Happy Halloween
I'm totally captivated by this book; Tuesdays with Morrie. The book is just great, I managed to finish it by the end of the day. There are a lot of topics brought up in the book, and several of which I remember my father mentioning when he was soul searching himself. This was around the time my grandfather passed away, and when my father, himself, became ill. I hope to pass on this book to him, and of course my brother.
A few more problems with United Oriental College. This is my first time having such a headache dealing with an employeer. I understand what my brother felt dealing with Dreamwave. Last week I was asked to submit reviews for each student in my class. I know for certain that these were submitted. Students have started to call me today regarding those forms, apparently they were being told that I was missing some. That is a total disregard for the truth. I stopped by the office to speak with Candy about it. Since it was Candy's last day I needed to get a number to chase down my own pay. At least this isn't as big a headache as before.
I went to see Tim Burton's Corpse Bride tonight with Joyce and Priscilla. The movie was okay, with a few funny parts. It wasn't great though, more of a renter in my opinion. I think Priscilla fell asleep somewhere in the middle of it. The musical portions weren't exactly great either. We ended the evening eating out, giving Joyce plenty of time to laugh over my horrible accent. We accompanied Priscilla to Wellcome to buy a few groceries and headed home. A nice relaxing Halloween. I just wanted to do something tonight instead of staying at home.
Time to Chill
A day to relax. I was surfing around in the morning for information about Sharp phones. The exciting news for me is the fact that they can be fully flashed with another firmware. This means in a sense that it can be fully unlocked. If I can manage to get my hands on a cheap phone from Japan, this means at least for certain I can use it without restriction here in Hong Kong. I'm planning on picking one up for my younger brother as well.
I made plans to meet up with Ada and Gloria afterwards down in Causeway Bay. Kobe showed up as well while we were having lunch. I needed to find an IDD service provider, today is Hyun Jeon's birthday. I haven't spoken to my Korean friends for a while, calling Korea is not cheap from Hong Kong. Everyone tried to help me out but we really couldn't settle on a plan. Eventually Gloria connected me to one of her plans (
1579). Probably not the cheapest but at least I have an option for calling home if I need to. We went shopping for a little bit and then everyone separated. I was trying to decide what to do when out of luck I ran into Priscilla. I was lucky because she saw me walking in the middle of the street and waved. I love hanging around with her in HK, Priscilla knows her places. She was going to pick up tickets for tomorrow night so I went with her to buy the tickets and then to pick up her car. Basically I was helping her carry the stack of brooms she had bought at Justco. I guess they were for a game she plans to play tomorrow with her kids. We decided to eat some Shanghai food over at Times Square but we had to wait "15 minutes". Okay, it is ALWAYS a 15 minute wait, but really we waited nearly an hour for our table. The food was good though, we had a bit of a problem getting out of the parking lot (my Octopus card was out of money) but managed to get out eventually.
I went to meet up with Ada briefly afterwards for some dessert. She is lending me a book, Tuesday's with Morrie, that Karen had recommended to me one day while we were chilling. She has to do an assignment for her class at Hong Kong University. We talked briefly about her plans to study abroad in Canada. Moving to another country by yourself is tough. I totally have a new respect for those foreign students in Canada.
Party at Volar
I dropped by SME to help finish off the email marketing work that they had. I think May and Henry are satisfied with it. Henry better be since originally he was incharge. I couldn't figure out how to make an email into an HTML email using the form information that I created. I know it seems kind of dumb, why do I use Japanese for my OS and my Office? I could probably be more productive but I guess I like the challenge. We figured it out eventually using Outlook express on Henry's computer.
Actually today was a little crazy. After messing around with the HTML email I went home to change because I had a sales seminar to take part in. I got back about an hour early hoping to grab something quick to eat with Raymond and Connie. Turns out Raymond was being held up by his students and I got caught by PL Chau and the new sales team. Three people from edudb.com came to help sell the English course. We had a lot to talk about since they were running the show, this should have all been arranged earlier actually but of course that would require thinking on the planner's part. I got caught in their conversation even though I had so many plans to figure out tonight. Connie went to get us McDonalds instead. They seemed a tighter selling group then the first group that I worked with. The female of the group was a recent University grad, and another young male seemed somewhat lustful in his conversations. I didn't make it a secret that I was going to Lan Kwai Fong that night, and he had many things to say about picking up women there. The presentation was really long actually. I felt bad because Connie was waiting outside with some of her friends. We were suppose to meet down in TST afterwards to have drinks at Peace Square cafe (apparently also known as Raymond's cafe). The girls eventually got sick of waiting for me and they took off. Jesse gave me a call and I arranged to meet him down at the HMV in TST. Connie met up with us and we went up to Peace Square. Joseph was there with Connie's two friends. Raymond joined us after and we had some laughts, at my expense, with my Jook Sing accent. We played a few rounds of a game that involveds pulling sticks out of a container and watching monkeys fall. Eventually it was time for us to go to Central so we paid for the bill and I went to meet Gloria at the HMV.
