A Day In the Life of Yvane: ZEUM Edition

This is a sample of our morning workshops.


Hello everyone. My name's Yvane, I work at Zeum, and I'm what you would call a ZeumMaster. If you're wondering what that is, well its pretty much a master of Zeum. And if you're still wondering what Zeum is, well I'll give you the definition: San Francisco's hands-on, multimedia arts and technology museum for kids. And it pretty awesome. I've only been working here for a little over a month, but I LOVE it.

As a young child I'd always pass by Zeum to stop by the Yerba Buena Gardens playground a.k.a. The Big Slide. You see, I'd always pass by Zeum, but I never actually knew what went on inside. Finally, early last year

in 2008, as a sophomore in high school, that's right SOPHOMORE. You're probably wondering why a tenth grader is visiting a museum targeted for 3-12 year olds right? Well, I came here on a field trip with Miss Ashkenes' Honor's English class and did a short movie workshop regarding immigration. Though the workshop was pretty short since we only had a little amount of time, my fellow 15-year-old classmates and I had a lot of fun. So yeah that's my fondest (more like only) memory of Zeum prior to working here this summer. But look at me now. I've been officially been working here for about a month and 5 days. And I've got tons of stories to tell that I can even fill up a book. Unfortunately since I have to get back on the floor and go back to my shift, I can't share

them all. But I will share a few.

So once upon a time, I remember ending my first week of work with a really awesome day.

That day was the same day I let out some of my Russian and I first brought out the uke on the floor (I remember thinking I would get in trouble for having the uke out, but it turns out the staff loves it!). Well anyways, I was stationed in the Animator's Studio and I overheard a family talking in Russian. Since I recognized the language, I waved to the lady, and greeted her, "Zdrastbyute!" which is Russian for hello. The lady greeted me back in Russian and gave me a warm smile. A little later when I was stat

ioned in Main, I met a little girl from the same party and she was so amazed about the fact that I knew how to speak Russian, that I actually ended up singing her a song I wrote for my Russian final while playing the uke. After I finished singing her my song, she asked me to perform it in front of her mom and her mom's friend. Luckily they loved it and were impressed that a Filipino girl knew how to speak their native language. And after I sang my Russian final in front of them, we ended up jamming to old traditional Russian folk songs.

A little while later, I introduced the little girl who was so amazed that I knew how to speak Russian, Ashley, to one of my fellow co-workers. The three of us started jamming to the uke, attempting to freestyle. Good times. And because I met these two awesome parents originally from Hawaii, I had a long awesome conversation with them about Hawaii, the uke, and life in the Bay Area (they just recently moved to the East Bay). And while that was happening, it turns out Ashley met the whole Zeum staff! Before she left she was already planning her next visit to Zeum. How awesome is that?

And on that same day right before we were about to close, a mother and her young daughter, Hannah, from Vancouver, came to check the place out. The young toddler invited me to build a castle in the playlab. And because they were having so much fun, they planned on coming back the next day. I was so ready for the "Highlight of the Day" portion of our end-of the-day meeting where Ari (for my first week of work at least), usually asks everyone to share a moment that really stood out in the ZeumMasters' eyes/ brought a smile to their faces. Sadly we didn't do a "Highlight of the Day" portion for that meeting, but its alright since now I'm sharing that day to whoever maybe reading this.

Well, unfortunately I'm out of time. I'll pretty much give you a few of my other highlights

in quick notes: a mom singing Hannah Montana, my little sister performing in front of Zeum Staff, lip synching in DW, reuniting with two of my kindergarten classmates as ZeumMasters, making a short a rap about filling out a Zeum survey, me and my fellow ZeumMasters jammin' to Michael Jackson while closing up, Zeum campers taking on the role of a ZeumMaster, becoming a visitor at my own job, and lots lots lots more. Well that's all for now folks, I'll share more stories with you the next time I return to the ZeumMasters Blogspot. Otherwise if you're too eager to see what's going on with my life as a ZeumMaster or my school projects, checkout my Youtube account by clicking the link below. Aloha for now.

And this is a taste of what can happen at the end of the day meetings.