Happy Old Year!!

Wishing everyone a safe and happy evening in 2009 :-)

Home.

It's funny how for 2 1/2 months I have called Hong Kong "home". Last night I had to say goodbye to a dear, dear friend. I have grown to love it here, at "home"; the city life, the public transportation, being a minority, learning the language. It has all been a part of my "home".
Today I go home, real home. I leave behind memories, old friends, new friends, students, my towel, a pillow, and many band-aids.
I pray that God blesses me with an opportunity to return.
As I look out my window, the sun is rising through the clouds and I can only think....God is good.

FOOD!

The past 2 weeks I have traveled to many fun and unique places for dinner! It has been a blast catching up with close friends, getting to know new friends, and even trying new dishes. (yes mom, I have tried new foods)!!!

Last Saturday Eric's parents took Jamie, Cherrie, and I to the University of Science and Technology for dinner. We has some very traditional food, including duck :-)
I am a HUGE fan of duck. We also had many vegetables and fruit, for dessert.



The family :-)


Eric's mom convinced me that this is very good for your skin, so I ate it!






Sunday evening J and I met Eric, Gigi, and our new friend Robin met us at a Japanese place. As you can see from the pictures below, I ate fish eggs and eel. Fish eggs are disgusting (not really sure why anyone eats them) and eel was ok (a little spicy because of the sauce).



Last night J and I went out with Winnie, our tutor (RA). We had a blast at the Tai Po Mega Mall!!

Bitter, sweet.

As I walked out of Renaissance College today tears filled my eyes. Today marked the end of my 4 month teaching practice. At 3pm I still had a stack of reflections to mark and didn't mind to stay and work. Part of me, well all of me, didn't want to leave. I knew that once I left, I was not sure when I would return, if ever. I have enjoyed my time at RCHK. I have learned more than I ever thought about teaching middle school general music and looked forward to attending lessons every day. My creativity has grown, my bag of "tricks" has increased, and my ability to "think on my toes" has greatly improved. Overall I find myself a whole "new" teacher than when I began in August.

My day was quite possibly the most eventful day to date!! It began with a noisy 26 bus ride to the MTR station. I was greeted by the wonderful Performing Arts staff for our 8am "meeting." We had Starbucks coffee and muffins. My CT's gave me some gifts including a signed yearbook as well as a Mollard baton. After grading papers for 3 hours I got to teach my final classes, year 7 and year 3.

Today has been an bitter end, to a sweet future :-)
I will be state-side in 5 days!!!!!

Sending my hugs across the sea.....

It's beginning to look a lot like....summer?

I love warm weather. However, there is something just plum wrong with 75 in the middle of December. Christmas decoration have been up since mid-November, and Christmas trees are now on sale. It just feels a bit odd.
The entrance to Renaissance College is now decked out with Christmas decorations! My favorite part, besides the giant Christmas tree, are the holiday tunes greeting us each morning. It's hard to "get in the spirit" when they are playing Frosty the Snowman and I am wearing flip flops. I look forward to chilly weather, where I have to wear my whole closet outside!!

Cantonese Opera

MISSING EVERYONE!! Sending my love across the ocean....

Last weekend Eric took us to the Heritage Museum. I have never been there before and think it is a must for any musician, or tourist, to visit while in HK.


On our way, J and I found a gelato stand. Of course bought some! I had raspberry/peach...it was delicious!

The entrance to the museum is filled with this:
a giant dragon used for the New Year Festivities.

The Heritage Museum is filled with galleries of Chinese art, past and present. It also has exhibits on Cantonese Opera. I am currently teaching on unit to the year 3's on heritage, focusing on Cantonese Opera. What better place to learn than at the Heritage Museum! This a traditional entrance decoration. If you notice in the background there is a stage with some fake people on. On the other side of this monstrosity there is usually sitting a god. The performs would often perform for a particular god. They had a special seat for him/her above the crowds so they would have an unobstructed view.


Cantonese Opera is not only about the high pitched singing, it is also about the elaborate costuming. The costumes are made of silk and are usually covered in sequins. They are colorful and usually have a matching head piece. In this picture you will see different head pieces. The jeweled pieces are for royalty, the princess, price, king, queen, etc. The one in the bottom left corner would be worn by a "common person".


My favorite part of the afternoon was this computer station. I had the opportunity to turn myself into a Cantonese Opera Princess...quite funny!!




I also had the rare privilege to watch a live Cantonese Opera performance!!! It was fascinating! There were 2 characters (and a baby doll) with the musicians off stage. Eric told us that the musicians are so skilled that they can change key if the singers changes key. Their movements are so skillful and graceful. Their singing is really an acquired taste. However, this art form is a rare and beautiful display of Chinese culture.