Things were still a bit hectic, aside from Tiffany I thought perhaps I knew the most people coming. Tiffany want to pickup her friend at the airport; so I knew she would be delayed. Because of a mixup with the guest list my name for the night was Jason Wang. I thought I would be a bit late but, aside from Johny, we ended up being the first group there. We met Johny and his friend Christie in Lan Kwai Fong, I have to apologize because I ended up being late getting into the area from Raymond's cafe. I gave Kevin a call a few times to figure out their plans but he wasn't very descriptive. I'm getting a poor impression of HK event planning. Priscilla was on her way and so we decided to go inside.
Volar was interesting. The music was basically techno for the night. I had no problems with it myself, there were quite a few foreigners inside and a lot of English speakers. To top it off there were quite a few models. Some really good looking girls and a few good looking guys. I remember hanging around with Priscilla and Joyce when one such male model walked by. Joyce was totally captivated. I can't remember which model is part of which advertisment, Gloria mentioned that one of the guys who is in the
Three HK advertisments was inside. She follows models more than I do. Christie wasn't up for the Techno though so we wanted to club hop a bit. We needed to wait for Tiffany and her friend Eun Young to show up though. Joyce took off early and Tiff showed up later. We hung for a bit to let Tiff say hello to some friends and we headed out towards Hei Hei.
Christie apparently has a friend in Hei Hei and got us in without cover. The place was packed, like literally packed. It felt like rush hour on the MTR, people moving only because other people were pushing the crowd. I'm one of the lucky few with some height so I don't feel so bad, but I don't know how I would feel if I couldn't see past the crowd. When we settled into an area it was a lot better. Tiffany, Jesse, Priscilla and I relived our Toronto clubbing ways and showed off our stuff on the dance floor. Johny of course accompanied us, and Gloria managed to surprise me with her dance moves. Christie was finally having fun so it all ended up well. We stayed until Hei Hei closed and I managed to make it back home about 5am. On the ride back home Jesse let loose about being drunk which it is really rare for me to see him drunk. Oh tomorrow is going to be painful, but at least Tiffany and Eun Young picked up Gloria (the three girls went back to a hotel... wow!) and I picked up Jesse of course. Don't be too jealous Alison.
Usually when I learn something related to computers I give myself little practical assignments. SME is trying to send out an email marketing campaign right now but they are having a few problems. Their email is an HTML email consisting of a form that does a "mailto:" when submitted. Basically this is an internet command to open up your outlook/outlook express/etc and try to send out an e-mail. I figured it would be more practical to use a bit of scripting so I had them setup a test account for me on their server and messing around I found out that they support PHP and MySQL. flipped through my ebooks and went through a few examples and put up a quick PHP page that could write to a new MySQL database. Honestly this makes the most sense, but I guess the email is only to request information so they only needed the customer's data mailed to info@hksme.edu.hk.
I had quickly handed in my assessment papers at United Oriental College, making sure with Candy that I had handed one in for each student, and since SME also paid me I ran down to the bank to cash in my cheques. Back at SME I basically worked on one the PHP scripts for a few hours right up to my English class at night. Mr. P L Chau likes to remind me way too much that he needs it done, especially since this is completely volunteer. There is a lack of skill in the system here.
I had signed up with a monthly plan finally, I ended back with
Smartone/Vodafone. I don't know why really but I was use to them and I really like their marketing and choices. I'm not a fan of Leon Lai so constantly seeing his face advertised for
Three HK I didn't really feel like joining. Because they gave me a new SIM I had to copy my phone numbers back into my card. So I did that after I had dinner with some of my students.
Last Day at United Oriental
A bit tired this morning. I had to go to the YMCA hostel for buffet. The hostel is actually across the street from United Oriental College (in Yau Ma Tei). The morning class should be there right now trying to get their money back. There has been so many problems with that company I'm worried that I won't be paid. I'm sitting with the afternoon class enjoying the nice buffet. Stocking up on the fruits since I usually don't get many. I wonder if they can get their $3000 HKD back. I hear basically that the school charges them $13000 HKD for the course. If they pass the examination they can get the $10000 HKD back from the government. The $3000 therefore is suppose to be "sponsored" by the school. This isn't exactly legal now, but the students are expecting this to happen. I was told to fill out comments about each student so that they can "apply" for a "scholarship" for this course. Yup, you can see what's going on, the school keeps lying though and how can you trust people like that?
Oh a side note, I got a call from Tiffany that we're going to Volar this Friday. Guest list so no cover yeah!
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Labels: Scams
Lan Kwai Fong - II
After a quick and fairly rushed dinner with Carmen, Dennis, and Kammy I headed down to Lan Kwai Fong to meet up with Karen. Karen, Jimmy, and Johny were there with some other friends (I believe Brandon and a local girl Stephanie). I was pretty excited I haven't been clubbing in a while. This was my first time meeting Jimmy I think, he seems down to earth and a nice guy. Makes Karen happy right?
