A day in Brighton

Having been to Brighton last summer for fishing, I thought it was a small seaside town, only. And, would only claim all the characters of seaside city but not more than that.

Two good friends of us invited us to visit Brighton and Eastbourn again the day before yesterday, Sunday. This changed my view to the city, Brighton.

One of the young male friend is not many man in life that I respect and admire and determine to learn something from. He is about 5 or 6 years younger than me, but with lots of confident, generous, knowledge and wide views of the world. I always think that he would be a definatly somebody someday and I have told many friends already about some of his stories.

He was our guide of the day. We had a nice walk along Eastbourn on the meadow, near the cliff where many people committ suicide every year.

We then had a nice lunch in a British restaurant, afterwards we headed to Brighton again. We experienced the world famous Brighton Pier, experienced the seafood taste while walking along the beach, experienced the video games in the pier pretending to be teenagers, experienced the Movie - Monster in Law, experienced the feeling of facing to the sea and having the lovely dinner in a seafood restaurant.

It took us quite a while to find a parking space. And, the parking permit ticket is so much different to other city's, taking us another while to work it out in how to display.

Cold Mountain, the movie

Mountain is cold, normally and always.

This is a film story happened in American War. It told us how cruel a war was, and how poor the life people were leading during the war.

The love between, Ada and Inman was so strong. This was the main theme the film was trying to tell us. They hardly knew each other, but they knew that they loved each other so much, which drove two hearts walking together all the time, no matter under what circumstances, no matter how hard the conditions were.

I hate seeing these bad guys in the movie killing innocent without any reason. I'd love to see that bad guy was killed by Inman, the fighting hero in the film. But, it was a pity not seeing him living long together with his love, Ada.
Ada's working maid was funny. She chanllenged Ada what tree that was, which was north, how to plant... Ada got angry and told her that I knew this and that in Latin, and I could speak French, bla bla, bla, which told us different people in the world, working in the different field, have different knowledge.

The film also tell us, love is warm, normally and always.

Anyway, war is terrible.
So, let's hope there is no war anymore in the world and fight for it.

For more information about this movie, please click the following links.

Discussions and its Official website.

English Surnames

I collected some Interesting surnames in English. Listed as below:

For more information about surnames, pls go to Roger Darlington's What is in a name?

Enjoy,


Air, Amen, Appleby, Armstrong, Ash, Ashton,

Bachelor, Baker, Banks, Barber, Barclay, Bate, Bean, Bell, Best, Beattie, Bird, Bishop, Black, Bloom, Bone, Boxall, Brain, Bridges, Brightwell, Britton, Broadhead, Brocket, Burn, Burns,

Cage, Campbell, Candy, Cannon, Carter, Carvers, Cash, Castle, Chapman, Chase, Christian, Church, Cliff, Close, Coleman, Cook, Coxford, Craft, Cross, Crossmark, Cruise,

Dance, Day, Dearlove, Done, Drapper,

Eagle, Eastman, Eastwood, Edinburgh, Elfman, England,

Fell, Fellows, First, Fish, Fisher, Fishman, Foot, Forest, Fortune, Fox, Freeland, Freer, French, Friedman, Fry,

Gate, Garden, Gay, Gearson, Given, Glasgow, Glass, Good, Goodman, Goodgame, Grade, Grand, Grant, Green, Greenwood, Grossman, Groves, Guest,

Hall, Hardcastle, Harding, Hare, Hart, Heady, Heritage, Heyworth, Holdaway, Home, Hope, Hopewell, Hurt, Husband,

Jobs,

Keen, King, Kitchen,

Ladyman, Lamb, Lane, Large, Last, Lawhead, Lean, Learner, Leadbetter, Letwin, Lightfoot, Link, Little, Littlewood, Livingstone, Long, Longstaff, Lovelock, Low, Lowman, Laws, Lawson,

Maiden, Makepeace, Mangold, Mapson, Marshall, Midwinter, Miles, Miller, Minor,

New, Newby, Newman, Newson, North, Nurse,

Oldfield, Oxford,


Parent, Paris, Parker, Part, Pay, Pearson, Peel, Penman, Pick, Pinsent, Poster, Potter, Pound, Power, Premier, Pressman, Price, Prior, Private, Proudfoot, Puller, Pullman,

