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July 01 星姐的Business week camp想知道星姐倾心那位帅哥细节的，俺从星姐 Blog节摘她自己写的一段描述。哈哈。想了解camp 全貌的，俺把整个blog 贴在后面。可别抱怨太长哈。
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Then there's Jakub, who didn't show up until the night of the first day. He and three other guys are from Poland! It's impossible not to be attracted to his bright blue eyes, his blonde hair, his thick lips, calm-and-coolness, AND his tanned, muscular frame (which Nicole, Lina and I oogled at during volleyball haha). But I think I started to have a crush on him after we worked together on our Business Stimulation, during which I realized: "dang, this guy is REALLY smart!" Aw, too bad I'll never see him again. ^^ But now my standards for a boyfriend has increased exponentially! Man he was dashing and gorgeous in every sense of the word. x]
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Business Week 2008
By 星姐
At first when I heard my parents had signed me up for this "Business Week camp whose motto is Real World Experience. Life-changing results." I was pretty nonchalant. As a loyal CTY alumni I was pretty sure that no camp could match the amount of fun and the amazing friends I had met in LMU the past two years.
Boy, in fact even as mom and I arrived at campus on June 22nd, the day of registration, I had no IDEA what I was going to be in for.
But the truth is, I was in for a real treat.
One look around at the other teens lugging their bags into the entrance hall that first day, I was pretty convinced that these people were nothing like me. Mom and I even laughed at the fact that many of the people we saw seemed to come from small hick towns in rural areas of Washington. Man was I wrong about that.
Being from the Plateau where everyone is of upper middle class, where everyone dresses preppy and drives new cars and live in decent sized houses, I must admit, the people I met at Business week were all refreshingly different from me. It was really cool!
As soon as we met everyone in our assigned companies (I was in Company C) as well as our company advisor (Don), I knew I had some amazingly cool people in my group. There were two Asian girls, Lina and Caroline. Lina is a very bubbly and outgoing girl from Newport, and we hit it off from the very start. By the end of the week we were giggling and dancing and frolicking through the grass and making goofy faces at Don's camera! Caroline is more reserved and shy, but her warm and approachable personality made it very easy to get to know her.
Nicole is from a small hick town called Ingermoor; I was immediately attracted to her Southern drawl, down-to-earth attitude, and contagious giggle. We became really good friends and getting to know her really boosted my confidence now that I know I can have just as much fun - if not more - with Caucasian friends.
David at first seemed to be a very "FOB" Asian, with his round glasses, leather jacket, and spiked hair. But he was SUCH a character. He's from Holand, speaks 5 languages, and apparently is a minor label music star! Over the week he shared with us how he knows Chris Brown, how he parties till 4:00 AM and how he used to smoke cigars. MAN he was so cool.
There's Vincent, an African American boy who is not only very athletic, but also a very deep thinker and is so real. He completely changed my view of African Americans. He's not loud or obnoxious, he isn't rude, he even shared with us that he has made a commitment to stay out of gangs and pursue a good education. Now that is deep. He has a great smile too. And although we weren't very close, I think we shared mutual respect for each other :]]
Chase is a 6 ft 2 Caucasian boy who's pretty serious about tennis; Nadal is his favorite player too! =D Too bad neither of us brought a tennis racket, or else we probably would have bonded over the sport. Don't let his blonde hair blue eyed looks fool you; he's actually quite sweet and a little shy. He told us how he wants his parents to be proud, not impressed. He also shared how his best friend's brother was shot and killed. I think that experience really heightened his maturity level.
There's Connor, who's a sophomore like me. He has a lot of enthusiasm for our company, and is actually quite cute in a little kid's way. He's like a little brother. Until you see him grinding some girl on the dance floor though. Ek. Well, I guess all guys have hormonal needs. >.<
Then there's Jakub, who didn't show up until the night of the first day. He and three other guys are from Poland! It's impossible not to be attracted to his bright blue eyes, his blonde hair, his thick lips, calm-and-coolness, AND his tanned, muscular frame (which Nicole, Lina and I oogled at during volleyball haha). But I think I started to have a crush on him after we worked together on our Business Stimulation, during which I realized: "dang, this guy is REALLY smart!" Aw, too bad I'll never see him again. ^^ But now my standards for a boyfriend has increased exponentially! Man he was dashing and gorgeous in every sense of the word. x]
Our Company Advisor, Don, is a rather large and jolly man with a great sense of humor. He has this amazing ability to connect to each of us with his personable stories and goofy jokes.
