First day on the job

Monday was my first day at The Chinese University of Hong Kong The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care.  Took a quick tour of the building.  Pantry--free filtered water (yes!), microwave, fridge.  Restroom on every floor.  Snack bar on the first floor.  I sit in a room of 10 other research assistants (RA).  Most of them look like they are fifteen...so it's like I'm back at Rollins.  Except people here speak either Cantonese or Mandarin.  Met about 20 people in the first 15 minutes.  Half the names end in "y"--Maggie, Carrie, Yeni, Polly, Holly, Bonnie, Tiffany, etc.  It's going to take some time to recognize faces since "all Asians look alike".

My supervisor, Su, should be great to work for.  She spent many years in the US, so culturally, she and I understand each other.  She has a team-based approach to each project, which allows her RAs to really participate and learn.  She also does not beat around the bush, which is fantastic.  We should get along fine.  We spent a good amount of time discussing things I want to learn or improve on this year.  Not the time to be shy...I need to make the best of this year.  I really want to talk with as many people as possible to help me figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

I will have more than enough work to keep me very busy.  She mentioned four projects, all at different phases.  She has a grant in progress that will involve modeling--yep, quantitative stuff; a dataset ready for qualitative analysis; a paper that needs to be resubmitted with additional research--possible publication opportunity; and working with her other RA, April, on setting up focus groups for another study.  And then there is reorganizing lectures for next term.  She teaches health economics.  Yep, my favorite class.  (No, not really.)  I froze for a few seconds when I realized I'm going to have to explain stuff like "moral hazard" and "cost effectiveness analysis" to students.  Haha.  Brought back nightmares from the first semester.  I suppose spending all that time studying for the exams is paying off after all.  I'm ready...bring it!  (Thank goodness my friend Steve made handouts when he TA'ed for Dr. Phillips.  And I'm a firm believer in fake it 'til you make it.)