Tutti Frutti!

Fruit is in abundance here in HK! You see it in the supermarket, you see it on baskets at cafes, you see it in school lunches, and you see it on the street.
I have grown to like and dislike many of the fruits here.

One fruit that I am not too keen on is star fruit; looks beautiful, tastes tarte.


I also am not a fan of fruit that has other animals attached to it...this grape has a feather adhered to it.


Some fruits that I have grown to like and will miss eating when I return to the states are:

DRAGON FRUIT!!! Beautiful AND tasty!!!


Mango King (Hui Lau Shan). This is a fruit drink that is a mango smoothie with chunks of squishy mango on the top....a very tasty treat after a night on the town.

Fight for Your Life!

Tuesday all secondary classes were collapsed in honor/awareness of WORLD AIDS DAY 2009. The students were split into various groups and were given tasks to raise awareness. Some groups did a dance, some did art, however, my group wrote a song to raise awareness of AIDS in HK.
I was a bit apprehensive at first, simply because I was not sure how the logistics would work or what Maggie (my CT) had planned. But as the morning went on and the students were very excited and into the activity.
Maggie created a "back-track" and the students wrote the lyrics, rhythm and melody....all original.
Here is what they wrote:

(Verse 1)
Hong Kong is so BIG, and I feel so small.
I stay home, left out, feeling fearful and contagious.
I am avoided, hoping for help.
People must know that I exist.

(Chorus)
Na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na
Fight for your life!

(Verse 2)
There's always hope, we know we can fight for life.
We know we can fight for live.
We know we can fight for freedom,
We can fight for anything.
Find your stream of life when you feel hopeless.

(Chorus)

(Rap!)
Protect yourself from HIV
Causes AIDS
defeat the desease
it's unstoppable but understandable
Responsibility si what we need.
Families need help
education fee
unable to work
differs on daily life
excuses on top of my head
is that it?

(Bridge)
Shouldn't be a mark of shame
Shouldn't be a mark of shame
No, not a mark of shame!

Time for all of us to speak out
Time for all of us to speak out
Yeah, yeah let's speak out!

(Chorus 2x)

Here is their dress rehearsal! So awesome!!

Food and fun!

The past few weekends J and I have gone on adventures with Eric and Cherrie!
They are the BEST tour guides any crazy American could have...
Here are some of the crazy things we have done:
"bowl of rice" - [insert awesome chinese words that translate]
This "hole in the wall"place is a HK tradition. People queue up for hours waiting to eat this. As you tell from the menu, some of the items are really odd.




After suffciently stuffing ourselves with rice and waffles, we walk (for what seems like forever) to a Japanese Dessert House. OH MY! I have never had such tasty ice cream.....fresh mango and cookies & cream over fresh fruit and topped with little chocolate cookie sticks. It was heaven in a bowl :-)



Saturday's adventure was to have Hot Pot and meet Eric's best friend, Francis (quite possibly the tallest HK man I've met). Since I am not a huge fan I decided to play it safe and get minced beef with rice and egg. I was a bit skeptical at first, however, to my surprise it tasted like spaghetti! Afterward we went to the Garden Market for some shopping and bargaining, of course!


As we venture through Mong Kok it amazes me how at 11pm at night, it feels like day time because of all the lights!

Sing to the Lord a new song!

One of my most favorite (totally unhealthy) treats in HK....waffles!!!


J with hern ew rings she bought from the Year 4's at the school fair.


Happy Thanksgiving!!
Though it was a bit warm (70s) and i was wearing shorts, Thanksgiving was celebrated here in Hong Kong. There are 16 American's on a fellowship here at HKiEd and they prepared a full meal on Tuesday for all who wanted to join....pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, turkey, green bean casserole, cup cakes, sweet potatoes (with marshmellows and brown sugar), bread, and so on. It was delicious!
Thanksgiving dinner, however, J and I went to Mc Donalds; not quite as exciting as family and grandma's garlic bread! After our feast on campus we were given a WHOLE PUMPKIN PIE. I have of course been eating it bit by bit to ensure that I can make it last!
Sunday night J and I headed to Kaitlin's apartment for a Thanksgiving feast!
Quite possibly the most memorable moment of the night is when the 3 of us look up and one of our Korean friends is eating corn bread with chop sticks!!! It was wonderful to swap stories, traditions, and life with some new friends :-)

