Carrer Day!

Professors above labor hard as the end of the year draws near.

---My Career---

I was eating lunch with another T.A. last week, when he told me about a great job opportunity working with troubled teens in Duluth.  He said that the pay was great and the teenagers were great kids, they just needed a good role model.  I thought this sounded great so I asked him if he would pass my name along to his old boss and see if I could have arrange a phone interview.  He said it would be no problem, but I really should think about my career.  

Like a plane hit by a missile -- smoke appeared I began a downward spiral.  Career?  Shoot, I am pretty comfortable where I am -- I have never really had my eye on money or power.   After talking to some friends I have found that at my age I don't have to start spinning gold out of hay, and I can still be happy with what I have.   This was a relief.  

---Job Prospects In China---

During the last few months my friends and I have been approached multiple time and asked if we would be interested in appearing movies.  Usually we don't have lines, but we just stand there looking 'western' while we are filmed.  The pay averages 100 USD - 200 USD, the higher end, if you end up saying something.  

There are also opportunities to model clothes.  Only a few T.A.s went out for this, which turned out to be a photoshoot for underwear.  The pay was somewhere around 100 USD.

Two weeks ago a newer T.A. was approached and asked if he would be interested in selling medical equipment for a major company based in our region.  The job would entail travelling around the region and meeting with hospitals.  They wanted a person from the west so that the products would come off in as technologically advanced.  -- My friend invited me to join them at a dinner/interview.  

We entered into the office and the boss told us a little about the company.  After offering us both a pack of extremely expensive cigarettes (the medical field is so funny) he led us into a room with couches and a liqueur cabinet which housed two bottles of what we assumed was  very expensive scotch.  We sat down with a girl named Cat who was an intern for the company, and a woman who was a full time professor at our college.  The full time professor at our college offered us a drink, and in the process of trying to open the bottle, she accidentally shredded the cork, dropping pieces into the bottle.  At this time, the boss had left the four of us to go meet an even higher up boss who was arriving from a large convention.  Unfit for consumption, the woman poured the bottle of scotch down the sink and opened the other.

While this was happening, we asked about what kind of medical equipment would we be selling.  Cat became a bit flustered (she would often become nervous when speaking English to us) and pulled a machine out of a nearby box and set it on the counter.  

"This machine...  uses..."    

She unraveled a sleeve attached to the machine and we understood.  We then proceeded to go around the table checking each other's blood pressure and then went out to dinner where we were able to eat the fanciest seafood I have ever eaten.  My friend, at this point, knew he could not accept the job because he was busy Monday - Friday.  I, on the other hand, had some free time and let the boss know I was interested in helping out if he wanted.    

Worse case scenario, I can stick around and sell medical equipment to hospitals.

---Weekend Plans---

This weekend I will be heading out with a fellow T.A. to GuangZhou to stay with a student and explore the city.  GuangZhou is the largest city in the GuangDong province (the province of China where I live) and the 4th largest (population wise) city in China.  

We plan on visiting a temple and possibly visiting a 'rural area' where we can go hiking.  I am not sure what it means to visit a 'rural area' in a city filled with more than 13 million people, but I can honestly say my expectations are very low.