Today I had to miss church (and a potluck lunch!) to attend a rehearsal at Mt Smart Stadium with Aonghas. Once again it's top secret!
It was so hot rehearsal had to be paused after someone fainted! They provided us with heaps of water though which was good. If only they gave us more than a muesli bar for a snack! Lunch wasn't too bad, consisting of a sandwich, muffin and orange, but because I missed breakfast I was still hungry after that!
The weirdest thing that happened to me today though was while I was lining up, a lady came up to me and asked
"Are you Samoan?"
I told her I wasn't, and she then apologised and said she thought I was her Samoan nephew and was coming over to say 'hi'! She realised though that he was a lot taller than me! Afterwards I told her I was half NZ half Chinese.
Later on, another guy asked me where I was from and so I told him. I asked him what he thought I was, and he told me he thought I was Arab or Middle-Eastern!
Sunday, 28 August 2011
Saturday, 27 August 2011
Careers and Birthdays
I took a day off work (music teaching) today as Aonghas and I had a compulsory music rehearsal I had to attend over at Mt Smart Stadium (it's a secret right now!) which meant neither of us could teach. Fortunately the sun was out...maybe it came out a bit too much as I had to cover myself in sunblock to avoid getting burnt!
The rehearsal finished by midday which allowed Aonghas and I to make a trip back to the city to check out the University of Auckland Courses and Careers Day. We parked all the way down Symonds Street, which meant it was quite a walk to the university.
When we got there, I was surprised that there wasn't much going on in the Information Commons! It turned out that most of the displays and stands were over at the business and engineering buildings.
The business school had all their stands/displays at the ground level and I came across my good friend Alice who I haven't talked to in quite a while! It turns out she switched to 2degrees! No wonder I hardly receive txts from her these days! She was supposed to be providing advice to prospective students but I sorta hogged her for a little while, just to catch up with her and get a bit of business advice!
We then went downstairs so I could visit the pharmacy stand and ask about post-grad, which I'm considering doing next year. I think most of the students there were first or second year students with one third year student who said she recognised me as the one who works at the university pharmacy! Busted!!
They weren't able to help me out so I went over to the School of Graduate Studies stand where some people gave me some advice. I also checked out the law school and education faculty stands as well. It looks like I could study primary/intermediate school teaching if I want to next year (if I get accepted of course).
We were running out of time and Aonghas wanted to check out the engineering school. I have to say I was quite impressed with some of the projects on display - there was a mechanical fish, a few robots, a popcorn machine and a candy floss machine apparently powered by solar energy! I managed to get some popcorn and candy floss to eat which was a bonus!
We caught up with Grace and came across Jenny who was manning the Biomedical Engineering stall! We then went by the Gamja stall and bought some Gamja so Aonghas could try it out. We then had a little stroll down Queen Street, trying to find Andrew and Ben, as it was Andrew's 18th birthday today! He told us he was having a haircut, but by the time we got to the barber's he was gone.
We heard he was playing pool with his brother and mum, so on our way there we went to Wendy's to busy some food and sat in Aotea Square to eat before I tried looking for a cake to buy for him.
We finally caught up to them at the pool place and gave Andrew the cake which I hope he enjoyed! We watched him play pool for a little while before it was time to go!
We caught up with Grace and came across Jenny who was manning the Biomedical Engineering stall! We then went by the Gamja stall and bought some Gamja so Aonghas could try it out. We then had a little stroll down Queen Street, trying to find Andrew and Ben, as it was Andrew's 18th birthday today! He told us he was having a haircut, but by the time we got to the barber's he was gone.
We heard he was playing pool with his brother and mum, so on our way there we went to Wendy's to busy some food and sat in Aotea Square to eat before I tried looking for a cake to buy for him.
We finally caught up to them at the pool place and gave Andrew the cake which I hope he enjoyed! We watched him play pool for a little while before it was time to go!
Thursday, 18 August 2011
(Brief) Moment of Fame
I had a brief moment of fame today during my lunch break!
I was sitting outside in the Quad at uni today eating my lunch when this American guy walked by, saw me and asked if I worked at the chemist downstairs. When I told him that I did, he told me he recognised me as the guy who sold him his medicines!
That's the first time anyone has recognised me outside of the pharmacy! I have to say I was quite chuffed about that!
Anyway he sat down next to me and we had a bit of a chat getting to know one another.
Finally my job is helping me get to know people!
I was sitting outside in the Quad at uni today eating my lunch when this American guy walked by, saw me and asked if I worked at the chemist downstairs. When I told him that I did, he told me he recognised me as the guy who sold him his medicines!
That's the first time anyone has recognised me outside of the pharmacy! I have to say I was quite chuffed about that!
Anyway he sat down next to me and we had a bit of a chat getting to know one another.
Finally my job is helping me get to know people!
Back to the Gym
I went back to the gym for the first time in a while tonight! It wasn't very busy tonight, probably since this week has been pretty cold. What made me really want to gym was the fact I ate McDonald's last weekend, and had Wendy's after attending the university teacher's college open day last night!
I used a few machines that hurt...I mean strained my arms and legs before went rowing on the machine for 10 minutes and cycling for 10 minutes!
By the end I was so sore in a thousand different places!
I caught up with Angie for the first time in a while afterwards and I shouted Dunkin' Donuts before we caught the bus home.
I think I just undid all my good work...
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Looking at the Options
Tonight after work I caught a bus to the University of Auckland Epsom Campus to check out the the Open Day at the campus as teaching is one option amongst others that I'm considering next year.
Because the bus came late, I only made it to the campus in time to sit in on a talk about secondary school teaching and studying towards a Graduate Diploma in Teaching. It sounded quite interesting, how you have to do two 6-7 week placements at two different high schools during the year. It would be kinda cool going back to my old school Rutherford College, or even being assigned another school!
At the end of the talk though, I told the speaker that I had a pharmacy degree and whether that would be OK. She told me though that they looked at pharmacy degrees as a problem as it wasn't completely aligned with a high school subject.
She reckoned that I'd have a better chance of being accepted if I spent a year doing a post-grad diploma in Science/Chemistry and then apply to do the teaching diploma in the following year, and because it's in chemistry I'd have a good shot at getting a scholarship which would cover costs for that year and enough spending money to cover the post-grad diploma costs.
I guess I can rule out studying teaching as an option for next year. I'll have to write a post about all my possible options a little later!
Because the bus came late, I only made it to the campus in time to sit in on a talk about secondary school teaching and studying towards a Graduate Diploma in Teaching. It sounded quite interesting, how you have to do two 6-7 week placements at two different high schools during the year. It would be kinda cool going back to my old school Rutherford College, or even being assigned another school!
At the end of the talk though, I told the speaker that I had a pharmacy degree and whether that would be OK. She told me though that they looked at pharmacy degrees as a problem as it wasn't completely aligned with a high school subject.
She reckoned that I'd have a better chance of being accepted if I spent a year doing a post-grad diploma in Science/Chemistry and then apply to do the teaching diploma in the following year, and because it's in chemistry I'd have a good shot at getting a scholarship which would cover costs for that year and enough spending money to cover the post-grad diploma costs.
I guess I can rule out studying teaching as an option for next year. I'll have to write a post about all my possible options a little later!
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