Yaya

Just this Yesterday afternoon, I met a group of visitors from China. And being the only person in the Graduate Building who can speak Mandarin, J brought them to me. We had a brief conversation and I was wrecking through my brain to translate my title ("Development Officer"), our office ("Office of Insitutional Advancement") and even simple words like "proposals", "grants" etc. It was so embarassing when I was searching for the right words and went "uh...uh.." while the whole bunch of them just stood staring at me. I was literally sweating after the session. I am pretty sure one of the reason I was offered the job was my ability to converse in Mandarin. China being a huge market and with the increasing number of Chinese students enrolling each year, the Management had hoped for us to tap into the Chinese market for philanthropic funds. I was even hoping to teach in the Chinese Department but I am having lots of self doubts right now.

Anyways, I had wanted to get home and make a list of the Mandarin terms that would come in handy in future. Naturally, I thought of getting help from Yaya. And then, the news of the big quake in Sichuan came. She hasnt been online for the whole of tonight yesterday night. I dunno where exactly in Chengdu she's living in but I am hoping that she's only being affected by the cut of communication lines. Yaya!!!