I am not one of those people who are extremely good at one thing. Arguably, the very thing that I can proudly put on my CV might be the fact that I am fluent in three languages, and I have teaching, writing and translation experiences with all these languages (Cantonese, Mandarin and English). I started doing translation and writing for an English magazine when I was a sophomore. Other than abusing my language skills, I have done a bunch of other things, like being a freelance music journalist (still relevant with language I'm afraid), volunteered for NGOs, even being a waitress in the world's busiest cafe - Elephant House in Edinburgh, the birth place of Harry Potter.
So I have made a list of what I like to do or like to work on, hoping that I can start from here ❤:
1. Going to music live performances and writing music reviews.
2. Watching films and writing film reviews.
3. Taking photos - especially food photos. I personally love wedding photos as well, but I've never tried to document any wedding with my camera yet.
4. Education or NGOs - I've been teaching for seveal years in all languages that I am able to speak and I am tempted to try something new. However, I did get the most satisfaction from teaching and helping people.
5. Translation - I have the worst sense of orientation, but rarely lost in translation.
6. Visiting museums and galleries - one of my favourite means of education.
7. Working in a bookstore/library/cafe with books - I enjoy the atmosphere of paper products.
8. Making handcrafts - e.g. painting jars, doing origami, making cards.
9. Travelling - it gives my mom some headache, but I've gained so much on the road.
10. A successful housewife - I don't know what are the standards for a successful housewife, but it sounds really cool, reminds me of a Japanese film called Turtles are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers.
In sum, I think I can say that I like to be involved in activies related to arts, cultures and communication - I always like people or things from different cultural backgrounds, anything exotic and novel; music, films, museums or galleries can represent these characteristics.
I need to get myself a little bit credits here, within these few weeks in Seattle, I've published a long music review (#1), visited the biggest Chinese school in the U.S. and the headmaster said I was welcome to go visit anytime to assist in the class or even give some lessons there (#4), and I just got a volunteer opportunity from a museum in Seattle, which means I have a good chance to practice #6. (clap clap)
I surprisingly received my classmate's comment on my recently published review on Seattle's Bumbershoot Festival - probably the first Chinese review on Bumbershoot. This girl and I used to study Chinese literature in university, she said, "This is so inspiring Azi (my Cantonese nickname that is)! I was distracted a bit these days. Reading your review, it feels like I'm dragged back to my lovely path again, so refreshing! Thank god, now I know I shall stick to my path whatsoever."
So I think this is what I long for: something "inspiring" and "refreshing". I have to thank her for such a big encouragement, I probably didn't realise I had been carrying on writing for so long until she commented on my review. Although I sometimes complain about having no promising skills such as software programming or dental orthopedics, when I am about to finish this blog post, I am quite pleased with my trivial achievements. I can't wait to throw myself into a new chapter of my life, search for different possibilities, figure out what I really want, then chase after it (and finally finally...achieve #10!).
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