The thought pops up that how it has gone while I am taking a back look at the past 2007.

In retrospect, over the past 2007 has seen a transitional period, valuable and worth remembering in some degrees.

Prior to July, I was still a student in college, enjoying the remaining agreeable life of ivory town.  Little gatherings with will-apart-soon friends were pretty common those days in restaurants—drinking beer thoroughly around the table graced by the delicacy of hot pot, chatting loudly about future planning, regretting violently of being unable to stay together with each other for a longer time and the remote chance of being reunited.  Most importantly, I have gotten a 4-year degree!

In August, I have spent two thirds of the month staying at home where I have been borne and grown up.  During the four years of college education, I have taken no summer vacation at home except for that stay in August aforementioned.  It is really fantastic!  Mountainous area born and mountainous area bred, I have developed an unshakable attachment to the life in countryside.  In the morning, I woke up with twittering of birds in the trees, and, in the evening, fallen asleep with roaring of frogs in the paddy fields.  The sunlight always beams through the bright window and the tiny cracks in the door every time I opened my dozy eyes, making it possible for me to catch a long appreciation of the dust floating in all directions in the air.  The country road, lined up by cypresses, pines and bamboo trees on either side and paved by granite stone planks, snakes its way deep into the mountain.  It was a great pleasure that I could take a stroll in sunset along that road after supper, greeted continuously by gentle and cool breeze from the overgrown hills.  Going fishing, too, is another enjoyment!  A once steep valley has been substituted with a long but slim reservoir, a new natural resort, which offers to the visitors physically benefited outings--boating, fishing, swimming and picnic.  I could catch no big fishes for lacking of adequate skills, but the process has really made my day!

At the end of August came the commencement of my first job after graduation as a tax professional.  I was bussed to Shanghai for three hours from my hometown, Linan, Zhejiang province.  The most important and urgent is to rent a flat with other two college-mates, Mr. Jia, and Mr. Chang.  The soaring price of housing market in Shanghai has really deprived the low-and-middle-income earner, regardless of locals or outcomers, of buying themselves a house in no installment or without financing from their parents who have put aside money for, say, ten or twenty years.  In looking for a flat, I have paid my attention to the readings of the volatile stock market of China, rocketing sometimes but plummeting soon.  The market has hoarded so much liquidity that the price of all commodities is climbing, an event, which has made the headlines at press this year and downgraded the living condition.  It takes me ¥8 to get to work and return home each day by subway, ¥5 to have breakfast, ¥20 lunch and ¥20 supper, respectively, and more than ¥30 to pay the bill of accommodation.  Of course, gas, water, electricity and internet bills, as well as entertainment and socializing disbursements have to be taken into account.  I can just finance myself living here currently.  Daily work is routin and I have no intention to mention anything about it.  Some comments, however, have been summarized as follows on my four-month work:

·          Firstly, one of the goals—to pass all the remaining subjects of CICPA exam—set up in this CPPR form appears a bit hard to realize, for I have passed no subject in the exam this year.  I was first kind of disheartened by the failure, but quickly I recovered and regained my energy.  I still embrace the belief that nothing is impossible if I put my heart into it.  As long as I schedule the next half year well and make a sound balance between the work and study activity for CICPA, there is no doubt that to pass all the subjects of CICPA exam is achievable!

·          Secondly, to my delight, I have cut a good figure in participating in cross-function's activities at firm, e.g. Championship for one day, Offer Ceremony for half a day, Campus Talk for seven days, GP and Partner Interview for five days, telephone calls making to notify the qualified candidates of the specific time and place for written examination, GP and Partner Interview for three days, Shanghai International Marathon for one day, etc.  After a wide range of participation in activities aforesaid, my knowledge for the mechanism of different functions at firm has been broadened, commitment to the work assigned enhanced, the skill to communicate improved.

·          Thirdly, the technical and expertise in tax has been continuously improved by proactive and abundant self-study, referring to resourceful websites and taking academic readers.  As a tax professional, the expertise in tax I think is in the core of our daily work, and it can only be increasingly accumulated little by little through daily work.

·          Finally, to my dissatisfaction, my chargeable hour is not high. As far as I experienced, I feel that some of the daily work is repetitive and kind of niggling, which probably makes me lose passion and interest, particularly when caught in that niggling things for a couple of days.  Consequently, I was sometimes discouraged from asking the Seniors or Consultants for work to do, and would rather self-study.  After a sincere confession, I realized that every piece of work, irrespective of its nature, at firm is meaningful and can make its own contribution to the development of our firm. From now on, I will proactively seek work to do without regard to its nature, and try my utmost to make myself an excellent professional in tax consultancy.

Anyway, 2008 is a new start!  Just showcase my personal best!

The God is always with me on my way.