The guardian angels in one's life: 04 (The university Personal Tutor)

There are two kinds of university tutors in the UK system:  

* Academic Tutor (who teaches) 

and 

* Personal Tutor (who looks after the non-studies-related side of the students’ experience, e.g., accommodation, getting settled in [especially if they’re from abroad or another city]).

    Dr. Paul Thompson was my Personal Tutor (as well as my Academic Tutor).

    He took me aside for a chat as soon as I was accepted on the course.

    “You are going straight into Year 2 because of your two years spent in Taiwan.

    “Year 2 is modern Chinese language and literature, but you won’t have to put in too much work on that front because of your time spent in Taiwan.  You will also start doing Classical Chinese but you will still have time on your hands to explore what you want to do for your Special Subject.

    “You had said at the interview that you already knew what your Special Subject would be — Japanese, which you won’t have to embark on until Year 3.  

    “I suggest that you join the Japanese Year 1 course now instead of next year, because the first five weeks are intensive, with three hours in the morning and three in the afternoon.  If you don’t join them from Day 1, you’ll have trouble catching up in Week 2 as they’ll be 30 hours ahead of you by then.

    “If, at the end of the five-week intensive course, you decide you don’t want to do Japanese after all, you can drop out and choose a different Special Subject for your Year 3, so you’re good and early on that.

    “If, after the five-week intensive comes to an end, you feel that you want to carry on for the rest of the year, then you’ll end up doing a whole year of Japanese.

    “At the end of that whole year in Japanese, if you decide you don’t want to do Japanese, you are still in good time to choose your Special Subject.

    “If you want to carry on, then you’ll end up doing three years of your Special Subject instead of the usual two.”

    One could absolutely not fault his arguments at all.  It’s what we’d call a win-win situation these days.  I’d say it was a win-win-win-win as he’d offered four different perspectives.  He had an amazing brain that covered every corner of the field.

    (See also how he’d helped me decide on whether to do an MA or not:  https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-guardian-angels-in-ones-life-03-ex.html.)

    Thank you, dearest Paul, for flagging up all the right pointers for the path in the life of this Libran drifter who cannot decide on anything for herself.  I am eternally grateful.

(London, 1978)

The guardian angels in one’s life: 08 (The future boss)

 

I was to be the Personal Secretary of the President of Conoco Taiwan, being the most qualified of all the non-executive staff: best of the lot in English, knew shorthand, etc.  He was the President of Conoco Singapore (Conoco Western Pacific) playing a double role.  I knew him already, but only remotely, from my short stint as the telex operator there.

    Received a call one day from Dr. Page, who was to be the Chief Geologist at Conoco Taiwan, asking to meet up for a coffee.  Most odd, as I didn’t really know him.

    Over the coffee, it became clear that he was there as my guardian angel.

    His first question was, “Do you have to be Mr. Ward’s secretary?”  No, I was just happy to have a job out there.

    Next question: “Would you like to be my secretary instead?”

    It turned out that his originally intended secretary had been the target of snide remarks, he said, with people saying things like, “Don’t sit in that chair.  She’s just sat on it,” reducing the poor woman to tears.  (She left because of this.  No, the culture of the complaints procedure was not strong at all then, plus this was the East, where people are less assertive of one’s rights when it comes to such things.)

    Dr. Page said that with the President straddling the Singapore and Taipei offices (therefore not full time presence), I wouldn’t have him around to protect me from the bullying (since I’m an outsider, being from Singapore), so he’d like me to “demote” myself and be HIS secretary instead, so that he could keep an eye on me.

    Thank you, Dr. Page.  I’m eternally grateful to you for thinking ahead, being concerned about my welfare as a foreigner in Taiwan with no family or friends there.

(Taiwan, 1974)

The guardian angels in one’s life: 07 (The insider)

 

(From googling)

Quote

An insider, in various contexts, generally refers to someone who has privileged knowledge or access within an organization, group, or situation.  This could mean access to secret information, special influence, or a deeper understanding of how things work behind the scenes.

Unquote

Back in 1974, I was working as a legal secretary (at Boey, Ng and Wan in Asia Insurance Building), but wanted to work my way around the world.

    The idea of travelling around the world as a tourist didn’t (still doesn’t) appeal to me.  Staying in a hotel and eating out is too superficial an experience of a culture for me.  I prefer to be a member of the local community for a stretch: working for a local business, living the life of a local (catching the bus every day, buying food at the local market to cook at home), speaking their language, knowing the local people as friends and colleagues.

    One day, I got a telephone call from my eldest sister, who was the secretary to the Chief Geologist in Conoco Singapore, telling me that Conoco was in the process of setting up a new office in Taiwan, to drill for oil off the south-western coast.  She suggested I apply for a post there.

    I said I was only a secretary, not an engineer or a geologist — why would they import a mere secretary?

