Minus 3`C!! Brrrr...

Visited the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Museum yesterday afternoon as part of a group assignment. One floor was full of exhibits of unusual medicinal plants, animals and animal parts, minerals, etc. The second floor was on the history of Chinese medicine. The museum is either super, super old or has a tiny budget, coz the Chinese info “plaques” were paper mounted on some kind of frame, with penciled gridlines, and hand-painted text and portraits. The writing is so perfect that it looks as though it were printed. Quite impressive. There were even English information plaques (these were not handwritten on paper). I actually found the museum rather interesting. Maybe I'll read up on Chinese medicine some time...

In the evening, I went to the Japanese Students’ Network Xmas party themed “REAL Christmas,” though it was more like a Christmas service: sermon (in Japanese!), prayer, Christmasy skit and plenty of music. Reminded me of the good old high school days. Though it's hard to believe, I actually kinda miss chapel. Ok, maybe just the hymn singing and the echoing sound of the pipe organ. Anyway, back to yesterday’s party, the Korean and the French gospel groups were fantastic! The buffet dinner was pretty good too (especially the GanChaoNiuHe – my favourite!) There was also a short trivia game (totally unrelated to Christmas) and present exchange. I got a desk calendar (and 6 “choclairs” sticky-taped to the card^^).

This morning, I had planned on going to a Japanese Company Career Fair with R, but I kinda changed my mind. R had problems printing out his CV so might go tomorrow, and I couldn't be bothered going alone. I'm such a lazy bum. Also, after looking at a few recruitment websites about career fairs last night, I realised how totally unprepared I was. Actually, I only found out about it Thursday afternoon. I did put quite a bit of time and effort into writing my CV, but hadn’t researched any of the companies. Nor do I have a suit or a suitable bag. Since R was going, I thought I’d tag along and see what it’s all about; I wasn’t really genuinely interested in applying for any positions. I’m not confident that my Japanese level is good enough for one thing. Another is that I’m not so sure I want to work for a Japanese company. I think I’d much rather work for a foreign company based in Japan, or perhaps a government organisation.

Oh well, I got something out of this “experience” nevertheless. It made me get my act together and write up my CV, but more importantly perhaps, is that it made me really think about what I want to do.

Besides having lunch with D, I stayed holed up in my room for the rest of the afternoon, polished up my CV some more, searched for jobs online…then an early dinner with KT & Ksta at SIT cafe. I had minestrone soup: tangy tomato, slightly peppery…pretty tasty! MaBo, DaXi & Oppa joined us later. After we finished eating, the guys left and we 3 girls spent 2 hours in the bookstore around the corner. Aaah～so many books I want to read! I wish I could read like the alien stepmother in My Stepmother is an Alien. Anyway, I flipped through several books and was pleasantly surprised to find that I could understand quite a bit, most of it even. Woohoo! Progress! (Though it could just be that I picked up the really easy ones...^^;) Even though it’ll take up a considerable chunk of my 20kg luggage allowance when I leave, I might go back and buy some. Plus, books are cheap here. If I were to post them overseas, the postage would likely cost more than the books themselves. Hmmm…I wonder if Kinokuniya in Sydney stocks any of the ones I want to get...