Broadening my knowledge & experience of working with non-Chinese

The first day of my volunteering at Manchester Art Gallery today for their family summer workshops. A bit nervous. When I got there, I found there were actually at least 7 to 8 volunteers and I was the only two among them who just started their first day today. I had no idea what was going on in that big hall at the gallery and I just followed what my team leader asked me to do. She suggested me working on some boxes to make a 'mountain'. Some kids were curious about what I was doing. The theme of the workshop was about story telling. Kids and their parents visited the exhibition and then came up to the hall to make a story of their own by wearing costumes, making different props and having a speech on the stage. There were also some films being shown, e.g. Shrek, Tangled, to inspire them. I guess I need a bit of time to get used to working there. After all, I haven't worked for more than 5 months! But it was a good start to get in touch with people, especially non-Chinese. It's so different when the people you work with are non-Chinese.

After the workshop, the staff in charge talked to us about the feedback and suggestions for the workshops. That's a good thing that my ex-employer didn't do...

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My last job/project with MMU, my ex-employer and the funding body still has some follow-up work to do. But I started learning about how the 'big' organization/funding body works. They're strict about their rules, strategies and they need you to follow what they want (because they fund you!). It takes a lot of time to negotiate on things (even for a meeting!). That's something I'm not used to. I guess that shows I need to broaden my experience with different kinds/types of organizations...

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Is it really hard to reject people's suggestion or request?
1) MMU professor asked the team to take part in the media training and people already state their availability. But I don't want to take part in the media training, because I don't want to be in the spotlight. :( Should I tell the professor honestly about my thoughts?
2) New flatmate asked me if I could just claim student exemption for council tax without putting her name in. But I don't want to get worried about being found out about lying, and after all, it's against law...

I'm tired of having to give in to others' desire all the time...

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I started thinking about what to eat for the following week as I'm making the food shopping list.
下個星期食咩餸?
1) 梅菜蒸豬肉
2) 白汁三文魚螺絲粉
3) 麻婆豆腐 (though I'm hesitating about its spicy sauce, hmm...)

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This was the 'mountain'! I cut those shapes on the boxes! :)

Dinner: egg fried rice with chicken & peppers + spring green! Yummy!

No photo on lunch since I only had a home-made cheese sandwich before going to the art gallery.