Caught Up In My Blog
Finally I've caught up in my blog. I've been chasing entries every since I came to Hong Kong, life really has been an adventure here. Sometimes it seem a bit demanding to write entries out in my blog but I really thought this is the best way to share what has been happening to me with everyone I know.
My second month is about over. So far I've survived thought it has been tight. Money has been an issue, I've made it my goal to live off the money I make in HK. Do I have any money saved in Canada? A little bit. My bank account is pretty low since I put most of it in equities (not that I have a lot to put in but of what I do have I put over 90% in equities). My
RRSP has had a decent return so far thought it doesn't really make up for the loss I suffered at the hands of Nortel. The main problem I have with money here is that I'm living 2 months off of 1 month's pay. How does that work? Simple When I arrived I brought only about $1000 CAD to start me off. That really wasn't enough and I was getting paid each week that I worked for the first 2 weeks. The first week's pay went to pay my rental deposit, my housing agent fee, and my first month's rent. The second week's pay was the pay I was living off of for the rest of the month. I did a bit of shopping though for new clothes, but most were t-shirts for my brother and a few polos and t-shirts for myself. The rain really soaked my shoes one time so I bought another pair of cheap Converse shoes ($200 HKD) to wear. At the end of the month I was paid the remaining two weeks, and that pay goes to my rent for the 2nd month, and my living for this month. I've developed some habits though due to living this way, I walk home nearly every night (it only takes about 30 minutes) and I take the tram most of the time in the area because it is only $2 HKD. I don't eat out in expensive places except for special occasions like my cousin visiting. I am poor at the moment, and it is difficult but I am surviving. I still have my credit card and even though I've had to dip into my Canadian funds it really is managable. I really appreciate all the people who have offered to wire me money, it means a lot to me that I have so many friends who would trust me with something as sensitive as money. That being said, even my phone was disconnected today. I'm using a PayGo plan through Vodaphone Smartone and they charge a monthly admin fee. My fee date starts on the 28th but a few days without a phone isn't a big deal. I have one more day of class and hopefully I can get paid tomorrow so that I'll have money on Tuesday.
I'm still waiting on my Hong Kong ID at this point as well. I can't really make a decision on what I will do in the near future until I know for certain I can get my HK ID. I'm looking into travelling into China towards the end of August. I know Ming Jian will be in Shanghai until September 9th. Actually that is 2 days before my brother's birthday. I had also thought about dropping by GuangZhou to visit Lou Yan while she is there. Sun Qiang should be gone from China at that point so I don't think I can visit. I'll need to work out my budget from this month's pay.
Today's classes weren't bad. Ada met up with me yesterday to help buy a few materials I needed for my science classes. As long as I have my materials my classes run smoothly. I need to learn to prepare better and of course get to work a bit earlier instead of cutting it so close. Then it will all probably settle in. Teaching two classes with Michael and Ian is still very difficult and tiring. I don't know what it is about those kids. In the future when I have children will I prefer a boy or a girl? Girls in general are much easier to teach at an early age. But the society is still very male oriented and in general the males still seem to be in the role to take care of the family. I remember Connie telling me about the life style of her younger brother. He is given a lot but his life has been really restricted. In terms of teaching though I certainly enjoy teaching girls more than guys, with a few exceptions.
I went to the library after work today to return the books Ada borrowed for me. I hope my video recordings will be enough. I wanted to take Kevin's advice and I headed to the magazine section to find the
Economist news magazine. For some reason I didn't find it but I flipped through a couple of other magazines. I found the July issue of
Wired particulary good. It had some interesting articles including
one on the new
IBM-Lenovo. It took me back to thinking about the growing global businesses and about my place in this market. Not that I really have a place now but that I need to decide where I want my place to be. My disadvantage is my Chinese really isn't strong right now. Can I integrate into the local culture and steer my way to finding a place between the two different cultures?
My working situtation has been pushed to the point where I am actually very upset by it. Majority of my friends probably know I really like well built "systems" and my work place isn't. Firstly the place isn't a bad place to work, my situtation came up due to a number of factors including fault on my end, but it is at a point where I need to find something else.
I need to learn to be a better teacher maybe. I feel really stressed when I get a mixed class and I have students of different levels. It has been made clear to me that I need to act in a manner that promotes business and that means making the parents happy. The children need to appear to do the worksheets provided and they need to learn. They also need to have fun, parents can watch us while we teach through a little window in the door. No fault of their own, some parents are really protective and ultra sensitive. The children can not be too silent, and they can not be too happy or else they don't appear to be learning anything. So far I have been accepted as a teacher. My biggest problem is I haven't been modivated in the past to properly prepare. I guess I didn't take the job seriously enough but this usually isn't a problem until we get to the topic of my summer science classes. I helped write two summer science courses one for primary 1-2 and one for primary 3 to 4. During the writing I was under the impression that other people would be purchasing the materials and I would just provide a list. I wasn't particulary keen on buying materials myself especially after trying so hard to find an eye dropper and matches. Those relatively simple items are fairly hard to nearly impossible to find in Hong Kong for someone who's not familar with the environment. Local drug stores? Supermarkets? Nope they didn't have them. Matches we just end up burning paper and we found other things that can serve as eye droppers (including using straws). So far I've been improvising with materials I've found around the classroom. Sometimes this is really difficult for me to teach a particular scientific principle and extremely annoying. I was told to draft up a materials list before the classes started and told that someone would be purchasing them. This never happened, but then out of the blue they assumed I should have been more proactive as a teacher and I should be out buying supplies. The last thing I really want to do in Hong Kong is working on my own free time. I'm sure that's the sign of a really good teacher but my focus actually isn't to become a teacher. My current financial situtation typically keeps me away from going out to buy things as well; I've been living a really poor life and if it wasn't for the assistance of others I would be much worst off. The job of purchasing items for my science class kept getting passed around. I have to admit I've been avoiding the task. It really has come down to a point I can't avoid it anymore. But I hate how things are really unclear. Maybe it is my lack of understanding that is causing the problem but I really feel no modivation.