Radcliffe, Record, Reddy, Redhead, Rise, Rivers, Rose, Roundtree

Sainsbury, Salt, Sandson, Seaman, Silverman, Skipper, Skinner, Sky, Small, Smart, Snowball, Southwood, Starkey, Stay, Stepper, Stone, Street, Summerskill,

Taylor, Tennant, Title, Toes, Townend, Townsend, Tree, Trickleman, Turelove, Turtle,

Plannery, Pressman,

Underhill, Underwood,

Valentine, Vice,

Walker, Wall, Waller, Ward, Ware, Warner, Waterman, Waters, Waxman, Way-rider, Weeks, Welsh, Westlake, Wheeler, White, Whitehead, Whiteners, Wilder, Willson, Winehouse, Winter, Wise, Wisher, Wolf, Woodhead, Woodhouse,

York, Young,

Changing weather

Human being seems like changing. They get bored if they stay at the same status for too long.
But, I don't know why people don't like the weather changing so much.

Human being does need water all the time. Every body knows water is dear to us, nowadays. But, they seem hate raining, most of the time.

Raining or too frequent changing weather do bring us inconveniences. But, dear you, Can you tell me anything is perfect?

Allowance

I found I did need allowance from other people, I know or I don't, from time to time. What about you?

So, I know that I would give other people some allowance for their being not knowing everything, or not be able to make everthing perfect. What about you?

Are you ready to give others some allowance for their progress of learning? Or, simply for their mistakes?

How to drive safely

Safe drive should include the followings:
Be patient.
Be slow, don't speed. In england, it is called Kill Your Speed. One of my American friend has laughed this expression.
Think about others.

Don't be lazy, change gear frequently when necessary.
Don't drive when you are very tired.
Don't drive when the visibility isn't good, if possible.
Don't drive when it rains too heavily or it is too cold or it is snowy, if possible.
Never take chance.

Before driving a long distance, make sure that you had a nice sleep, and always rest yourself well.
Have a couple of breaks in between.
Make sure that you know the route well, by reading the maps or getting a direction director.(Not read the map during driving!)

Remmber, speed limit isn't the speed that we must drive at or over. It is the maximum speed we are allowed to drive at.

Think about yourself, the one you love, and others. Drive safely.

Try to use public transportation to protect our enviroment!

Best to you all.

Post Money to the one you love

How to post money to the ones that you love abroad?

Through the bank: There is a fast way (3 working days) which could be paid in £ if you like with a about £18 charge. It is called Express International Moneymover which is the fastest way of sending non-euro payments overseas and is best suited to urgent payments of high value, payments will normally reach the receiving customer's bank within 2-3 working days.

And, a normal one but can only be paid in local currencies with a lower charge, like £10. You should need their names, their bank name and account details, bank addresses if possible.

Through financial agencies like western union. You can pay online or at their branches. It also could only be paid in local currencies. Charge is high but very efficient.

Pay the people abroad by cheque: It is quite cost saving in payment but time consuming. It would normally take up to 2 months for the whole transaction precedure.

Take cash when you visit them: The exchange rate isn't ideal, normally.

If

If you can turn three of your dreams into reality, what are they?

If you'v got plenty money to start a businss, what is it - your first choice or the one you want to engage in the most?

I want to find something to do to keep myself busy and enjoy the career itself, most of the time.

I want to visit those I love more often, as I wish, and look good after them when I can.

I want to treat my wife better, to have her less worried, less rushing, more relaxed.

I also want to contribute myself to our planet, to make it a place much greener, a place much cleaner, a place much more peaceful...

customer services

why sometimes some sales people are so keen to sell you things that you don't want at all? And, if you say no, why did they put their phone down without saying a thank you?

Even sometimes, when you are face to face to some front line customer service staff, they are still quite rude. What is the reason for that?

£1M ?

What would you do if you won the lottery, let's say there is £ 1 Million in the jackpot?

For a nice house? a lovely trip? a luxury car? resign from your job? put some in the bank safe?

I have been asked this question once, and if I did get a lottery like this:
I will:
Put half of it into enviroment friendly project, like planting trees, trees, trees...
Open a company to turn some of my dreams into reality.
Treat my family well.