Over the week I also became friends with people outside of my company. My roommate, Ashley, and I really connected. She was serious about track, and every day would set aside 30 minutes to go running. She was also a health nut, and I got some tips about a good diet from her :] I hope she did well on her race yesterday.
I met a boy named Steven, who prefers to go by MC Cong because he is trying to break through as a rapper. He is Chinese and moved from Sichuan in 1st grade. We had some conversations in Chinese, and even talked about the earthquake there. Steven introduced me to his friends: Paul, a wannabe-filippino-gangster with a good heart,
DeVante, a Mexican brainy dude who can solve a 4 sided Rubik's Cube! I also met my match in Egyptian Ratscrew: Tuygen, a recent high school graduate heading off to UW. She is FAST and a VICIOUS slapper!
But besides all the great people I met, I gained a lot of real world experience as well.
Every day, us BW students get the pleasure (and sometimes torture) of listening to a couple of motivational/inspirational/knowledgeable speakers. These people ranged from the President of Qwest, Kirk Nelson, to Starbucks employee/African American rights advocator, Joe Hooks, to Financial investor Alicia Diefenbach, to professional salesman Aaron Lindstrom, to businessmen we've never heard of but who has valuable advice and life experience to share with us.
From these professionals I learned many skills and key points to winning at the game of life.
From acronyms:
L for leap in.
O for open up.
V for value each day.
E for enthusiasm!
To concepts:
Ask for Everything.
Get to know people outside of your bubble.
To traits of a leader which I still need to work on:
Interpersonal skills
To how to manage my finances:
Opening a bank account or IRA account. Starting my own entrepeneurship (babysitting, selling things, story telling service)
Checking my credit report on annualcreditreport.com
To how to be the part of a great salesperson:
Having a firm hand shake to establish a great first impression, which will establish credibility
Asking open ended questions:
"Would you like to look at our product, or are you ready to invest already?"
Connecting a feature of the product to a benefit for the investor
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All the knowledge above was given by someone else, but through working together with my company I gained a lot of first hand knowledge as well.
The first task our company had, was during the Hunk of Junk activity. Basically, all the CAs cleaned our their garages and brought a HUGE pile of garbage into the field. Each company then took turns picking out pieces from the pile and constructing a product from the junk selected. Our team built a flying broom called the Sweeper, complete with safety features such as a parachute for crash landings, safety goggles, and a lantern with an on/off switch. It was a pretty creative idea, and during the collaboration and building process everybody became really excited. The flop was our marketing skills; each company had 90 seconds to develop a commercial to sell our product, and although I believe we had one of the most creative products, we didn't really transmit that creative energy in our commerical to the audience. That was one of our first lessons learned.
Each company also had to run quarterly business stimulations. What this means is that we need to enter different amounts for the number of production units we want to sell, for how much we want to spend on advertising, product development, quality management, dividends, loans, etc. It required all of our intuition and our thoughts on how the market will react to our changes. With our decision making came the rise and fall of our stock prices, our management score, our profits and our product perception.
We had some dips, but by the 8th quarter we've grown quite confident in our abilities to read the market, and Jakub, Vincent, Connor and I were mainly the ones giving the input.
Our last challenge was to design a brand new product which we will use to get investment support at the tradeshow. Since eco-friendliness and "green" is trendy right now, our company designed a solar-panel window which can be customized to change colors called Glasun. I think all of us were very enthusiastic about our product, and that enthusiasm earned us hundreds of thousands of dollars in investments at the trade show. It was very cool because we were all dressed up professionally, and each of us had different roles. Some people were runners, meaning they were on the floor, getting the attention of different investors and bringing them to our booth.
The rest of us stood by our booth, and tried to persuade the investors to donate $ to our company. I was one of these people, and I must say, it felt so great when someone decided to invest. We were treated like real businessmen and women by these real businessmen and women. We also had to give a stock hold presentation about our company's progress over the past two years. Basically, given that we didn't start either task until Thursday, the day before the presentations, I would say we did a great job. :]]
I've learned that running a company requires a lot of teamwork; that not everyone can be the leader but that everyone must contribute and be on the same page. I've learned that you must be a part of the brainstorming process because your ideas trigger others to have better ideas and makes the end product so much better.
