Shihkuei Huang (Peter)

STAFF INTERVIEW: Shihkuei Huang (Peter) - Admissions Coordinator

Shihkuei (Peter) is Yamasa's Chinese speaking admissions coordinator and will finish working at the beginning of April.

Jon: Peter, as you're leaving soon I thought I'd take this opportunity to interview you for this week's Newsletter, if you have time.
Peter: Sure, no problem.

J: Can you give me quick introduction to your job.
P: Well, I take care of students, answer emails, go to Nagoya airport, deal with all our offices based in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and translate the homepage, amongst other things.

J: You've been at Yamasa for a while now. How long has it been exactly?
P: Nearly two years. One year of studying in AIJP from January to December 2001, and then I started working at Yamasa in April 2002.

J: I'll come to your job later on, but firstly can you tell me how your studies went?
P: I progressed very quickly with the help of the teachers, made it to the second highest class at Yamasa and also passed Level 2 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test.

J: Why did you choose to come to study Japanese at Yamasa?
P: I found Yamasa on the internet, as many people do, when I was in the UK. At the time I was going to finish a course at Cardiff University in Wales and I had to make some future plans. I felt that if I went straight back to Taiwan I wouldn't a good job as I only had English as an alternative language - so I decided to study Japanese.
J: What were you studying in the UK?
P: I was studying for a Masters degree in Business Administration.
J: Did you enjoy your time in the UK?
P: Yeh, sure. It's a totally different culture from Taiwan so I had to adapt to life there, but it was a good experience.

J: Doesn't it always rain in Cardiff?
P: Yeh! all the time.
J: And apart from the rain, what was your best memory of your stay in Cardiff?
P: It was definitely the Rugby World Cup in 1999. I didn't see any of the matches at the stadium in Cardiff as all the games were sold out, but I remember seeing all the people singing and cheering in the streets after a match they won. Some people thought I was Japanese which they didn't like as Japan was in their group in the World Cup.

J: So you came to Japan after the UK. Did you know much Japanese?
P: I knew a little because I studied in night classes for 1 month at Cardiff University from 7-8pm. My parents are fluent in Japanese and when I tried to speak to them after taking the course they were very surprised that I spoke it with an English accent!

J: A Taiwanese speaking Japanese with an English accent...that must have sounded strange. Anyway; where are you living at the moment?
P: I live on my own in Villa 1, but when I was a student I lived in the Village.
J: What for you are the main differences between these two accommodations?
P:In the Village everything is provided and the communal areas are kept clean by the Caretaker Manager, I just had to take care of my own room. Also the gas, electricity and water bills are all included in the fees you pay so you can budget more easily and not worry about using the airconditioning in the Summer or Winter which I did. There's more privacy and I find I can concentrate better in Villa 1 if I'm studying or reading. There's no internet connection in the Villa apartments, (you can get it installed if you want), but this doesn't bother me because I can access the internet at work.

J: Why did you decide to take a job of Yamasa? Apart from the enormous salary and massive benefits package of course.
P: It's complicated. I applied for Yamasa through an agent in Taiwan originally and this agent mentioned to Declan that I might be suitable for some part-time work that was available in the International Office whilst I was studying. I did quite a lot of part-time work during my studies and at the end Declan decided to take me on a full-time basis.

J: What has the job been like overall? And be honest!

...........an envelope passes hands under the table..........

P: I learned a lot from Declan, and also by myself as well. My Japanese and even my English has improved over the last year so it was a good experience.

J: Any low/bad points?
P: It can be annoying sometimes when people ask questions when the answers are clearly stated on the homepage but nothing else really.

J: What are your plans from April?
P: I will go back to Taiwan and look for work.

J: I hear that there are wedding bells coming in near future?
P: That's right. I will get engaged in a few months and married at some point after that.

J: And finally, what's been the best thing about the job?

...........another envelope, much larger than before, passes hands under the table..........

P: Getting to know so many different people. I have too many friends!!

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