I thought I was into advertising, so my plan was to make a unique and
attention-grabbing application to be sent out to top agencies in the
town. I was getting offers and encouragements from my friends/seniors
who were already in the industry. All I needed was to make the goddamned
application. But I lingered on with my idleness, and ended up being a
total slacker. And I lost my interest, and in the end lost my
confidence. The momentum had gone, and I was back at square one –
clueless.
So I thought of an easy way out – to study again. The problem with me is that I want to do too many things without the effort to stay focused one at a time. So I looked up on jewelry design, which I dropped because it would costs too much (from the school/study to the materials). Then I looked up on culinary art and cooking schools, which I dropped again because it was also expensive – I wanted to go into Le Cordon Bleu or maybe Seattle Art Institute.
There was no way I could afford something abroad, except China. China was a viable option.
My mum has always wanted her children to be able to speak in our ancestor’s language – Chinese. It is, I could say, one of her dreams. She’s very fluent of course, everyone in the family is fluent in Mandarin and Hokkien. She was raised in a traditional (Chinese) family. Her father – my grandpa – came from mainland China, and my grandma was born there too. Most of their siblings still live there. My mum went to a well-known Chinese-based school, Hua Zhong, before they were closed down during Orde Baru.
But she never taught her daughters to speak mandarin at home. We converse in Bahasa Indonesia all the time. We did had a (mandarin) private tutor once, but she quit after only three months because she went back to her town. And anyway she wasn’t that good also. Thus, me and my sister grew up without the ability my mother has. We both developed a great interest in English, but Chinese – none. So when I told her I wanted to go to Shanghai to study Mandarin, she agreed in an instant. Maybe she thought, “Alas! Finally! One of my girls developed an interest in their ancestry!” Though I felt that she suspected one of the many reasons I wanted to go there was because I know (Shanghai) would be a blast – little studying, loads of partying and having fun. Tried and tested by my friends. =P
Studying in China is becoming a trend by that time. Many Chinese are fleeing their homeland but many foreigners are fleeing into the land. What with all the facts that China is to be the next superpower and the industry is now pointed to the home of the adorable pandas. Surely the ability of speaking/reading Mandarin would be a great benefit in the future.
I joined a mandarin class near my place by the end of 2005 and gathered information about the schools and boarding/housings in Shanghai. I was set to enroll for the spring semester in East China Normal University (ECNU) on early 2006. The plan was to stay (and study) there for at least a year. The road looked smooth.
(To be continued still..)
So I thought of an easy way out – to study again. The problem with me is that I want to do too many things without the effort to stay focused one at a time. So I looked up on jewelry design, which I dropped because it would costs too much (from the school/study to the materials). Then I looked up on culinary art and cooking schools, which I dropped again because it was also expensive – I wanted to go into Le Cordon Bleu or maybe Seattle Art Institute.
There was no way I could afford something abroad, except China. China was a viable option.
My mum has always wanted her children to be able to speak in our ancestor’s language – Chinese. It is, I could say, one of her dreams. She’s very fluent of course, everyone in the family is fluent in Mandarin and Hokkien. She was raised in a traditional (Chinese) family. Her father – my grandpa – came from mainland China, and my grandma was born there too. Most of their siblings still live there. My mum went to a well-known Chinese-based school, Hua Zhong, before they were closed down during Orde Baru.
But she never taught her daughters to speak mandarin at home. We converse in Bahasa Indonesia all the time. We did had a (mandarin) private tutor once, but she quit after only three months because she went back to her town. And anyway she wasn’t that good also. Thus, me and my sister grew up without the ability my mother has. We both developed a great interest in English, but Chinese – none. So when I told her I wanted to go to Shanghai to study Mandarin, she agreed in an instant. Maybe she thought, “Alas! Finally! One of my girls developed an interest in their ancestry!” Though I felt that she suspected one of the many reasons I wanted to go there was because I know (Shanghai) would be a blast – little studying, loads of partying and having fun. Tried and tested by my friends. =P
Studying in China is becoming a trend by that time. Many Chinese are fleeing their homeland but many foreigners are fleeing into the land. What with all the facts that China is to be the next superpower and the industry is now pointed to the home of the adorable pandas. Surely the ability of speaking/reading Mandarin would be a great benefit in the future.
I joined a mandarin class near my place by the end of 2005 and gathered information about the schools and boarding/housings in Shanghai. I was set to enroll for the spring semester in East China Normal University (ECNU) on early 2006. The plan was to stay (and study) there for at least a year. The road looked smooth.
(To be continued still..)
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