By Friday's Banquet, every company had so much spirit and belief in itself, and we had all come together as one. It was a great experience, I made great friends, learned so much, and made some great memories that I will carry with me for a long time. :]] 周末流水西雅图的夏天来势凶猛。前几天还是阴雨绵绵50-60的温度， 转眼这个周末就冲上80多度。家里没有AC的俺们一下子感觉到火炉的厉害， 窗户大敞电风扇呼呼作响还是让平时八点半就上床的星星十点才能入睡，带来的后果就是今天早上8：30还不肯起床，上学迟到 （其实还是周末的运动起了决定作用）。 先添星姐的坑 - 周五晚上六点星姐的Camp Banquet 俺准时到达。和一帮家长们坐在会场后面看两百多号学生按 Company 分组庆祝他们一周 Business Camp 圆满结束。 按星姐的话，这一周受益匪浅。短短一周时间模拟上市公司从说服投资者同意投资，到 R&D， 生产, 原料成本核算，产品售价， 股票上市，市场销售，trade market, etc 搞了个遍。 每天大大小小的企业名流speakers 给他们介绍当今市场情况，企业个人成功经验， 投资技巧，以及大学学生贷款事项，如何正确使用信用卡，如何投资养老保险，等等等等。让星姐大开眼界， 由此更增添对 Business方向的兴趣。 借此机会，俺也终于见识她提到的同组的荷兰，波兰优雅绅士：） 哈哈，一周时间太短，没时间把革命友谊发展到更深的一步，不过，星姐由此产生感慨 - " I will marry a dashing husband for sure " 俺不明白 dashing 的中文意思，经大小姐解释，原来是帅气，俺听后赶紧表扬大小姐想法不错，同时更不忘加上人要好，要聪明，要会疼你，最好还富有。。。 哈哈哈。 如此世俗的老妈， 可见也培养不出超凡脱俗的女儿哈。
穿一身淡色西服的就是那个‘帅’小伙 - 严重道歉，拍的太黑了。 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 周六同往常一样，一大早就被星星闹醒。好说歹说，终于同意看 A bug's life DVD. 俺早就说过，星星对电影有莫名的恐惧心理。目前看过并酷爱的电影屈指可数，无非是 Finding Nemo, Winnie the pooh, jungle book, planet earth. 不过，人家对里面的情节记得如刻在脑子里一般。 今天早上要求 cereal 里加蜂蜜时，口口声声说自己是 Winnie the pooh, 还如数家珍地说 pooh 爬树偷蜂蜜吃，连蜜蜂一起吃进，然后拍着脑袋一个个吐出来，然后被蜜蜂攻击云云。还把 pooh stuck 在兔子家的一整段强迫给俺讲了一遍， 边讲边嘻嘻哈哈不停， 他实在是话多啊。 跑题了。 看上了 A bug's life 就又上瘾了。 今天早上上学前又要求看被拒绝时懊恼地说 “噢， I never get to watch a bug's life!!!"
酒足饭饱，跑到露天的 Festival 满场溜达。 还没怎样玩儿星星已经被晒得蔫头蔫脑象要中暑了一般啥也没心思干。 好在后来终于发现ballPool, 里面布满了球。这一玩就走不动了。一连玩了三场才罢休， 害的俺们一家三口躲在巴掌大点的树荫下热的喘粗气。
中途杀出个小武侠，俩人切磋武林功夫，让旁观者忍俊不住
离开前stop by cold stone 吃冰激凌。美其名曰俺和星星share 一个 Love it （中等杯）， 结果被星星独吞了大半，让俺越吃越馋。
接下来的几个小时俺和星星在俺家附近的湖边公园安营扎寨，晚饭也是就地解决。星星玩出了境界，带去的几辆玩具小车成了他交友的好手段。不一会儿工夫就跟一个8岁和4 岁的男孩子成了好朋友， 形影不离，还煞有其事跟人家讨论他从没看过的 Speed racer 电影， 让俺听了哭笑不得。 他还大胆问八岁的男孩子明天能不能再来跟他玩儿，结果遭到男孩子爸爸的一口拒绝：）。 周日12：00pm 星星参加朋友的生日party, 然后和星爸再回湖边公园避暑。临睡前跟邻居的孩子在小区露天游泳池里扑腾。俺陪星姐参加她在老人院作义工的介绍会， 会后陪星姐购买她 leadership summer camp 的东西。 兵分两路，在俺家已经成了routine. 唉，还不是全为了孩子。 据星爸举报，星星最近 show off 意识极强。