are challenged by those children. When James asked,"do you want to know who we are?", a boy suddenly answered loudly, "No!". And problem came one by one. Some children fight with each other, some are keep running, and some do not want to attend the games. But luckily, we have enough volunteers to keep an eye on them, and finally we organized them to play games.

Fortunately, after some games, children seems accept us, and they are willing to chat with us. I gradully found that they are cute, innocent, active and curious. The thing that excited me most is that they like me playing the piano. They asked me to play "Ballade Pour Adellin" and "Wedding in the Dream". I am happy that they like it. A girl said she also plays the piano, but at first she was too shy to play for me. I encouraged her to play, and she did at last, I told her that she played buautiful song, and she was talented. I hope my encouragment may help her have more confidence, that is what I learned from the HC class.

At the end, in the sharing section, we asked if they enjoyed the activities. A girl's words impressed me very much. She said there were lots of this kind of helping activities before. And they are getting tired of it. They do not want it any more. These words makes me think a lot. We always want to help people, but does people feel they are helped as we expected? Although we can not force them to accept our help, we can bring them happiness as much as I can. Therefore, I think we should not just be satisfied with the only one volunteering work, writing a news release and telling everyone we have done these kind things to kids. We should continue to do so , and I belive that finally, they will accept our help from their heart. Our job is to bring them happiness, not only to satisfy ourself!

After visiting the children's house, there are still more than two hours before the hot pot. So we just go window-shopping. By the way, I find some shops are giving a discount, that's nice!

The hot pot is also exciting. We are the first getting there, so, we eat first. There are also ten year-1 students, wishing them can be one of us next year! We took lots of photos and I have a lot of fun there. Getting together with my classmates outside the class is wonderful. Thanks to Flora and Cathy who organized this hot pot. They are so responsible! Thank them for giving me a wonderful night!

Good night!

ENCOURAGING

In the HC class I learn to encourage others to be a good leader. Doctor Udani asked us to say something positive to our classmates.I feel difficult when I want to challege someone that I do not know very much, because I do not know what he or she want, or what is his or hers next goal. So I say something common like wishing you get a high grade this semester. It does not make a lot of sense, I think. And sometimes I am embarrassed when I have no words to say to the people I what to encourage. On the other hand, When I meet someone who I am familiar with, I can say a lot of thing to him, such as, come on, you are good enough to work though the problem you have now. This made me think that I should pay more attention to people around me, I should not focus just on my friends. I should know at least which majors my HC classmates are come from, listen to them and use my heart to know them. There are lots of things to learn to be a good leader, and encouraging other is not a easy work. I know it plays an important role in team work, but I need to communicate with my mates sincerely.

This Wednesday in Honours College class, a schoolemate came to our class to share his thinking and experience in the US. He stayed in the US for about 3 years. His outlook is a Chinese, but he behaves like a native American.

After listening to his sharing about his own experience in America and the cultural distinctions between the US and China, I hope I can be well-prepared for the third year's exchange program. Look at him, he is so deliberate and vigorous on the stage. His English is fluent and native speaking. His motion and gesture are cool. These are what I want. It impressed me when he said that students in the US will be active in class and would like to chanllege the teacher. I think there is a big culture difference in China. As he said, Chinese students always sits quietly in class and show great repect to teacher, and so do I. I seldom ask questions in class. But as I am going to the US, I have to rethink this problem. I want to be outstanding in class, thus may be I have to speak out in class. That is the first step. And I feel it is hard to do. Anyway, I will try.

THERE SO MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR

This Wednesday, in HC class, I heard the song "Thankful", which made me think a lot about my past experience. Especially what I have on my birthday.

Last Saturday was my 20th birthday. At first I thought no one would remember my birthday because everyone was busy with the new semester, and there was no sign that my friends remembered it. Moreover, even my parents seemed to forget my birthday in that they did not mention it for the whole winter vacation. Usually they will celebrate my birthday and give me gifts before I go back to university. However this time, I got nothing and felt despondent.

It was 12:00 pm when I was waiting for my birthday alone. Suddenly, I got a message from my parents wishing me a happy birthday. I was so happy that they did not forget it. And my dear friends – Sherry, Kate and Jane – made the birthday even more valuable and impressed. Sherry gave me a lovely chicken toy, Kate and Jane held a party for me and prepared a nice cake; in addition, I got a box of chocolates from them, saying that may you a sweet and wonderful life just like the chocolates. I was so surprised and moved by their kindness, it became the most unforgettable birthday I have ever had.

This experience is valuable for me because it makes me start to rethink of the relationship between me and my parents as well as me and my friends. Also, I learn to be thankful and cherish people around me.

In the past 20 years, I always took my parents’ love and care for granted: it is their duty to prepare three meals a day, do the laundry and clean up the room for me. They are the ones who should always ready to solve problems for me; and of course, they should remember my birthday and give me a big surprise. So when I believed my parents forgot my birthday, I was really upset. However, at the moment I got the message wishing me a happy, safe and sound life, I felt thankful for not forgetting my birthday. The message became the best gift I have ever had. Maybe this is called “one will never cherish it until it has gone”. I once thought I lost the care from my parents, so now I cherish it more than before.

In addition, I realized there are much more things which I should be thankful for. Especially on my birthday, I want to thank my parents for giving birth to me 20 years ago. It was on that day when I came to see the world. Also on that day, mum suffered from all kinds of terrible pains in order to give birth to me. I want to be thankful for my parents who brought me up, providing me with a sufficient life. When I was at home, everyday, mum got up at six o’clock to prepare breakfast for me. I know she was as sleepy as I did, but she never let me go hungry. However, sometimes, I blamed my mum just because the porridge was too hot or I did not like dumplings as my breakfast. I was a mean person at that time, I think. It also reminded me about my father, who took me to school and brought me back home for 3 years when I was in middle school. He was always punctual and appeared at the school gate on time. But I still would be very unpleasant if he got late for five or ten minutes occasionally. What I never thought about was how many times I made my father wait for me for more than 30 minutes, when I was chatting or playing with my classmates. It was dad who kept waiting for me at the school gate, no matter it was a hot summer or cold winter, while I was sitting in the comfortable classroom, enjoying the air conditioner. After recalling past, I feel shamed and sorrow for what I did to my parents in the past 20 years, and I realize that there are endless things to thank my parents.

Also, I should thank my friends – Sherry, Jane and Kate – whom I once thought I was gradually alienating from. Since I had a boyfriend, I seldom hang out with them. Last semester I just had dinner with Jane twice while in the past we were almost together every day. I am glad that our friendship is still stable and never fades away. My 20th birthday reminded me that it was Sherry who cooked dumplings for me when I cannot stop crying because of quarrelling with my boyfriend. It was Jane who accompanied with me when I was lonely and my boyfriend was busy. Also, it was Kate who gave up her date but took care of me when I was sick. I feel so lucky and am thankful to have all of them around me. I will cherish this friendship more in the future.

In conclusion, the experience of my 20th birthday is unforgettable and valuable in that I realize there are so many people who love me and care me. I feel happy to recall lots of beautiful experiences I had before, but sorrow of did not cherish them in the past. From this experience, I learn to be thankful for people who love me and cherish them as much as I can. I am already 20 years old, although it seems late to understand the importance of cherishing, I hope I can do my best to change myself, because there is so much to be thankful for.