Monday, June 29, 2015

Countdown: 10 Days (1:4 cultural trip to guangxi)

I feel really irritated today. I don't know why, maybe because of the final exam papers that are so troublesome, maybe it's because of my messy room. After a month here, I've had the habit of taking nap in the afternoon because our break time is from 1200pm to 230pm. Awesome right? However, there are some afternoons and nights that I could not fall asleep. I can feel my body is sleeping but my mind isn't. It's so contradict that I feel so conscious and tired at the same time. This afternoon was like that. 

I can feel the time passes slowly and my eyes are widely opened. I tried to close my eyes but it is just not comfortable to do so. At the same time, I can feel my entire body is so relax and tired, it's as if it is slowly going into the sleeping stages and my head is separated from the body (sounds scary I know). And right now sitting in the office, my whole body plus head is tired. LOL

Speaking of the trip, well it's quite fun because the scenery is really superb! However, I still prefer to travel with bunch of people that shares the same culture. You will feel the importance of it once you travel with a bunch of people that shares the same culture excluding you, yes you, the only one! For example, like foods, they are from the Guangdong province and they eat almost everything (crocodile, dog meats, horse meats, all kind of seafood etc) Even though I am also a Chinese, our food preferences are different. In Malaysia, we eat all types of foods like Indians, Italian, Muslims but for China, they have a strong preference toward Chinese foods. In terms of foods, it's a great experience because I get to try the snails (ewwww never thought I would eat that) and many more weird vege. However, sometimes don't you get tired of Chinese foods??? I misssss Western foods so much right now! Luckily I still get to satisfied my crave on Japanese and Korean in the past few months. Also, because of the culture, we may have different preference and interests on where to visit and what to do during the trips. Apparently they kind of enjoy drinking beer here and playing the boring dice drinking game. Hahahaha, sorry but I just can't feel the fun because people here can hardly get HIGH! They rarely cheers! Only a few people would go there and dance at the dance floor. And the others? They will just sit there immobile and stare at the dancers. Some will drink, chat with their friends and smoke at the same time (There are a lot of smokers here like seriously! Even in this college you can see a lot of lecturers are smokers!)

Another thing is, their jokes! Sometimes you can't get it or you don't find it funny. We also shared different perceptions on the same situations, they may think a narcissistic guy has some mental problem (even tho narcissistic falls under DSM V but they are looking at him as if he is having some kind of disease) and he should go for plastic surgery. (whaattt?) For me, I think the guy was just having some really good charismatic skills because he was travelling alone and he tried to be funny! And also, they think people who traveled alone has mental problems too. (Whaaattt??) See. You will have a lot of speechless moment. What can I say, China has a strong collectivism culture. Anyway, it's really a great memory with my colleagues. Besides,  I get insights that helps me to understand more of their cultures. Even though I am a Chinese, I found that Malaysian Chinese have more similar cultures with Indonesians rather than China's Chinese. 

To conclude, I will call this phenomena as 1 to 4 cultural trip. The reason is among five of them, I am the odd ones. I wasn't expecting a lot during the trip, therefore I only had a few culture shocks and that's all. So, when you're going to a 1:4 trip in the future, be aware of the things that I've mentioned, and try to embrace the different cultures. 

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Countdown: 14 days

Dear Bloggie, I realized I have made a lot of empty promises to you since 2011. Therefore, I am going to update my blog everyday till the day I am back to Malaysia. :) However, I am not going to update this weekend, because I am heading to 阳嗍,桂林 tomorrow with my colleagues. I actually started to look forward and gets a little excited because it sounds fun. The best thing is, I don't need to pay for the trip! This is the second trip that they are sponsoring me. Oh mine, the hospitality here is awesome!

Today is also the last time I am teaching in my marketing class. Next week onward we will be revising for finals. After class, I stayed back to discuss their group assignments and chat a little with the other students.

I am having a dilemma.