I was so fed up Ada came out to help me cool off. We went out to eat and chat about things. I was so upset I actually told off one of the guys who stands on the street shoving flyers into your face. Well, not really told off but I did swear at him. After I cooled off and walked home I spent the rest of the night chatting with Nana about various topics, including briefly comparing aspects of Hong Kong to her beloved New York City.
I really need to learn patience maybe. My Weds classes are usually one of my favourites. I was introduced with a slight headache though a young child was introduced into one of my classes. I think in general I enjoy having the older children. They tend to understand more and are easier to predict then younger children. This particular young girl has very good oral skills in English for her age (just under 4 years). Her other skills are under developed and her thinking has matured yet but she's in a class with people maybe nearly twice her age (not quite but you can tell they are older than her). So my well behaved class all of a sudden has a control issue introduced into it. It isn't a problem, just an annoyance. I had Kerry come in for writing again, teaching her writting has turned into a bit of a joy. I don't know why the other people who signed up for the class don't show up but I enjoy individual classes. I like to focus and ensure that a person really is learning and it is easier for me to adjust the content to suit the individual. Kerry is very open with me and inquisitive. We've made it a thing where after classes are done I help her read out of a book titled "Rubbish Jokes". Just one of your standard joke books but a lot of puns and idioms I need to explain. She asked me in class today if I would read the book with her after class which I thought was really cute. Her mother was in a hurry to leave though so I kept it quick, I overheard her asking if she could at least stay a little bit to read the book. I had totally forgotten that I have an individual coversational class with Suki on Weds. This is another one of my joys because she is an older student. I act very casual with her and actually our conversational class has started to focus away from the book material. She's usually very good at doing the book material so I just rush that with her. Recently I have been pushing her to give me instructions to go to places; like her various schools and sporting areas. Not that watching a video on people going to a wedding isn't useful, but I just feel being able to give directions or being able to describe what you do in your free time is more useful. When she does the videos she is mainly concentrating on how to complete the book. She's worked out her own system to complete each part. So out of our 1 hour class I let her watch the video and complete her book for about 10 - 15 minutes.
I went to HKU again today but it was totally different this time. Not that it was a waste per se but the entire class was held in Chinese. I learned a few vocabulary words but I'll probably forget them in no time. The class talked about technology to assist disabled and learning disabled students. The classmates are getting use to me, actually I went there by myself today and managed to fumble my way to find the class. One of the students is interested in starting her own learning centre and wants to contact me about it sometime. We went out for viet food afterwards and then I went home to setup some new things on my computer.
I've been playing with the new, yahoo for free,
konfabulator. Those people who are familar with Apple's dashboard probably know about this little tool already. It actually is worth running for me. I have a little widgets that run on my desktop that integrate nicely into my windows environment. A basic picture widget goes through my various pictures and displaces a little version on my screen randomly. I use a few to tell me how strong my wireless signal is, what my battery is at, and how much physical memory I am using. In terms of news items I have on that tells me the weather, another one for select stocks, and a news reader that I load with RSS feeds. I tested the reader with my blog and I had to burn
a new feed as
RSS version 2.0. Of course I have an blogger atom feed so those using
Firefox can do a live bookmark of my blog to see the updates.
Hanging with a "Different" Gang
Summer work is really taking it's toll on me. I don't know why this is so difficult or why it is just so tiring. Today I really have a problem with the combination of kids. Alex can be a bright kid but is super hyperactive. He drinks gasoline in the morning and breaths nitrious oxide during the day. He can't sit still and he's easily the most hyper kid I have had to teach. Sherman likes to follow and copy Alex which really doesn't help me out. Alex doesn't have the disability that Sherman does in terms of reading and recognizing words, Sherman is developing his other senses I can see how he hears information and quickly incorporates it into his answer. He just copies the answers given to him by the other kids. Now this is the condition I have the hardest time with, in a mixed class such as this where several of the kids are fairly bright, I have another that is bright and well behaved, and there is one child that has a learning disability how would you recommend regulating the class? I get crapped on by my boss if the children don't finish the work by the end of the course period. The parents review the work after classes, but if I want the child with the LD to not feel isolated then I have to slow the class down. Or I skip him ahead meaning his basic foundation doesn't exist and he's just sitting in class picking up stray bits of information. I guess it also depends which class he's invovled in, I have him for a summer science class and a grammar class.
I got off work a bit earlier to meet up with Bernard over at Times Square. He suggested a location across from Times Square. We ended up at a Korean restaurant called Kaya. I haven't had Korean in a while and considering how often I ate it in Toronto I was really craving the flavour. It seems like the owners are Korean, some of the staff were Korean. We had a simple beef table cooking but it didn't seem like the traditional type of table cooking that I did in Toronto. I haven't used my Korean in a while so I was surprised I could say some of the phrases I knew and still have a decent Korean accent. One of the ladies or managers had a conversation with us since it wasn't busy. I told her how I learned Korean in Toronto and she told me how she used to work in Seoul at a hotel. Of course now she's in Hong Kong. I really wanted pork bone soup and I guess she might know a place. I need to remember to get the information from her.
Since I'm trying to decide my future I let Bernard know my basic plans. We headed over to Sogo to check out a few suits. I need to wait until I get paid but I need to start shopping now so I know what to buy once I get paid. Hopefully the sales will continue to go on by the time I have some money to pay for a new suit. We had some dessert over by City Super and parted ways. Bernard will be leaving HK on Weds so best wishes and a safe journey for him.
I had another surprise though on my way home. I was walking back towards Sogo when I ran into Hatty on the street. She was just going out to meet some friends to eat and I chatted with her on the street for a bit.
On my way home I ran into Hatty on the street. It looked like we would chat for a while so she invited me to go meet her friends. I turns out her friends are gay, which I must admit I was uncertain how I would feel. It was a little strange I'm not use to it but I've met a few in the past and I got along with them just well. Hatty's friends are real jokers though. I had a good time with Hatty which is kind of a surprise since she is possibly exactly my opposite. She is a wild crazy girl deep down, but when I see her outside she seems reserved and sweet. She told me she'll be returning to London England after the summer is done to continue her studies (2nd year University). I'll probably meet up with her again but I need to becareful of her friends and her lifestyle.