Stephanie had friends at Hei Hei or Sugar, but when we got to the lineup it was too long. Karen and Jimmy had an early morning so we decided on going to C club instead. Brandon ditched us at that point, cover was expensive though at $200 HKD, butit was for Karen so why not. Actually I had a good time, the music was pretty good and I know Karen is a party girl. What surprised me was Johny was one too, he was pretty laid back and loose on the floor. We went crazy for a while until Karen decided they really needed to go.
On our way out I ran into Midco, Gloria's friend, and asked her if it would be okay if Johny and I hung around with their group of girls. She agreed and we joined in, but we were ditched quickly. Actually I don't even know what happened, they all just started to leave and eventually they were all gone. No one told Johny and I. I felt bad about it actually, seriously a lack of manners. But, Johny managed to run into one of his clubbing girls and we had fun nevertheless. If was wasn't so expensive, I would come down more often.
Jesse in Town
I guess it is a little strange, I have a tendency to hang out with my students. Raymond made a comment about it, but I don't know if it truely is strange or if he's just making fun of me since he's a joker. Some students from United Oriental College invited me out to Tin Shui Wai for BBQ with their familes. I thought this was a great chance, I haven't seen Wendy's parents for a while and since it is rare that I make it out that way, this would be a good way to see them again. The only thing is they couldn't make it so I'll have to find another way to meet up with them sometime. It was interesting seeing how they BBQ. It is more the out in the woods, on the beach BBQ where we stick hotdogs and fishballs onto a skewer and grill it ourselves over the fire. We slap on some honey at the end and eat it with our corn. I have memories of BBQ's over at Sai's every summer, those were really great BBQs. The Country Club we went to was nice though, the kids had a lot of fun with me I think. I was surprised how big a difference it made in their English when they learn it earlier in life. One of the girls, Annie, apparently started in an international school. I know from teaching international school children that their English is really good since they use it in their classes and probably at home as well. Annie has an accent butit is more an English accent than a Hong Kong accent. In contrast the other children are already developing Hong Kong accents. The kids just like to horse around though as soon as one of them figured out it was okay to crawl onto my back, I had three kids on me for the rest of the night. Everywhere they went they demanded to be carried. They left me with foot prints on my pants and shirt though.
I met up with Jesse right afterwards. He is visiting Hong Kong for a few days then heading out again to Beijing. Has it really been almost 5 months since I was in Toronto? Time really just flies, but I still have strong ties to my friends and family back home. My relationships in HK don't feel the same at all there is just something lacking. Not that I don't have a few good friends here, I'm blessed that I have found a few good people. Well Jesse had a late dinner and met up with me around Price Edward MTR station. We didn't have much to do except to wander around and get lost. We saw some fairly large rats and we sat down for some bubble tea. I took him over to visit my place and the red light district. Welcome to Hong Kong Jesse.
Shopping with Karebear
I was out with Karen today hanging out in my new area; Mong Kok. I had some time before my new writing class tonight, but they didn't provide me the material before hand so I went over to SME to ask for it. Karen dropped by and I introduced her to the group, they were a little tongue tied. I guess Karen has that affect on people.
We hit the streets for some shoe shopping. The funny thing is, Karen wanted to shop for shoes and I'm the one who ended up buying. I think this is some sort of rule, the person who is accompanying the one shopping does the most buying. I picked up a pair of dark blue converse shoes for $179 HKD. Not a bad price, just shy of $30 CAD. I felt a difference right away buying from "shoe street" instead of buying from the "factory outlet" near APM. People tell me that the factory outlet sells real shoes but the soles fell apart pretty quickly with my walking. The new soles feel a bit more firm. We dropped by Lady's street and I ended up buying a bag ($80 HKD) for carrying my laptop to work. I was pretty interested in a pair of white/brown/orange adidas shoes but I should hold back. Besides, this was suppose to be Karen's day out shopping.
But actually I decided to be a bit selfish and I dragged her out to look at cell phones. I've been consumed recently thinking about buying a new cell phone. Specifically I want to buy a phone from Japan. Here's the deal, I've fallen in love with the new Sharp mobile phones. The
Sharp 903 SH and the
Sharp 703 SH really caught my eye. There's something artistic about the Sharp mobile phone. The QVGA screens in Japan are beautiful, I totally understand why Motorola and Nokia just aren't doing well in Japan, the screen quality just doesn't compare. Karen doesn't like the phone, I guess it is pretty obvious we have very different tastes. She calls it a "hunk of plastic". The lower end model, the 703 SH, is known as the Sharpy SX313 in HK. It goes for close to $3900 HKD. If we talk about buying the parallel import version (or "Shui Fau") the range is from $1800 HKD to $2200 HKD. Back to buying it in Japan, the total cost is a stunning $700 HKD. Cost to unlock/convert the phone in Hong Kong is $200 HKD. The risk and hassel is there, but for the price of one phone, I can pick up two.
Well, before it got out of hand Karen too the lead. We headed to Mexx at Festival Walk, stopping in the MTR for a quick bite of Beard Papa.
After shopping I rushed home to meet the plumber. My new toilet likes to flush; too much. He changed out the inside just so it would stop flushing after I flush it once.
