Dear Family and Friends,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I decided to go by myself to a little resort called Cebu White Sands at Maribago Bay, located on Mactan Island in the Philippines. So much has happened over the last year that I was feeling really overwhelmed and I needed a retreat to sleep, read, pray, meditate, and let God speak to me. The resort itself was quaint, about five hecters in a lovely park like setting, with two outdoor pools and a small beach area. There was great snorkelling if you walked aways in the water. More about that later. I had not watched tv since I got to Hong Kong so the television in my room was like a novelty. All the channels were in English and there were plenty of sport channels so I enjoyed watching that. My room emptied out into a lovely courtyard that had antique furniture around a pond filled with Koi. It was awesome just to sit on a rocking chair and read. I found the filipinos quite nice. They all spoke great English, it was an American colony so american english is wide spread, would always greet me with a smile and a hello and there were many times they would put their right hand over their heart while saying hello. I thought that was nice. I ate well and since the weather was always @ plus 30 I ate outside on the hotel's restaurant's veranda.
I explored my surroundings a bit and went through a bout of guilt as a result. The resort was surrounded by favelas, intersperced with nice hotels and houses. Still seeing all that poverty amongst all that wealth was sobering. Kids should not have to beg.
I thought the jeepneys were so interesting. Little covered trucks with benches in the back. I rode in one and it was pretty tight, but for 7 pesos, or five cents Canadian it was a deal. I also rode on the back of a motorbike and overpaid the guy 50 pesos about a $1.10 Canadian. Crazy the disparity between us rich Westerners and the poor of the Third World.
One day I went on an island hopping tour. At one island there was a marine sanctuary and I snorkelled with giant angel fish and dozens of other varieties feeding them bits of bread. It was amazing. Then it was off to another island. While on route I saw a herring ball. Crazy how the herring whirl around forcing those on the top out of the water. That was amazing. After a decent barbecue meal on another island we headed back to the resort over wild water that made the trip feel like a roller coaster. It was great fun but the Koreans that I was with turned green.
I took a tour of Matcan island and Cebu island as well. The sites: a fort, a couple of churches, a monument were good, but I found the traffic and the way the filipinos lived much more interesting. Chaotic is a good way to describe it. Everytime we came to a red light there were beggers. One was a blind man playing a little guitar. He was guided by what looked like his mother. It was so sad. Another was a little boy holding a little girl begging away, looking real sad. That was tough. I eventually went into a favela and prayed for a rundown day care center and gave a financial donation to appease my guilt some what. A worker at the hotel said that without the tourists things would be much worse.
Anyways the biggest highlight for me besides the rest and a chance to pray and think barefoot on a lawn, was the snorkelling. Wow. Every time I went I saw fish I had never seen before. I swam over thousands of these grey fish that when they tilted a bit the sun would reflect off them and they would turn silver. There were yellow and orange angel fish, purple snub nose ones, these long stick fish and see through fish that swam nose pointing down. Huh? The fish and coral were every hue and color under the sun. I saw Nemo and his dad a lot. Some of the fish were so bizarre and funny looking I had to laugh. God has a sense of humour. It was truly amazing and I have a new favorite sport: Snorkelling.
It was at times tough being alone. Yet calls and emails from home helped. Still it was weird being alone at Christmas. On Christmas eve there was a wonderful buffet with a variety of seafood and turkey with all the trimmings. I stuffed myself good. They had a filipino dance troupe. One dance had them hopping up and over bamboo sticks that were being pressed back and forth by people on the ground. You make a false move and your foot would be crushed. No one got hurt. The funniest dance was the coconut dance. Three guys had coconuts draped over their back, front, hips and thighs. They also had a little stick in their hand. They beat the coconuts with their little stick while dancing. Pretty goofy looking but they had rhythm and it was pretty fun to watch.
Then a filipino band came on and played Christmas chorals including "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas." Had to laugh at that one as I sat in my shorts in plus 25. Most filipinos have never seen snow at all.
The next day I went to Christmas mass at a church in the slums. It was packed and some of the kids there were awestruck by the huge white man in their midst. It was a good service. The filipinos love Christmas and they make lanterns out of plastic bottles and other materials. It is impressive. And the manager scene called a Belen are everywhere. The newspapers were full of stories about Christmas and the emphasis was all about the birth of Jesus. That was great.
Anyways, all in all it was a wonderful trip. I am glad I did it and I am looking forward to exploring more of this region and beyond in the upcoming months.
God bless you. Till next time.
Adios,
Dirk
Big Wave Bay
Not just another beach!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Badminton
Hello Again,
Summer in November is over. It has gotten cooler here in Hong Kong. Now it feels like September back home. A little cool in the morning, than warms up to @ 20-24 then cools down again. Many people are wearing parkas and are in layers while I continue in shorts. They don't call me crazy, but something much more proactive, namely: strong. I like that. I am thinly clad so I must be strong. Yes we Canadians are strong or maybe years of living in frigid temperatures has numbed our brains. I do not, I repeat I do not miss the icy roads, and how hard winter was on the cars. I do miss cross country skiing through forests of pine though. There is a real pine tree in the lobby here at Sky Tower. It smells great and reminds me of home. Oh well I'll have to make do with the smell of jungle. Its not bad either.
This week my highlight was going to a world class badminton tournament in Hong Kong. There were Olympic champions at this tournament and they put on a good show. It was fun being with some guys from school, and considering it was overcast and dreary outside, being inside watching some amazing badminton was pretty good.
Four more days with the kids, then a PD day and then a two week break. Looking forward to it. It has been an intense four months to say the least. I'll be heading to Cebu Philippines and I'll blog from there.
Till then Merry Christmas,
Dirk
Summer in November is over. It has gotten cooler here in Hong Kong. Now it feels like September back home. A little cool in the morning, than warms up to @ 20-24 then cools down again. Many people are wearing parkas and are in layers while I continue in shorts. They don't call me crazy, but something much more proactive, namely: strong. I like that. I am thinly clad so I must be strong. Yes we Canadians are strong or maybe years of living in frigid temperatures has numbed our brains. I do not, I repeat I do not miss the icy roads, and how hard winter was on the cars. I do miss cross country skiing through forests of pine though. There is a real pine tree in the lobby here at Sky Tower. It smells great and reminds me of home. Oh well I'll have to make do with the smell of jungle. Its not bad either.
This week my highlight was going to a world class badminton tournament in Hong Kong. There were Olympic champions at this tournament and they put on a good show. It was fun being with some guys from school, and considering it was overcast and dreary outside, being inside watching some amazing badminton was pretty good.
Four more days with the kids, then a PD day and then a two week break. Looking forward to it. It has been an intense four months to say the least. I'll be heading to Cebu Philippines and I'll blog from there.
Till then Merry Christmas,
Dirk
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Biking Hong Kong Style
Hello Everyone,
Once upon a time just a few decades ago, the major mode of transportation for the average Chinese citizen was the bicycle. I think we have all seen the pictures, probably from National Geographic, of seemingly millions of Chinese riding on those commie, black standard issue bicycles to work on a collective farm or to attend the latest Communist rally. Just kidding, I think. Hong Kong, for a good chunk of its history, was a British colony until 1996 when it was turned over to China and became officially known as Hong Kong S.A.R (Special Administrative Region). Which means as long as Hong Kong is generating money for the "communist" government they'll be given special status. So the communist government encourages capitalism and has declared that wealth is glorious. Wait I thought communism was all about government control and sharing the wealth? Ok, I am digressing a bit here. Needless to say Hong Kong has a lot of wealth, and needless to say there are a zillion cars here with the steering wheels on the wrong side and they drive on the left side of the road not the right…way. While Kowloon and Hong Kong are too congested with buildings, people and cars for biking to be feasible there are surprisingly good bike trails in the relatively new "subdivisions" if you can call a subdivision of 600.000 people a subdivision, of Sha Tin and Tai Po. Biking on these trails is interesting to say the least. The people and bikes you see reflect Hong Kong society. There are super high end bikes with super high end looking athletes down to old, must have come over from the mainland with their bikes built when Mao was in charge, wearing instead of helmets, straw hats, probably borrowed from someone working in a rice paddy, bikers to everything in between. Most Chinese don't bike very well and many don't seem to understand the concept of staying in the LEFT lane, like the car traffic, which is clearly marked by the way, in Chinese and English for those not proficient in Cantonese, such as me. Many wobble back and forth as they try to maintain balance, rolling all over the place and into areas that they should not like the left lane that I am obediently riding in. Coming up behind or in front of wobblers is never a happy time as you try to anticipate which way they are going to wobble to. Nevertheless, at least they are out there participating in one of the greatest physical activities ever invented. There are also some narly mountain bike trails, but I have to admit, they are so difficult, like a double black diamond run on a ski hill, they sap the joy out of biking. Hong Kong won a gold medal at the Asia games in mountain biking recently. Easy to understand considering the trails around here. So enjoy the pictures of my bike trip and I will check in next week. Oh by the way I was biking in my shirts and a thin soccer jersey. What is the date again? December 4. It is however supposed to get colder soon. Down to plus 17. Oh no, please fed ex extra large long underwear and a parka. And hurry! Sorry, the weather is so good no one talks about the weather. How do you know the weather is always good in an area? No one talks about it. It is really a non issue. And then there is Canada… Great place, great people always talking about the weather. There, did I save myself from you feeling pangs of animosity towards me?
Ok enough of that. God bless you all.
Adios,
Dirk
Once upon a time just a few decades ago, the major mode of transportation for the average Chinese citizen was the bicycle. I think we have all seen the pictures, probably from National Geographic, of seemingly millions of Chinese riding on those commie, black standard issue bicycles to work on a collective farm or to attend the latest Communist rally. Just kidding, I think. Hong Kong, for a good chunk of its history, was a British colony until 1996 when it was turned over to China and became officially known as Hong Kong S.A.R (Special Administrative Region). Which means as long as Hong Kong is generating money for the "communist" government they'll be given special status. So the communist government encourages capitalism and has declared that wealth is glorious. Wait I thought communism was all about government control and sharing the wealth? Ok, I am digressing a bit here. Needless to say Hong Kong has a lot of wealth, and needless to say there are a zillion cars here with the steering wheels on the wrong side and they drive on the left side of the road not the right…way. While Kowloon and Hong Kong are too congested with buildings, people and cars for biking to be feasible there are surprisingly good bike trails in the relatively new "subdivisions" if you can call a subdivision of 600.000 people a subdivision, of Sha Tin and Tai Po. Biking on these trails is interesting to say the least. The people and bikes you see reflect Hong Kong society. There are super high end bikes with super high end looking athletes down to old, must have come over from the mainland with their bikes built when Mao was in charge, wearing instead of helmets, straw hats, probably borrowed from someone working in a rice paddy, bikers to everything in between. Most Chinese don't bike very well and many don't seem to understand the concept of staying in the LEFT lane, like the car traffic, which is clearly marked by the way, in Chinese and English for those not proficient in Cantonese, such as me. Many wobble back and forth as they try to maintain balance, rolling all over the place and into areas that they should not like the left lane that I am obediently riding in. Coming up behind or in front of wobblers is never a happy time as you try to anticipate which way they are going to wobble to. Nevertheless, at least they are out there participating in one of the greatest physical activities ever invented. There are also some narly mountain bike trails, but I have to admit, they are so difficult, like a double black diamond run on a ski hill, they sap the joy out of biking. Hong Kong won a gold medal at the Asia games in mountain biking recently. Easy to understand considering the trails around here. So enjoy the pictures of my bike trip and I will check in next week. Oh by the way I was biking in my shirts and a thin soccer jersey. What is the date again? December 4. It is however supposed to get colder soon. Down to plus 17. Oh no, please fed ex extra large long underwear and a parka. And hurry! Sorry, the weather is so good no one talks about the weather. How do you know the weather is always good in an area? No one talks about it. It is really a non issue. And then there is Canada… Great place, great people always talking about the weather. There, did I save myself from you feeling pangs of animosity towards me?