Hong Kong's Book Fair
I'm slowly catching up on my blog. I woke up in the morning and started regliously posting, trying to condense multiple entries by combining days. I 'm within my goal having having an updated blog. Today I called Ada out to swim, this is the cheapest activity that I can do in Hong Kong (well aside from walking, running, or shopping etc). I really do enjoy swimming here out in Victoria Park. Hong Kong is just so hot in general the water is a perfect temperature. Ada has been training me on the front crawl. She really is so fast in the water when I race her by the time I am 1/2 way through the pool she has finished 3/4s.
After we were kicked out of the pool for cleaning we went to look at some VCDs/DVDs. I've been recommending
Over the Rainbow to her. One of my favourites starring the popular
Lee Jeong-jae (이정재). We found it and I saw several others that I wanted to recommend but we'll save those for another time. We headed over to Sushi Tei to eat. The environment is decent and the food is okay-decent. We rushed eating a bit because Gloria was waiting to meet up with us for the Book Fair.
The book fair was at the HK Convention Centre. This is really the first time I've wandered around inside. There were many publishers and companies gathered inside from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. I was looking for a good Chinese-English dictionary and Gloria was looking for a strange illustrated book on how to commit suicide 100 different ways. A little morbid? Maybe, but actually I think I've seen this book before downtown Toronto. I swear this little book exists near the Eaton Centre at the Urban Reflections. During our wanderings I saw the stuff toy for "
The Very Hungry Little Caterpillar", one of my favourites. I've been teaching the video conversational class and the video is just done so well. I love watching it each time. I also pointed out the collective work for C.S. Lewis. I believe the book was titled "
The Chronicles of Narnia" I was randomly flipping through the book when I read the forward to one of the sections that was dedicated to his grand daughter. It basically mentioned that he was writing the story for her but he did not realise children grew quicker than he could write so by the time the book was published she would be too old for fairytales. He hopes one day when she is again of an age to read fairytales she will be able to tell him what she thinks about the book. I mentioned
a movie was coming out based on the books. This is a childhood classic everyone needs to read about Narnia. I'm from Sarnia and I read about Narnia.
After the book convention closed down we walked around the outside of the convention centre near the water. The view is so nice, just a totally different view then from the mountain top but just as pretty in different ways. I took a picture of an interesting scene though, the sky was virtually clear except for a single cloud floating about one section of the city. Strangest thing I've seen in a while I wonder why that was. We had dessert and Gloria walked me home to North Point.
August is almost here, time to decide my future.
Fun day, I like my new saturdays. I get Chloe, Natalie and Alvin in the morning. I get them again for cartoon talks, and then I get Kerry for writing. All of them are good students and are very enjoyable to teach. Chloe and Natalie are suppose to be shy, they are..., but I seem to have gotten through to them a bit so they are willing to come out of their shell more. Maybe because they are in class together, they are close cousins I guess. Kerry seems a little sad that she's the only one attending class, but she's a bright girl and I try to make it comfortable for her. Oh I think I have Damon as well, I met his mother today who actually went to Carlton for 3 years in Ottawa. Damon I was told is a difficult child to teach but he really doesn't seem that way to me. Maybe like Ada told me once, sometimes the younger guys like the male teachers.
I finished up the lesson plan, made a bunch of Readership fans then took off to meet up with Ada and Gloria. They introduced me to a new friend of thiers Win Ci. She's a "crazy" out going sort of person who is very familar with the local slang. They are all from the same primary school group of friends. We went out for drinks then we walked around for a bit. We ended up back in Extravaganza and I said a few words to Hatty while I was there.
We headed out to the peak afterwards, the ride is crazy winding up the side of the mountain. Oh while waiting for the bus I saw their old primary school. Saw all sorts of international people at the mountain peak. Talked to a girl who is working in a law firm in HK. She is from Australia, and her friend was from Britian. Her, and her father and I took a picture afterwards. I guess I am just a social tourist.
We went out to eat afterwards which was kind a rude environment. I've never seen such a rude environment, and so unclean! The waiter will actually smoke in front of you and throw the butt on the floor. There's a problem here for the restaurants, like mcdonalds. Maybe I am just too spoiled in Canada but even the McDonalds here isn't that clean. I noticed the other day that they open up the straw dispensers and put signs in there. People come in and grab from the top instead of using the dispenser meaning they touch all the straws. The manager should be aware of these issues in that North American run restaurant.
We went back to Ada's place and hung around in her room looking at pictures and trying to find a translation for some stomach blood lump or tumor that Gloria's friend's boyfriend had contracted.
Working Pains
Last time I talked about attending a class and watching a case study on a boy who had a learning disability. Yesterday I fell I have met such a kid. I don't know if it is because I was eating instant noodles the night before but I really didn't that great in the morning. The kids I have during the day are really a bad combination as well, it is just stressful. This particular child, Sherman, I can see him having difficulty reading and spelling words out. He has such a pained look when I ask him to do it and if I leave his side during assignments he seems so distressed. If I pay less attention to him in class he wanders very quickly. I guess I feel stress because I want to help all my students improve but when my class is mixed I feel pretty frustrated about it. I was pressured early in my job to complete worksheets so that parents have concrete proof that their children are performing. I was told by another NET teacher that this tends to be HK's culture. The question is, should I hold the class back to help the slower child, or leave the slower child behind? Some of my children are very bright actually and they are good students. But, sometimes they don't know how to help other children if I ask them to asist me. I really just need to give them more complicated personal assignments but then that feels a bit unfair in the classroom. I could have the slower kids do simplified versions of the assignment and have them skip parts. Then their worksheets a bit incomplete and then I'm not certain if they are actually learning. Sometimes "I just want to die".
However, today it was suppose to be worst. My schedule changes by the hour sometimes so I'm never too certain what I have the next day. I was told that I had 2 additional classes and that in total I would be teaching 7 classes today. 7up is apparently the slang used here for the teachers. One of my students, Grace, who also has a sort of 'problem' was really unresponsive in the morning. She is shy and has difficulty talking. I'm usually happy if she can simply answer me but early the first class she wouldn't even do that. Her eyes were just wandering but in a way I was lucky because my other student Tracy likes to answer if she knows the answer. Tracy isn't a bad student and she is even better after she has something to eat. She tells me she doesn't eat anything in the morning which isn't good. Everyone knows breakfast is the most important meal of the day. She was kind of sick last class and felt a bit sick again this class. But overall she's cheerful to teach.