I ended the day teaching my writing class. I had dinner with Connie and Raymond after, suffering as they kept playing with the fact that I appeared in the October issue of "ishop", the PCCW free magazine. I brough up my plans for buying a new cell phone as well, hopefully Raymond can help me out.
Welcome to Hong Kong Jesse! Jesse just got a hold of me today, waiting to hear about his schedules.
Kowloon Person
Today was my moving day. Big thanks out to Andy and Wendy for helping me out. I had asked Andy to help me move and he did it very professionally. I thought he was going to bring a mini van to help me move my bed and dresser so I took the dresser apart to prepare. It turned out to be an actual truck, with a hydralic moving platform in the back. Less than 2 hours we had everything moved out of my place and into Mong Kok. I had quite the work out running my stuff up 3 floors but the excercise was good for me I needed it. The biggest plus is that I can still steal internet from my new place. So it is settled, I am no longer a Hong Kong Island person, bye Ada, Wincy, and Gloria. Hello Kowloon.
Webdesign class today, and I'm still struggling with that. The problem is centred around the language. My version needs to be in English, I just can't use a Chinese version of Dreamweaver. Hopefully it will all be over soon.
Settled I Have a New Home
The big news today is that I signed the contract for my new place. So I guess red light district (or as they say yellow signs) here I come. It should be okay though, it fits my needs. At least this has been settled, I have one less thing to worry about.
It was really frustrating chasing for my pay at United Oriental College. I don't know how they can keep teachers the way they run their business. The person I have to thank for this is Joyce, she's been great helping me find the spot, and actually lending me cash to close the deal. I feel really bad having to ask for money, but I've been promised a cheque around the corner and it better come. Next monday is my final class for the morning session. I just can't thank Joyce enough, she's a great girl and totally not typical of Hong Kong people. She works at a hair salon and managed to get me some
Joico ICE hair Erratic Molding Clay from her salon. I guess you can only buy this stuff from salons. I haven't figured out how to style my new hair cut, long hair is new to me still.
New Korean Cut
I finally went and got my hair cut. Okay, seriously at least for me I think a haircut for a guy is important, and also a very sensitive thing. Guys have to be very careful about their hair, and really I just can't adapt to some of the Hong Kong cuts. I planned to chill with Karen but I went to have my hair cut first. The place was Sharon Island (13F Matheson Centre, Causeway Bay) this place was recommended to me by Susan, a Korean manager who works over at Kaya. Yes I'm still a little indecisive about what to do with my hair, but I decided since I have the chance I wanted to try to grow it longer. I told the Korean stylist and even though his English was really poor he managed to understand basically and he did a good job. Even Karen though he did an okay job, and she really hates fob styles. Really, this just seals it no matter what I need to find a none Chinese hair stylist wherever I go. Sharon Island is my new salon. Of course they thought I was Korean when I went in, and they were a little surprised that I found the salon. I suppose they are very exclusive to Koreans. The environment was friendly though, there was a Filipino assistant who seemed to get along with Karen really well, she actually looks really young compared to her age.
Karen and I chilled, walking over to Pacific Place and then through the Hong Kong Garden. Oh the garden was lovely, there are so many turtles and gold fish there. We headed over to IPC in Central and hung out until Karen had to leave to eat with family. I hope things work out for her, she's had a rough time dealing with issues related to her grandparents. On my way home I gave Wincy a call as I was passing into Tin Hau. She invited me over to look at the pictures so I dropped by. Bill's brother Benson was there and I must say his pictures were great. I miss playing around with an SLR, I guess I probably will end up being one of those typical Chinese fathers with the big SLR cameras. I spoke to him briefly about helping me take pictures for modelling, I'm sure he'd rather take girl shots but he seemed willing to entertain the idea. There are too many pictures to copy so I only managed to get a few off of them. I'll just drop by again later to get more. I'm feeling a lot better today, rested so after I get a good night's rest I should be okay.
Stephanie's Short Stay in HK
It was a long tiring day. I think I got a chill from boating yesterday the temperature dropped later on in the evening and the water was kind of cold. I have to admit it now, my cough sounds horrible. I had my class of course, and it still is going well. I think I put together enough extra material to last them until the end of their session. I'm worried about getting paid though, the proceedure "sounds" so complicated and they don't communicate well at all. After work I went with Roy to drop by the area my new place is in. Nothing much happened the rest of the day, I went to SME and hung out a bit so that I could surf the net and then I went to meet up with Carman and Kammy afterwards. I talked to Karen briefly who was really frustrated with the fact that some how between the time she was leaving the boat until the time she was using the camera later in the evening she had cracked the screen on the back. That really sucks since the phone is so new.
I went for my first time to Pizza Hut in Hong Kong. With Carman and Kammy. It is a lot more family orientated and the service is great. I was impressed, the selection is really high though some of the items I just wasn't use to them serving at a Pizza Hut. We had a prett big meal which included soups, rice, pizzas, and drinks.
