Life is tough!!

I do have a lot to share after this Wednesday's exciting class. I think it is the same with most of my classmates. I have also taken down what was happening and some of my thoughts bumping up during the class. The problem is that I just could not allow time to open my blog and write a post.

How come??

You may ask me. I am also asking myself.

One point on Udani's slides this Wednesday had striken me a lot. It is the Law of Prioritize, which says that activities don't necessarily mean accomplishment.

I came to think about how many of the activities I have done can be counted as accomplishment.

I am attending meetings of Toastmasters on Tuesdays and of English Debate on Thursdays.

I am one of the members responsible for organizing a Toastmasters joint meeting on 1st May, where TM clubs from mainland and HK will come to our University.

I am the treasurer in English Debate Team and am preparing the applicaiton forms for subsidies, which should be sbumitted before the end of this month and the financial statements which are due 1st April.

I am working two group projects. One is for a business project in my Business Communication course and the othere for the Video Interview Project in Leadership Skill Development course.

I have to review after classes to ensure I can get satisfactiry grades.

I have to guarantee my reading time everyday, because I need to keep myself informed of what are happening in the world as a debator.

I have just finished one exam and need to stay up again for the Economics Mid-term tomorrow.

And I am supposed to at least sleep for 6 hours a day and eat when I am hungry.

So...how to prioritize? Or maybe I need to give up some? It is hard decision, but it is time to make a decision, as I feel I can no longer handle all of them and this blog.

But what I prioritize now is to prepare for my exam tomorrow. I have to start right from now. Otherwise, I don't know how I will suffer tomororw. But I promise to turn to this post and make the decision as soon as I finish it.

A visit to Yan Ci Children's Home

This was the first time I visited a children's home.

The children there we in Yan Ci Children's Home are mostly addmitted because of domestic problems. And the home is aimed at providing them caring and helping them grow until their independence.

What we wanted to bring them by our visit were a happy weekend afternoon, some simple gifts, concern and love from university students and hopefully some encouragement that could inspire them.

These were all our beautiful wishes. But we did not expect was an experience where we were kept being challenged by mischief, rebellion and frankness of those children.

There was a session during which we were divided into groups of HC students and children to have some talks together.

I asked the three girls grouped with me, "What do you think about today's games? Intersting?"
"Can we first of all give some comments?" Asked by one of the three and, before my saying anything, continued," Could you add more entertainment and creativity to your design of games. I have been playing these games for three years. They can just bore me."

I did not know how to response for a while, because I was totally astonished by her words.

It was already hard to organize the whole activity, design all the games and play with handful children.

But in the end, what we got were not their favor and joy, but dislike.

Thanks to the frankness of these children, I was challenged again but also learned that we could not design something for them just from our understandings of them and without practically knowing them more.

Fortunately, they are children. After all, games, no matter how boring, are children's favorite and can alwayse make them relaxed and happy.

At a moment, I felt a sense of gratification. I saw that these children in front of me are all smart, active, happy and having their own thoughts and the confidence to express their thoughts. They may somewhere in their lives encounter some adversities, but they are now living lives meaningfully.

There was a girl named Ceci in my group surprising me a lot. During the talk, she suddenly asked me for a peice of paper and a pen and said, "What about we playing some mathematical games?"

"What? What does it mean by mathematical games?"

"Some calculation."

"Calculation? So is it really counted as a game?"

"You first give me a problem." She did not even take my question.

I figured out one for her. She solved with apparent ease. When I was about to give a harder one, she grabbed the paper and said,
"Well, it is my turn!"
She then wrote down a problem without any thinking. It was at least ten times harder than the one I gave and took me minutes to work out the answer.

She could not wait to ask me how to get it. But before any of my explanation, she asked,"Is it that you...." She described what exactly i did.

It was amazing, wasn't it? This primary grade-5 girl liked calculation more than games and showed a great talent. It seemed that I could see her bright future after she left this children's home.

It was a great visit, even though we should have designed something more entertaining and more creative to bring them more joy.

I really hope that someday I can do more for them.

First Treasurer Experience

Early this month, I went with UM English Debate Team to Maylasia for a debate tournament. Actually I went not only as a debator, but also the treasurer of this trip. I was assigned the responsibility to keep the budget balance and collect all the receipts and prepare a statement of expenditure after the trip. It sounds an easy task.

First of all, I had to take care of the money around the clock and make sure it is still there, but not elsewhere.

We had meals in food courts where everyone ordered the food they wanted. And I was
the one who paid for each and received receipts from every single vendar.

In the evening, beofore bath and rest, I had to chec the balance both on book and in amount to make sure that no errors existing.

When the budget became tight, I had to estimate now and then whether we could afford something.

Upon return, I sorted out all the receipts and make a statement recording date by date and item by item all our expenses.

And...that's the end.

Having a title bestowed means gaining others' trust, but also means taking on responsibility and paying extra time and efforts.

In fact, I did appreciate a lot this experience. It was never easy. But it was what we should prepare ourselves for, was'n it?

Honours Forum - Lecture Series hosted by Dr. Chui Sai Peng

Speaker's CV and Lecture Series info: http://www.umac.mo/hc/honours_forum/lecture_series/HC_2009_2010_L3.pdf

Chui is really charming!! That is the only thing I can conclude.

First of all, Dr. Chui is really an outstanding city planner. I got the conclusion not because others say so, nor because his resume told so, but because I could see his creativity he exhibited and felt his passion and devotion towards city planning during his talk.

For example, he talked about some interesting and creative city transportations which could potentially implemented in Macau. The one that attracted me the most is the automatic car parking system. It actually has already existed in some Europe countries but has never be seen in mainland China, HK or Macau.
I think it is a good idea for Macau, because there is very limited parking space here and citizens have to queue and waste large amount of their time in daily parking. Moreover, if there is such a system implemented, Macau is added a new and splendid feature and wins itself a desirable reputation of a creative city.
However, Chui told us that the plan was stopped by the government. He just stopped there, explaining no why.

After his talk, I raised a question, saying "What do you think led to the failure of the automatic car parking plan?"

He gave a quick answer: It is not a failure. It just takes time. When people do not trust you and do not accept something new. It does not mean that you should give it up. Instead, you need to have patience and persistence and keep pushing it. Someday, people will understand you and have faith in you.

I got the answer, even though I have not addressed my question correctly, because the plan was just rejected, and never fell!


Following the Macau city planning, he also provided some advices to us HC students.

One of the topics is the university and the society. I have heard a lot about differences between schools and the society, like the society involves more competition and is more unpredictable and complex. But what Dr. Chui told us was really fresh. He said that in universities, when you pay, you will gain, while in society, when you pay, you may not necessarily gain.
It sounded cruel. So what can I do? One of "The Paradoxical Commandments" written by Kent M. Keith in 1968 provides the answer: Give the world the best of you and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

What Chui ended this topic with is that even though you may not gain from your pay, if you want to gain, you must pay. That's quite true, isn't it? I think when I begin the world, I will have a mindset prepared for some harvestless pay. What I will then tell myself is continuing doing my best.

In fact, there are a lot more I want to talk about Chui's talk. I hope I can record all I have been taught and inspired. Unfortunately I lost my notes taken during his talk. I can only record more if anything pops up.