The energetic monsters Michael and Ian were there again. They added a 3rd child, a child I really thought I wouldn't see. This boy I had during one of my fun classes but he was so against learning English and has a tendency to speak Chinese when he can. I already had control issues with Tony, the new student, during the fun day and I really wasn't looking forward to dealing with him when I already had to deal with Michael and Ian. But since the class they signed up for was Science I had to teach it. Suki came in today for a makeup conversational class but Monika took that for me.
I needed to relax afterwards so Ada and I went to find some icecream. She was planning on taking the ferry over to TST (which apparently is really cheap from Wan Chai) and dropped by a "Kindergarden" gelato shop. We sampled a few interesting flavours like rice, curry, golden sesame, cheese pie, and tofu. I didn't think I could stomach the flavours so we ended up over at McDonalds. She went to take the ferry and I walked over to Sogo. I just decided to step in and I saw Bernard on the escalator! I shouted out his name and he met me on the second floor. Bernard I had met 1st year through another friend. He had changed schools and I met him again through Rui about 2 years ago. he has been working in Hong Kong for the past year (Reuters) and he just told me that he would be returning to Toronto this coming Weds. But, wow what a small world.
I went home and found that my notebook had hung. It has a tendency to do that here I don't know if it has to do with the heat or if it has to do with the fact that I have little to no hard drive space left on my computer. I did a chkdsk on my harddrive to make sure nothing was wrong and during the chkdsk I was playing around with the chinese writing on my mobile phone and I wrote a SMS message in Chinese to Ada. It took me 1.5 hours to search for words and eventually learn a bit about how to use the strokes to make the search quicker.
Something interesting my cousin wrote a
great little piece on males vs. females in different working roles. I had a brief conversaton with Ada about it applied to teachers. What do you think do males or females make better kindergarden teachers? Are females just more sensitive and caring? But do kids like to play rough with the teachers? Do kids tend to respect men more and behave better around men?
Again At Hong Kong U
Today I must say was a good day at work. I guess this happens when you start off, I was told by Ada that she had similar emotions like this when she first started. I had 2 new students, Natalie and Chloe, they were 2 very shy students. I was warned that they probably won't say much but actually because I needed to cover a class for Rosalind I had them for 3 hours. They seem to enjoy me as a teacher and I managed to get them out of their shell. It helps that the class is small, I have one other boy in the class and he is very well behaved so it really is an easy class. I don't know why but I really like the name Chloe. I think it is because of the animation "
Noir" I saw a while back which featured a lead character Chloe. The girls are cousins actually so they are really tight and because they are shy they tend to be well behaved. In the afternoon I taught my first writing class, which turned out quite well. I was expecting a class but I only had 1 student, a new student name Kerry. Kerry is a bright girl and that always makes me happy. I guess it is a little unfair but I just love teaching bright children, I can push at them and test their limits. It takes a lot of paitence to deal with children and maybe as an
ENTJ or even as an
ENTP that can be a bit difficult for me. I don't tend to show it outwards but if you understand the personality types it is really draining. Teaching writting is as hard as I thought it might be. Our own school gave us so much experience with it, and I actually remember one of my English teachers to be really good, which is surprising since I barely remember anyone from that time period.
But, back to the insitute of higher learning, I had a lot of energy left after work so I gave Ada a call who had class that night. I don't mind her classes, infact I find them interesting since I can just listen and I don't need to worry about assignments, etc. The instructor today was suppose to be a Chinese prof who likes to start off in English but eventually has to fall back on his Chinese to teach the class. I heard stories that he started his class of teaching them what "媽媽" and "爸爸" were in English ("mother","father", etc). The class was basically a case study on a learning disabled child that was not spotted early. He apparently likes to play videos and has a PBS video on a boy from Boston who of course has a learning disability with English and he wasn't spotted until he was in grade 5. It followed his life as he struggled with it and environment around him. Actually it is pretty sad, the parents really do love and care for him. They had a feeling that he had a problem but because the teachers did not agree they really did nothing until it was too late. It makes me think as an educator how important this role is. Probably half of your child's early childhood is spent with these people. I learn a lot through the children and the parents that come in and out of reader-ship. Growing up in Sarnia I never saw the motivation or drive associated with famous schools, but in Hong Kong I can clearly see the difference sometimes. The schools, and specifically the educators mean everything. Even for those with a learning disability if given the properly attention they can over come a lot of that handicap. I was a bit playful today so I was faking a Chinese English accent in class. For some strange reason the prof really liked asking me questions, I managed to guess the initial ones right but afterwards he was in a full Chinese mode and I really got lost. I am amazed that these students can take classes in pure English even though it isn't their native language. But I suppose it really helps them to improve. I wonder what would happen if our French teachers were all native speaking French teachers. There probably should have been some sort of guideline that would suggest that they communicate to us totally in French and I'm sure it would have stuck better then. Well Ada's classmates seem to like me so they want me to show up again next time! Its the last class which is too bad, I think they just want help reading their assignment.
We parted ways afterwards, I've been avoiding making a situtation between Ada's boyfriend and myself who I think is uncomfortable with me being around Ada so often. I don't have much of an option though I need good friends and she lives so close to me. She works even closer actually so it really is convient for us to meet up. I have learned a lot from her so far so I owe the majority of my Chinese acomplishments to her.
Back To The Basics With Little Frog
I thought when I first arrived that the heat would be bareable. It didn't seem so bad at first sticky, hot but not terrible. Actually it was the start of the rainy season so it didn't seem that hot at all, just really wet. Now that summer is in full swing I've had second thoughts. Not that I feel the heat, but I can sense my body which feels the heat. I haven't even stepped outside and I have beads of sweat forming on my forehead. The thing to do in this weather? The public pool! There's been quite a scare with people finding red blood worms in the past, they really aren't dangerous though. But I think after the scandle they really made an effort to clean up.
