Beginning to settle in

Well after four day I do have quite a bit to write about...but not too much, thank to the majority of my time being spent at work. I Had intended to write this post yesterday. However, after a few unintended detours through the city last night and arriving home around midnight, I chose to hold off until today. Also, I know vow to start taking more pictures. I only have seven weeks left, and really have not taken many pictures. There are many things I would like to show you/remember 20 years from now, but can't/won't because I didn't tack any stinkin photos. More pics to come, I promise. beginning
Work is starting off slow, I am helping when and where I can, but thus far much time has been surfing the Internet and what not. They are still doing some preparation work before I can get to my projects. I have designed a couple name tags with photoshop. It's always fun using photoshop. I have also begun some data entry on a couple of there summer programs I will be working with. I have taken time to read and learn about the university and there many programs. I also have a few ideas and suggestions of projects I could work on from my observations in the office, perusings of the website and conversations with students. I am going to hold off until mid next week before bringing them up though. Providing me time to learn more about my supervisor and the office. They seem to be very open minded and asked for my feedback on any such improvements I saw, I would like to establish my self first.
Overall I am enjoying my time at work, it is sometimes too quiet for me and I am not used to sitting at a desk (I'm actually just at a round table in the middle of the office pics to come soon with the campus tour blog post) for seven hours a day, but I find ways to lighten the mood and excuses to leave my desk. Yesterday the office went to the Dragon Casino for a dim sum style lunch. Dim sum is many small portions of various dishes, I would relate this to family style dining but with more options and smaller quantities. All of the food was placed on lazy susan(I doubt the Chinese call it that) and you would just turn it until whichever item you wanted spun to your side. I really wish I had brought my camera, this would have been great. I will be going back for sure. The craziest thing I ate was chicken legs. The Chinese believe there are many health benefits in them. Not to be cliche or just correct, but it tasted like chicken. The only weird part was that you would eat them one toe at a time. The mean would pretty much just fall off in your mouth, then you would spit the bones out onto the plate. I will have them again.
IFT is a public institution. Being a government entity, there is a lot of red tape and procedures and what not. One of those being the amount of time one works. I have my time card and it is my lifeline! Every day I must clock in, in the morning, out for lunch, in after lunch and out when I leave, and it is very important that I get seven hours and fifteen minutes each day, and more important to have 36 total at the end of the week (I can leave 15 minutes early on Friday, Oh Boy!)
I usually (usually? HA! I've only been here one week) stop by the bakery next to my hostel, to grab something for breakfast on my way out in the mornings. I had planned to do this leaving me exactly enough time to get to work...the shop was closed for the day. There was nowhere else along the to grab food, so I just headed to work. When I got there I asked if I could head out and grab some food, they said sure but you'll have to clock out and make up the time later. I expected that, so clocked out, got my food and clocked back in. Taking me seventeen minutes. So at lunch I stayed around for seventeen minuted and clocked out. Well, when I was heading out at the end of the day my supervisor said don't forget I need to make up my time, to which I informed her I had at lunch. She and the others in the office got a funny look on they faces and laughed that they had forgot to tell me I could not make up time over lunch. Everyone in the government has the same lunch break and it cannot be changed. I wasn't mad, I was just like come on, but I hung around for another seventeen minutes then took off.
I finally got to meet Katie, the American girl from Arizona State University. I was part of a plan for her surprise birthday party. I had contacted her and told her I wanted to meet up with her and grab some dinner to learn about her time in Macao. So we met up and walked to McDonald's where the rest rest of the exchange students, whom I had not met yet, were waiting for her. Yep, they threw her a legit Kiddy birthday party at McD's. So we headed upstairs and they surprised her and it was cool.
It was fun meeting the exchange students from all over the world. Madagascar, Portugal, Germany, Korea, Finland, Switzerland and more. They will only be around for a couple more weeks, which is a bummer and most of them are traveled out just out of cash since they have been here a full semester. So I hung out with them later that night and will many more times before they depart.
On Tuesday I found out that I will get to go on a recruitment trip to Guangzhou, which is a couple hours into mainland China. From the sounds of it we will be set up at a college fair. This is why I have been studying so I will hopefully be able to answer most of the questions, or at least know where to find the answers. The trip will be on a weekend, so this means I will get to take two days off during the following week, which will be perfect giving me a four day weekend. Looking into heading to Shanghai. Will keep you posted.
So that has pretty much been the past week, if I left anything out just let me know.