Ok enough of that. God bless you all.
Adios,
Dirk
Friday, November 26, 2010
My Neighborhood
Hello,
Today I have a rather simple theme. I am going to talk about my neighbourhood! While this may not seem a big deal, my neighbourhood is rather unique. First of all it is right smack in Kowloon, one of the most densely populated places on earth. There are seven million people in the Hong Kong territory total, and Kowloon must have over half of them. Once in a while I am struck by how crowded the sidewalks are and how tight and narrow everything is in the stores, but I am getting used to it. To pack so many people in such a limited space, since Hong Kong is 70% natural, they have tons of high rises. Some are really high, high, high rises. Apartments are small and expensive. My little flat, 710 sq feet, actually one of the bigger ones around, can be bought for $350 000 Canadian. Rent is $2500 Canadian. You can buy or rent a decent house in Red Deer for that kind of money. But if you are careful, food and transportation are cheap. Buses, subways are less than a dollar as is the ferry to Hong Kong. Taxis cost two to five dollars for a fairly lengthy ride. A decent meal at a decent restaurant $4 or $5 dollars Canadian. My neighbourhood has plenty of restaurants, a laundry mat, 4 or 5 dollars for a heavy load, grocery stores and open air markets where you can find decent prices on many items. So except for the housing, you can, if you are careful live on the cheap. Yet there are plenty of high end stores especially over in Hong Kong.
Now back to the neighbourhood. Kowloon is noted for having several buildings built in the Bauhaus mode, which was popular in the 50's. Many of them are being torn down to be replaced by high end apartments. My neighbourhood is so typical of what is going on all over China. The economic boom has caused cities to become a mish mash of high end first world buildings, next to middle of the road structures, across the street from a slum. One building in my neighbourhood is first world on the ground level, middle class on the second floor and third world slum at the top. This mish mash of buildings and people, mainly chinese, mixed with indians (real ones from India) and the occasional white guy( me) makes my neighbourhood interesting. Yet there is a quaintness too. The vendors at the open air market know who I am and great me like an old friend, waitresses at the restaurant know me as well and great me with a smile and something in Chinese, I hope hello, its all kind of quaint now, but never boring. Yet, despite all the choas of my neighbourhood I feel quite safe. The police are always on patrol and people tend to be gracious and concerned about making a living rather than trying to mug you. So all in all a great place to be.
Till next time.
Adios,
Dirk
Today I have a rather simple theme. I am going to talk about my neighbourhood! While this may not seem a big deal, my neighbourhood is rather unique. First of all it is right smack in Kowloon, one of the most densely populated places on earth. There are seven million people in the Hong Kong territory total, and Kowloon must have over half of them. Once in a while I am struck by how crowded the sidewalks are and how tight and narrow everything is in the stores, but I am getting used to it. To pack so many people in such a limited space, since Hong Kong is 70% natural, they have tons of high rises. Some are really high, high, high rises. Apartments are small and expensive. My little flat, 710 sq feet, actually one of the bigger ones around, can be bought for $350 000 Canadian. Rent is $2500 Canadian. You can buy or rent a decent house in Red Deer for that kind of money. But if you are careful, food and transportation are cheap. Buses, subways are less than a dollar as is the ferry to Hong Kong. Taxis cost two to five dollars for a fairly lengthy ride. A decent meal at a decent restaurant $4 or $5 dollars Canadian. My neighbourhood has plenty of restaurants, a laundry mat, 4 or 5 dollars for a heavy load, grocery stores and open air markets where you can find decent prices on many items. So except for the housing, you can, if you are careful live on the cheap. Yet there are plenty of high end stores especially over in Hong Kong.
Now back to the neighbourhood. Kowloon is noted for having several buildings built in the Bauhaus mode, which was popular in the 50's. Many of them are being torn down to be replaced by high end apartments. My neighbourhood is so typical of what is going on all over China. The economic boom has caused cities to become a mish mash of high end first world buildings, next to middle of the road structures, across the street from a slum. One building in my neighbourhood is first world on the ground level, middle class on the second floor and third world slum at the top. This mish mash of buildings and people, mainly chinese, mixed with indians (real ones from India) and the occasional white guy( me) makes my neighbourhood interesting. Yet there is a quaintness too. The vendors at the open air market know who I am and great me like an old friend, waitresses at the restaurant know me as well and great me with a smile and something in Chinese, I hope hello, its all kind of quaint now, but never boring. Yet, despite all the choas of my neighbourhood I feel quite safe. The police are always on patrol and people tend to be gracious and concerned about making a living rather than trying to mug you. So all in all a great place to be.
Till next time.
Adios,
Dirk
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Amah Rock Lion Rock Hong Kong Soccer
Hello Everyone,
Had another interesting week here in, do I dare say, warm Hong Kong. My parents say it is rather cold and snowy back home. Here it was a little cooler today, the temperature plunged from plus 25 yesterday to plus 24. Oh no. Time to get the parka out. Christmas decorations went up at the school. At plus 25 or 24, with plants and trees green and blooming and kids and everyone wearing shorts it is hard to wrap Christmas around in my head. Christmas without snow and cold just doesn't seem right. I'll get over it. There I just did.
A little observation about how people handle the constant heat here. At school the kids always have a water bottle as do the teachers. Kids will literally fight over shady patches on the courtyard to play in during recess and gym. Kids stand in open doorways to get cool from the air conditioners blasting cool outside. Most kids here have zero concept of what a snowsuit is and none have worn mittens. Hmm. As for me I've worn my coat maybe twice, and taken it off within a few minutes. As for long pants, I may have worn them twice since I arrived. My legs are getting hairy and brown. Its rough.
On Wednesday night I went to see Hong Kong's national team (ranked 137 in the world, even lower than Canada) take on Paraguay ranked about 20th. The Hong Kong stadium is nice, but most Hong Kongers, stayed away and there may have been 2000 people in a 45 000 seat stadium. They obviously had no interest in watching a slaughter as the poor Hong Kong team got outclassed in every department and were destroyed 7-0 by Paraguay. The South Americans looked like men among boys vrs. Hong Kong. Yet, it was fun to watch Paraguay show off their skills. Their ball handling and passing was amazing and me and the other fans yelled our appreciation. In the second half I stood by the hardcore Hong Kong fan club. They cheered anytime their team gained possession of the ball, which was like 10% of the time. That was all they really had to cheer about. Kinda sad, but it was an experience.
On Friday morning under a blue sky and a calm plus 26 I led a grades 1-3 sportsday. This is November? It is summer, like the 10 days or so we get back home end of July or start of August. Oh yeah I already mentioned the weather, sorry I'll move onto my hike which I did today, Saturday November 20 on a rather crisp plus 24 day.
I first took the train to Lion Rock park and once there clambered through the lush green jungle up to Amah rock where several people were having lunch to the wild beat of Chinese folk music blaring through a transistor radio. That is weird. Many Chinese hike with a little radio blasting all the latest Cantonese hits. Talk about killing a mood, yet I have learned to move on quickly and am soon enveloped in the quiet of the dense forest. From Amah rock I climbed for about another half hour up to Lion Rock which dominates the skyline of Kowloon. There are great views from Lion Rock, too bad the air pollution was kind of thick today. Hopefully next time it will be clear. Most of the path today was a meticulously laid rock path, but up on the top near Lion Rock it was pretty steep and rough and the flimsy rope, I think it was a safety feature, to prevent you falling several hundred meters into the jungle, is what makes China so interesting. Some rules and some parts of it is so overdone, yet when you drive a car or climb up to certain areas on a hike it is wild and unregulated.
Nevertheless, and I hate to admit, but I am starting to like this hiking thing. It is really interesting here and the views are amazing. So for the next while until the weather gets hot and humid and the only thing you can really do outside is hang by a pool or laze at a beach I'm going exploring.
Have a great week everyone. Till then:
Adios,
Dirk
Had another interesting week here in, do I dare say, warm Hong Kong. My parents say it is rather cold and snowy back home. Here it was a little cooler today, the temperature plunged from plus 25 yesterday to plus 24. Oh no. Time to get the parka out. Christmas decorations went up at the school. At plus 25 or 24, with plants and trees green and blooming and kids and everyone wearing shorts it is hard to wrap Christmas around in my head. Christmas without snow and cold just doesn't seem right. I'll get over it. There I just did.
A little observation about how people handle the constant heat here. At school the kids always have a water bottle as do the teachers. Kids will literally fight over shady patches on the courtyard to play in during recess and gym. Kids stand in open doorways to get cool from the air conditioners blasting cool outside. Most kids here have zero concept of what a snowsuit is and none have worn mittens. Hmm. As for me I've worn my coat maybe twice, and taken it off within a few minutes. As for long pants, I may have worn them twice since I arrived. My legs are getting hairy and brown. Its rough.
On Wednesday night I went to see Hong Kong's national team (ranked 137 in the world, even lower than Canada) take on Paraguay ranked about 20th. The Hong Kong stadium is nice, but most Hong Kongers, stayed away and there may have been 2000 people in a 45 000 seat stadium. They obviously had no interest in watching a slaughter as the poor Hong Kong team got outclassed in every department and were destroyed 7-0 by Paraguay. The South Americans looked like men among boys vrs. Hong Kong. Yet, it was fun to watch Paraguay show off their skills. Their ball handling and passing was amazing and me and the other fans yelled our appreciation. In the second half I stood by the hardcore Hong Kong fan club. They cheered anytime their team gained possession of the ball, which was like 10% of the time. That was all they really had to cheer about. Kinda sad, but it was an experience.
On Friday morning under a blue sky and a calm plus 26 I led a grades 1-3 sportsday. This is November? It is summer, like the 10 days or so we get back home end of July or start of August. Oh yeah I already mentioned the weather, sorry I'll move onto my hike which I did today, Saturday November 20 on a rather crisp plus 24 day.
I first took the train to Lion Rock park and once there clambered through the lush green jungle up to Amah rock where several people were having lunch to the wild beat of Chinese folk music blaring through a transistor radio. That is weird. Many Chinese hike with a little radio blasting all the latest Cantonese hits. Talk about killing a mood, yet I have learned to move on quickly and am soon enveloped in the quiet of the dense forest. From Amah rock I climbed for about another half hour up to Lion Rock which dominates the skyline of Kowloon. There are great views from Lion Rock, too bad the air pollution was kind of thick today. Hopefully next time it will be clear. Most of the path today was a meticulously laid rock path, but up on the top near Lion Rock it was pretty steep and rough and the flimsy rope, I think it was a safety feature, to prevent you falling several hundred meters into the jungle, is what makes China so interesting. Some rules and some parts of it is so overdone, yet when you drive a car or climb up to certain areas on a hike it is wild and unregulated.
Nevertheless, and I hate to admit, but I am starting to like this hiking thing. It is really interesting here and the views are amazing. So for the next while until the weather gets hot and humid and the only thing you can really do outside is hang by a pool or laze at a beach I'm going exploring.