I went swimming with Ada, she is somewhat an instructor for little children, and infact a former school team competitor. There was somethign I was fairly sure I wasn't really sure I was doing correctly for the longest time, the front crawl. I have a difficult time doing the "S" for the left side though but like everything else I need to learn to do it properly. I usually like to go to Victoria Park to swim but they were holding an event so we ended up in Wan Chai. Wan Chai has an indoor pool, which is also quite big. There's a smaller pool open to the outside but the main pool is still located indoors. The lanes can get quite crowded I think Ada was struck in the face once and had a bit of a mark. So far it is still safe to go swimming. I've been a bit fearful because of my skin. It has started to peel from wakeboarding but it doesn't look too bad yet.
After swimming we hung around the area, she took me over to a collection of shopping booths that had a large collection of video games and toys. Basically two levels of unique and cute toys plus tons and tons of video games. I think my brother and Rui would love it in there, they can find all their Macross models or Sergant Kero Kero toys or whatever. We discovered something interesting though aside from North Point, I haven't found a 7 Eleven that has
Aloe drinks. I am addicted to this stuff, and why not? Aloe drinks are known to be "healthy" drinks though that's not always entirely true. I like the taste of the drinks though and having the bits of pulp. Ma Shi Te bought a large container back in Toronto, but here I can't seem to find large bottles of it. I guess I just need to keep looking. These these I'm getting pretty poor. Basically I have to live 2 months off of 1 month's pay so it is pretty rough. I really can't survive totally on 1 month's pay. I started to do the unthinkable, living off Mcdonald Crispy Chicken. $8 HKD is pretty reasonable I think and if I am really hungry, it is a quick meal since I can walk across the street to the MTR to pick one up.
My sleeping patterns have been a bit messed up lately, I woke up about 3 am and because I had nothing to do I felt like fixing up the Readership webpage. I had to tweak the CSS Style sheet and hopefully it will be completely standards compliant. I was reading some nasty things about the upcoming IE 7. Microsoft doesn't really seem to be moving towards the standards they basically helped create, which is pretty frustrating for developers. Erine asked for an underconstruction page and I found an old flash file he made so I put it up. I had to play with the position because I can have an overlapping layer ontop of the flash animation.
Today offically my summer term begins. I only had 1 day off this week which kind of threw me off. I was expecting a call with my schedule but never got it so I got in late at work, Rosalind had to cover a class for me. I just took her class instead so it all worked out. My summer schedule seems killer at a glance, actually I don't even know what it full looks like since it seems to change every hour. But Hong Kong children are certainly busy in the Summer. Some are taking 2 English classes, Mandarin classes, Playing sports, piano classes, and art classes. Well I have a bit of studying myself as well. I went to the Central Library after work and met up with Ada. She has experience teaching learning disabled children, which is both beneficial for my work, and for teaching me!
We hung around the children's section looking for a book suitable for my level. I didn't pick up much Chinese in Sarnia and only a little bit in Waterloo or Toronto in terms of reading. I peeked at the books the kids around me were reading and they were much too hard for me. That is pretty depressing to see. I really need to start at a baby level, the lowest level. We found 2 books that were done by some famous children's book author. One about a little frong who needs to hibernate and the other about a puppy. A handy thing that I've been doing is recording people on my camera when they teach me new things in Chinese. So I recorded Miss Ada as she paitently read and explained the story of the little frog who needed to hibernate. Lets keep this a secret amongst my friends please...
The Readership website is almost done. I actually put it up online fixing a few things as I go along. It isn't quite standards compliant yet but it so far works in IE 6 for Windows and Firefox for Windows. I had a bit of a rendering problem on IE for Apple. The frustration coding for IE! I mean web developers have been saying it for ages but it has returned to me.
I went out to eat with Ernie and Phoebe afterwards, they treated me to dinner. On my way back home I guess Gloria and Ada were on the tram and they saw me. They gave me a call and I went out again to meet up with them. We talked forever, I think we always do this when we go out, the stores basically close and have to kick us out. I took the light bus home and shouted my first "exit" on the light bus. I got home probably around 3am. I stayed up a bit longer to post the Readership webpage check it out
here. If you take a quick look leave me some feedback. Tell me if it renders funny or doesn't render properly.
A.Lo's Last Day in Hong Kong
I wasn't really warned but Alvin showed up at work just before he had to catch his flight back to Toronto. We hung out for lunch as a group letting him relive his old adventures here. Alvin was my intial contact into Readership, I'm actually taking over his position here. I have some big shoes to fill the parents really love him and the children do as well. Maybe because he's a model and so famous in HK? Who knows, I was lucky because Tiff set this all up. I wanted to send a few things back with him but it ended up that Alvin probably needs me to send a few things back. I have a pair of shoes kicking around that belong to him now if anyone fits into a size 10.5.
Work was good, I finished a lot in regards to the new website. The old one really needed to be updated and I think they struck it rich when they landed someone with some webdev experience as part of their team. Erine is doing the designs as the illustrator and he's technically the stake holder as well. There's a few problems because his layouts are based on his illustration and print work. But he's open to hear about how to design for the web so we managed to tweak his initial design to fit the web easier. His illustration background is handy for the graphics though since I don't have much experience using illustrator or freehand. Hopefully I'll have it up and running soon for people to check out.
Afterwork I met up with Ada. I'm itching like crazy because of this burn and she's giving me some Aloe Vera "after sun" lotion to put on it. Wake boarding really did a number on my skin, I look so dark now and it was only a few hours. But the burn is pretty bad too. We ended up going to TST to meet up with Gloria and walked around window shopping. There's a really interesting building full of boutique like stores. It is filled with fashionable women, a very nice place to walk around in. I mentioned I was looking for a few more Polo shirts and they took me over to
Izzue to take a look. I was there before and didn't notice anything really but this time around I tried on a few polos and found a nice colourful one that was discounted. My wardrobe is really starting to have the right summer feel, I think it is good for my kids and for the parents to see me dressed a little nicer. Appearance matters so much in Hong Kong so a little effort in marketing will go a long way. It would help if I had Alvin's modeling looks and height but we all have our own gifts and talents.
