playing at the aquarium

My first day at work, over. Today will be the second day of work, staring at fishes, dealing with customers like parents and kids.

So after filling out paperwork THAT LASTED 3 HOURS, I started work yesterday. And for some ungodly reason, I woke up at 7am. I don't know what sleeping in is anymore... Maybe this is good practice for classes next semester when I have 8am classes. And then for some reason afterwards, I was an hour ahead of myself..thinking that 8am was 9am. But anyways, my roommate walked with me about 3/4th of the way to the aquarium. It was a good day for walking yesterday, unlike today because it'll rain.  

The uniform for the aquarium is the shirt that they issue you, and khaki pants. I was like....that means I have to go buy them.... Ok.... All this shopping needs to get done before Black Friday (WHICH I will not be joining in the madness) or after Friday. It's a good thing I have tomorrow off so I can take care of my errands and study. I wasn't able to study much because after work I went with my roommate to her friend's birthday party.

So, what I learned yesterday at the aquarium.

1. Every guest needs to be greeted and asked if they need help.

2. Play with the toys, because that will bring attraction for the kids.

3. Sell

4. PROMOS:
- Fused-glass jellyfishes are 39.99 dollars and until Nov 21st, you can get a lightbase for free that's normally 16.99! Did I also mention that the jellyfishes glow in the dark?

- Huge plush whales are on sale for 14.99!

- There's a 40% off table, so a lot of stuff are cheap!

- There are penguins that are also on sale for 9.99!

5. There aren't that many Asians working there, just a few. Someone thought I was another employee's sister. This hasn't happened to me since being in the East Coast where there were few Asians, so everyone thought we were all related in some way regardless of our ethnicity.

I'm starting to sound like an advertisement. Also, there are books and music in the store. So, guess what I do best? Selling books and music, of course. Any of you coming to Monterey and goes to the Aquarium are free to bug me there, that is, if you can find me. It seems all the workers are taller than me.

Also, last Friday, there was a fall forum, in which the topic was "Are you really free..?" There were 3 sessions and all of them had interpreters doing consecutive interpretation there. That was pretty cool. I stayed for all 3. My roommate was in the 3rd panel discussion interpreting from Russian to English, and I think she rocked it.

Come January time, I'm going to have my "get-ready-for-it" face on...starting school and work. Should be interesting, and hopefully, I know what I'm getting myself into.

Cheers to starting work, and the interesting things it'll bring.

out and about in Shenyang, China

Well, I made it safely to China after such a loooong flight. The flight from Vancouver to Beijing was delayed by about 40 mins due to some mechanical problem they had with the toilet system. There were a ton of Chinese people on the flight, and some of the guys got impatient waiting there. And they spoke no English. I got to interpret! Gave me a high afterwards, but I manage to sleep some on the flight. I would have slept more if there weren’t screaming toddlers, and the loud Chinese guys. They kept going back for rounds of beer. Oh boy.

I finally got to Beijing around 4:40pm local time, and went through customs, got my luggage, and meet my uncle there! Well, technically, I think he would be my….second cousin, but he’s older than me by 16 years, and I’ve always been calling him uncle. It’s been almost 10 years since I last saw him, but he hasn’t changed a bit. We checked in my bag for the next flight to Shenyang at 8:55pm, and went to eat at a restaurant, and had some coffee afterwards. I’ll be seeing him again in about 2 weeks when I get to Beijing to stay for about 2.5 days. It was great talking to him and stuff, but it’s weird to realize that when I was a kid, he used to pick me up and take me out to play every time I went to Beijing.

So, finally, after such a long day of flying, I arrived to Shenyang, where I was picked up by my generous aunt and uncle. I must have looked like a zombie, or at least someone who pulled 2 all-nighters. So I finally got home around 11:10pm. Totally passed out around 12:30ish, but woke up around 5:30am. JETLAG. UGH. 

So today. Being that I woke up early, I took a quick shower and had breakfast, where I PROCEEDED TO INHALE THE FOOD LIKE IT WAS LIQUID. So much good food. After that, I went out with my grandmother, and we walked around for a bit, and stopped at a supermarket, since I didn’t bring facewash, shampoo or conditioner. Then I went to the hair salon, where the guy trimmed my hair and permed it. Hey, at least I look a little bit older than, say. 15 years old. The person who did my hair this time also did it last year in June as well. He still remembers me, and was like, oh, you got prettier. I was like…..uh, thanks? I just remember him as the guy who told me I had enough hair on my head for 8 people. Ahaha. I almost fell asleep during the entire procedure. Hopefully, tonight I’ll be able to sleep right, and try to correct this awesome jetlag.

Some things I found funny today while on the streets:

I wore leggings and flats today. I’m sure I got a lot of stares from a lot people and a lot people commenting to me, “ … aren’t you cold?”

While on the parallel bars twice today, I got a lot of people saying: “…. Wow, you’re a pretty strong girl” I was like…..I think you should check out Andrea Khoo. I’m sure they’ll be thrilled. That or terrified.  

Anyways, there’s more stuff to do, and not enough time to do it! Hopefully, I’ll be able to get everything I want to do done, and see more things. I know the next few days will go by super fast, so I really want to take the time to enjoy the things here.

Some pictures:

Going through customs in Beijing

garden near where my grandparents live

random statue in the garden

green tea flavor oreos. Oh my gosh

again, in the garden near where my grandparents live.

Hopefully, I'll be able to update on a regular basis.

Until next time. Ciao!

ramblings in the beginning of september

Waking up at 6:15am isn't really my cup of tea, unless I'm going to kickboxing or something. But that was exactly the time I had to get up yesterday (Friday) morning. The guy I work for called me the day before, and asked me to go to Menlo Park with him to interpret for him. So I said ok, and then he said we were going to leave at 7:15am. @___@ Nonetheless, I woke up Friday morning and went. I thought this went better than last time and I was a lot more calm. Probably because someone keeps telling me that there's no need to panic, and that it's ok if there's some terminalogy that I don't know. I can always ask for clarification. I kept falling asleep in the car going up there and coming back down. During the middle of interpretation, I suddenly had this funny image in my head of Andrea Khoo coming in as an interpreter. That would have been hilarious, and not to mention, freak out the Chinese people there. (For those of you who don't know Andrea Khoo, she's an awesome trainer at UC Davis who teaches kickboxing, abs and back, weight lifting and self defense). But yeah, that would have been funny.

I finally got back around noon, and then went out for a late lunch with a friend to a Korean restaurant. I haven't ate korean food since going to France. Actually I do remember almost going into one in Geneva, but it was too expensive. Juan and I thought about it, until we saw the menu and the price, of course.

 Yesterday afternoon was happy hour aka social hour at MIIS. A friend told me it was known as drink back your tuition time, since drinks were free. My roommate took me there, where I met other Russian speakers. They spoke all in Russian together, unless they were addressing me. I'm kind of used to it, and I was able to understand stuff, here and there. Ah, and I met a few French speakers (Thank goodness) Maybe I should just go stalk their classes and stuff, and pretend I'm a student. I still think Davis is one of the most friendliest campuses.

 I should make it a habit to take a walk everyday. Just being stuck inside the house all day is't my thing either. I really need to go and fetch my coffee maker.

 I'm resuming my project of making 1000 cranes.