The first day on the job went well. As one might expect it consisted of a campus tour, filling out some hiring paperwork, a trip to immigration to apply for my visa (The Canada Air customer service agent in Kansas City was right…and I was wrong…you can only stay in Macao for 30 days or less without a visa. Hong Kong is still 90 day. Not sure where I read 90 days for Macau, I’ll have to do some research.) and an introduction to the office. The campus is beautiful and rather small, it sits on a huge hill, next to an old fortress. I will give you a photo tour one of these days. While walking around on my tour many of the faculty and staff welcomed me, my supervisor had sent out an e-mail the day before with my photo explain of my arrival, so they all recognized me.
I was introduced to the office and everyone in the registry today, they were very nice, I am looking forward to getting to know all them. As I learn more about the function of the office I will tell you more. My main job will be working with the international affairs team. I will be preparing for the arrival of the 25 exchange students coming in the fall. Today consisted of basic data entry, preparing there files and checking out which documents the students have sent in and which ones they have yet to send. I perused their webpage and other documents to see what information they make available to students. I have some recommendations for them, which will hopefully turn into projects for me.
I went to the campus canteen (dining hall) for lunch and had lunch with an English professor from America; he had some good tips and info for my stay in Macau. He also introduced me to a couple other English professors, one from America and one from Canada. WE had some good convos and will be keeping in touch. I am going sailing with one of them on Sunday, which will be fun.
After work I went for a run. There is a wonderful lake about five blocks or so from my hostel which many people run around. There is also outdoor exercise equipment, which is really sweet.
Earlier in the day a student told me IFT had one American exchange student. I wanted to meet with her to hear about her time here. They said she lived in apartment 14A in my building, so I went to see if she was home. I rang the doorbell, and a little Chinese girl answered the door and I though oops wrong apartment. It turns out she was an exchange student as well, from Mainland China. No one else was there, but she invited me in and we chatted for a while. Her name was Cindy and she lives with I believe four other exchange students, one from America, one from Singapore and two from Sweden (Yes!).
They have been living together for the entire semester and have became very close. I am excited to meet them all, but they will only be here for a few more weeks, as their semester is coming to an end soon. She had studied abroad in America (Minnesota) and really enjoyed it. She loved how polite and courteous Americans are. She said she did not have culture shock when coming to America but returning home she did. I also came to find that she goes to school 15 minutes from Yan Shuo, which has the best climbing in China, so she will be able to hook me up! Super stoked.
Anywho, I am off to explore for the day. Hope to find the climbing wall, and go to the beach. We’ll see what happens.
In good health,
1 comments:
Nice!!!
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