We selected this Japanese restaurant nearby to eat. Ada told me one of the waitresses was Japanese, but when she started to talk to us, her Chinese was so good. I guess she use to work in an environment with Japanese people but she's actually a Hong Kong person. We did get a chance to practice some Japanese with her. This is important for Ada because she'll be traveling later with some people to Japan later this summer. I've been trying to convince her to really pretend to be a Japanese girl when she says her lines, and the funny thing is this waitress also said the same thing. She kept telling her to sound more "gentle" as a women. Well, I'll always remind her to act more "gentle" now, more like a women.
We had a really pleasant stroll along the harbour heading home. Hong Kong's night time secenary really is the best that I've seen so far. As cities go, the buildings are beautiful here at night.
A Lobster Wakeboarding
Yesterday I woke up later than I thought. I guess I was just too tired from the previous day. I wanted to go swimming but I ended up waking up at about 2 pm. Like usual on my days off the first thing I do is go online and chat it up with my friends (should be Saturday night for them). After chatting , catching up a bit on my blog, doing a few e-mails it was basically 4 pm. I rushed out hoping to catch some sun before the swimming pool closes. But I managed to arrive around 4:30. The pool closes for cleaning at 5. Really, there was no point so I skipped out and went over to Sogo to meet up with Ada. We went shopping abit and then went to go eat. Based on Priscilla's recommendation last time we were out with my cousin we decided to try Red Ant again. This time at another location and picking slightly different dishes. The verdict? Really it wasn't that much different, at least we got one decent meal and one a bit more acceptable. Ada and I always stay out late chatting, I think her parents called at least twice before we headed back to her place. On the way I got side tracked by a relatively new Gelato place. I've been dying for gelato, seriously! I miss Toronto's Hollywood Gelato! For those of you in Toronto who haven't tried it, you are seriously missing out. Tomoka was speechless for at least 5 mins after the first bite. In a word, "try it!"
Today, was wakeboarding with Priscilla. Originally I thought I might have time to drop by Wan Chai early to drop off my documents but Priscilla corrected the time table yesterday and we were meeting at around 9:30. Priscilla was first, I almost didn't recognize her with her pink Metallica hat on. Then I met Neelam and Joesphine afterwards and we headed to the water.
We met up with our boat driver/captain Joe. His English was pretty good actually, you can tell he's been doing this type of work for a while with a lot of foreigners. He can through in a lot of slang and of course he is really tanned like all the local water workers. He decided to explain instructions to me in Chinese and of course I really didn't understand it fully. I thought I had to keep the board perpendicular to the boat through the whole ride, but apparently it was only for getting up. Anyways I tried for the longest time to do the impossible until we switched. I watched the rest of the girls go, first our "Joe", then Neelam, and finally superstar Priscilla. As soon as I saw what they did, I got it. My next time out, I got up and stayed up right away, it was basically snowboarding. My only problem was holding onto the handle/rope. My forarms and fingers were so exhausted from my first attempt that I couldn't hold onto anything for very long.
I was constantly putting on Sun Block (SPF 30 UVA/UVB protection) but I still got a sun burn. I guess it has to do with my "fair" skin. Actually the girls noticed the freckles first, apparently I freckle before I really tan; how embarassing. After we were done I ended up handing in my documents and then walking around trying to avoid any more sun. I hope this doesn't get too painful later. I really look like a lobster.
Going To War Against The Little People
"Cry Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war. -Shakespeare, Julius Caesar III.i.270
Not that I feel betrayed, but usually I have very little warning before something happens. I wonder if all of Hong Kong life is like this? I was left a few days to consider the coming "fun days" which of course were brillant marketing days in which at a discounted rate several readership children were allowed to bring friends for a day of fun and learning English. The catch for me is that these are 3 hour classes. I must say that I have learned a lot from my experiences here. I could never imagine how difficult teaching really is, and the care and attention that is really involved. For 'fun days' my classes tend to be a bit bigger than my co-worker's. Thought we probably have different opinions, I feel mine tend to be the crazier lot.
There is a heavy focus on fun, keeping the children entertained and like always keeping the parents happy. First gaunlet was a class of 10 kids primary 3 to primary 6. I managed to make it out alive and it was easier in the afternoon since I shared a class with Rosalind (7 kids primary 1 to primary 2). When I was all done I headed back over to Causeway Bay to wander. I dropped by to see if Hatty had some time off for dinner, but like all workers they work until about 10 or 11 at night. Hong Kong shopping hours are pretty crazy for the workers.
Well I need to plan my Monday though, so far I need for sure to hand in my documents for my Hong Kong ID card (they had requested additional documents to be handed in) and also I have plans with Priscilla before she goes to go wakeboarding!
I welcomed back my roommate today as well, we went out to eat with her boyfriend and her cousin. I spent more time studying the Chinese menus at this Hakka family restaurant we went to.
I was invited out right after to meet up with Ada, her boyfriend Kobe, and her friend Gloria. I met them out side of Sai Wan Hoi MTR station and walked over towards the waterfront. Studied more menus then we went out to eat at an interesting dessert restaurant. The place is really more than meets the eye. You walk in and go past what you think is the dinning floor, up a flight of stairs to what looks like an old townhouse or apartment converted into more dinning space for people. The food I suppose wasn't bad though. Hong Kong is famous for having people with bad teeth (tea, coffee, smoking, not brushing, bad dentists?) and there was a fine example on my way out, I swear I saw a whole roll of blacken teeth on one of the male workers and he wasn't even really old. The Chinese word lessons were great though, I hope I can remember everything, I just need more exposure.
The Complicated Lives of Hong Kongers
The day was relatively uneventful except I met up with a friend afterwork who works down in Causeway Bay. I hang around with her on occasion when she's done work. I probably should have gotten some sleep for Friday but I waited until she was done work (almost 12) and went out to meet her anyways. We use to go out to eat once in a while, she told me she had a boyfriend out in Vancouver and I use to just poke fun at their relationship (a little bit). Well, she told me that night that she needed to prepare for her grandfather's funeral because he apparently passed away about 2 months ago. I don't know the details, but of course I stayed by her side while she talked about it. We went to the park afterwards because she didn't quite want to go home yet and there we kind of over stepped the friendship boundry a little.
She then revealed to me that her boyfriend actually jumped from an apartment and so is now dead (some time ago, not recently) but when she holds me I remind her of him.
