Tuesday, January 19, 2010
I received this email yesterday from YOG.
"Dear volunteers,
Thank you very much for your interest in joining our language team for the 1st ever Youth Olympic Games, to be held in Singapore, August 14-26.
With the help of one of our native Japanese speaking volunteers, we will call you Tuesday-Thrusday to conduct a phone interview. The volunteer is only available in the mornings, until 1pm. I hope you take five minutes of your morning to assess your proficiency of Japanese, before confirming as a language volunteer.
Thank you again for your interest in the Games and we look forward to speaking to you soon."
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And Tada! I received the phone call in the morning.
It was supposed to be a Q&A interview, but i ended up having to ask the interviewer to "Please repeat again" and "I don't understand." She was speaking faster than the speed of my Bunka teachers!
One of the questions was about why I applied to participate in YOG. I truly understood the question and I can easily convey my thoughts in English and Mandarin, but I was tongue-tied and couldn't immediately find the right words and grammar to answer in Japanese right away. So it was a very long "Erm....." , followed by some broken Japanese sentences, and then another long "Erm...", until the interviewer cut my agony and posted another question that I totally couldn't catch.
But it was really enjoyable. It's been 5 months since I last spoke a Japanese sentence, and this impromptu practice session, without the need to face the person directly, was truly good. I told her my Japanese isn't good, but she said it was ok. She asked me to look out for the email soon, and I take it as a rejection. Never mind, since I'm scheduled for another YOG briefing this Saturday.
Interestingly, this phone conversation rekindled my desire to power up my Japanese conversational ability. I'm glad my next Japanese class is starting this Sunday.
Hello to the new Enrichment Sundays once again.
人生是黑白的.
11:46 AM <3
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2010's such an exciting year, at least for the Mandopop Concert Scene.
It's barely into the 3rd week of the year, and a list of Solo Concerts is slowly forming.
~陶喆's "上太空说演唱会" (8th January, over)
~纵贯线's "纵贯线 Super Band 2010 世界巡回 终点站" (23rd January)
~张惠妹's "阿密特首次世界巡回演唱会" (30th January)
~萧敬腾's "洛客先生巡回演唱会" (13th March)
~S.H.E's "S.H.E is the one 爱而为一 世界巡回演唱会" (17th April, Indoor Stadium)
~五月天's “五月天创造DNA无限放大版” (17th April, Padang)
~郑秀文's "Love Mi世界巡回演唱会" (First half of 2010)
~周杰伦's solo concert, "内容将结合大型魔术". (July 2010)
~梁静茹's solo concert. (September 2010) (WX! I hope you're in time for this!!!)
~罗志祥's solo concert. (Date not fixed)
~萧亚轩's "ElvaWOW萧亚轩世界巡回演唱会" (Date not fixed)
人生是黑白的.
12:51 AM <3
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I've wanted to comment on this when I first read it in the papers. Finally I've remembered to.
How many of us actually paid attention to how much our dear government donates to relief efforts, each time a major disaster strikes somewhere?
Yes, Singapore lent some small help in regional disasters, in some cash and humanitarian effort, though I always believe we can send bigger teams than the 10-odd teams.
Now, what do we offer to countries at the other side of the world?
Look at Haiti, struck by a major earthquake that totally crumbled the country, the government and its people. An estimated 50,000 people were killed and 250,000 people were injured.
Our government's donations? US$ 50,000.
That's based on US$1 for every dead?
Or based on US$0.20 for every injured?
Or US$0.005 for each of the 9-million living Haitian citizen?
What a joke!
人生是黑白的.
11:56 PM <3
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3 months since my contract ended, I decided to lay my hands on this phone. After Nokia and SonyEricsson, Samsung became the newest phone brand that had passed through my hands.
I'm probably not yet smart enough for this smartphone. I'm taking years to type a short message, having to 'backspace' after a few characters. Neither have I figured out why the alarm doesn't work! Nor how to silence the phone after I send every message. I'm also leaving fingerpreeeens all over. It definitely needs a while of getting used to.Erm, don't ask me why I didn't settle for an iPhone. My iPod Touch already works like one, and the remaining functions are easily satisfied with this new phone.
人生是黑白的.
12:38 PM <3
>>>
3 months since my contract ended, I decided to lay my hands on this phone. After Nokia and SonyEricsson, Samsung became the newest phone brand that had passed through my hands.