    She said, “What have you got to lose by applying?  At the most, you don’t get selected.  Aren’t you trying to go abroad?”  I was persuaded.

    I strongly believe in fate, especially as I get older (with more years behind me) and have experienced episodes in my life that cannot be explained in any other way.  This is one of them.

    The Conoco Singapore administrative manager had been out in Taipei setting up the office, including interviewing staff for the various posts.  He’d found them not as good in English as the Singapore staff, with the secretaries not being able to do shorthand, so when he got back to his office and found my letter of application sitting on his desk, he snapped me up.  

    The first thing he said when I walked into his office for the interview was:  “How much do you want?”  He didn’t even need to go through my CV.  I’d done a three-month stint with Conoco Singapore as their telex operator almost a year back, while waiting for my London Chamber of Commerce secretarial qualifications to come through, so he knew what I was like as a worker.  

    (As soon as my Private Secretary’s Certificate came through, I got a proper secretarial job [which Conoco Singapore couldn’t offer me at the time, or I would’ve stayed with them] — as a legal secretary.  See blog https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2022/02/swans-feet-singapore.html for my interview for this post.)

    This is yet another example of fate playing a role:  the fact that I had a sister working there; the fact that the timing was just spot on (I wanted to go abroad, the admin manager had been disappointed by the calibre of the local staff over at the other end).  All these came together to propel me onto the path of going abroad to work, not as a tourist.  

    It was all very exciting for a 20-year-old (young by Oriental standards at the time).

(Singapore, 1974)

Double standards: 05 (London, Somerset)

 

An English friend had polio when he was 16, which left him with problems in the legs (he walked with a Zimmer frame) and hands.

    Because of this, it wasn’t convenient for him to dine out, so I’d go and cook a Chinese meal in his flat.  

    This was in the second half of the 70s when ingredients for Chinese cooking were not so readily available outside Chinatown, so I’d go all the way to Chinatown for them (e.g., bean sauce/paste in a jar, ginger, bean sprouts) and to local shops for others (e.g., fresh fish for steamed fish, Chinese-style).  

    Each time, I’d lug everything to his flat, including my wok (shipped out from Singapore), and back to my own place after the meal.

    This friend had a brother living out in Somerset, S.W. England, in a thatched cottage.  He was invited out there one day to stay for a week, and asked me along as well, reminding me to pack my (manual) typewriter — to type up his scripts for the plays he regularly submitted to radio and/or television stations.

    Day Three into the stay, I received a phone call from an ex-boss (American), saying he was coming to London (all the way from LA), staying only for two days.  (I’d given my contact number in Somerset in a letter to the ex-boss after he’d written earlier to say he’d be coming over from LA but not with precise dates.  Those were the days when things had to be pre-planned / pre-arranged via snail mail.)

    I said to the English friend I had to cut short my Somerset stay to get back to London, as I wanted to see this ex-boss who’d been kind to me when I was working for him in Singapore in 1977 while waiting for my UK visa.  When this ex-boss went to work for Hughes Tool Company in LA and was asked to start his own department at one point, he asked me to go and be his secretary.  That was how well we’d got on.

    The English friend was most unhappy about this:  “I’ve given you the opportunity of getting away from the crowded and stressful environment in London, to have a relaxing break in the countryside, yet here you are, wanting to charge off back to London just to see this ex-boss.”

    He said he wanted to give me the opportunity of having a relaxing break in the countryside, yet he made sure to ask me to pack my typewriter to type up his scripts…

(London and Somerset, 1979)

Training a young rhino (Kenya)

My Australian student spent some of his gardening leave on a trip to Uganda and Kenya before starting his new job, so we talked about that trip for our conversational lesson when he got back.

    He’d sent me, on WhatsApp while he was out there, a photo of three rhinoceros he saw.

    This reminds me of something my flatmate Jona (an Israeli Jew) told me about what happened when he was living in Kenya.

    Pope John Paul II was due to bless a young rhino on his visit, so the Kenyans had to train it, in case it bolted on the day or, worse, charged the pope.

    Jona said, “For a while prior to the visit, we’d regularly see this striking sight of the wild life park’s worker feeding the young rhino:  a black man all dressed up in white billowing robes, mimicking the pope.”

(Kenya, 1985)

PS:  The collective noun for rhinos is a “crash“.  Males are “bulls“, females are “cows“ and their young are “calves”.  The word “rhinoceros” comes from two Greek words:  “rhino” (nose) and “ceros” (horn).

The Chinese for rhinoceros is 犀牛 xīniú / “sharp bovine“ – “sharp“ presumably for the pointed horn on the nose, “bovine“ because it looks like a cow/bull.  The character 犀 is almost exclusively used in relation to “rhinoceros“, the other being the adjective 犀利 xīlì / “sharp sharp“ (for eyes and writing style).