Okay, that's weird ... so we talked about it and I figured it was better not to complicate my life right now, I just got into Hong Kong. Don't get me wrong, she is a playful and a good sometimes kind girl and really presses me to improve my Chinese.
Still A Rocky Adjustment
Yesterday I had a crazy class with Stephanie. Usually I get her with another child who really has no energy but it just happens that I had an individual with her. Stephanie and I get a long really well, but this time it just all fell apart. She wants to play with me more than she wants to learn. I think I put myself into a really rought position, getting too friendly with the children. I don't know why she paid so much attention in the past, listening so well and then all of a sudden changing in my individual class. I've been pretty stressed about finishing the science because there are so many of these wretched lesson plans to finish (and I really have a hard time with them) and also because of the stress I've had with the deadline for them. They've gotten a bit easier I must admit after having done basically 20 of them. But I actually finished them today and then Erine dropped by to question what I've done for the day! He was basically telling me off and I got to the point where I got so angry I told him I can't talk about it now, I need to take off at this point. I wasn't in a state of mind to discuss it rationally. So I went out to get other things done. I dropped by extravaganza to find Hatty. She managed to help me exchange the present (yes!) for something similar but a bit more expensive. I went out to eat with Ada at a Macau style restaurant and I got a call from Phoebe clearing up the mess with Erine. Apparently Erine had heard Phoebe wrong and assumed I was waiting around for him to give me information to work on the webpage. Not knowing I had taught 4 classes that day and finished the remaining worksheets inbetween. I mean there probably was a total of an hour I probably could have been more productive but I decided to start fresh working on the web development the next day when I can approach it fresh.
Today I started on the web development and did nothing after work. I called Ada up and looks like she is kind of sick so I ended up walking around Causeway Bay alone and then buying some BBQ Pork in North Point for dinner. I swear I bought at that same place before and the person told me before that I had to buy $15 HKD worth of pieces. This time he told me $20 HKD was the min. Well, I bought it and it didn't taste great so there's no repeat business going there. The attitudes to running a business here is so different. I need to study it more when I get a chance, but it really is hard to trust the vendors as they are more concerned about their bottom line then they are for doing good.
I gave my roommate a call as well, looks like she'll be coming back Saturday from the Hospital.
Living The Poor Life
Even though I deposited my cheque on the weekend I guess it is held monday so I was hoping to get my money today. It turns out this isn't so, at least not in the morning. I was really in a lot of trouble, I got onto the tram and just managed to find $2 to pay for it. My Octopus card was empty already I used it up coming back from TST. Rosalind was nice enough to lend me some money so I could eat for lunch. When it was all done I went to the bank and managed to get my money. Ada came by during the day to look at Phoebe's books but she seemed a little out of it and I guess she went home to sleep. I gave her a call to check in but she told me later she couldn't remember if I had called or not.
I spent some time afterwork looking for a present for a friend. I owe a special friend a little something for helping me out so much in my adventure. I went to this store extravaganza in Causeway Bay and was served by an interesting girl. We got into a conversation because I was trying to describe the gift I was looking for and I guess because my Chinese is so bad she started to talk in English to me. Actually it was a real surprise she spoke English with a distinct British accent. She apparently spent 3 years in England and had just recently come to HK during the summer to work. She was one of those girls who cut up her arm when they were unhappier younger. Of course like most Hong Kong people her name is a little ... different than the rest of us, her name is Hatty. We spent so much time talking that her boss and co-workers were really looking at us, but the store was closing so I just made a decision to buy something.
I went out right after to find another friend who had treated me to a meal earlier in the week and I went to treat her back. I talked to a few friends at night about the present and determined it really wasn't a good pick. I was a little restless all night because I can't really affoard to make a mistake since my budget is so tight right now. I hope I can go back to exchange it even though it was an onsale item. I made a little bit of an impressions so the manager might be okay with it. Arrgh what was I thinking? I just want to let people know that I appreciate the help they give especially when a particular friend really went out of her way.
Living in such a poor style has been a little rought. But it has also built up a bit of character. I mean you need to know what it is like having nothing in order to appreciate having anything right?
Connie, Family and Friends
Yesterday Connie cancelled our meeting so I went to the swimming pool instead. I should be finding a way to bulk up my muscle since I'm starting to look so skinny but I want to be healthy as well. Hong Kong is just so hot, swimming is the perfect way to escape that and get some excercise. Afterwards I went home and slept then woke up to go eat with another friend getting off work in Causeway Bay. When I was sending her off I ran into Alvin and Tina. I guess Alvin's back from Austrilia. He should be on his way home soon so I need to give him a little something to take back.
Today Connie did get a hold of me to keep her promise to meet up. She was out shopping with her sister Annie down in TST. I met up with them near the Miramar Hotel. We shopped around that area for a bit until we met up with Annie's friend Queenie. I of course should help the women carry their bags, but even I started to feel the weight with 3 or 4 bags in each hand. They had new cameras, clothes, everything. We went looking for a place to eat and ended up going back to the area that Raymond took me too when we first met. We decided on a Turkish restaurant and it was pretty good. We even had a live performance by a belly dancer. She was pretty good but I didn't see much because she was behind me. The girls had a good time though. I was yet another pleasant night with Connie I hope we have a chance to hang out again. Her schedule for the rest of the summer seems pretty busy though. I rode the MTR home with Queenie and I think she asked how much I charge for private tutoring. I need to do some research but I think I really should look into it.
On my way home I drop by Ada's place to give her the book list from school. My friend sprained her ankle some how so I met up with her at her work place to help her walk to the bus stop. Her family was going to meet her at the other end so it should be okay. She lives way out in New Territories. Apparently she use to do Thai kick boxing, and some how sprained it that way. That's a bit of a surprise I guess I better not piss her off. I'm afriad of visiting her too much now. Her boss saw a video tape of us goofing off at her work place and I guess she got a little flack from it. It seems really painful so I hope she'll be better soon. Hong Kong is sunny these days and it is starting to get really hot. I hope I care bare it.
