A letter from Beijing, Pan Wong

It has been a month since I’ve moved to Beijing. Thanks for the advanced technology in Internet and software “freegate”, so that I can access Facebook and keep contact with my friends in Oasis. I am here in Beijing yet my root still lies in Hong Kong.

Beijing is a huge city that we HongKongers could never imagine. We spent lots of time in transportation which I think is not effective. The only benefit that is the price of Beijing MTR is very low – RMB2 for every station no matter how far you travel. This city is as hot as in HK but a little bit difference. HK is hot and humid that we could easily get sweat, just like we are living in an oven. On the other hand, Beijing is hot & dry. It is rare to get sweat here even you have been walking for 2 hours under the sun. What makes me hurt is the strong sunlight and we could easily get sunburn due to the latitude of this city. Sun glasses and sun scream is a must for living here.

If HK is an oven, BJ would be a roaster.

The mindset of Beijingers, especially the officials is different from that in our place. In Hong Kong, service-orientated attitude is very important but it is completely not the case in BJ, let me give you an example. Once I went to the railway tickets for my colleagues which required the identity document of the passenger. The ID number of the passenger is printed on the ticket to avoid speculation. I bought tickets for 4 of my colleagues and prepare all the related documents. I needed to buy 4 sets of round-trip tickets (totally 8 then). However, the officers only agreed to sell me the 4 tickets to the destinations and asked me to come back 10 minutes later to buy those for coming back. I was puzzled and wondered if there was any technical failure. After he sold me those 4 tickets he was off-duty --- I realized that he found my case too troublesome which required him to enter the ID number for 8 times that would delay he to off-duty. The story didn’t end. Then the other officer sold me the rest of the 4 tickets and I found the number format she entered was different from the previous tickets. I required her to change but her reply was logical:  The previous tickets were sold by the other officer and he was off-duty, so it was none of her business and could not make any change. Should I persist a change; I would have to go to another box office. I said hello to her mum with Cantonese but went to the other window to line up for the change. In another occasion we went to the government department for enquiry at 11:50 am. The official said they were having lunch break (should start at 12:00!!) and we should come again at 1:30 pm (No service during lunch break). Without further reply, she set back and went for lunch. There was still exactly 10 minutes before the lunch break.

Such cultural difference here some time makes me frustrated but I like it. If we agree with what they do and further lower our bottom-line, what’s the difference between HK people and mainland Chinese? In recent years there’s a trend that we Hong Kong people should comply with China in order to get a share in such a huge market which sounds correct. Yet, some fundamental values and behavior shape our attitude and frame the Hong Kong spirit – Professional, Integrity, Faithful, Service-orientated...etc. If we give up such values, we lose our value. I hope when I return to Oasis and you won’t find me becoming a mainland uncle J

Pan Wong

Oasian at Beijing

Thank You Very Much, by Derek Wong, President

Dear Oasians and welcome guests

My president term is almost come to an end. This year, many wonderful events have been organized by Oasis, allow me to recap them to you and give my heartfelt appreciation to all hard working team members.

Regular meetings

1st Quarter VPE "Summer Fiesta" - June Ng

2nd Quarter VPE, "5 Senses" - Grace Cheung

3rd Quarter VPE, " Life" - Jimmy Yau

4th Quarter VPE, "New" - Steve Yu, Grace Cheung, June Ng

Membership

VPM, Steve Yu, 16 net membership growth

Member recognition program held in 1st and 3rd quarter

Sent follow up email on next day after meeting

Joint meetings

VPPR, Jimmy Yau, Jeff Chan

Joint meetings with Hong Kong Toastmasters Club, Shenzhen New Experience Toastmasters Club and Kowloon Putonghua Toastmasters Club.

Web-masters, Teresa Lee

New website built to promote club activities, please visit, www.oasistoastmasters.org.hk

Facebook account, Oasis blog, Wilson Yau

A platform to share our words/feelings and promote club activities

Secretary, Mandy Lam

9 editions of Oasis Updates have been issued and circulated to members and guests

New master email list has been updated

Treasurer, Edward Ng

Balanced budget and healthy financial have been kept and all renewal membership fees were collected and/or followed up before end of April

Chief Mentor (buddy), Grace Cheung

Assigned buddy to all new members

Chief CL Mentor, KF Tam

Evaluation on CL manual

General evaluators invitation - Tony Cheung

Invited all GE for more than 10 months

Special events

Ghostmasters Meeting and WOW party on 30 October 2010 (Joint Meeting with NETM) - organized by Jimmy, Jeff, Steve

Christmas party on 20 Dec 2010 - organized by June Ng and Kit Ng

Speakathon and workshop by Cecilia Yeung on 15 Jan 2010 - organized by Jimmy Yau and KF Tam

9th Anniversary Party and Speakathon - organized by Wilson Yau and Betty Law

Team building camp on 3 July 2010 - organized by Grace Cheung

New members orientation - organized by Grace Cheung, Cherry Cheung, workshop speakers Talis Wong, K F Tam, Teresa Lee

Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests - organized by Nadine Wong and Bosco Chan, guided by Teresa Lee

International Speech and Table Topics Contest - organized by Jess Cheuk, Leo Kwok, guided by Cherry Cheung

Workshop speakers - Tina Wong, Jacky Lai, Katy Mok, Donald Yee

and many more...