张嘴闭嘴声称他是 Super Why, He is the best. 明明邻居朋友的孩子游泳比他好，只有他厚颜无耻大叫 " I can jump really high and really far, I can stand in the water... etc" 其实在公园里 Playground玩的时候俺也注意到了，他动不动就跟站在临近不认识的哪个孩子的家长炫耀着 “ See, I can do this" or " Look at me, I can slide like this..." 要是人家稍稍附和给他点儿attention, 他就没完没了，很 Annoying... 俺实在不知道这又是哪里学来的。 有经验的妈妈教教俺该如何教育星星收敛点儿啊？ 对啦，当俺问星星生日party 玩得如何时，星星讲完跟俺汇报说 “ There was another boy wanted to be friend with us, Arial said No and I said No, so he can't be friend with us... " 天哪，才三岁多的小P孩， 就开始玩中学生小团伙 （Clique) 的把戏啦！！！ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 今天是星星在一个新的 summer school 的第一天。哈哈，别砸俺哈，俺大概给星星换学校是勤了点儿。 当初报这个School(也是一个 montessori school, 不过，是非常宽松的蒙校）， 就是看中那里的 Summer camp 不是montessori 式，而是提供各类传统主题的很放松的camp。 原来的蒙校夏天还是蒙式教学， 俺想星星放松些，外加上俺们一个朋友的孩子(也叫Jack)在那里上蒙校推荐，就决定让星星去玩玩。 说心里话，俺原本也有点儿担心，更何况两个月后还要再换学校，到底有些折腾。 今天送星星上学，进门正好碰到他的新老师 Mr. Kim领着孩子们向后院走去，星星见到 Jack 就兴奋地大声打招呼，Jack 有些迷迷瞪瞪没反应。 星星回头跟俺再见就开心地加入行列。俺老远看到他和同学们地上坐一排认真听老师讲课，提着的心. 放回肚子里。哈哈， 不知不觉，星星真的长大了， 不用再担心他的适应问题了（敲木头）。 下午去接星星问起学校的情况，人家开开心心。 问他跟Jack 如何，小人打小小报告 “ Jack was mean to me, but still I was being friend with him" "Why he was mean to you?" "He didn't want to share trains with me， but I was nice to him". 哈哈，此话真假待辨哈。 让俺惊讶的是，俺下午去接星星进门 sign off 星星的一闪身，竟让早上匆匆见过俺一面的 Mr. Kim 在老远认出俺是谁，而且还准确收拾i好星星的双肩背包和午饭包。如此 attention to detail 的职业训练顿时让俺对这个蒙校的老师刮目相看。 唉， 这个蒙校俺去年年初考察学校时曾经看过， 因为硬件较差（一所住房改建的）加之亚裔比例太大让俺驻足。 真不希望由于俺的主观臆断就跟一个好学校失之交臂。 那个秋天要去的拽学校，Better be REALLY good... June 27 最近
最近好像有不少事可圈可点。
其实最突出的，要算星星结交的几个铁杆朋友。 学期结束的最后一天 （6/13/2008）他们学校搞了一次活动，俺去义务了一个小时。在那一个小时的时间里，俺亲眼目睹几个孩子形影不离好的穿一条裤子还嫌肥的可爱友谊。整整一个小时只把俺当‘垃圾桶‘和 storage使唤，其他就当俺不存在。那几个孩子的家长也终于由几个孩子对上了暗号。 大家都一样，那几个孩子的名字都是天天在家说的磨出了茧子滴。
哎， 俺现在也觉得舍不得这个学校，更何况要让星星离开他喜欢的老师朋友重新适应一个新环境，想想就让俺担心。 他要是真不喜欢可咋办？ 就是他能很快适应，俺能不能很快适应和喜欢？ 想起那句老话，世上本无事，庸人自扰之。 反正定也定了，只好试试。 不是说，树移S, 人移活嘛，全当是好事，也希望星星跟上次换学校一样顺利。 今天星爸去接星星， 俺这个人多愁善感，告别的场面最不喜欢。 早在两个多星期前就给老师和stuffs 送过点儿小礼物，就算话别了。 游泳呢，星星还是一如既往地有激情，而且在水中胆子越来越大。这星期是第三期开始。俺们图稳妥还是给他报了第一级。没想到他喜欢的教练也跳槽了（这种分分合合的事那里都有哈）， 换来的教练是个新手，外加上其他4 个孩子也是从未下过水的新兵， 半个小时的课一半时间星星都是自己苦练本领。让俺一下子后悔没推一把上第二级。只好给星星吃小灶兼上private lessons. 一分钱一分货，那半小时的课比整整group lesson 一期（八节课）学的练的还多。唯一美中不足的，就是星星上课时有些发呆，时不时还走神看人家小组课的活动。看来，集体活动还是有集体活动的优势。俺希望趁星星热情高涨之时能乘胜追击， 这个夏天星星游泳能有点儿起色，能在水中独自扑腾几下。 不然夏天一过去了新学校，这游泳课也因为commute而难保，前功尽弃哈 （就如足球，人家不爱练就只好暂停了）。 当妈的，还是难免功利心里哈。
