After watching the last episode of The Office in which Phyllis said that she worked at Dunder Mifflin for so many years and didn't even record anything about her time there, I decided to return to blog. I used to be a conscientious blogger a few years back, detailing everything from what I ate for my meals to the amount of homework I had to do. Hopefully, I'll be able to replicate that again!
Since March, my life has changed. I've fulfilled a dream of mine (met one of my favourite bands), finished the third year of university studies (damn), had my phone die on me even though I took perfect care of it (got a brand new replacement) and as of a week ago, I've started interning at a company that shall henceforth be known as X company.
X company is a PR company so I've really had to step out of my comfort zone in the past week. Other than the fact that I have to wake up at some ungodly hour (goodbye my 4am bedtimes) to get to work, I have to somehow squeeze my way into packed trains. PR work also involves talking to A LOT of people. I will admit here (and in case you haven't noticed) that I'm an introvert. Please note that an introvert is very different from an anti-social person. I do enjoy the company of people I approve of but having to socialise too much is very tiring for me and I need a lot of alone time to recharge. I've really had to step out of my comfort zone to talk to strangers...on the phone. Both of which I'm terrible at. But, I've done it and I'm proud of myself. Work is hard and tiring, but I'm glad I'm at X company because I actually get to do work and not things like making coffee for the others or photocopying things.
How does this compare with giving tuition? Well for one, the hours are longer and it's definitely more stressful. Giving tuition is definitely much easier. I do have to crack my brain sometimes but I'm mostly teaching things I'm already very familiar with/use on a daily basis/know like the back of my hand so it's definitely less challenging than interning. Would I go into either field full time? No idea. I'm still figuring out what I want to do with my life and we'll see how things go. I mean, the other day one of my kids told me he did really well for his composition exam (nearly full marks!) and I really felt appreciated. So glad all my nagging/yelling paid off.
Although, I'll like to make a point here about my experience so far in teaching kids. Tuition is not the instant solution to your kids getting As or whatever in school. A lot of people think that they can throw their kids in a tuition class and then miraculously expect their grades to improve. As a teacher, I can only point your kid to the right direction to do well. My effort only accounts for 10% of a kid doing well. The rest lies with the school teachers (who obviously have more contact hours with the kid) and the parents pushing the kid. We all know, as adults or at least, as people who have experience in taking exams that the only way to do well is to put in consistent hard work and to continuously revise. Kids don't know this. The only way they can improve is if they revise and learn from their mistakes. If they get their work back and just chuck it into their files without looking at it, they will find it very hard to do well. There is definitely a marked difference in the grades of a kid with parents who ensure they revise their work and the grades of a kid who is left to his/her own devices. I'm not saying tuition is useless. Not at all. Sometimes, you just don't know how to teach your kid in a certain subject. That's fine. But I think if you want your kid to do well, you have to make sure he/she is making the best use of the money you spend on his/her tuition by ensuring that he/she revises the work she does there as well as his/her schoolwork.
This weekend has been great for me. I went to watch The Used (WOOHOO!) and went to the zoo yesterday. Will blog more about it this week, hopefully, since I'm heading to Japan on Saturday! YAY! I'll be participating in JENESYS 2.0 and I'm really excited to finally put my Japanese to good use. I'll definitely blog about it because I want to be able to come back and look at how great the trip was years down the road.
And of course, to finally post my review of All Time Low's concert...from March. It's more or less written already but I still want to edit it some more.