Thank you very much for giving me this wonderful, memorable and fruitful year. I learnt not only how to lead but also to lead effectively and successfully.

Next Monday, 27 June, will be my last Oasis's presidency meeting day and new officers installation, please come to enjoy this beautiful moment with us.

Best wishes and happy toastmastering

Derek Wong

Outgoing president

Oasis Toastmasters Club

Celebrating 10th anniversary

New Member Corner, Susanna Ng

SUSANNA SMILES J  by Susanna Ng

Hello, members of Oasis! I’m a new member of the club and I’d like to introduce myself to you here. The title of my article is ‘Susanna Smiles’. Yes, I’m going to tell you why this person, Susanna, always smiles.

Susanna loves English very much. Ever since she was a teenager, she was told that English was going to be very important in her future life. She loved the articulation of the English sounds, especially listening to people from the BBC. So she listened to the BBC world news as early as she was in Form Four and Form Five. Of course she wouldn’t understand a lot of the content. But when she picked up a piece of news she understood she smiled.

In her career as an English teacher, she always smiles too. But behind her smiles, every morning she wakes with a tired face. (Nowadays, almost everyone has heard about how difficult a teacher’s life can be.)  You know what she does to make herself look better. She puts on make-up. It works magic. She looks refreshed and confident again. Then she looks into the mirror and she smiles.

The third thing that makes her smile is listening to intelligent and witty people speak. Very often these people either open up your mind to a higher level of thinking or they entertain you with their humorous jokes. Whenever Susanne luxuriates in this marvellous feeling, she gives a sigh of deep satisfaction and she smiles.

Susanna loves to listen. Beautiful songs, music, poems or humorous speeches are all wonderful food to her ears. She always laughs heartily whenever she’s treated to a feast of such food. And when she remembers all these fantastic things, she smiles.

Being an English teacher, she loves to teach young people how to enunciate English words clearly and carefully. She believes that young people are easier to mode. Sometimes she plays with the sounds she is going to teach and her students are often tickled pink. Whenever her students can pronounce a difficult word correctly, she smiles.

Last but not least, Susanna smiles when she goes shopping. She loves shopping for all sorts of things, clothes, shoes, earrings, necklaces etc. When she tries these things on one by one, she smiles! If they are the ones which she thinks are meant for her, she’ll welcome them home with BIG SMILES!!!

Members of Oasis, now that you’ve learnt more about Susanna, would you like to join her in some of her favourite activities? Do you like singing or going to concerts? How about shopping?

New Member Corner, Bonnie Tse

Why I’ve finally jumped into the water  by Bonnie Tse

Whenever I’m angry with my students, they will start saying the song, “My Bonnie is over the ocean, my Bonnie is over the sea…” and, often, it does the trick --- I’ll be tickled and exasperated at the same time and I’ll stop scolding them!

Hi, everyone in Oasis! My name is Bonnie and I’ve joined Oasis for several months. Actually, I first came to visit about 3 years ago. What took me so long before I decided to join the club?

Fear.

That’s the reason.

I feared that I wouldn’t be able to do well in making the speeches;

I feared that I wouldn’t be able to persist in this endeavour;

I feared…. I feared… I feared….

So, I just waited by the side of the swimming pool. I dipped my toes into it once or twice, but I never got into the water.

But one night, while I was in a concert, I got an awakening. In the concert, there were a group of young singers belting out the song You Raise Me Up. The song was so touching, the singers’ voices were pure magic and I was moved beyond words. Suddenly I turned my attention from the singers to the pianist, my sister’s daughter, and realized that the cute little girl whom I used to know had already turned into a young, confident lady! Yet, I, her Auntie, was still as timid as a mouse!

As an English teacher, I’ve often taught my students to speak confidently and eloquently. But ironically, (aside from speaking in the classrooms) I seldom have the chance to speak publicly in front of an audience. That’s why I still suffer from stage fright. After attending the concert, I told myself: THIS MUST STOP!

That’s why I finally jumped into the swimming pool and joined the Oasis. And I’ve no regrets whatsoever about this decision.

For, I’ve discovered that the members in Oasis are all very warm and approachable. And, above all, they are all very enthusiastic in improving their oral skills. I’m sure that, with such an encouraging atmosphere, we Oasisians, would all raise each other up; we would all grow and prosper!

Let me share with you the lovely song, You Raise Me Up. I’ve added the last 2 verses to describe the experience I have had in Oasis.

You Raise Me Up

1.          When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary;
When troubles come and my heart burdened be;
Then, I am still and wait here in the silence,
Until you come and sit awhile with me.

2.          Chorus:
You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.

3.          When I come out and oh my heart keeps jumping,
My turn to speak but my mind’s all gone blank,
Then I look down and pray that I were elsewhere,
Until you smile and drive the storm away.

4.           Chorus:
You raise me up, Oasis in the desert;
You raise me up and give me back my voice;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up and make my heart rejoice!