Assalammualaikum, da jia hao, eppadi irukinga, to my esteemed supervisor, Prof Madya Dr. Noor Dina Binti Hashim, legendary coordinator and Komanden(the most pro), Dr. Syamsa Rizal Abdullah, and to my dear peers and friends, welcome back to my elective posting project update. Alhamdulillah, so far I have been making progress and learning a lot of new things, and as promised, this week I was given the opportunity to learn the ropes on banquet service, which has its own different approaches and procedures compared to restaurant services discussed previously. Banquet service is much simpler to understand and do, and basically revolves around events, and provide extra hands at the restaurant if no events are scheduled. Shift wise, it has the same shifts since still under F&B as usual, and is usually scheduled according to the event of the day, and any upcoming events. Banquet halls are located one floor above the restaurant. Routine is all the same, what varies slightly is most probably the job scopes. Mainly, it involves setting up and clearing up after the event is done. Preparing can be done sometimes a day before, sometimes during the day if the event is at night, and sometimes prepared two days before in cases of big events. Preparing depends on the scale of the event, what is ordered, and what event is being carried out. It could range from seminars, to school reunions, even health screening too! So in general, I will help along to arrange the tables and chairs according to the amount of people involved in the event, with mineral water, glasses, any stationery if needed, and cooperate with the technical team to set up the PA system, the monitors, projectors and so on. For events that involve food, usually it is done in buffet style, and the job scope is similar to the buffet at the restaurant, but is arranged from scratch, so more energy is used, from the utensils to the arranging, and clearing during and after the event like the usual buffet job scope. Banquet service has way less manpower, usually 3 people only involved, so work wise it is much more tiring, but more satisfying, knowing the event is going on successfully thanks to the hard work put into setting it up and making sure it goes on like clockwork. 

3. Points to remember from week 2!

 - Never look down upon the preparation for banquet services, the true unsung heroes behind the magnificent set up for events that are carried out, and I am lucky to be part of it.
 
 

 - Always be ready to help around and work overtime, as sometimes some events have sudden changes, or will exceed the scheduled time, which will require OT done to settle it.

4. Your feelings & thoughts 

 - I feel humbled and much more grateful, and appreciate the hardwork people that are in charge to set up the place for events scheduled, with less manpower, but tiptop work ethics, and being part of the process teaches me the importance and value of it practically, for life.
 
  - I feel more knowledgeable, learning more new things as the weeks progress, two main F&B services covered, and get to improve my body coordination and effectiveness.

 

5. ONE good thing from what you did that you can practice now!

  Honestly ever since first day I have been learning new things, and from what I have done this week, I believe what I can practise from now would be time punctuality, which of course not only applies to this service, but for everything we do. It has taught me to be very punctual, and realized the satisfaction it gives being on time always, and avoiding any mishaps or misunderstandings with the management, and anyone involved too. 

6. Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?

  Alhamdulillah there were no difficulties or concerns that I have faced, everything went smoothly, with cooperative co-workers and good work ethics practise.

7. Your plan for next week (Week 3)
 
  For week 3, my plan is to dive into another main service offered by F&B, which is room service, which so far based on observation, seems fun and different from the other two services mentioned. It is going to be another great experience, and more knowledge to be gained, and I look forward to it.

For my second week, I get a chance to learn how to greet people and ask someone's nationality or jobs in Korean. Also, how to answer those questions in Korean. After watching the provided videos and doing some practice, I am now able to introduce myself and greet people in Korean. 

3.

Points to remember for this week:

4. 

I enjoy learning new things for this week and had fun throughout the learning process. It is not as hard as I thought it would be. I am sure that I will be able to interact in Korean in the future. 

5.

One good thing from what I have learned that I can practice now is I am able to introduce myself in Korean when interacting with Korean people. 

6.

There were no difficulties or any concerns that needed to be worried as the provided materials are really good and understandable. 

7.

My plan for next week is to watch the provided videos and read the notes given and continuously to score the graded quizzes. 

4. Feelings and thoughts
I am still feeling excited for the Elective Posting as learning a new language and able to apply it is so cool! I can’t wait to learn more and more about this language and apply it further in future!


5. ONE good thing from what you did that you can practice now!
I can greet and introduce myself to Korean friends using their language! It makes me feel more engaging while mingling with them!

6. Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?
I found that it was hard to correctly pronounce the syllabus as I was not familiar with the correct tone and pronunciation. Thus, I would ask my Korean friend to help and correct my pronunciation so that I could pronounce accurately.