Have a great week everyone. Till then:
Adios,
Dirk
Saturday, November 13, 2010
I actually do work
Hello,
Believe it or not, even though the blog might give you a different impression, I do spend the majority of my time here in Hong Kong going to work at the Christian Alliance International School. As with any new job there has been challenges figuring out school protocol, organizing and planning classes, deadlines, getting to know the kids, establishing routines, etc etc. Yet slowly things are starting to settle and time, like in any school year, moves along quite briskly. For the first time in a long while I am teaching straight physical education. I even have a title: Physical Education Director. Not only do I teach full time PE, but I also am to promote it, run school wide sportdays, get equipment, and make sure the other PE teachers are aware of what the Alberta PE curriculum expects. I also do some coaching. It is a pretty busy job, but CAIS has given me quite a few prep periods so for the most part I can manage most of my duties during a regular school day without going overtime. Pretty good. CAIS runs on a six day cycle.
On days one, three, and five I start out my day with the grade 10's, followed by two kindergarten classes, then grade 7, a decent break, followed by two more kindergarten classes and ending with PE20 grade which is made of grade 11,12 students. What is the difference between kindergarten and PE 20 classes you ask? Besides an obvious size difference, not much. Everyone needs to be managed and inspired somehow. On days two, four, six, I run a grade 9 class, nice break, grade 7, grade 2, then two grade one classes. The grade 2 and grade 1 classes are at another campus, due to the fact that the main campus is filled to capacity. Except for the grade 2 class, which has way too many difficult kids, the rest are relatively easy and fun. As far as facilities go CAIS is not that great. It is all outside, which can be difficult when it is hot or the air pollution is bad or when it rains. When it rains we have to go into the dining hall, move the tables and play floorhockey or other games. Not great. Yet, we manage and the kids, like all kids, love PE and we have fun.
The staff at CAIS is interesting. A wide spectrum of Christian views, fundamental to more liberal are represented. Yet, the morning devotions and prayer times that we have with each other at 7:40 am every day! are always good and gets us in the right frame of mind.
Classes start at 8:10 and go to 3:40. It is a long day, but we get a little fall break at the end of October, Christmas 2 weeks, Chinese New Years 10 days, end of January, Easter 10 days, plus a week off for discovery days where the kids from the higher grades and teachers travel to different parts of the world. Some are going to Africa and Russia. I am staying here cause some kids can't afford or want to go any where and am offering a Discover Hong Kong Sports week. I'll be taking kids biking, windsurfing, body boarding, and on a survival course on a little island nearby. Not bad.
In a few years CAIS will be moving to a brand new multimillion dollar campus which will include three inside gyms, a swimming pool, theatre, soccer pitch, etc etc. Right now the population at the school is @500 kids, the new place will accomodate 1500. Who is paying for this you ask. The school board is run by a billionaire who is very supportive of CAIS. I'm booked here for two years and so we will see, if they want to keep me, I may be in for a tough decision. But till then I will keep pressing forward, grateful for the job I have and trying to enjoy every moment in this strange, but interesting place.
Finally, I went for another bike hike up to Kowloon Hills and came across some wild monkeys. I also got some great views.
Till next time.
Dirk
Believe it or not, even though the blog might give you a different impression, I do spend the majority of my time here in Hong Kong going to work at the Christian Alliance International School. As with any new job there has been challenges figuring out school protocol, organizing and planning classes, deadlines, getting to know the kids, establishing routines, etc etc. Yet slowly things are starting to settle and time, like in any school year, moves along quite briskly. For the first time in a long while I am teaching straight physical education. I even have a title: Physical Education Director. Not only do I teach full time PE, but I also am to promote it, run school wide sportdays, get equipment, and make sure the other PE teachers are aware of what the Alberta PE curriculum expects. I also do some coaching. It is a pretty busy job, but CAIS has given me quite a few prep periods so for the most part I can manage most of my duties during a regular school day without going overtime. Pretty good. CAIS runs on a six day cycle.
On days one, three, and five I start out my day with the grade 10's, followed by two kindergarten classes, then grade 7, a decent break, followed by two more kindergarten classes and ending with PE20 grade which is made of grade 11,12 students. What is the difference between kindergarten and PE 20 classes you ask? Besides an obvious size difference, not much. Everyone needs to be managed and inspired somehow. On days two, four, six, I run a grade 9 class, nice break, grade 7, grade 2, then two grade one classes. The grade 2 and grade 1 classes are at another campus, due to the fact that the main campus is filled to capacity. Except for the grade 2 class, which has way too many difficult kids, the rest are relatively easy and fun. As far as facilities go CAIS is not that great. It is all outside, which can be difficult when it is hot or the air pollution is bad or when it rains. When it rains we have to go into the dining hall, move the tables and play floorhockey or other games. Not great. Yet, we manage and the kids, like all kids, love PE and we have fun.
The staff at CAIS is interesting. A wide spectrum of Christian views, fundamental to more liberal are represented. Yet, the morning devotions and prayer times that we have with each other at 7:40 am every day! are always good and gets us in the right frame of mind.
Classes start at 8:10 and go to 3:40. It is a long day, but we get a little fall break at the end of October, Christmas 2 weeks, Chinese New Years 10 days, end of January, Easter 10 days, plus a week off for discovery days where the kids from the higher grades and teachers travel to different parts of the world. Some are going to Africa and Russia. I am staying here cause some kids can't afford or want to go any where and am offering a Discover Hong Kong Sports week. I'll be taking kids biking, windsurfing, body boarding, and on a survival course on a little island nearby. Not bad.
In a few years CAIS will be moving to a brand new multimillion dollar campus which will include three inside gyms, a swimming pool, theatre, soccer pitch, etc etc. Right now the population at the school is @500 kids, the new place will accomodate 1500. Who is paying for this you ask. The school board is run by a billionaire who is very supportive of CAIS. I'm booked here for two years and so we will see, if they want to keep me, I may be in for a tough decision. But till then I will keep pressing forward, grateful for the job I have and trying to enjoy every moment in this strange, but interesting place.
Finally, I went for another bike hike up to Kowloon Hills and came across some wild monkeys. I also got some great views.
Till next time.
Dirk
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Kowloon Hills
Hello Everyone,
Over the past two weeks two good friends of mine died, Doug H and Bernice K. I am sad and a little shocked about both. They both blessed me in their own unique ways and I will miss them.
Time is moving along quite quickly. There is talk of Christmas at the school, but it is hard to wrap your mind around the concept when the high today is 26 and all the trees are still green and lush. There are a few plants that have some yellow leaves on them, but it is certainly not like home. I had parent teacher interviews and spoke to quite a few junior high parents on how to motivate their kids to do better in PE. Parents of junior highs are the same all over the world, a little perplexed and not sure how to handle their young teenager. The only difference from the parents here to the parents back home: The parents back home speak English a little better.
Talking about home the school board of CAIS feted us teachers on Friday night at the posh Hong Kong Golf and Country club with a dinner buffet that included steak, fish, pork chops, veal, corn, potatoes, a wide variety of salads and scrumptious desserts. When your leaders feed you that well it is a pleasure to work hard for them.
Since the weather is getting a little cooler, the humidity is gone, praise the Lord, and it is now @ 25 instead of @35 I went hiking up a small mountain called Kowloon Hills that I can see from my bedroom window. It took me about twenty minutes to bike to the base of this little mountain. The narrow road leading up to the peak was called Lung Yan Road, which translated probably means; "Cough up a lung road," cause it was steep and nasty. I am not much of a hiker, but I enjoyed the quiet, the lush semi-tropical forest, and the fresh air which had the mild scent of a tropical green house back home, of course.
It was a rewarding hike, too bad the air pollution over the city was bad because there were some spectacular views. The hike is also famous for monkeys. There are supposed to be hundreds of them lurking in the forest, but all I saw were some stray dogs.
Anyways I enjoyed my little adventure so much that I plan to bike hike or just hike next week. The British did a good thing, putting trails throughout the wilds of Hong Kong. Yeah I really like it here. I thought Hong Kong was just a big city, but it is so much more. Seventy percent of it is natural and so there are lots of trails, jungles, and beaches to explore yet.
Well have a great seven days and I will try to post something next week.
Adios and much love,
Dirk
Over the past two weeks two good friends of mine died, Doug H and Bernice K. I am sad and a little shocked about both. They both blessed me in their own unique ways and I will miss them.
Time is moving along quite quickly. There is talk of Christmas at the school, but it is hard to wrap your mind around the concept when the high today is 26 and all the trees are still green and lush. There are a few plants that have some yellow leaves on them, but it is certainly not like home. I had parent teacher interviews and spoke to quite a few junior high parents on how to motivate their kids to do better in PE. Parents of junior highs are the same all over the world, a little perplexed and not sure how to handle their young teenager. The only difference from the parents here to the parents back home: The parents back home speak English a little better.
Talking about home the school board of CAIS feted us teachers on Friday night at the posh Hong Kong Golf and Country club with a dinner buffet that included steak, fish, pork chops, veal, corn, potatoes, a wide variety of salads and scrumptious desserts. When your leaders feed you that well it is a pleasure to work hard for them.
Since the weather is getting a little cooler, the humidity is gone, praise the Lord, and it is now @ 25 instead of @35 I went hiking up a small mountain called Kowloon Hills that I can see from my bedroom window. It took me about twenty minutes to bike to the base of this little mountain. The narrow road leading up to the peak was called Lung Yan Road, which translated probably means; "Cough up a lung road," cause it was steep and nasty. I am not much of a hiker, but I enjoyed the quiet, the lush semi-tropical forest, and the fresh air which had the mild scent of a tropical green house back home, of course.
It was a rewarding hike, too bad the air pollution over the city was bad because there were some spectacular views. The hike is also famous for monkeys. There are supposed to be hundreds of them lurking in the forest, but all I saw were some stray dogs.
Anyways I enjoyed my little adventure so much that I plan to bike hike or just hike next week. The British did a good thing, putting trails throughout the wilds of Hong Kong. Yeah I really like it here. I thought Hong Kong was just a big city, but it is so much more. Seventy percent of it is natural and so there are lots of trails, jungles, and beaches to explore yet.
Well have a great seven days and I will try to post something next week.
Adios and much love,
Dirk
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Guilin
Hello Everyone,
It has been a while, but it is time to get the ole rice chronicles going again. Talking about rice I finally saw a real, live rice paddy, but I'm getting a way head of myself. I had three days off, Wednesday to Friday, which including the weekend makes 5 sweet days off. No one knows why we got those three days off, but I don't really care.
I flew to Guilin, China on Tuesday night after school. Guilin is about an hour and twenty minutes plane ride straight west from Hong Kong. It is a region in China famous for its magnificent scenery. It has several smallish mountains covered by trees that are all quite beautiful. Before I left I squeezed in a coat, just in case. I did not believe I would need it considering Guilin is sub tropical like Hong Kong but I am glad I did. It was plus 10 when I got there, which back home is nothing, actually ok, but after experincing 8 weeks of plus 25-35 weather in Hong Kong I went into a bit of shock. It felt really cold. Thankfully, the coat saved the day.
The actual city of Guilin, about 500,000 people, is considered, when compared to other cities in China, like a small village. I found the traffic incredible. Two lanes were for cars and vehicles of every description, while a third lane was for bikes and mopeds. There were thousands of them. Most people did not wear helmets, some wore goofy looking hardhats, and many riders had little kids squeezed on the back or front. Street crossings were shared by pedestrians, mopeds, and bikes. I got involved in one of those crossings and it was crazy as bikes and mopeds of all shapes and sizes swirled by me.
