Sharing from Katherine Ng (7B)

Two years ago, if I saw the words “winning a free trip to San Francisco”, I would think that it must be a fraud. Luckily, we did not see this advertisement from Oracle Education Foundation, so we joined the competition.

Free air tickets for the whole team and guardians, free meals, free phone cards and free PDAs. Are all these mere luck? I would reject the claim. I've forgotten how many web pages I had built, maybe almost a dozen. I keep changing the styles and adding new elements. And finally, I only won twice from the same piece of work.

Getting a free trip is nice of course, but this is not the only thing I've earned.

The places we went-

We went to the San Francisco Design Center , Hard Rock Cafe in the Fishermans Wharf , walked around the shops of San Francisco , Cheesecake Factory, Union Square , the Golden Gate Bridge , Alcatraz , and the Exploratorium.

Everywhere was nice and beautiful. The fog was gone when we arrived. It used to be foggy. In San Francisco , we could see a larger sky because it's less crowded in terms of buildings and population. Years ago, when the highest building in San Francisco was built, the government set a height limit to ban skyscrapers in order to rescue the skyline. Many buildings in San Francisco were built a hundred years ago, but people will repair their houses and buildings regularly so they look classic and new. You will not feel that there is a layer of dust on top of the architectures.

Globalization –

After going to San Francisco , my understanding about globalization is standardizing every where in the world. In Fishermans Wharf , there was a Hard Rock Cafe, and we also have one in HK. You should not expect something new you can find from a Nike or DKNY shop in San Francisco . When I walked into the Levis shop, the atmosphere was the same as the one in Causeway Bay opposite to Times Square . It was larger, but it provided nothing better. The same applies to the Timberland shop, what I saw was just shoes that my brother had fitted in HK. The price may be different but the designs were similar. HK has the things that San Francisco has got, but not vice versa. In San Francisco , you can drink Starbucks' coffee and eat McDonald's hamburger, but not Japanese cuisine nor dried mango.

Technology-

After watching Hollywood sci-fic movies like James Bond, surely you will expect some fascinating new technology in the US . But it's certainly disappointing. US's military technology is very advanced, but it is not widespread. San Francisco doesn't have smart ID cards or Octopus Card for parking and BART (their MTR). San Francisco citizens don't generally have cell phones with cameras. It's not they don't have such technology, but it's enjoyed by a smaller group of people.

Workshops-

During the workshop, Oracle invited people from DreamWorks, Google, the game industry and the web technology industry. They told us how these industries work, gave opportunities for us to ask about their career path and how it was like to work in those industries. I remember phrases they told us, like “highly competitive”, “don't listen to your parents but your mind when choosing your career”. In fact, all these big firms are so international that you work with every kind of people. They said that they would like to hire people who were easy to get along with instead of people who were bright but unfriendly. Out there is a huge but highly competitive market run by capitalists. It's exciting but it can also be stressful sometimes.

Cross- cultural-

In ThinkQuest, I met people from different countries, which included Singaporean, Malaysians, Vietnamese, Pakistanis, Netherlanders, Indians, Filipinos and Americans. In such a situation, you don't just stick to your Great Hong Kong culture but should learn from the others. I observed how they responded to different kinds of situations and understand more about them. We were the oldest team there. Most of the participants who joined the 19 & under category were just 15-16, and at least 2 of them are free lance web designers making professional Web sites and have deep knowledge in web server technology. Somehow, age is not a boundary to keep us from doing something. I benefited a lot by trying to find their cultural differences and chatted with them.

Well Collaborated-

Are you working busily as an ex-co or a committee member but feel that the others never appreciate what you have done? Then you should learn from the ThinkQuest staff. They take care of us before the trip until the event ended. Every morning, they briefed us so that everyone knew the schedule. They gave us gift cards and calling cards so that we didn't have to spend a cent. They knew that we are computer geeks and cannot go without the Internet for a single day so they had a dozen of computers available in the ThinkTank. They hired shuttle buses for our city tour. Keep in mind that these arrangements were made for a total of three hundred winners and guests. They almost knew everything you wanted. They always planned ahead to make sure everything went smoothly. Another surprise was the timing of ThinkQuest Live coincides the week of Oracle Open World 2005, Oracle annual conference with their customers. It must be done on purpose.

Eating styles of the Americans-

After going to the American style restaurants, I sorted out why the Americans are the fattest in the world. Americans' serving portion is triple the size we receive in Hong Kong . And the price is also tripled. The food is often baked, roasted or fried with lots of cheese and milk. Unless you eat plenty salad, you'll get constipation. The hamburger looks the same as what we see in McDonald's. But it was magnified by 3 times. I felt like having eaten a buffet after eating one third of a dish.

It is the people and the nature, which are interacting with one another. By learning the good and bad of another place, we know more about ourselves thus improving our home, Hong Kong . It was certainly a remarkable trip.