Well today is Stephanie's last day, it has been great having her in Hong Kong. I dropped by her hotel out in North Point to see her quickly and to exchange pictures. We're going through a lot of similar experiences, her being in Japan with only a few friends whom she has met before, and I being in Hong Kong with only a few friends from University. I've been luck being social and meeting other people. Steph will be fine, she's doing well it seems. Hopefully we'll have a chance to hook up in Japan.
A side note, apparently a few people have gotten sick from the boat trip. Something to do with the egg salad (I only had finger foods so it wasn't me) I still haven't heard from Johny or Tiffany but Karen, Steph, and I seem to be okay.
Oh finally a day to relax and to have fun. I was so looking forward to this day. I have to say I'm not a morning person, and I'm slow. So sorry Karen for making you rush your morning routine just so you could come out to meet us early.
The background is Wincy, Ada, Gloria, and their Primary school friends were holding a boating trip out in Aberdeen. Originally it was for someone's birthday but I think they changed the whole theme afterwards to just a boat trip. I wanted to bring out my Toronto friends so I called Tiff, Karen, and Stephanie out (we also called out John who I met through Karen). It was really my event so I was pretty lucky to call them out, they've never been out on a boat trip before and I wanted to give them the experience. Especially Stephanine who was only here for a handful of days.
So I met up with Stephanie first in North Point and we rushed to meet up with Tiff, Gloria, Karen, and Johny down in Causeway Bay near the Hennesy Centre. We were introduced to their friends John and Kevin. Kevin had apparently lived out in Regina for a period of time. We all had a good laugh thinking about a HKer moving to Regina to live. They were really open individuals and fun to be around. We ended up taking a taxi out to the dock (which arrived about the same time as the bus, so that kind of sucked) and were thinking about getting something to eat quickly before we boarded the boat. We stepped into a small restaurant near the waterfront in a little plaza area and found a table around the back. As soon as shifted the table, a horde of small cockroachs can running out from underneath, climbing up along the walls and running into the cracks. Oh it was horrible, not that I'm afraid of them but more that it seemed so dirty.
We boarded the boat and the fun began. I have to say thanks to Henry right here, apparently he works for a law firm and this boat is one of the perks of working for that company. Total cost of the trip for the day including the food was $140 HKD. Out in the water the girls were laying out the food that they had worked so hard preparing the night before. Us CBCs found a place to hang out towards the bow of the boat and we just chilled enjoying the breeze. I loved it, it was time for me to relax, and there's nothing like a warm day and a cool breeze out on the water. Tiff has her usual busy busy schedule in HK and apparently was out late the night before. So she was sleeping towards the inside of the boat. We found our way up to the top of the boat and started putting on my oily seperated "Life" brand sun tan lotion. I suppose I should buy a new one, actually that one is only 4 months old but I think the last time I went on the boat trip it was so hot the chemicals were separating inside the container. Well we were sun tanning, kind of the sun kept coming and going during the day but we got a bit of it.
On our arrival Ada was the first out of the gate to go wakeboarding. We joined her and Oscar in the boat. I was so pumped this was what I was really here for. Wincy's boyfriend bill had partied all night as well so was too tired to start off. He apparently took up about 2 hours the last time they went out and Ada didn't even go wakeboarding at all. So Ada was out in the water first. I followed afterwards. I really improved this time, starting to do little jumps over the crests of the wake. I took one dive after a jump and lost my googles though. That sucked, I felt them float out underneath me but I guess because of the salt water they never fully surfaced.
As my Canadian friends know I love to take pictures, but I was lucky this time because Bill's brother Benson was the picture taker of the group. He has the digital SLR, the flashes, the filters, the whole 9 yards. The camera is amazing and he's a decent shot himself. I went out twice wakeboarding, the second time he was in the boat with me and got a decent video and a great shot of me in the air. Karen was still a bit drowsy, but I managed to push Stephaine and Johny out in the water to try wakeboarding. They did very well (of course they had a good teacher right?) and both were able to get up their first time. Maybe it is a Canadian thing but everyone was commenting on how well they did the first time. When I wakeboard it is pretty obvious that I've snowboarded, I guess I like to do "S"es in the water.
Heading back towards the main boat, Tiff fluffed up my ego a bit commenting on how the girls were talking about me on the boat. To bad she was feeling under the weather, I was hoping she would try wakeboarding as well. We ate some food, played some Hello Kitty UNO (WIncy's) and I spent a little time with Bill and his friends playing some Hong Kong games, or watching for some. Some time into the trip someone was asking another boat across the water to borrow some soya sauce. I don't even know what it was for but actually I ended up diving into the water and swimming over with an empty bottle to get it. Swimming back I was already tired though. I probably should have spent more time socializing with the Hong Kongers, but my friends weren't here for very long, especially Stephanie who will be gone in a couple of days.
Goria, Steph, Johny and I went out afterwards for some dinner and dessert. We had some Thai food, with some live entertainment and just chilled and talked. It was a fun but tiring day. The boat trip kind of affected me though, I keep noticing the world shift and bob up and down while I was sitting down eating. Again the price was amazing, the people were great, the pictures were great. Check'em out (oh nice shot Benson of the cutie on the other boat, the advantages of a nice SLR).