Ancient China comes to Hong Kong
Yesterday I had a day off. So instead of hanging around at home I went to explore. Instead of walking west towards Causeway Bay I went out east to Tai Koo. I heard that Tai Koo Sing had a big mall and it turned out to really be a big mall. Hong Kong is full of these huge malls. You can wander around and shop all day in one area then jump on the MTR and go right to another area.
There was somthing special here though, something that came right from China, something very old. Dinosaurs. The mall had the bones of dinosaurs built up and layed out in the open areas of the mall. The built up bones are really large. It was impressive to see though no really interesting dinosaurs were put up. The City Plaza there has another interesting attraction. An indoor ice rink. Not a really big one but enough that they pack it full of people and hold lessons. Oh there is a really cook water fountaint there as well. The water jumps around and seems so solid when it does. It jumps out of certain areas through the air to another separate area. It is really quite amazing and captivating to watch.
I tried watching the news that night as well. It is still too difficult right now my vocab is so limited. I did see the tail end of Alvin's beer commercial though.
Today though was tough at work. I am rushing to finish the Science lesson plans for the summer. I finished most of them except for 5 or 6 activity worksheets. The worksheets are a pain, how can I make an interesting worksheet, that doesn't involve all writing but can teach the concept of science while teaching the vocabulary of English? Conversational is handled in class. Scientific proceedure is handled through the experiment and hopefully some recording on the worksheets. But the worksheets are mainly for the parents. They need something to show that the kids have learned something. The most difficult aspect of this job is pampering the kids to have fun while making sure the parents are happy with their progress. I went out to meet up with Connie afterwards with Phoebe and Erine. I haven't seen Connie since our TESOL class ended sometime in October. Connie is an interesting girl full of information and perspective insights. We walked around looking at sights and shopped for a bit but since Connie was kind of tight on her schedule (her strongly recommended she come early that day) we ditched them to find a place to eat. We wandered around until we saw a place that just opened up that sells those "cart noodles". Rick told me later that they're known also as "dirty noodles" or something like that. We get to choose 2 types of "balls" (beef, fish, chicken, etc, etc...) and the noodle and the soup base.
Connie's visit hit me at kind of a rought time. This whole first month is just tight for me on cash. I'm trying so hard to not dip into money I have in Canada just so I can survive here and buy things in Hong Kong with the money I earn abroad. I need my nest egg at home for when I return. Connie promised me one more night before she took off for China so I'm looking forward to that. I miss being a bit social actually but I really don't have that option here.
Canada Day! Oh and Happy HK SAR Establishment day
Was at work with the new energetic Rosalind. She's fun to have around though and has be helpful to me since her Chinese is so much better than my own. She told me that on Canada Day there's a party down in Lan Kwai Fong. I hear some time ago this is where all the foreigners and ex-pats go to hang out. I also hear the prices are jacked but since I don't drink alcohol maybe that won't be a problem. Part of my goal coming into Hong Kong is to improve my Chinese. I have made a focus to hang out with native Chinese speakers but after a month I have this small feeling growing inside of me.
I miss Canada.
Maybe because I'm extroverted, I don't have that many friends here. I should consider joining a group of some sort maybe. I have a few that I try to hang around with. Priscilla is usually busy and I should find Raymond more but he lives out in Kowloon or New Territories I'm not sure which but it is off HK island. So aside from hanging out with my boss and her boyfriend, I end up hanging around Patsy's friend Ada who lives fairly close to me. Not the same close feeling I have in Toronto, I miss you guys.
Well I thought Canada Day was the best day to go down to that area for me. I haven't even been out to Central yet so I called Ada up after work and met her at her traditional meeting place outside Sogo. I've been talking about Nachos recently and was looking for materials to make it. The typical supermarkets (Wellcome, Park'n Shop, etc) don't seem to stock plain tortilla chips. I wandered down under Sogo with Ada and we spent so long in the market. There's a lot to see and then we went to eat Shanghai food down in one of the restaurants. We were sitting around eating and her friend just got off work and came to join us. I was introduced to Gloria who apparently is her friend from primary or secondary school. Unlike the typical HKer she guessed I was Korean instead of Japanese. My Chinese must be pretty bad.
So off we headed first to chat at a Starbucks and then we hopped on a light bus and headed down to Lan Kwai Fong. Once we got out, the party was in full bloom. The streets were just packed with people of mixed nationalities. It felt a little like Ottawa on Canada Day except there were a lot more Asians this time around. The strange thing was I kept hearing people that said they were some how connected to UW. A lot of Canadian born Chinese there. We ended up going to this night club to meet up with Gloria's friends. They don't call it a club actually, club has a bad meaning here, they call it a disco. So we went to disco with her friends at this place called Edge.
The review? Sorry, Hong Kong people don't know how to party. They are so up tight in there it is worst than Canadian clubs. At least in Canada you get the majority of girls willing to loosen up and dance. Some guys get in on the action as well. Hong Kong the people are packed in there and there just doesn't seem to be a good feeling. I was scanning the room for groups or people who were livelier and had more energy but there were only a few foreigners. I tried talking to this one guy who had the cowboy Canadian hat on and it turns out he wasn't even Canadian. It was a pretty expensive night at $220 HKD to get in and $30 HKD for checking in my bag at the coat check. But I still had fun, I learned a lot from Trina, Warren and the Sarnia party kids. When it comes to clubbing and partying that is where most of my memories were at. Oh, I also ran into someone I haven't seen in ages. Tracy Tong or aka Tracy Wang. Yup, the rumors were true she dumped Kevin and married Clark. Ah, who knows why things work out this way I have my own opinions about this but Tracy is a good girl. The strange thing is, when she briefly ran into me at the club she said I haven't changed one bit. So in maybe the 9 years we haven't seen each other I went full circle back to the way I was before? Hair getting longer again and back to the t-shirts. Actually, maybe that is right.
Gloria's friends ditched early but we stayed for a while longer. I mean we paid good money for this. We went out for a late night snack afterwards and I ran into Priscilla there. Chatted with her for a bit and went back to my table and chatted to the break of dawn or nearly that. We ended up wandering around trying to find a place to take a taxi since there were lineups for taxis everywhere. Got home around 4 am. It was a fun night I think, I haven't done this in a while.
Happy Canada day, oh and whatever HK SAR establishment (return to China) day.