再见，friends! 夏天终于到了， 周末俺们能出去就决不在家闲着。 就因为星星对电视计算机的瘾头达到登峰造极令人发指的地步。平时俺们限制他， 结果他小人家修炼成精周末硬是能六点不到就打鸣， 睁眼就说看电视，据理力争噎得俺说不出话来。那瘾可真比吸大麻还灵啊。 他玩电脑玩到忘我境地，可俺被他吵了觉窝在厅里的沙发上昏昏沉沉到响午， 半天就飞了。 这个周末又是生日party. 那几个光榔头在一起，铁定疯。这个年龄段的孩子们，真的能一块玩了。 就连去邻近的playground, 星星见到比他大的不认识的孩子，毫不犹豫上去就问 “Can I play with you?" 即便有去无回或是被拒绝，人家也不气恼，开开心心自己玩。 每到这个时候，俺就想，就为星星，多养几个孩子，该有多好啊。。。 ----------------------------------------------- 星姐的Business Week camp 也是今天结束。她每天的电话都是兴奋异常。camp里，能人很多，还有从荷兰来的交换学生，听她的描述，金发碧眼绅士风度，哈哈，别是喜欢上了吧。。。。 俺一会儿去接她看看能狗仔一把不。
June 20 Suzuki teaching？
俺开始有点儿动了心。 经桃妹点拨忙google 就近找 Suzuki 老师。没想到总共才蹦出来两个老师。 打电话联系其中一个教 Violin的老师， 商量的结果就是带星星去观摩她教课。于是昨天晚上7：00pm, 俺和星星准时到了她家门口。 一进门冷不丁奔出一条巨大的狗就把俺和星星吓了一大跳。 俺倒是不怕狗，可对宠物过敏的俺总是对猫啊狗啊啥的敬而远之。 鉴于星星也有季节过敏， 俺心里就一咯噔，此后坐在满是狗毛的沙发上边听课边心神不安。 俺们观摩的是一对小姐妹学小提琴。姐姐从三岁半学起，大概学了三年多。已经能拉不少歌曲。妹妹四岁学， 学了一年有余， 目前能勉强拉两首歌曲。俺这人不懂音乐也没学过任何乐器， 对孩子们正常的学习进度没有任何概念。可目睹两姐妹面无表情地跟着老师练琴 （姐姐在练琴的过程中还S活不愿意换个角度侧过身来让俺看到她拉琴的指法， 老师提示了也没用， 让俺觉得委屈了小姑娘），俺心里就犯嘀咕， 难道星星练琴后也会是这样吗？如此枯燥的学习外加刺耳的噪音，即便星星能坚持，俺都没把握不被逼疯。 再看看那老师无论从家里到外表都跟俺想象的音乐老师相差十万八千里， 俺明白无论这老师水平多高俺也不愿意把星星送在她旗下。 俺知道俺有些以貌取人（俺不是因为她长得不漂亮，没风度。 可她给俺的感觉就是个不干净不利索不和蔼老态龙钟的大妈）。 音乐老师是长期commitment, 俺直觉不喜欢她， 难以想象如何长期相处。 星星倒是不吵不闹老老实实在巴掌大的地毯上呆了整整一个多小时。 大部分时间翻翻大孩子的书，玩了会儿wooden blocks, 从五岁小姐姐那里借来几张纸趴在地毯上画画。偶尔抬起头来观摩一下老师的动作。 问他喜欢吗？ 喜欢。 问他想学吗？ " yeah, when I am a little older" 哈哈。 俺从星姐学习钢琴的切身体会- 除非钢琴能弹得特好表演独奏比赛得大奖， 不然的话，参加学校或校外乐团的机会非常少。 无形中就少了一项集体活动。 而小提琴大提琴等机会却很多。 俺让孩子们学乐器无非是推妈的想法，希望他们能培养出个业余爱好。 至于靠此吃饭，或是给申请大学捞资本，俺想都不敢想。 俺没这音乐脓包俺家孩子十有八九也没戏。 俺有些stuck. 不知道该不该开始让星星开始学乐器，不知道学什麽乐器， 不知道找哪类老师 （traditional via Suzuki), 不知道如何判断老师是好老师。。。 Suzuki 教学法希望家长跟着一起学， 要是钢琴俺还凑合有兴趣， 小提琴那哀哀怨怨如泣如诉的声音，只要一想起俺可能一听就是十几年，想想就要发疯。 竹子， 嘉嘉妈， 桃妹等有经验的妈妈们，有空给俺出出主意？ 俺相信这讨论对其他妈妈也是个好话题。 PS: 此post 用 writer录入，贴图真爽啊！！！
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