Yahoo PicturesClubphoto Pictures Shutterfly pictures (password is my first name lowercase)
Oh, now that my imagestation account has been downgraded, can anyone recommend a good photo storage website? So far I think I might switch over to shutterfly.
File, Open, My Computer, Folder ... Save
This is my crazy Saturday. The experience was interesting, I had a little trouble finding the school (新界荃灣梨木樹村第二號校舍 or Lei Muk Shu Catholic Primary School), and had to wander around a block to locate it. Each time I get into this situtation, that of being in a complete Chinese surrounding, I have this feeling of being helpless. I had a bit of help at the school where the people picked up the children and came to the classroom. When it came to attendance I was totally lost, really what can I do? I was practicing to ask one of the children to do the attendance for me, but luckily there was always an adult around to help out. Surprisingly the teachers are all about my age it seems. Actually maybe I shouldn't be surprised now that I think about it, I'm getting old.
The proceedure is basically the kids gather in a common area like a large hall or hallway. We go down to have the students line up and we take them to the classroom. Once there we do attendance quickly and the kids log into the computer. I wasn't going to try anything complicated, Raymond gave me some pictures to give to the students to "paint" and I was just going to stick with that. It is pretty rough when the children are teaching the teacher things though. Some of the children were fast and started to ask me if they needed to "儲存". This was a word I wasn't prepared for so the best thing I could do was to say "yes" and see what they did. Oh, it means "save"! So from that point on I learned a new word and also a new instruction to give to the students. The kids are really mouthy though in Hong Kong, they start talking garbage at such a young age. Actually quite a number of times I didn't even understand what they were asking in Chinese. One of the students even asked why my Chinese sounded funny (hahaha). Four hours with the kids. My last class was the largest, with 20 some odd students. I swear we wasted over 30 minutes just trying to log everyone into the computer. I noticed one girl who was in a Brownies uniform. She sat up very straight and lady like, and was very polite and listened to instructions well. Hopefully she will turn out to be a proper lady.
Rushing back to my Webdesign class, everything seemed to go wrong. Computer connections, computers, and even the projector was funny. all the graphics were inverted and we really had to improvise to get it to work properly (i.e. we flipped it upside down and used stacks of paper to play with the height). Surprisingly the class went well even though I was totally unprepared. My grammar class went smoothly though, I think because I've already done this class before. I get the impression that the class likes me so far. Tomorrow is the boat trip, Today actually went smooth so I should be able to get some rest for tomorrow. I can't wait to go wakeboarding and of course to see Karen, Tiff, and Stephanie.
The Calm Before The Saturday Storm
Yesterday I met up with my old co-worker Andrew Law. We use to work in the same department integrating our "Zoom" application for Great West Life Co. He's heading over to China for a week or so but had an interview today at the Police station in Wan Chai. The story was amusing actually, apparently they declared that they were going to start off the interview in English. I know a number of locals who are fearful of this, but Andrew has been in Canada for years, his English is fine. Actually he told me his English is much better than their English so shortly afterwards they just declared they are going back to Cantonese. It was a panel interview with 2 guys and 2 girls, but the girls didn't say anything the whole meeting. After our lunch we headed over to
SME so that I could introduce him to my boss Mr. PL Chou. We parted ways and I went back to help Mr. Chou with his English memos. I had some dessert that night with Kammy, Carmen, and Dennis from SME.
The good news is Stephanie has arrived from Japan! Oh I'm so excite, it is so nice to have all these friends dropping by Hong Kong. I can't wait to hear the stories she has from Japan.
But for today I had a basic conversational class. I've been trying to make my classes a bit more stimulating or interesting though. I met up with Willa afterwards who brought my Spectro Jel face wash with her from Canada. She seems to be doing well despite the fractured ankle. She has a funky adjustable cast that apparently wowed all the doctors here in Hong Kong. We chatted the night away about various likes including her MBA classes, plans for opening new schools, and my up coming Saturday morning class. Oh I am afraid of tomorrow, I had Raymond record some basic instructions but my Chinese is still a problem. But, suffering through this will hopefully make me a stronger person.
I Found A Place to Live
I wanted to house hunt yesterday but I ended up spending all my time at work. After working on my prep work I helped Mr. PL Chau finish some more work. He offered me a position as one of the Project Operators. But really it is just a secretary for the senior staff. I think Carmen (one of them) works as a "Project Operator". The pay scale is very low for the expected work. There is some project and marketing work but it also involves a lot of typing of forms and memos.
Raymond's girlfriend's birthday is coming up. Raymond asked me to take his morning class Saturday at a primary school out in the New Territories (Lei Muk Shu Catholic Primary School). This means my coming Saturday will be crazy, teaching from 9am to 10pm at night. Though interestingly enough last week a girl almost walked into the male washroom at SME. Apparently she was goofing around with some other students but I happen to be walking out. Well as they were passing by on their way out they threw me a nice compliment. It is always nice for the ego.