By the way, the chance of wining a lottery in the UK is about or less than 1/30M.
Quite small = 0 .

spring and our earth

Spring is really coming now, in England.
Everything turns green, and the weather becomes longer and brighter.

I love nature and perticularly love the color of green which represents loving enviroment.

I understand that there were only about 6 million in the world at 10,000 years ago. But now, there are more than 6 billion people living here. Imagine how much damage we have done to our planet.

Love it and do something to protect our planet, please!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/programmes/tv/state_planet/pollution.shtml

http://tropicaltreefarms.com/

Anybody can fail, sometimes...

I didn't get the offer from ICI at this stage, but I am still fighting for the last mere hope. We should give up until the last chance turns out..., shouldn't we?

I called a couple of my good friends in China, had some chat. They thought that I shouldn't be worrying at all. There should be more similar oppertunities for a person like me, with my experiences, my personality, my education. But, in my mind, ICI paints is the one very much near to my interest, my dream.

I feel that I am lucky that I have a very supportive family, many supportive friends and network.

When we fail over, we should stand up and head to our dream again, shouldn't we? Nobody is ever perfect and has all the lucks all the time.

Good luck to you, my dear readers.

Chinese Fish Market

There is an English fishman who comes to Oxford to sell his fresh fish on friday of every other week.

At the begining, almost all of their customers were Chinese, then the market gets a name of Chinese Fish Market.(esp. among the Indian people and other nations of Asia.)

Still by now, most of the customers tend to be Chinese apart from some Indian, and other asian people, certainly with some English.

The fish there tends to be much cheaper than supermarket and you will have more choices for seafood. Since they are from fishman directly, they are more fresh as well.

Location is at somewhere near Maston Road in Maston, not far from summertown.

Big day today

My wife just had her Viva for defencing her PhD in Oxford university today, and she passed it! Congratulations to her. A very big day to her today. From today on, she is Dr. Ye.

I am still awaiting my graduate trainee job application result, now. Fingers crossed. I really like this company and the job itself. It suits both my first degree and the MSc course I am currently taking.

It is also very similar to some of the jobs I have done before, esp. on the customers realtionship mangement which I always enjoy doing.

Jobs didn't appear on my CV

There are some part time jobs I engaged before that I didn't put onto my CV, like:

SWAT member in Mobil company while I was in the last year of my first degree life.

One month interpreting job for two Philippine engineers in Dole company, assisting them to open a new fruit and vegetable manufacturing factory.

Acting as the marketing strategy consultant in Leisure Insurance company as a two month work placement as the moment. I am still carrying on with it and is planning to finish it before June.


I worked in a bookshop when I first arrived England for more than a year's time. It did give me a great chance of knowing English culture, improved my english, as well as gave me an impressive lesson on what customer service meant in Britain. Caring your customers, wearing their shoes is the bottom line, isn't it?

I also have been one year entertainment coordinator for OXCSSA, Oxford committee of Chinese Students and Scholars association, where I held an evening party successfully with my colleagues for more than 600 people for the Chinese new year evening celebration.
Currently, I am the vice president of this society and mainly doing some consultancy role for some of its projects.

At the moment, I live in a B&B, and work there as a part timer for a free accomodation. I do a lot of telephone sales there as well as customer enquiries. It offers a great chance of knowing many different people and their interesting characters. Chatting with customers either by phone or face to face is simply a great fun.

I may need to put some of them on later, though putting all of them may make the CV look a bit messy, plus all of my these full time formal jobs.

Assessment Center

Yesterday and today, I have been to an assessment center for the first time in my life.
It was lots of fun and the tasks are quite challenging as well.

The task we took included in tray test, one to one interview, individual presentation, psychometric test and group discussion.

I have been improving on all of these in the last couple of years, esp. Since I took the MSc business and enterprise course in Oxford Brookes university.

I have benefited a lot as well in the two days' business I took organized in and by ICI company.

But, by now, I still think that I could have done much better in the aptitude test, interview and presentation. Why couldn't I just give the perfect examples and explanation in interview??

Still a lot to learn.

For more information on assessment centers, pls click the following link.
Assessment centers, an exciting activity you would love to expect to attend.