(From googling)  Garden leave, also known as gardening leave, is a period during which an employee is not required to work their notice period, but still receives their regular pay and benefits.  The employee is still technically employed and cannot work for another employer or engage in activities that could jeopardize the current employer’s interests during this time.

The guardian angels in one’s life: 06 (The persistent naggers)

 

(This is based on the situation at the time [1978] as I remember it now, 47 years later.)

University applications started in November, with interviews in January (or April??).

    Provisional offers were made on the basis that the applicant got the grades asked for.

    If the applicant did not get those grades (come June or July when the results came out), s/he could re-apply through the clearing system in August or September, either for the same subject at another university that would accept the lower grades, or for a different subject — at that university or a different one — with a lower threshold.

    In those days, there was a small handful of UK institutions that offered degrees in Chinese.  Oxford and Cambridge, with their international reputation, would require an applicant to have higher grades, whilst a polytechnic would take applicants with lower grades.

    So, those who’d failed to get the grades expected for a place on the Oxbridge Chinese degree course could try the polytechnic through the clearing system.  It is a benevolent way of doing things that tries to be as inclusive as possible, giving people another chance to get in (and change the direction of their lives).

    The other side of the coin is:  those who got higher grades than previously expected could “ditch“ the first institution that accepted them and go for a more prestigious one [in the eyes of future employers] — which was exactly what Steve and Hugh were encouraging me to do.  (See https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-guardian-angels-in-ones-life-05.html for more about Steve and Hugh.)

    I’d originally applied to the poly for their dual language degree course, which included six months in each of the countries of my two chosen languages for the Year Abroad (Year 3).  Was accepted straightaway at the interview, and duly went off to do my bit for achieving the grades required.

    When the results came out in June or July, I was nagged daily by Steve and Hugh, who were my classmates on the evening Mandarin course, to switch to SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London).  So as (ha, pun!) not to come across as being ungrateful for their kind concern over my future, I finally applied to SOAS through the clearing system.

    And just in time, too.  I was interviewed on the Friday, one working day before the polytechnic registration on the following Monday.  Talk about close shaves!

    I had to ring the poly on Monday to say, “Sorry, I’m not coming in today to register on your course after all.”  (I’m usually the one who’s jilted…)

    Thank you, Steve (deceased) and Hugh for your untiring efforts on my behalf.  I owe you my next lifetime’s worth of favours.

(London, 1978)

The guardian angels in one's life: 05 (The evening course classmates)

The ‘A’ level college in London wouldn’t let me take three subjects in one year, considering it too heavy a workload.

    Just for background reference:  when I was doing my ‘A’ levels in Singapore the first time round, called Pre-U in those days (1971–2), we had to do five subjects and pass them all in one sitting.  If you failed in any of the five subjects, you couldn’t just re-take that/those subject(s) alone, you had to re-take all five.  Such were the high standards demanded of us out in the ex-colony.  In the UK, however, it was possible to take one ‘A’ level subject at a time during those days (1977), adding them up until you had enough to apply for university.

    A British friend’s advice at the time was that although universities asked for a minimum of two ‘A’ level passes to get in (the grades would depend on what was set by each individual university), I would/might have more of a competitive edge with three ‘A’ level passes, even if the third one was a mere D (two grades above Fail).

    Since the day college wouldn’t let me take three ‘A’ level subjects in one year with them, I decided to sign up for an evening ‘A’ level subject at the Polytechnic of Central London for my third offering for university application.  I chose Mandarin, as I’d only done it up to ‘O’ levels (age 16) as a second language (compulsory in Singapore in my days).

    It was on that evening Mandarin course that I met Steve Hunt and Hugh Lansdowne who would turn out to be the two guardian angels guiding me a year later onto the future path of my life.

    I’d originally set my sights on the Polytechnic’s dual language degree because I like languages and also because students got to go abroad in their third year, staying six months in each country of their two chosen languages.  So, in my case, it was to be China and either Spain or Mexico, which was all very exciting.

    After my ‘A’ level results came out, Steve and Hugh said that with two distinctions, I should apply to SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies).  I argued that the single honours degree programme at SOAS offered only one language with no Year Abroad (at that time).  They said that a degree from the University of London would be worth a lot more to future employers than a degree from a polytechnic.

    They then took it in turn to ring me every day to remind me to apply to SOAS through the clearing system*.

    In the end, I was too embarrassed about telling them each time that I hadn’t applied to SOAS, after all their good intentions, which made me feel ungrateful, that I did apply just so that I could tell them the next time they rang that I had indeed acted on their advice.

    So, it was these two guardian angels who set me on the path to SOAS, where I spent three wonderful years on the BA course, then went back four years after graduating to work on two Chinese computer research projects there.

    A BIG THANK YOU to Steve (deceased) and Hugh!  I’m eternally grateful.

(London, 1977–78)

* For more on the clearing system, if you're interested, read https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-guardian-angels-in-ones-life-06.html