Today was typical teaching day. I had
teppanyaki for lunch with some of my students. The teppanyaki really wasn't great. One of the students wants me to tutor their child at about $200/hr but the location is far south on Hong Kong island. I don't know if it will be worth it since the travel time will be long.
Joyce helped me after work to find a place to live. I wanted to find something close to work and I ended up in Mong Kok. I know the area isn't exactly great. I ended up finding a nice place that was recently rennovated. The problem is there is no lift, and it is on the 3rd floor. I put up $2000 HKD down for the deposit already. I close up the deal next week. But after I told Ada and Gloria I found out the place was really seedy. I kind of knew it because it is close to Shanghai Street, where there are a lot of "yellow signs". Well, I don't have much of a choice but I can adapt. The rent is slightly cheaper at $2400 HKD per month.
Another One Engaged
I am just so tired these days. Working and stress. I need to find a place to live, but I need money to find a place to live as well. United Oriental College has just been the worst place for payment. I never had this kind of experience in Canada. I've been pushing and pushing to get the money that is owed to me, the big cheese needs to meet me in person however. On top of that, he's never in Hong Kong for some strange reason. After my class today I went out with Josephine and Joanna for something to eat. Joanna I haven't seen for a while, every time we go out something seems to happen. I had Wonton noodles today but there was a fly in the bowl that came to me. Seriously I'm not going to put up with that, I don't care if I'm in Hong Kong or China, so I complained. The waiter was being a prick already, he really didn't want to serve us in the first place but dumped out the bowl and they made another one. As soon as he set the new bowl down I checked it carefully, and the guy made a stupid comment about how there was nothing wrong with this one. I was tempted to send this one back as well.
The biggest announcement is Mike Yam is engaged. I know he's been practicing a guitar song and he managed to rent a room at the fairmount so that he could pop the question. I have only met his girl friend Carol once, and she was really unwilling to meet me. I can only meet her if I run into them by accident in Pacific Mall. Well, congradulations to both of you, best wishes and I still can't believe Mike Yam would do something romantic like roses and playing a song on the guitar. I wish he did it in public but too each their own. Actually do girls secretly want an exciting engagement (say done in public) or do most just prefer something simple done in private where no one really knows? Seriously though, what do girls want deep down inside? Interestingly enough HKers don't believe in engagements. I guess it is good for the guy since it saves money but their whole attitude towards marriage is just so casual.
Roommate Moved Out
Well, reality is staring me in the face, my roommate moved out. Which means I really don't have any more time to waste. Except I went and wasted time anyways. The weather was fairly nice in the morning so I decided to do something which I haven't done for a while, go swimming. I need the excercise it just is too easy to be lazy here in Hong Kong. It actually started to rain right when I was about finished. Really an interesting experience to be in an outdoor pool when it starts to rain.
I met up with Gloria afterwards and her sister. They helped me look at a few places in Sau Kei Wan, we ended up looking at about 5 places. The first two weren't great at all, the 3rd place was a tiny tiny room but had everything bundled together includling a fridge. I guess not too bad for $3200 HKD if I didn't have to buy anything. They found me another place that required me to share a room, but experiences with HK roommates haven't been the greatest. I really miss living with my waterloo friends, those days were so open and free. The last place ended up to be owned by this Ninbo family. The man grew up in Shanghai so I guess we kind of had a connection. The place was not bad at all, with much more space than I needed. If I wanted to stay in Hong Kong for the long run this place actually wouldn't be too bad, but of course picking a place that was more expensive now wouldn't be the smartest thing to do. I need to really debate this though, I'm used to having room to entertain friends.
But the worst thing was yet to come. That night my other roommate "trapped" me. Maybe I'm just being too nice to her, but she dragged me into her smelly room to complain about the roommate that just left. Seriously I was in no mood to listen to this, and she was being so fake herself. She kept trying to write the story so that she sounds like the "good" person, I didn't want to hear the history, it doesn't concern me so I ended up trying to push her to just finish the story. When she smiles it is the creepest thing in the world, I totally think she's up to something all the time. I'll be so glad when I don't have to see her anymore.
Today was Hong Kong's National Day. I spent most of the day with Karen and we went out shopping and met up with her friend Johny. The plan was to chill until we could see the fireworks. I heard the best spot to watch them is TST, but also that the amount of people would be crazy. I know Karen isn't up for crazy crowds (we already had our fair share stuck at rush hour in the MTR) so we decided to go to Wan Chai to watch the fireworks instead. Oh, it made no difference the crowd was insane. I brought out my tripod for the event but I felt a little silly with my dinky (but cool) point and shoot Pentax S4i. Joyce came out to meet us but she was a bit late getting off work and they had closed our section off by the time she came in. This meant she was stuck watching the fireworks further out, if I left to meet her I couldn't get back inside. The fireworks were nice, but National Day in Hong Kong actually doesn't even compare with Canada Day in Ottawa. The streets of Ottawa are just so lively during that time period. After the fireworks were done the harbour just emptied out and people went about their ways. We ended up grabbing some dessert behind Sogo and chilling until Karen passed her curfew (haha!). Joyce went back with me and we split up to go our separate ways. Happy National Day, thanks for the fireworks.