Final year students here can't afford to fail the subjects this semester. The system in this polytechnic is different from every private uni in Malaysia. All students MUST graduate at the same time. If they did not pass their subjects and they will only get a certificate which signifies that one has only went for classes but did not pass all the subjects. In other words, their certificates will be meaningless even though they have completed the other subjects but only fail ONE subject in the college.

On the other hand, I can't just pass the students by giving them free marks! If they are almost there, I am kind enough to help them by adding 1 to 2 extra marks. However, as I know some of them are far away from passing currently, I don't feel right to add 20-30 marks for them just to let them pass. This will be unfair for the other students who worked so hard to pass. I have warned them since the first day of the class. I will fail whoever deserves to fail. The class will be taught in bilingual language, even so, all the exam questions will be in English. It is important for all of them to attend the classes and to PAY ATTENTION to every classes especially they do not have a good English speaking and writing skills. Some of them think I am kidding because the lecturers here will try their very best to let them pass. But too bad, I am from Malaysia, I work differently. Besides, I've already make the class as easy as it can. I used 18 weeks to teach only 3 chapters, 15 slides, they really can't complain much! Despite these, I cannot bear to fail them because the price they gonna pay is too high.

So what can I do....

Right now, I can only convince them to work harder and gave them extra classes hoping them can answer in their final exams. It's not the end yet. There is one more group assignment coming up which carries 20% and also final exams which carries 40%. If they are willing to work harder, passing with 60% is not a big problem.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Countdown: 15 Days

15 days = Half a month

It was quite a pleasant night yesterday and I thought I can survive this. But today is a disaster. Im so stressed up looking at the documents that I need to complete by tomorrow! I feel so demotivated again because I don't understand the system and the Chinese terms they are using! It's not like I don't understand Chinese but I've only seen the professional terms in English. Today I don't feel like doing anything but I CAN'T! BECAUSE SUBMISSION IS DUE TOMORROW!

I can assure you that the stress I am having here is exactly the same I am having during my university life. I really doubt whether I still want to be a lecturer in the future. Maybe I am just having serious homesick. Just realized four months is my limit to be away from home. I miss everything in Malaysia, especially the foods, my family and friends and my daily routines! I used to get sick of my daily routines and wanted a change. But this change ain't good. Anyway, when I get back, I want to make use of my time. Instead of working non-stop, I want to learn something and improve myself on some areas. Maybe a new language, a new musical instruments, or a new subject. I don't know yet. Every single seconds my mind is full of what-to-do when I am back to Malaysia, can't wait to feel the moment of excitement when I am on the plane, saying the word 'FINALLY' loudly in my heart. Another cool stuffs is my cousin is going back on the 10th of July too to Malaysia, maybe we can meet up!

My dad is buying a new car for me. The reason? Because I am going home and they are four people who can/will need to drive. I really appreciate my dad for still buying me a car even though I am a working adult now, I guess maybe my dad is going to pay for the down-payment only. Uhm...........

I am heading to a place called 阳嗍 for a trip this coming weekend. Well I hope it will be fun.... because I am not really looking forward to it. I just wanna stay in my room, watch The Arrow and New Girl, play my The Sims 3.......... oh god... not in a mood for a trip, probably because I've been to quite some trips recently and I need a rest now. Or it's just the people that I am going with...

Bye Bloggie. :(

Monday, June 22, 2015

16 More Days

Hello! I figured my blog is pointless when I have a blog link on my Instagram. Haha! I did not forget you Bloggie ( I hope you like your new name, Bloggie). Well I kept diary entries starting from April writing my physical and emotional experiences in China. The firewall was not stable and I can't access to Google sometimes. That's why I did not update here. For your information, China has blocked Twitter, Google, Facebook, Youtube and etc. Life is hard when you need to use those replacements like Baidu, QQ and etc.

Anyway, I will update my last 15 days in China. Can't update a lot now because I am very busy today. Gonna prepare for my last class for Chinese Presentation subject in this semester!


Having class until 9pm, my god. I hate Tuesdays.