Guilin, like all Chinese cities, is a mish-mash of first world excellence mixed in with some middle class buildings and third world slums. On one corner you can have this rustic vender selling soup in a ragged looking hole in the wall for next to nothing and across the street is a KFC selling food for 10 times the amount. This kind of thing was everywhere in Guilin, and really it is like that in Hong Kong, but it just seemed more extreme in Guilin. Nevertheless the people seemed happy, and even though most hardly knew English they were quite friendly and most seemed to be awed by my height.
On my first day in Guilin I hired a taxi driver to be my tour guide for the day. It cost me about $35 Canadian which I thought was ok. My new buddy called himself Lee as in Bruce Lee, did not know a word of English, but we had an English/Chinese travel brochure with pictures and I just pointed to where I wanted to go. My first stop was the Reed Flute Cave. Myself and this English backpacker were the only non natives taking the tour, but the guide after talking to the 20 or so Chinese would then talk to us in English. The cave itself was impressive, but the Chinese have a way of overdoing things. Think tacky. There were colored lights everywhere and it somehow took away from the sheer natural wonder of the cave. The middle of the cave was really impressive, but when they did this cosmic light show to Chinese opera music and then had a bubble machine cascading hundreds of soap bubbles throughout the cave I nearly gagged at the sheer tackiness of it all. The tour guide kept saying its beautiful, its beautiful, I lied by nodding my head yes, but inside I was cringing. Nevertheless the cave was impressive and we will put the garish light show down as a cultural experience.
From there I had lunch with Lee. Duck, pork and rice. Was tasty and very good. From there I went to visit two mini mountains in the middle of the city. They were impressive and kind of dangerous. The lack of safety standards on those hills in terms of no railings and how steep the steps were is just another shred of evidence that China is indeed a developing nation albeit a very rich one.
After Lee dropped me off at the hotel I watched some NBA basketball,LA Lakers vrs. the Houston Rockets. The Rockets have a Chinese hero on their team Yau Ming and of course the announcers voices, even though I could not understand a word, would go higher every time Mr. Ming touched the ball. Basketball is a huge sport here in China, right up there with Ping Pong and soccer.
The next morning I grudgingly got on a tour bus and was assigned with several other bemused tourists from der Vaterland (Germany) Switzerland, Austria, and the good ole US of A, to a group led by a Chinese girl named Cherry. We became known as the Panda group and Cherry even gave us a sticker so we could remember who we were. My stupid sticker fell off within five minutes so I nearly forgot I was a Panda, but Cherry had a big flag with a Panda on it so, like my coat, that saved the day for me.
The bus rattled along for about a half an hour and so did Cherry filling our minds with inane facts about Guilin and the rules that we were to abide by. A German snickered behind during Cherry's lecture and said in his native tongue, "I came to China for a tour, but instead I am in the Panda kindergarten mit my new teacher Cherry."
Finally the bus stopped at a depot by the Li river. We were herded into this depot and were instantly assaulted by vendors yelling, "Memory cards, memory cards, get your memory cards." They were postcards actually. The depot was filled with useless junk, the worst being these giant paintings of nude Chinese women. Who in their right mind would try to sell paintings like that to tourists about to embark on a four and a half hour boat cruise. Like some idiot is going to buy one of those things and carry it on the boat, "hey look at this great souvenir I bought, I think its just perfect for the outhouse back home in Hicksville, Kansas. Ok, ok, I know, don't judge the culture, be open, blah blah blah.
Anyways, me, Cherry and the rest of us Pandas got onto barge 27 and I got to sit with Amy and Lowell and their three red headed kids from California. They were great. Lowell had been assigned by his company in the US to Beijing for a year to learn Manderin. Anyways, Cherry got busy putzing around with some other Pandas and for the next 4 and a half hours barge 27 in a convoy of other barges slowly meandered up the Li River past some very impressive scenery. We all had buffet lunch later on the boat and it was good. Most of the time was spent visiting, taking pictures and admiring God's handiwork. A small group of Chinese tourists on the boat insisted getting a picture with me. It was obvious that my size was impressive to them and we had fun getting our pictures taken. Pretty well every day I have some Chinese person stand beside me and look up with incredulity that a human can be so big. I say they are just small.
At the end of the trip we ended up in a town called Yuang zhou or something like that and got to tour some rice paddies where I promptly slipped and had my right shoe covered in mud. Nice. I also took a little ride on a bamboo raft, watched some lucky tourists feed some water buffalo, wow, the people handling the buffalo were way more interesting, and saw a cormorant bird catch a fish. The old chinese used to train these birds called cormorants to fish. By placing a ring at the base of the bird's neck it is impossible for them to swallow the fish. So we watched how that was done. Pretty good.
We were all driven back to our hotels later that night and I was pretty pooped. All that standing around, eating and kibbitzing and oh yeah taking pictures of marvelous scenery tuckered me out.
The next morning my faithful driver delivered me to the airport and was back "home" to Hong Kong later that day.
Yeah this touring thing is alright. Next trip is the Great Wall. I'll try writing next week.
Adios,
Dirk
It has been a while, but it is time to get the ole rice chronicles going again. Talking about rice I finally saw a real, live rice paddy, but I'm getting a way head of myself. I had three days off, Wednesday to Friday, which including the weekend makes 5 sweet days off. No one knows why we got those three days off, but I don't really care.
I flew to Guilin, China on Tuesday night after school. Guilin is about an hour and twenty minutes plane ride straight west from Hong Kong. It is a region in China famous for its magnificent scenery. It has several smallish mountains covered by trees that are all quite beautiful. Before I left I squeezed in a coat, just in case. I did not believe I would need it considering Guilin is sub tropical like Hong Kong but I am glad I did. It was plus 10 when I got there, which back home is nothing, actually ok, but after experincing 8 weeks of plus 25-35 weather in Hong Kong I went into a bit of shock. It felt really cold. Thankfully, the coat saved the day.
The actual city of Guilin, about 500,000 people, is considered, when compared to other cities in China, like a small village. I found the traffic incredible. Two lanes were for cars and vehicles of every description, while a third lane was for bikes and mopeds. There were thousands of them. Most people did not wear helmets, some wore goofy looking hardhats, and many riders had little kids squeezed on the back or front. Street crossings were shared by pedestrians, mopeds, and bikes. I got involved in one of those crossings and it was crazy as bikes and mopeds of all shapes and sizes swirled by me.
Guilin, like all Chinese cities, is a mish-mash of first world excellence mixed in with some middle class buildings and third world slums. On one corner you can have this rustic vender selling soup in a ragged looking hole in the wall for next to nothing and across the street is a KFC selling food for 10 times the amount. This kind of thing was everywhere in Guilin, and really it is like that in Hong Kong, but it just seemed more extreme in Guilin. Nevertheless the people seemed happy, and even though most hardly knew English they were quite friendly and most seemed to be awed by my height.
On my first day in Guilin I hired a taxi driver to be my tour guide for the day. It cost me about $35 Canadian which I thought was ok. My new buddy called himself Lee as in Bruce Lee, did not know a word of English, but we had an English/Chinese travel brochure with pictures and I just pointed to where I wanted to go. My first stop was the Reed Flute Cave. Myself and this English backpacker were the only non natives taking the tour, but the guide after talking to the 20 or so Chinese would then talk to us in English. The cave itself was impressive, but the Chinese have a way of overdoing things. Think tacky. There were colored lights everywhere and it somehow took away from the sheer natural wonder of the cave. The middle of the cave was really impressive, but when they did this cosmic light show to Chinese opera music and then had a bubble machine cascading hundreds of soap bubbles throughout the cave I nearly gagged at the sheer tackiness of it all. The tour guide kept saying its beautiful, its beautiful, I lied by nodding my head yes, but inside I was cringing. Nevertheless the cave was impressive and we will put the garish light show down as a cultural experience.
From there I had lunch with Lee. Duck, pork and rice. Was tasty and very good. From there I went to visit two mini mountains in the middle of the city. They were impressive and kind of dangerous. The lack of safety standards on those hills in terms of no railings and how steep the steps were is just another shred of evidence that China is indeed a developing nation albeit a very rich one.
After Lee dropped me off at the hotel I watched some NBA basketball,LA Lakers vrs. the Houston Rockets. The Rockets have a Chinese hero on their team Yau Ming and of course the announcers voices, even though I could not understand a word, would go higher every time Mr. Ming touched the ball. Basketball is a huge sport here in China, right up there with Ping Pong and soccer.
The next morning I grudgingly got on a tour bus and was assigned with several other bemused tourists from der Vaterland (Germany) Switzerland, Austria, and the good ole US of A, to a group led by a Chinese girl named Cherry. We became known as the Panda group and Cherry even gave us a sticker so we could remember who we were. My stupid sticker fell off within five minutes so I nearly forgot I was a Panda, but Cherry had a big flag with a Panda on it so, like my coat, that saved the day for me.
The bus rattled along for about a half an hour and so did Cherry filling our minds with inane facts about Guilin and the rules that we were to abide by. A German snickered behind during Cherry's lecture and said in his native tongue, "I came to China for a tour, but instead I am in the Panda kindergarten mit my new teacher Cherry."
Finally the bus stopped at a depot by the Li river. We were herded into this depot and were instantly assaulted by vendors yelling, "Memory cards, memory cards, get your memory cards." They were postcards actually. The depot was filled with useless junk, the worst being these giant paintings of nude Chinese women. Who in their right mind would try to sell paintings like that to tourists about to embark on a four and a half hour boat cruise. Like some idiot is going to buy one of those things and carry it on the boat, "hey look at this great souvenir I bought, I think its just perfect for the outhouse back home in Hicksville, Kansas. Ok, ok, I know, don't judge the culture, be open, blah blah blah.
Anyways, me, Cherry and the rest of us Pandas got onto barge 27 and I got to sit with Amy and Lowell and their three red headed kids from California. They were great. Lowell had been assigned by his company in the US to Beijing for a year to learn Manderin. Anyways, Cherry got busy putzing around with some other Pandas and for the next 4 and a half hours barge 27 in a convoy of other barges slowly meandered up the Li River past some very impressive scenery. We all had buffet lunch later on the boat and it was good. Most of the time was spent visiting, taking pictures and admiring God's handiwork. A small group of Chinese tourists on the boat insisted getting a picture with me. It was obvious that my size was impressive to them and we had fun getting our pictures taken. Pretty well every day I have some Chinese person stand beside me and look up with incredulity that a human can be so big. I say they are just small.
At the end of the trip we ended up in a town called Yuang zhou or something like that and got to tour some rice paddies where I promptly slipped and had my right shoe covered in mud. Nice. I also took a little ride on a bamboo raft, watched some lucky tourists feed some water buffalo, wow, the people handling the buffalo were way more interesting, and saw a cormorant bird catch a fish. The old chinese used to train these birds called cormorants to fish. By placing a ring at the base of the bird's neck it is impossible for them to swallow the fish. So we watched how that was done. Pretty good.
We were all driven back to our hotels later that night and I was pretty pooped. All that standing around, eating and kibbitzing and oh yeah taking pictures of marvelous scenery tuckered me out.
The next morning my faithful driver delivered me to the airport and was back "home" to Hong Kong later that day.
Yeah this touring thing is alright. Next trip is the Great Wall. I'll try writing next week.
Adios,
Dirk
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Body Boarding
Hello Everyone,
Rochelle is taking the week off so I'm taking a turn at providing some info for this blog. The heat and humidity have eased off somewhat. We're experiencing "fall". Temperatures are from 25-30 above rather than 30-35 with humidity so thick you walk 25 paces and you are drenched in sweat, now it takes 300-500 steps before this happens.