Dragon Eight Limited, The Fraud
Today was just a tiring day, but it can also mean a productive day. First thing was my meeting with Paul, the casting manager, at
Dragon Eight Limited (D8). So how did that go? Well, I was all prepared, I had warnings from Priscilla, and of course the anonymous tipster. Basically out of the starting block he told me about all the jobs they have possibly lined up. They see that I'm a fit to shoot with electronic products, and maybe do a few basic commercials. Seems really appealing, but I know from background research D8 isn't really involved in anything big, and a lot of times they seem to produce their own magazines and promotional items. Of course as one of their featured models they wanted to help me setup a portfolio. I asked immediatly how much this would cost me and he said it would be sponsered by the company, and I wouldn't have to pay a dime. Sounds good so far, if they sponser then I'm willing to go for it. Next came the kicker, the training. If I want to do commercials, and catwalks I need to "train". Again I pressed about the cost, and he took a step back telling me not to be so urgent about finding out this type of information. A portion of the cost will be sponsered, but a portion I would have to pay for myself. He told me the cost was not high, not even $10,000 HKD and that after taking the course I would do a few jobs to earn back that amount of money. I know for a fact that D8 doesn't pay well for models, luckily Priscilla and people online have already talked about this little scheme of theirs. I asked what would happen if I didn't want to do the training. I heard already from friends that this wasn't necessary. They quoted (D8) that Starzpeople and Elite both require their models to train, and that it costs them even more to do this. I guess I'll find out later since I had a casting with Starzpeople later that day. I told them I would think about it, and he threw in as I was heading out the door that the cost of training was $9800 HKD. Hah, as if I wouldn't catch that. All I can say D8 is GG.
As I mentioned earlier I had a walk-in casting with
Starzpeople. Starzpeople is a well known agency in HK. I find their work respectable and trustworthy. My time frame was tight so I didn't want to be too late. I had already informed Polly at Starzpeople that I needed to work between 2pm-5pm. They gave me the time frame from 3pm-6pm to do my casting, which gives me less than an hour to get there. So I rode the ferry across to Central and wandered around for a little bit until I found the building. It was good that I did this, and I managed to find the shortest distance back to the closest MTR exit. I took the MTR back over to Yau Ma Tei to teach my English conversational class, which happens to be another Tourism Hospitality class. I have to admit one of the younger students is strangely attractive. She seems very shy and quiet but she is a linguistics major so actually her English is pretty good. Sorry Rui, there's no student teacher relationship here.
Class was finished so I rushed back to Central. Following my carefully planned route I made it to Starzpeople in record time. I got up stairs and was a little confused when I entered the doorway. There was no reception. I saw a bunch of people working at desks, pictures on the walls and a pretty girl sitting near the doorway. I knew this must be Starzpeople but did I walk in the wrong door? I walked back out, check the sign and then came back in. Someone finally noticed me and asked who I was here for. I told them that I had an appointment with Polly to do my casting. The thing about Starzpeople is that they wouldn't let me do a walk-in casting without sending them pictures first. I guess I'm proud of the fact that they let me walk in, but honestly there was another guy standing in the doorway that must have been a model. He was tall, young looking, everything I would guess an asian male model should be. But, time and time again girls have proven to me that I don't understand what kind of guy turns them on. Every guy I pick out some girl would shoot down.
The procedure at Starzpeople was a little different. Even though I gave them measurements they wanted to do them all over again. Plus they ended up taking more pictures including some taken at a 45 degree angle. The model at the door gave me a nice smile as she left, which was warming and inviting. Just by looking at the models that were hanging around I can already feel the difference between this place and D8. D8 I saw some cute girls, but really they were very ordinary. Some girls I would never guess could be models either. Hopefully something will turn up from Starzpeople, but I can only hope quality wise I don't think I can compete with the selection they already have.
I headed back over again to Yau Ma Tei to meet up with Kammy and Carmen for dinner. They were still working at SME and as soon as I got in I was trapped by Mr. P L Chou to fix up a tender (or memo actually) for a contract to do training. It has to deal with private medical practicioners in Hong Kong learning about computer systems. Oh this contract has been driving me crazy. I hate correcting people's English reports, but for friends I would rather suffer through it then for them to get a bad mark. I always press Ada to use me as a resource. For SME, I wanted to do this one just as a sign of good faith, but I was regretting it after the first few hours.
By the time I escaped we headed out to KFC for dinner. This is the first time I had KFC in Hong Kong. The chicken just taste different. I think it is because they don't have white meat here; which sucks because I really miss my chicken breasts. They also include the strangest things as part of their meals. Who ever goes to KFC to buy egg tarts? I found out that Carmen's brother works over at Broadway. Since I'm in the market for a phone I hope she can hook me up! Still, any suggestions for a phone?
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