7. Your plan for next week (Week 3)
By next week, I would like to learn how to count numbers and some other basic phrases in Hangul. 

I felt amazed and overwhelmed for this week because the outcome of my brownies took me away. I was nervous at first when I was baking because this was my very first attempt in making brownies as well as worried on the temperature of the oven by double-checking it frequently. So, after baking here comes the serving part. Based on my description above, I guess you guys could predict on my family members' reaction. Some brownies were sent to my cousins nearby as well to try it out. The response was overwhelming that I fluttered undoubtedly. It felt as though my effort to look for the guidelines and the best recipe for brownies paid off as the saying goes "hard work pays off".

One good thing from what you did that you can practice now

Never give up. Here, I learnt that failure is an option and a learning experience. My first few brownies that failed during this attempt made me realize that giving up never should be a decision made neither in baking nor in life, especially after looking at the feedbacks which lifted me and provided me strength to pursue in baking as a part time job in the future. As they say, practice makes perfect. Baking is basically full of trials and errors and I should remind myself to never give up in this journey which was full on ups and downs.

Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?

The only difficulty I faced was the same as before, which was regarding the oven's temperature adjustment. Otherwise, I did not encounter any trouble along the way.

Your plan for next week (Week 3)

For next week, I would take it up a notch and bake chocolate cup cake, something I never thought I'll be capable of doing. I will purchase the baking products needed at Bake with Yen a nearby pastry shop for the cup cakes. Also, I'll be working on my video and also surf the net for the recipes.

In week 2 of my mandarin course, we learn on how to express numbers, time, years, month and dates. So far it has been great and I managed to learn a few new words in Mandarin such as xia ke (class dismissed), shang ke (to have class), ji dian (what time) and xian zai(now). Initially, it was quite hard to pronounce these words but I kept practicing with my nephew until I am able to pronounce it correctly. 

 

3. 

In Mandarin, dian (o’clock) ,ban(half) , fen(minute) , ke (a quarter) are often used in expressing time. If the time is 1 o’clock, we can only use the number plus o’clock. For example yi dian (1 o’clock). If the time is half past eight, it will be pronounced as ba dian ban. I also learnt that we need to put time before the verb or the phrases in a Chinese sentence.

 

I learnt that weeks are express in numbers in mandarin. For example, ‘xing qi’ is week in Mandarin. Monday is ‘xing qi yi’,Tuesday is ‘xing qi er’, Wednesday is ‘xing qi san’ and so on. It’s the same for months too. There are 12 months in a year. We need to put numbers before the word ‘yue’ (month). For example, ‘yi yue’ (January), ‘er yue’ (February) and so on. As for the date, we say the month first and then the date. For instance, September 10^th (jiu yue shi hao). 

 

4. 

I am feeling happy  with my progress. Even though it’s a small progress, I am still happy that I am able to form complete sentence in Mandarin without referring to the notes. I really hope I will be able to speak in Mandarin by the end of my elective posting.

 

5. 

One good thing from what you did that you can practice now is I am able to introduce myself and express time and date in Mandarin.

 

6.

There were no any difficulties faced as the study materials and quizzes were doable.

 

7. 

My plan for next week is to learn about money and how to use expressions in shopping.

    31 July 2022
 
2. How is your progress?

I completed two additional new courses during the second week of my elective posting. The first one (Xianzai ji dian/the What's time?) focuses on how to represent numbers and time in Chinese. The following section, "What is the date today?" teaches me how to inquire about days, dates, and months from other people. Sum it up, each lesson in the course has taught me a number of useful vocabulary and everyday phrases that I can use.
 
3. Points to remember from week 2!

Xianzai = now, Jintian= today, xingqi = day, Yue = month, hao = date

 4. Your feelings & thoughts 

I'm happy and I've only come to realise how important it might be to be able to count in a language in order to communicate and comprehend others.

 5. ONE good thing from what you did that you can practice now!

Every time I glance at my watch, I can tell the time and dates in Mandarin.
  
6. Any difficulties/concerns? How did you cope?

I still have a rough time fully grasping the lessons about tones. In order to solve this problem, I have watched extra materials from Youtube to fully understand the tones.
 
7. Your plan for next week (Week 3)

Halfway through this course is where I am now. Next week, I want to make sure that I submit all of the reports by the deadline.