We're really enjoying the beach culture here and because it is such a novelty for us we will keep going till it cools down to 20? (maybe in December). We have found a beach called Big Wave Bay Beach and while it didn't really live up to its name last week it certainly did this week. We rented a body board for about 2 dollars canadian and took turns riding the waves. It was great fun. Going down some waves felt like sledding down a hill back home. Except a tad warmer.
We also did some mountain biking with friends on Friday October 1st, The People's Republic of China's 61st birthday, and it was quite challenging. Yet wheeling through a bamboo grove was pretty amazing. While it may sound we are on vacation please note most of these experiences occur only on weekends or holidays. We do some work during the week. Sure, sure… No really.
Anyways enjoy the pictures and I'm sure Rochelle will find something humerous and interesting to write for the chronicles next week.
Adios Dirk
Rochelle is taking the week off so I'm taking a turn at providing some info for this blog. The heat and humidity have eased off somewhat. We're experiencing "fall". Temperatures are from 25-30 above rather than 30-35 with humidity so thick you walk 25 paces and you are drenched in sweat, now it takes 300-500 steps before this happens.
We're really enjoying the beach culture here and because it is such a novelty for us we will keep going till it cools down to 20? (maybe in December). We have found a beach called Big Wave Bay Beach and while it didn't really live up to its name last week it certainly did this week. We rented a body board for about 2 dollars canadian and took turns riding the waves. It was great fun. Going down some waves felt like sledding down a hill back home. Except a tad warmer.
We also did some mountain biking with friends on Friday October 1st, The People's Republic of China's 61st birthday, and it was quite challenging. Yet wheeling through a bamboo grove was pretty amazing. While it may sound we are on vacation please note most of these experiences occur only on weekends or holidays. We do some work during the week. Sure, sure… No really.
Anyways enjoy the pictures and I'm sure Rochelle will find something humerous and interesting to write for the chronicles next week.
Adios Dirk
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Things One Gets Used To …. modified September 30th
I have been considering the things that seemed really weird when we first moved to Hong Kong but are now part of our life. One thing I have never talked about on this blog is laundry. First permit me to rant. Our washing machine is located where everyone's washing machine is located, below their stove top, as in, instead of their oven. This machine though hatched in Italy has to be the most useless piece of schiese on the planet. It uses no more than 250ml of water and slaps the clothes around for as long as you ask it without actually cleaning them. Your clothes become greyed and misshapen because of the "spin dryer" and then you must hang them in your bathroom to dry. With the relative humidity at 80% it takes 2 days for things to dry. And then the treat of all treats is that they are like cardboard. Towels as rough as sand paper. People solve this problem by pounding them on rock…oops different culture. People solve this problem by taking them to the cheap chinese laundry shops on the next block and chances are there will be one. They get them laundered by someone else. The other option for faster drying so they are a little less cardboard is hanging them on the balcony like the rest of the folks. Everyone has laundry hanging in various ways on their balcony. Even though it is prohibited in our complex because it brings down the property values haha everyone does it and we ourselves have 2 bars installed on our balcony to make it very convenient to hang clothes there. In poorer apartments people hang there clothes on a pole out the window. It is not uncommon to find underwear or shirts on the sidewalk having fallen down from a clothes line above. At first I thought this was odd now I am accustomed to it
Another thing is dogs and cats roaming aimlessly. They are never ferocious or obtrusive. Just there.
Another oddity is the number of older people who walk around in pijamas. These suits are seriously sold as pijamas in North America and I have seen men and women walking around in them- yup striped cotton pijamas.
Umbrellas are used to keep out the sun or rain so they are in use most all of the time. They add to the annoyance of short asians talking on cell phones by being right at eye level positioned to pierce your retina.
Live fish tanks on the streets, in markets, and outside restaurants with water a bubbling into them to keep the unsuspecting fish/shell fish alive long enough for you to pick them out for your dinner. These tanks have an odour as you walk by that I can no longer tolerate - initiate gag sequence alpha.
Yellow lights mean get ready to go they do not mean get ready to stop!
Living on the 47th floor. The view has become normal. Actually our building is so high and is such a distinctive feature on the landscape that when I am out on a run and find myself hopelessly lost I can just begin to run toward the light… I mean the towers. It is quite convenient.
Chop sticks - ahh yes. We have from the beginning eaten with chopsticks even though when we go into many restaurants the waiter automatically clears the chops sticks and little bowls and brings us plates and forks and knives. We always ask for the sticks back and have become quite proficient at their use. One night we were in a restaurant sharing a table for 6 with an elderly couple. This is also normal by the way. If you walk into a full restaurant the waiter will sit you with others. Anyway, this old couple was very chinese and very old and very a couple. She chewed him out and he mumbled yes dear I presumed. She watched me handle my chop sticks and then when she could no longer stand it proceeded to demonstrate how to better hold it. She ranted and quaked and I tried to do what she said. They ate their dinner with minimal bickering and a few complaints to the waitress and we left. Thank you Gramma Wong!
Little Buddhist Temples implanted into buildings, burning incense and sporting offerings such as 3 cups of tea no less and a pamelo or bananas or other fruit. They are on every corner so to speak and have been made as part of the design of the wall. They are as small as 1 foot high and 6 inches wide with a little alter and picture or symbol of some kind.
SARS masks: We in Canada have cough etiquite (sp) they have the same here except it involves washing hands like us and throwing tissues you cough at into the trash. What they add is if you have a respiratory infection you wear a surgical mask in public. So you see kids at 5 years old coming to school with a SARS mask on and it is hanging from one ear before 0750 a.m. You get used to seeing the people with the mask and I actually find myself flinching when someone hacks on the bus I am travelling in and does not even cover. Since the SARS scar they are quite vigilant here. So much so that each child has a temperature check each morning. The health department will close your school if you do not have a temperature check program . Each child exposes his or her forehead to the temperature monitor and their temperature is checked on the way in the door. If they have a reading or >38* degrees they stand aside and wait 10 minutes and check again. If they again have a temperature >38* they are sent home.
Arc welding in the market and mechanics working on cars or changing windshields on the street. The shops are so small that there is no room to perform these tasks so you can go to buy lettuce and find yourself on a desperate quest to not look at the light produced by the man welding in the next stall.
Well there you have it. I am used to being warm (30 degrees still but I don't want to rub it in) and seeing all of these wonderful things that Hong Kong has to offer. Rochelle
Another thing is dogs and cats roaming aimlessly. They are never ferocious or obtrusive. Just there.
Another oddity is the number of older people who walk around in pijamas. These suits are seriously sold as pijamas in North America and I have seen men and women walking around in them- yup striped cotton pijamas.
Umbrellas are used to keep out the sun or rain so they are in use most all of the time. They add to the annoyance of short asians talking on cell phones by being right at eye level positioned to pierce your retina.
Live fish tanks on the streets, in markets, and outside restaurants with water a bubbling into them to keep the unsuspecting fish/shell fish alive long enough for you to pick them out for your dinner. These tanks have an odour as you walk by that I can no longer tolerate - initiate gag sequence alpha.
Yellow lights mean get ready to go they do not mean get ready to stop!
Living on the 47th floor. The view has become normal. Actually our building is so high and is such a distinctive feature on the landscape that when I am out on a run and find myself hopelessly lost I can just begin to run toward the light… I mean the towers. It is quite convenient.
Chop sticks - ahh yes. We have from the beginning eaten with chopsticks even though when we go into many restaurants the waiter automatically clears the chops sticks and little bowls and brings us plates and forks and knives. We always ask for the sticks back and have become quite proficient at their use. One night we were in a restaurant sharing a table for 6 with an elderly couple. This is also normal by the way. If you walk into a full restaurant the waiter will sit you with others. Anyway, this old couple was very chinese and very old and very a couple. She chewed him out and he mumbled yes dear I presumed. She watched me handle my chop sticks and then when she could no longer stand it proceeded to demonstrate how to better hold it. She ranted and quaked and I tried to do what she said. They ate their dinner with minimal bickering and a few complaints to the waitress and we left. Thank you Gramma Wong!
Little Buddhist Temples implanted into buildings, burning incense and sporting offerings such as 3 cups of tea no less and a pamelo or bananas or other fruit. They are on every corner so to speak and have been made as part of the design of the wall. They are as small as 1 foot high and 6 inches wide with a little alter and picture or symbol of some kind.
SARS masks: We in Canada have cough etiquite (sp) they have the same here except it involves washing hands like us and throwing tissues you cough at into the trash. What they add is if you have a respiratory infection you wear a surgical mask in public. So you see kids at 5 years old coming to school with a SARS mask on and it is hanging from one ear before 0750 a.m. You get used to seeing the people with the mask and I actually find myself flinching when someone hacks on the bus I am travelling in and does not even cover. Since the SARS scar they are quite vigilant here. So much so that each child has a temperature check each morning. The health department will close your school if you do not have a temperature check program . Each child exposes his or her forehead to the temperature monitor and their temperature is checked on the way in the door. If they have a reading or >38* degrees they stand aside and wait 10 minutes and check again. If they again have a temperature >38* they are sent home.
Arc welding in the market and mechanics working on cars or changing windshields on the street. The shops are so small that there is no room to perform these tasks so you can go to buy lettuce and find yourself on a desperate quest to not look at the light produced by the man welding in the next stall.
Well there you have it. I am used to being warm (30 degrees still but I don't want to rub it in) and seeing all of these wonderful things that Hong Kong has to offer. Rochelle
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Mid-Autumn Festival and Other Oriental Anomalies
I blogged previously about the cheese of the decorations so please see the accompanying pictures. Also see the other new pictures we have posted.
Road writing: One picture is of words written on the road to tell you which way to look. This is strictly for foreigners who errantly think that cars would maybe stop for them if they were at a cross walk. Also for those of us who drive on the right i.e. correct side of the street. You are instructed to look left or right according to the flow of the one way street. You do so in order to see the colour of the car that will be hitting you immediately. Honestly they drive so fast around corners that I have been close to dead a couple times when I did not see the BMW rounding the bend. Seems like a "no brainer" but for us Canadians who think we have the right of way these signs have proven to be invaluable.
Moon Cakes: Pictured in the cheesy decoration pictures are moon cakes. These are sweet and rich treats sold only at this time of year. They have a salty egg yolk in the middle. The expensive ones contain 2. It is important to try these once… a second time is optional.
Trees: They have interesting roots and trees here. I think the reason why the roots grow this way is to fortify the tree against the typhoons and monsoons. There is a typhoon warning today. We have typhoon days here where we stay away from school just like snow days in Canada. The trees pictured here were at a beach we visited. They also are for strengthening each other.
Bank Elevator: Our bank is the HSBC. The first day we went there we went up stairs to get in and had to use the elevator to exit. To my amazement when the doors opened we were on the street outside, half the block away from where we went in. Unexpected and weird!
Dogs: We blogged about Lady being shaven but another doggie fact is that they are all over the place here, off leash just walking around bothering no one. I have never seen more placid dogs. One dog was being shaven in the middle of the sidewalk. He just laid there like a lamb to the slaughter… So strange the things you see here on the street.
Cardboard Ladies: There are old ladies who we thought were official paid "cleaners of the street". They well could be but they walk around with flatbed carts and collect cardboard and sweep the side walk. We are not sure if they are paid by the city or they collect the cardboard like street people in Canada collect bottles. Sometimes they take an old umbrella, put it over their chinese hat and have an instant shade tree to keep out the sun. These are just a few of the more interesting things we have seen so far. Rochelle
Road writing: One picture is of words written on the road to tell you which way to look. This is strictly for foreigners who errantly think that cars would maybe stop for them if they were at a cross walk. Also for those of us who drive on the right i.e. correct side of the street. You are instructed to look left or right according to the flow of the one way street. You do so in order to see the colour of the car that will be hitting you immediately. Honestly they drive so fast around corners that I have been close to dead a couple times when I did not see the BMW rounding the bend. Seems like a "no brainer" but for us Canadians who think we have the right of way these signs have proven to be invaluable.