Good article for personal development

Individual development plan is vital in our whole life.

We have to study, learn and make progress to prevent ourselves being dropped out off the fast changing society. The following link gives us quite some good tips on how to plan, what to plan for personal development.

And, we can get some knowledge on management terms as well.

Enjoy!

http://ohrm.doc.gov/employees/training/idp-2001.pdf

Passion

What are the things we need to do with passion around us?

Love to our family? Our own interest? Our careers?

What is the difference for a person to do something with or without passion?

It must be huge, but I would say the following might be some of the majorities.

Enjoyment: If you got the passion on something you are engaged with, you will enjoy doing it.
Creativity: You got the passion, you then will find ways to solve problems when you are facing difficulties. You will definatly use your brain more.
Affection: You will be able to affect other people's opinion on this matter. You would like to and try your best to let others agree you and help you to achieve this goal, the one in your heart.
Awareness: You may show less awareness to anything else, when you show much passion to the big job you are engaged in.
Result: Quite obvious, it will return you more since you have the passion to devote yourself into something.
Return: When you have the passion on doing a certain thing, it is not necessary for you to require a return for your hard work, or metally, you don't care for the return. In other words, that is not your motivation for pursuing it.

Love something or someone with true passion, it/they will love you back, sooner or later.

Why do we wear protective glasses in factories

This is a tricky question.

I was told when I visited Mini BMW Oxford days ago by a gentleman who showed us around.
We have only one pair of eyes but many pairs of glasses, that is why. Good, isn't it?

Like my MSc course director said to us once:"Listening is even more important than speaking in communication that is the reason why we have 2 ears but only one mouth".

I like this as well.

We got to listen to others, we got to love and protect ourselves; to protect those ones we love and to love and protect the enviroment feed us.

B&B and telephone sales

I live in a b & b and I am doing part time evening receptionist job.

In a b&b, telephone selling is quite important. 60-70% of the enquiries are from telephones. And, they may come up any sorts of questions and you got to understand the customers' needs.
Are they price sensitive? If not, you can sell a good price by offering them a king size room or large family room and facing to the garden.

If they are, how much is the price acceptable in their heart? How can you convince them that they could get the best service and your hotel is the most convenient one they can choose?

Our garden is beautiful. It is one of the biggest one around our area. It turns the world from city to countryside within 50 yards distance, where you will find jumping squirrels, singing birds, smiling flowers.

my work placement

I am currently doing my work placement in www.leisureinsure.co.uk where I am trying to be a help on marketing strategy.

I found that lots of English vacabularies I don't understand in insurance field. Their perticular terms and phrases having a certain meaning in their business, oh, gosh.

But, I am sure that things will get better soon, after I get more familar with insurance.

Lots of things to learn, including their way of speaking on the phone, so professional and so confident...

Visiting to Mini

I have been to visit BMW Mini factory in Oxford today, organized by brookes university.

I was amazed to see how big the factory is and how interesting the way these robots are working. They simply can do everything with power, with accuracy, without hesitation.

What a computerized era!

camera or mobile phones are not allowed, but you still can visit them at www.mini.co.uk, to see their secrets.

Friends and happiness

Over the long weekend, many of my friends came to visit me and stayed with me enjoying the lovely sunshine in our garden.

We had some nice food & drinks & snacks, chatting, joking with each other, and telling stories.

Being accompanied by friends is always happy.

We talk about politics, politicians, economics of the world, bla bla bla, but only talking. We can do no more than that about big issues. We are all common people.

Common people are still happy with the care of friends and family.

Sharing with friends is always a happiness, even sharing your boringness, sharing your sadness, at least, you got someone to share.

how to behave in an interview

During the Interview,
The following tips will help guide you through your interview:
Be positive...


Types of interview and how to prepare...

My point is, to be prepared, to be geniune, to be open and to be confident.
If you lose, nothing very bad will happen, so, please stay cool.

Then, good luck to you.

Mad day

Today is called Mad day in Oxford.
Pubs almost open 24 hours, and people are having party everywhere.
They gather in Magdalen college church to listen to Choir. There will be also many young people gather on Magdalen Bridge in the very early morning, and some of them may jump into the river!

Come on, Be mad on May day.

And, happy bank holiday weekend to you.