Wallwisher.com

Today my Year 9's had a double lesson on lyrics and theme in pop music. We listed to the 80s song "Pictures of You" by the cure focusing on the theme's of "lost love" and "loneliness".
Throughout the lesson the students looked at media in relation to the theme in music videos....each group looked at something different : camera angles, interactions, lighting, etc. Their final task we to find their own group example of "lost love" and do a "wallwisher" post on it. They were a bit rushed at the end and so their posts were not as thorough as i would have liked. but when they presented they were clear, and concise about their thoughts.
What is "wallwisher" you ask? Wallwisher is a online post-it note center!!! However, unlike the traditional paper post-it this is all electronic. Since the students here at RCHK are driven by technology and always seem to have their nose in their computer, I have been trying to work with that and not try to see computers as a distraction. On wallwisher the students can not only post their thoughts, but they can add images, video, audio, etc. to enhance their groups post. I find it fascinating, and the students had NEVER heard of it!
(Above is a picture of the classes post from the lesson today).

On Saturday J and I (and the rest of the RCHK faculty) went to school....ugh...professional development. This is J and are after lunch.

The school flew in a professor from New Jersey to talk about "Guided Inquiry" - inquiry based learning. I found most of it very informative. I got lots of advice that has completely changed the direction I am going with my year 7's and their research. He really stressed discovery of knowledge v. teaching skills. My entire life I have been taught skills. Here, at the IB school, things are radically different. It has been an adjustment teaching in the inquiry process, but one that I have enjoyed as it fosters much creativity!

In my last post I forgot to mention one of my favorite parts of the Internation Fair and HKiEd....my henna tattoo! Don't worry mom, it's not permanent :-)

"Check this out!"

Saturday the IO (international office) took the exchange students on a trip to Sai Kung. We took the shuttle to the Sai Kung Pier and met our guides: Tony & "the very quiet side-kick". We all got onto a boat and traveled to the Yim Tin Tsai Village about 30 minutes away.
The village is abandoned, but is a tourist spot because of the once rich salt fields. It was interesting to see all the buildings full of furniture but uninhabited.
It was funny to follow Tony around. He is a lover of nature, especially trees. I have never heard so many names of trees in my life!! He would always, no matter if we had walked 5 steps, take his pointer and say "check this out" (pointing dearingly to a green plant of sorts). If only I was a botonist....
All in all it was a great day of meeting new friends and sharing stories :-)

Tony explaining that this house was made of volcanic rock (he thinks).


The abandoned houses.


Salt Fields.




A cemetery in the hillside.


J and I at the highest point on the island gazing at the golf course that covers the island next to us.

"No photo, no photo!"

Highlights from last week:

Wednesday the 11th HKiEd had their annual International Fair. The International Fair is an opportunity for the campus to come together and celebrate it's diversity. There are students from Korea, Finland, Germany, Malashia, Sweden, Japan, US, Thiland, and so many more. This was a time for us to get together and share our "home" with the rest of campus. Kaitlin, J, and I were asked to put together a booth promoting Butler and the U.S.A. We had a blast!!

Our table had oreos, mac & cheese, Butler gear, rice krispy treats, and a Lucky Draw (raffe). The Hong Kong students went nuts! They were fascinated by the food and loved the pencils and could not get enough of the lucky draw.

Thursday the 12th J and I headed to the HK Cultural Centre for a 4 piano concert! The center is celebrating 20 years and these 4 pianists premiered at the hall 20 years ago. They were back for a celebration concert. They played all sorts of repertoire - Bach Concerto for 4 Pianos, Variations of Happy Birthday, Dvorak, etc. Below are pics of the center as well as the theatre the concert was in. The HK do not like for people to take pictures of their performance spaces. I have tried to sneak a couple and promptly get told, "no photo, no photo." And of course they were taken without permission :-)


Check out the pipe organ!!

Please stand back from the door.....beepbeepbeep

There are few things that I just have not gotten comfortable with here in Hong Kong:
-It is dark by 6pm
-Everything smells Chinese
-The stupid people that jump the metro at the last minute causing the doors to open and close just so they can push themselves into the car which causes the lady to come on the intercom and say: Please stand back from the door, several times
-People do not flush every time they use the toilet
-Steps are everywhere!
-Time difference between home and HK (it is quite difficult to talk to people)
-Running for the bus (I had to do it myself)
-No stars....ever
-3/4 of people have never seen snow

On a happier note....here are a few pictures from the past few days :-)









J and I headed to Stanley Market for some much needing shopping. We ended up chilling at the waters edge for most of the afternoon. It was beautiful and full of people from so many ethnicity's!

Just a side note: I tried cabbage and pork dumplings tonight....and I liked them! Leave it to Jamie to find some Asian food that I like!!