Moon Cakes: Pictured in the cheesy decoration pictures are moon cakes. These are sweet and rich treats sold only at this time of year. They have a salty egg yolk in the middle. The expensive ones contain 2. It is important to try these once… a second time is optional.
Trees: They have interesting roots and trees here. I think the reason why the roots grow this way is to fortify the tree against the typhoons and monsoons. There is a typhoon warning today. We have typhoon days here where we stay away from school just like snow days in Canada. The trees pictured here were at a beach we visited. They also are for strengthening each other.
Bank Elevator: Our bank is the HSBC. The first day we went there we went up stairs to get in and had to use the elevator to exit. To my amazement when the doors opened we were on the street outside, half the block away from where we went in. Unexpected and weird!
Dogs: We blogged about Lady being shaven but another doggie fact is that they are all over the place here, off leash just walking around bothering no one. I have never seen more placid dogs. One dog was being shaven in the middle of the sidewalk. He just laid there like a lamb to the slaughter… So strange the things you see here on the street.
Cardboard Ladies: There are old ladies who we thought were official paid "cleaners of the street". They well could be but they walk around with flatbed carts and collect cardboard and sweep the side walk. We are not sure if they are paid by the city or they collect the cardboard like street people in Canada collect bottles. Sometimes they take an old umbrella, put it over their chinese hat and have an instant shade tree to keep out the sun. These are just a few of the more interesting things we have seen so far. Rochelle
Friday, September 10, 2010
I want to be China's first cream Baroness
I have figured out why china has no cheese! I was told before we left Canada that cheese was expensive in China. I ate a lot of cheese at home in Canada. I used to buy those 1 kg bricks weekly. I used cheese every day. You know those commercials that say: "Want your kids to leave home? Stop cooking with cheese!"? Well that was me. I just love cheese of every kind. I could never have fathomed the degree of scarcity of my favourite commodity as I am experiencing in this obviously foreign country.
In Hong Kong we shop at local stores called Vanguard or Park and Shop (although there is no parking anywhere near this store…Typical of Chinese to say one thing and do another). The only cheese I find here is those little cow cheeses and "cheese food slices". You know the ones where you drop one and leave it under the fridge till the next time you clean under there and the cheese slice in the plastic cover is just old but not mouldy? It looks and feels like the plastic that it is. Those are the only cheeses that I find in the stores. Speaking of dairy, I have also looked around for cream. Real cream to put in my coffee. They have milk, fortified milk, calcium enriched milk, low fat milk and chocolate milk, but is there cream? No. Where the "h" is all the cream in this place. If I could find this repository of cream I could be a rich woman. I would make cream and cheese popular!
I had to go to a British specialty shop to find cream. There I found coffee cream, clotted cream, sour cream, you name the kind of cream, these British people know their cream. They know that where there are cows and cow's milk there is cream! I like the Brits! But in Hong Kong regular people stores, not a chance! So no cream and no cheese…. hold it wait I have now found cheese! This week I have found cheese abounding! However it is not the edible kind.
In 10 days is the Harvest Festival. God knows why they would celebrate harvest when they have a 12 month growing season but whatever. Who am I to criticize a culture? Hey wait, I think I am just about to mock one; is that the same as criticizing? (I didn't know culture shock was gonna be so fun!) Anyway, in our apartment complex they have decorated for this celebration. They have tacky sparkling lights, mesh pink bunnies, pinata goldfish and red lanterns abounding. There is gold and red and moon cakes and christmas lights all mixed together in the cheezy-est display you could muster in your wildest nightmare. I am literally ready to lose my lunch (or supper which corresponds to the time of day I see this display more accurately although it does not sound as good) each time I enter the recreation area lobby where they have the most poignant display so far.
So I must retract my statement about not finding cheese in China. There is cheese, I am told, at all celebrations and this is just a first taste of the cheese to come. I have never seen cheesier decor. It is so cheesy it is hard to describe. I will try….. Barf.
Now if I could find the cream they are hoarding I could make some real cheese and these horrendous decorative outcroppings will become redundant because Hong Kong will have enough cheese without them. And I will be a rich baroness! with real cream in my coffee too!
Rochelle
In Hong Kong we shop at local stores called Vanguard or Park and Shop (although there is no parking anywhere near this store…Typical of Chinese to say one thing and do another). The only cheese I find here is those little cow cheeses and "cheese food slices". You know the ones where you drop one and leave it under the fridge till the next time you clean under there and the cheese slice in the plastic cover is just old but not mouldy? It looks and feels like the plastic that it is. Those are the only cheeses that I find in the stores. Speaking of dairy, I have also looked around for cream. Real cream to put in my coffee. They have milk, fortified milk, calcium enriched milk, low fat milk and chocolate milk, but is there cream? No. Where the "h" is all the cream in this place. If I could find this repository of cream I could be a rich woman. I would make cream and cheese popular!
I had to go to a British specialty shop to find cream. There I found coffee cream, clotted cream, sour cream, you name the kind of cream, these British people know their cream. They know that where there are cows and cow's milk there is cream! I like the Brits! But in Hong Kong regular people stores, not a chance! So no cream and no cheese…. hold it wait I have now found cheese! This week I have found cheese abounding! However it is not the edible kind.
In 10 days is the Harvest Festival. God knows why they would celebrate harvest when they have a 12 month growing season but whatever. Who am I to criticize a culture? Hey wait, I think I am just about to mock one; is that the same as criticizing? (I didn't know culture shock was gonna be so fun!) Anyway, in our apartment complex they have decorated for this celebration. They have tacky sparkling lights, mesh pink bunnies, pinata goldfish and red lanterns abounding. There is gold and red and moon cakes and christmas lights all mixed together in the cheezy-est display you could muster in your wildest nightmare. I am literally ready to lose my lunch (or supper which corresponds to the time of day I see this display more accurately although it does not sound as good) each time I enter the recreation area lobby where they have the most poignant display so far.
So I must retract my statement about not finding cheese in China. There is cheese, I am told, at all celebrations and this is just a first taste of the cheese to come. I have never seen cheesier decor. It is so cheesy it is hard to describe. I will try….. Barf.
Now if I could find the cream they are hoarding I could make some real cheese and these horrendous decorative outcroppings will become redundant because Hong Kong will have enough cheese without them. And I will be a rich baroness! with real cream in my coffee too!
Rochelle
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Kids, Smog, Lady, and Big Buddha
Hello everyone. This week was interesting in that it was the first full week of school and Rochelle got to meet her students. For me (Dirk) teaching PE outside, there is no gym at CAIS, can be a little challenging. The outside courtyard at the school is a large cement slab with basketball courts drawn on it. By early afternoon it is as hot as a frying pan. When it rains, and it did all day on Friday, the courtyard is slick as ice. Thankfully there is an air conditioned fitness room and an air conditioned dance studio that are kept at Saskatchewan winter temperature. It is a great relief for all. I had to laugh when kids at recess were trying to sneak into the fitness room from the outside to cool off. Back home it was exactly the same but for the opposite reason. Cold to hot.
Rochelle finds her students interesting to say the least. Almost all of them have had two years of kindergarten already. Almost all of them are Chinese, but most speak English quite well, some even with a proper English accent. A few can already read. So out goes the well thought out curriculum for this year. Rochelle works with a teacher named Helen who is from India. They are getting along great and Rochelle is happy to be working with her.
On Tuesday and Wednesday a weather system out in the Pacific caused the air pollution to be trapped over Hong Kong. Previous to that winds from the ocean had blown all the bad air to the mainland. Wow was it bad. The great views were obscured in a white haze, eyes and throats got sore. Terrible. Thankfully Typhoon "Liongate" blew some rain and wind in and by Saturday morning things were clearing up.
On Saturday morning Rochelle and I embarked on a journey to see the Big Buddha. When we got out of our tower there was a Sheltie, that looked a lot like Lady, to greet us. This Sheltie had mercifully been shaved, due to the extreme Hong Kong heat a normal thick furred Sheltie would have melted. The only fur left on the Sheltie was a lions mane. We thought of our own Lady and had a little laugh thinking how we would have had to shave her if she had been here. It was bittersweet.
The Big Buddha was interesting. Buddhism is kind of crazy to me. Buddhists are trying to reach the state of Nirvana, which basically means completely dead. Buddhists believe in reincarnation so if we don't get it right, that is enlightenment and perfection, we come back and back never dying always suffering until maybe we reach this state of enlightenment and really die and get to Nirvana. Let me just say that a merciful God who forgives sin and promises sweet heaven if we just trust Him is much more appealing to me.
Nevertheless the journey to the Buddha on a 5 km long cable car over a river and some mountains, naturally air conditioned by the way, it said so in the brochure, was very cool. The Disneyland like atmosphere by the Buddha, shops, shows and fake monuments to Buddhism was kind of interesting. The actual Buddha is pretty amazing, although seeing the swastika on the Buddha, which the Nazis copied (stole) from Buddhism for their own symbol, was rather weird to see. The nature around the Buddha was great and we took a walk along the "wisdom trail. " It went through a jungle and it was quiet and smelled great. Ahh. We came out to these wooden pillars. Not sure what they mean but they were interesting. The view was spectacular. Mountains, waterfalls, and jungles, it was all very serene, compared to the madness that is Kowloon.
I'm looking forward to when it starts cooling down a bit here and exploring the 100's of kms of trails that criss-cross throughout the Hong Kong territory.
Finally, I went to a church that was both in English and Chinese. They sang familiar worship songs in Chinese first, then would switch to English half way through. Was great to see how the Chinese enjoyed worship. The sermon itself was first said in Chinese and then translated into English. A little ponderous, a 20 minute sermon stretched into 40, but it was good.
Rochelle is spending Sunday afternoon clothes shopping with a teacher from CAIS whose mother was a fashion designer. This teacher is an expert when it comes to clothes. There are a lot of great clothing shops here in Hong Kong. Should be interesting to see what Rochelle brings home.
God bless you all. Till next time
Rochelle finds her students interesting to say the least. Almost all of them have had two years of kindergarten already. Almost all of them are Chinese, but most speak English quite well, some even with a proper English accent. A few can already read. So out goes the well thought out curriculum for this year. Rochelle works with a teacher named Helen who is from India. They are getting along great and Rochelle is happy to be working with her.
On Tuesday and Wednesday a weather system out in the Pacific caused the air pollution to be trapped over Hong Kong. Previous to that winds from the ocean had blown all the bad air to the mainland. Wow was it bad. The great views were obscured in a white haze, eyes and throats got sore. Terrible. Thankfully Typhoon "Liongate" blew some rain and wind in and by Saturday morning things were clearing up.
On Saturday morning Rochelle and I embarked on a journey to see the Big Buddha. When we got out of our tower there was a Sheltie, that looked a lot like Lady, to greet us. This Sheltie had mercifully been shaved, due to the extreme Hong Kong heat a normal thick furred Sheltie would have melted. The only fur left on the Sheltie was a lions mane. We thought of our own Lady and had a little laugh thinking how we would have had to shave her if she had been here. It was bittersweet.
The Big Buddha was interesting. Buddhism is kind of crazy to me. Buddhists are trying to reach the state of Nirvana, which basically means completely dead. Buddhists believe in reincarnation so if we don't get it right, that is enlightenment and perfection, we come back and back never dying always suffering until maybe we reach this state of enlightenment and really die and get to Nirvana. Let me just say that a merciful God who forgives sin and promises sweet heaven if we just trust Him is much more appealing to me.
Nevertheless the journey to the Buddha on a 5 km long cable car over a river and some mountains, naturally air conditioned by the way, it said so in the brochure, was very cool. The Disneyland like atmosphere by the Buddha, shops, shows and fake monuments to Buddhism was kind of interesting. The actual Buddha is pretty amazing, although seeing the swastika on the Buddha, which the Nazis copied (stole) from Buddhism for their own symbol, was rather weird to see. The nature around the Buddha was great and we took a walk along the "wisdom trail. " It went through a jungle and it was quiet and smelled great. Ahh. We came out to these wooden pillars. Not sure what they mean but they were interesting. The view was spectacular. Mountains, waterfalls, and jungles, it was all very serene, compared to the madness that is Kowloon.
I'm looking forward to when it starts cooling down a bit here and exploring the 100's of kms of trails that criss-cross throughout the Hong Kong territory.
Finally, I went to a church that was both in English and Chinese. They sang familiar worship songs in Chinese first, then would switch to English half way through. Was great to see how the Chinese enjoyed worship. The sermon itself was first said in Chinese and then translated into English. A little ponderous, a 20 minute sermon stretched into 40, but it was good.
Rochelle is spending Sunday afternoon clothes shopping with a teacher from CAIS whose mother was a fashion designer. This teacher is an expert when it comes to clothes. There are a lot of great clothing shops here in Hong Kong. Should be interesting to see what Rochelle brings home.
God bless you all. Till next time
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Bok Choy, Suey Choy..... Choy Choy- Food in Hong Kong
The markets and restaurants here will amaze you. First we can tackle showing/telling you about the restaurants. There are the most per capita of any place in the world.There have to be at least 3-4 on every street. Some are big, some very small and all of them with menus you can not read. Occasionally the menus are on the wall and you can point. Other times the english menus get pulled out and you try to figure out what they mean. Last night Dirk ordered squid and got cold rubber bands in a pickley kind of sauce. I had wonton soup. Great except the menu said fried noodles on top and they were not. We have had great cheap food though at the night market. Anyone who comes here will be treated to the night market. That will be a blog post in the future. The food in general I would say is quite bland. It is difficult to find tasty treats that are not simple spice hot. Hot does not mean taste in my books but we are new at this and do not know yet how to order or what to look for.
The market has lots of food at cheap prices and lots of people buying it. We have a market around the corner that we get veggies for salad- something that is never on a chinese menu- and fruits which are in abundance. There are ducks with their heads on fully cooked, of course, and live fish and frogs for the killing on the spot. There are weird fruit that you have never seen or at least I haven't and they taste like nothing. Please let the pictures speak the thousand words you will say after you see them.
The market has lots of food at cheap prices and lots of people buying it. We have a market around the corner that we get veggies for salad- something that is never on a chinese menu- and fruits which are in abundance. There are ducks with their heads on fully cooked, of course, and live fish and frogs for the killing on the spot. There are weird fruit that you have never seen or at least I haven't and they taste like nothing. Please let the pictures speak the thousand words you will say after you see them.
No Need for TV
We have no TV. We rely on the computer for talking to family and for entertainment. When that gets boring there is one activity that is sure to please. It happens all over China and never seems to get old. Just walk outside and begin to read. T-shirts are popular especially if they have English on them, and the billboards often have chinese and English titles. The t-shirts often just have grouped letters that say absolutely nothing or some words that are words that do not belong together. Other times it is obvious they are copying english words and don't get the letters right. Here is a list of some doozers:
T-shirts: (on middle aged woman walking with husband) Keep pumpin' Good Lovin'
(") F__ __ K School
Some days it's not worth chewing through the restraints (Rochelle's personal favorite)
I Love Ou, baby
Keep Play
Yellow is the new black
I only sleep with the best
Sign on Dirk's Office Door (this is an English School): PHYSICAI EDUCATION ( I naturally fixed the "I" to make an "L"! Not sure why no one cared enough to fix it before I came along. It's an old sign!
Newspaper head-line: Gome Shares hit as battle for control hots up
Store Billboards: Sportful Garden Restaurant
Gamen On
Funful Kindergarten
Pamphlet advertising our building complex: "Skycraping (sic) Achievement Above Ascendency"
Sign: No illegal parking vehicles will be prosecuted without advance notice.
The fun just never ends. See t-shirt at bottom of page. -Rochelle
Chinese People
Hong Kong is a very international place. There are people from all over the world who work and live here. Yet there are sections of Kowloon, where we live, which is 99% Chinese. So far we have not encountered even a whiff of racism, the people here acknowledge us with shy smiles, a greeting, usually in English, or a polite head nod. In general the Chinese we have met so far are very kind and gracious. Yesterday Rochelle and I inadvertently became part of a scavenger hunt for a University group doing their first week of orientation. They had to take a picture of a foreigner and so we were it. That was fun being surrounded by 25 Chinese kids in their uniforms. Here are some of our insights about the Chinese:
Kids learn English at a very young age. We met little Bianca, couldn't be more than 3, with her mom on the Sky Tower elevator. Bianca said hello in English and said her name was Bianca. Then she asked my name. She had a little trouble with Dirk but got it on the third try. Very cute. Most Chinese adopt an English name that is kind of similar to their Chinese name. Fu yun becomes Fanny for example. Some of the English names are kind of weird though: Bosco, Winkie, and Garfield(a girl's name) just wouldn't go over very well in Canada.
Chinese are loud. When they get together they are very boisterous and LOUD. Not really emotional like the Italians but loud nevertheless. It is probably because there are so many of them.
There are lots of Chinese. The streets are packed with them. We went to a district in Kowloon called Mon Kok which has a night market. Kinda like the Red Deer Farmer's market, but way bigger and its every day at night. Hence the name. Apparentely Mon Kok is the most crowded spot on earth. Wall to wall people. Yet, people are calm and gracious and even though we were slightly jostling each other people didn't get upset.
Umbrellas! When it rains it pours here. We got caught in the rain once and were drenched in a second. Felt good though like a luke warm shower. Umbrellas are also used when its hot as a shield against the sun. I don't have an umbrella yet, my baseball cap will do, but I saw a cool army umbrella the other day. Maybe.
The contrast between the old Chinese and the young is jarring. The old gather in parks at 6:00 am to do Tai Chi. Some do it with fans or swords. The young meanwhile show up @ 7 to play basketball or soccer. They are the big two sports @ here. The old have no use for computers or anything electronic, the young are glued to their Blackberries, even while they are walking on the street.
This contrast is also evident in the buildings. We live in a very modern building but right next to it is a run down street with an open air market just like from 100 years ago. We enjoy a lovely swimming pool, but overlooking it is a run down apartment block. Yet, despite the obvious socio economic differences here there doesn't seem to be any tension. People go about their business either making big bucks in an ultra modern first world sky scraper or just a block away eking out a living repairing shoes or selling fish in an open air market. Of course most are somewhere in between, but it makes the city very interesting and vibrant.
Uniforms. The Chinese love their uniforms. It starts early. From Kindergarten to grade 12 everyone has to wear a uniform. And if you are a business man or woman only a formal dark suit will do. I think its ok. It keeps envy and the petty, "keep up with the Jonses" nonsense that is evident back home to a minimum.
The Chinese are short. Duh. Upon our arrival in Hong Kong we were ushered onto a shuttle bus. The seats, according to North American standards, would have been comfortable for grade fivers. My seat barely had room for one cheek and as for leg room? Well my knees were basically @ my ears when I sat down. The subways barely have clearance for my crewcut. One Chinese kid couldn't stop staring and smiling as he saw me standing there like a giraffe amongst gophers. Even stairs are narrow and small so it feels like you are tap dancing uphill when you use them.
The Chinese do look different! That sounds kind of racist, but one teacher told us of a Chinese kid who said all white people look the same. Well they are starting to. They all look big, cumbersome, and pale. With a low fat diet; constant heat and humidity that melts any access fat away; and the constant Tai Chi plus basketball keeps most Chinese pretty slim. Sure a lot of the Chinese are slender due to genetics, but we're eating less here, probably because we don't need the extra calories to ward off any cold.
Most Chinese walk or take the public transport to get around. This also keeps them fit. There are a lot of cars here but we have noticed that they are all very new, very nice, and mainly German. So that gives you an indication who can afford to drive. We've yet to see a rust bucket or a pick up. Our cars back home would not have passed Hong Kong standards.
Finally one last interesting thing. When the Chinese give you something, like a card, money, or object they give it to you with both hands. It is impolite to give something with one hand. This is taking some getting used to but when we remember the Chinese are always very grateful that you are respecting their traditions.
Enjoy the pictures. Till next time!
Dirk and Rochelle
Kids learn English at a very young age. We met little Bianca, couldn't be more than 3, with her mom on the Sky Tower elevator. Bianca said hello in English and said her name was Bianca. Then she asked my name. She had a little trouble with Dirk but got it on the third try. Very cute. Most Chinese adopt an English name that is kind of similar to their Chinese name. Fu yun becomes Fanny for example. Some of the English names are kind of weird though: Bosco, Winkie, and Garfield(a girl's name) just wouldn't go over very well in Canada.
Chinese are loud. When they get together they are very boisterous and LOUD. Not really emotional like the Italians but loud nevertheless. It is probably because there are so many of them.
There are lots of Chinese. The streets are packed with them. We went to a district in Kowloon called Mon Kok which has a night market. Kinda like the Red Deer Farmer's market, but way bigger and its every day at night. Hence the name. Apparentely Mon Kok is the most crowded spot on earth. Wall to wall people. Yet, people are calm and gracious and even though we were slightly jostling each other people didn't get upset.
Umbrellas! When it rains it pours here. We got caught in the rain once and were drenched in a second. Felt good though like a luke warm shower. Umbrellas are also used when its hot as a shield against the sun. I don't have an umbrella yet, my baseball cap will do, but I saw a cool army umbrella the other day. Maybe.
The contrast between the old Chinese and the young is jarring. The old gather in parks at 6:00 am to do Tai Chi. Some do it with fans or swords. The young meanwhile show up @ 7 to play basketball or soccer. They are the big two sports @ here. The old have no use for computers or anything electronic, the young are glued to their Blackberries, even while they are walking on the street.
This contrast is also evident in the buildings. We live in a very modern building but right next to it is a run down street with an open air market just like from 100 years ago. We enjoy a lovely swimming pool, but overlooking it is a run down apartment block. Yet, despite the obvious socio economic differences here there doesn't seem to be any tension. People go about their business either making big bucks in an ultra modern first world sky scraper or just a block away eking out a living repairing shoes or selling fish in an open air market. Of course most are somewhere in between, but it makes the city very interesting and vibrant.
Uniforms. The Chinese love their uniforms. It starts early. From Kindergarten to grade 12 everyone has to wear a uniform. And if you are a business man or woman only a formal dark suit will do. I think its ok. It keeps envy and the petty, "keep up with the Jonses" nonsense that is evident back home to a minimum.
The Chinese are short. Duh. Upon our arrival in Hong Kong we were ushered onto a shuttle bus. The seats, according to North American standards, would have been comfortable for grade fivers. My seat barely had room for one cheek and as for leg room? Well my knees were basically @ my ears when I sat down. The subways barely have clearance for my crewcut. One Chinese kid couldn't stop staring and smiling as he saw me standing there like a giraffe amongst gophers. Even stairs are narrow and small so it feels like you are tap dancing uphill when you use them.
The Chinese do look different! That sounds kind of racist, but one teacher told us of a Chinese kid who said all white people look the same. Well they are starting to. They all look big, cumbersome, and pale. With a low fat diet; constant heat and humidity that melts any access fat away; and the constant Tai Chi plus basketball keeps most Chinese pretty slim. Sure a lot of the Chinese are slender due to genetics, but we're eating less here, probably because we don't need the extra calories to ward off any cold.
Most Chinese walk or take the public transport to get around. This also keeps them fit. There are a lot of cars here but we have noticed that they are all very new, very nice, and mainly German. So that gives you an indication who can afford to drive. We've yet to see a rust bucket or a pick up. Our cars back home would not have passed Hong Kong standards.
Finally one last interesting thing. When the Chinese give you something, like a card, money, or object they give it to you with both hands. It is impolite to give something with one hand. This is taking some getting used to but when we remember the Chinese are always very grateful that you are respecting their traditions.
Enjoy the pictures. Till next time!
Dirk and Rochelle
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Beaches
One of the most surprising things about Hong Kong are the beaches. I had been under the false impression that Hong Kong was just a concrete jungle. Well there is plenty of concrete, steel, and glass here, but by using the excellent public transit system one can alight on a lovely, quiet, tropical beach within 45 minutes. We have explored three beaches out of the 150 that are around Hong Kong. All are very well maintained, clean with nice shady trees nearby, changing areas, and plenty of life guards perched high on watch towers. The water is clean, salty, and warm but great to swim in. A large shark net protects us from the wolves of the sea. Hong Kong has also lots of hiking trails through thick jungle. Once the humidity fades away in October and it cools down to plus 25, ewww frigid, we'll start exploring some of the hundreds of km of trails that, again, are relatively close by.
The peak is a must for anyone who comes to Hong Kong. Once you get past the five floors of tourist traps and pay a small fee $4.00 Canadian you come onto an observation deck with an incredible view of Hong Kong and Kowloon. We certainly were impressed, but we liked the back view the best. The South China sea and some of the islands that make up this archipelago can be seen. We also liked the public bus ride up to the peak. Great views, a harrowing scary trip on narrow roads made it very interesting. Finally we walked down from the peak through an interesting jungle. Very cool
The peak is a must for anyone who comes to Hong Kong. Once you get past the five floors of tourist traps and pay a small fee $4.00 Canadian you come onto an observation deck with an incredible view of Hong Kong and Kowloon. We certainly were impressed, but we liked the back view the best. The South China sea and some of the islands that make up this archipelago can be seen. We also liked the public bus ride up to the peak. Great views, a harrowing scary trip on narrow roads made it very interesting. Finally we walked down from the peak through an interesting jungle. Very cool
Sunday, August 22, 2010
55th floor is really only the 47th floor
We live on the 55th floor but technically we only live on the 47th floor because of the number 4. At home we have apartment buildings that do not include a 13th floor due to superstition. Here people are superstitious about the number 4. So most buildings exclude the 4th, 14th, 24th, 34th etc floor. The reason for this is because the number 4 in cantonese and mandarin sounds like the word death. In fact the difference is so subtle that I could not hear a difference. It is similar to us saying the words teeth and the word for when a baby is getting teeth we say they teeth. Or like us saying funnel and fennel but even more subtle.
In Kowloon where we live, the buildings did not get much higher than 20 floors because of the airport. Now that the airport has moved they are developing high buildings like ours. The developers would not normally include any floors with the #4 in them but now have decided it is not fair if some buildings include the 40s floors and some do not, so they are incuding them. However, the builders have drawn a line at the 40s and will not include 44. The floors deathy 0, deathy 1, deathy 2, deathy 3 are bad enough but deathy-death is out of the question. Who would live on a floor called deathy-death? So if you add 'em all up, our 55th floor is actually the deathy-7th floor!
In Kowloon where we live, the buildings did not get much higher than 20 floors because of the airport. Now that the airport has moved they are developing high buildings like ours. The developers would not normally include any floors with the #4 in them but now have decided it is not fair if some buildings include the 40s floors and some do not, so they are incuding them. However, the builders have drawn a line at the 40s and will not include 44. The floors deathy 0, deathy 1, deathy 2, deathy 3 are bad enough but deathy-death is out of the question. Who would live on a floor called deathy-death? So if you add 'em all up, our 55th floor is actually the deathy-7th floor!
Swimming at Sky Towers
The swimming pool at our apartment is amazing. It is a 24X20 meter pool.There is one lane roped off called the "circulate lane" where the obvious intention is that people do laps, but the Asians don't get the concept. At home in Canada there is a definite culture at the pool. Lane swimming is to be done in the lane roped off for that purpose. One swims to the other end on the right side then turns around and swims on the right side on the way back so you are swimming essentially in a circle. Not here! Swim up the middle and run into people on the way there then swim up the middle on the way back and run into the same people till you get disgusted because they are so stupid and then you get out of the lane. Or actually "you" means they because I persist being the lane is labelled properly and I am bound and determined to circulate if it kills me! One lady who we will call perimeter lady chooses to swim the perimeter of the pool. She swims around the pool many times and is in the "circulate lane" 1/4 of her round. This would not be permitted in Canada but the life guards here say nothing.
In fact, they also do nothing. They read the paper until the first person walks by, on their way to the pool. Then they scurry to the pool's edge and resume reading their paper and books. There are 3 of them and they do not look up from their activities they are participating in as they cluster under the life guard chair. They do not walk around the pool nor are they alerted when someone is coughing. They have a great job...when they do it which brings up the other obstacle to swimming.
There are weather men here too who like to predict the weather. Here they call a thunderstorm alert, and when they do there is a sign to announce it at the entrance to our building. It is a big deal obviously. When a thunderstorm is announced immediately the pool is closed-for hours at a time- and our poor lifeguards have nothing to do but wait on call till the pool opens again. As long as the thunderstorm warning is in effect, the pool is closed regardless if the sun is shining or not. There could be a complete lack of rain let alone thunder but the pool remains faithfully closed. My life is once again governed by the weathermen. Gaaah!
In fact, they also do nothing. They read the paper until the first person walks by, on their way to the pool. Then they scurry to the pool's edge and resume reading their paper and books. There are 3 of them and they do not look up from their activities they are participating in as they cluster under the life guard chair. They do not walk around the pool nor are they alerted when someone is coughing. They have a great job...when they do it which brings up the other obstacle to swimming.
There are weather men here too who like to predict the weather. Here they call a thunderstorm alert, and when they do there is a sign to announce it at the entrance to our building. It is a big deal obviously. When a thunderstorm is announced immediately the pool is closed-for hours at a time- and our poor lifeguards have nothing to do but wait on call till the pool opens again. As long as the thunderstorm warning is in effect, the pool is closed regardless if the sun is shining or not. There could be a complete lack of rain let alone thunder but the pool remains faithfully closed. My life is once again governed by the weathermen. Gaaah!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Flat F 55/Floor Sky Tower Sung Wong Toi Road, Kowloon City, Kowloon Hong Kong
Living on the 55th floor is freaky at first because it is like living on the calgary tower, but what a view. The landscape stretches to the mountains beyond Victoria Bay. Hong Kong is a densely populated city with equally dense forest surrounding the populated areas. In our apartment complex there are 6 towers #12356&7. The Chinese word for 4 is so close to the word for death that they do not include building 4 or floors that have 4 in them except they draw the line at the 40th - 49th floor. The developers are deciding that excluding all of the 4 floors is crazy however they do exclude floor death/death ie: 44. They do exclude 14, 24, 34 ,44,54. So all that to say this: We actually live on the 47th floor. But there are only 3 floors above us and it is a very amazing view.
Our complex is only a couple of years old. Our apartment was bought by its owner for 2.2 million HK$: that is about $330,000.00 CDN. There are shiny tile floors and marble counters in the kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen is small but utilitarian. The main room has 2 Ikea chairs and a table with 4 chairs. There are 2 bedrooms with double beds in them. well let me explain. The rooms have window sills are 18 inches wide so we put the foot of the master bedroom bed against the sill and bought a mattress pad to extend over the sill and then Dirk's feet do not fall off the end of the bed. It extends the bed and then Dirk fits. Other apartments we looked at were cheaper and better set up but the beds ran across the 6' room and Dirk could not lay on them without hitting the wall. he is like a special needs kid- we modify the surroundings to suit his needs. Haha... anyway it is all working just grand. The other room had a single bed and we did the same thing. If you put the bed beside the window sill and extend a double mattress pad over the bed and part of the sill you make a new size- single becomes double. a set of double sheets and there you have it. All of the apartments have this window seat area- not sure why. Worked out marvelously with a little imagination.
There is a pool room, work out area, massage chairs, and common area for use for free. We pay a nominal fee $1.30-$2.00CDN for using the outdoor pool. It is apparently open May to October. It has a "Circulate Lane" which no-one circulates in. They just swim back and forth down the middle. Nice. The pool is surrounded by roman looking architecture, palm trees and spitting dolphins. It is resort like. Nice free lockers and showers.
The Sky Tower complex has door-persons/security and easy access to great shops and restaurant. The area has cheap food that tastes good and a daily outdoor market with fresh meat (will not buy) fresh fish (ditto) and live frogs for the buying (ditto). It is cheaper to eat out than to cook and so there will be minimal cooking in flat F 55.
There is air conditioning in each room with a remote control on, off and regulate function. The temperature outside is 35*C. There is much sweating that goes on here so the apartment kept cool and comfortable and clean is a sanctuary from the 8 million people around us.
Our complex is only a couple of years old. Our apartment was bought by its owner for 2.2 million HK$: that is about $330,000.00 CDN. There are shiny tile floors and marble counters in the kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen is small but utilitarian. The main room has 2 Ikea chairs and a table with 4 chairs. There are 2 bedrooms with double beds in them. well let me explain. The rooms have window sills are 18 inches wide so we put the foot of the master bedroom bed against the sill and bought a mattress pad to extend over the sill and then Dirk's feet do not fall off the end of the bed. It extends the bed and then Dirk fits. Other apartments we looked at were cheaper and better set up but the beds ran across the 6' room and Dirk could not lay on them without hitting the wall. he is like a special needs kid- we modify the surroundings to suit his needs. Haha... anyway it is all working just grand. The other room had a single bed and we did the same thing. If you put the bed beside the window sill and extend a double mattress pad over the bed and part of the sill you make a new size- single becomes double. a set of double sheets and there you have it. All of the apartments have this window seat area- not sure why. Worked out marvelously with a little imagination.
There is a pool room, work out area, massage chairs, and common area for use for free. We pay a nominal fee $1.30-$2.00CDN for using the outdoor pool. It is apparently open May to October. It has a "Circulate Lane" which no-one circulates in. They just swim back and forth down the middle. Nice. The pool is surrounded by roman looking architecture, palm trees and spitting dolphins. It is resort like. Nice free lockers and showers.
The Sky Tower complex has door-persons/security and easy access to great shops and restaurant. The area has cheap food that tastes good and a daily outdoor market with fresh meat (will not buy) fresh fish (ditto) and live frogs for the buying (ditto). It is cheaper to eat out than to cook and so there will be minimal cooking in flat F 55.
There is air conditioning in each room with a remote control on, off and regulate function. The temperature outside is 35*C. There is much sweating that goes on here so the apartment kept cool and comfortable and clean is a sanctuary from the 8 million people around us.
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