another saturday ends with mcdonalds and a ferry ride

that's right, two things I would normally avoid at all costs I have now experienced two saturdays in a row. I don't even know who I am anymore!!!

alright, I'll scrape myself out of my pit of self-loathing to recap the week:

School
This week went by really fast, as we had a snow typhoon day on tuesday. w000t! Basically, I sat around all day alternately eating, reading and watching True Blood online (True Blood, I came to find out, is an x-rated version of Twilight, and has just ended its second season on HBO. I've heard a lot about it, so having a free day was the perfect opportunity for me to see what all the fuss was about - so far, me likey).

School itself was great. I'm getting into a rhythm (ha!) of how my music lessons will go and I think the kids are having a good time (and learning!!). This week brings the first round of quizzes, so we'll see how much has sunk in. I did have to teach one class with a nasty case of the hiccups. Kinda awkward, I'm not gonna lie.

Play
Managed to get 2 fairly large tourist destinations in this week. On Thursday night, Alicia and I were looking for a reason to not go to the gym. Tracy brought up going to Victoria Peak after dinner, so we threw caution to the wind and said "what the hay - let's live a little!" Yeah, I don't usually go out on week nights. I'm such a rebel.

Victoria Peak is the highest peak on Hong Kong island, and therefore was quickly made into a tourist destination by the Brits. Well, first, it became prime real estate - still is actually. Only really rich people get live on the peak. Anyway, two crazy guys decided, in the late 19th century, to build a tram up to the peak (or a plateau just before the peak). Everyone said it couldn't be done, but they just gave 'em the proverbial finger and built it anyway. It's still running to this day, mind you there have probably been some major improvements over the years. Anyway, going to the peak is a mix between Niagara Falls and the CN tower - NF, for the attractions like the wax museum and Ripley's believe it ro not, as well as over-priced restaurants, fast food and designer shopping. CN Tower for the height and trip up to the top. (Pics of Alicia Clark and I on Facebook. Seriously, if you don't have it, find someone who does and hack into their account so you can have a look).

On Saturday a group of us (Alicia, Sheena, Michelle, Clark, Jake, Pet and myself) headed to Lantau island, which is just west of HK island and is home to such attractions as: the airport, Disneyland, and THE BIG BUDDHA. Yeah, we went there. There's supposed to be a cable car ride that can take you there, but it was closed for repairs, and we couldn't really bitch about that. I don't want to ever go on a cable that is open despite needing repairs. yeesh. Anyway, we took a scenic bus route to Buddha. The view was really nice and it was only about 30 minutes - I've done worse (Like the vomit comet from Gwangju to Boseong).

It was about 12:30 by the time we got to the Buddha, so that means it was BLAZING hot. Thankfully, it wasn't as humid as in days past. A few of us bought head protection (sun hats) before venturing out into the inferno. After an incredibly sweaty climb up 270(ish) stairs, we came face to face with Buddha. Okay, I've seen some big buddha's before, but this one was pretty impressive (though not the biggest), made even more so, I suppose by the fact that it was perched on top of a mountain. Anyway, it was a lot of metres high. I can't remember exactly, and my lonely planet is JUST far enough out of my reach that I don't want to get up to check, but I'm going to go with about 35 metres high. If you're curious, you can google it. It's also bronze and somewhere close to 2000 tonnes. (I never said Buddha was a skinny guy).

We checked out the little museum there, then had ourselves a vegetarian buddhist lunch then hopped on a bus to our next destination - Tai O, the fishing village. Its draw is the houses on stilts, I think. It wasn't too big and we didn't go on any of the boat tours, but we did mosey through the markets (lots of dried fish, and trinkets) and Pete and Clark managed to join a little game of hackey-sack with some locals. good times.

Finally, our reward for sweating all day, we headed to the beach just in time for a swim and sunset. The beach was pretty quiet, and clean! w00t! We had a drink at the beach restaurant then decided to call it a night. We ended up on the bus that took us to the ferry terminal instead of the MTR station, so I braced myself for a fun ride. I hadn't eaten since lunch (and it was about7:30 or 8 by this point) and the only sustenance near the ferry terminal was mcdonalds, so I resigned myself to poison my body. Well, I really only got a mcflurry, which isn't too damaging. Once on the ferry we learned that it was sloooooow and going to be a 50min ride. I immediately hit Sheena up for some gravol. I'll take drowsy over nauseous any day. The ride wasn't too bad once that kicked in. I could feel the sway of the boat, but it didn't bother me at all. It was a bit of a glimpse in to how normal people experience motion :P. At some point I passed out and was awakened to Alicia's gentle face telling me we'd arrived. I scraped myself off the seat and followed the herd to the MTR station and then home. Ah, sweet, sweet home. Still in my gravol haze, I showered, ate sandwich for dinner, then promptly passed out in my bed until the birght hour of 7am. Did I ever mention that I love sleeping?

Anyway, upon waking this morning, I felt like I had swallowed a razor blade and realised that my sore throat from yesterday was not, in fact, from singing/teaching all week. So, to try to combat my little cold virus, I've been quite slothful all day. With the exception of going out to drop off my laundry, eating breakfast at the "flying pan" and doing some grocery shopping, I've been lying on the couch trying not to feel like a pile of frass. (Frass, I'll have you know, is the proper term for insect poo. I learned that from "discover" magazine. I love it)

I'll feel better tomorrow.

finally got some touristy stuff in

Good news!! I successfully completed my first full week of teaching. w00t! In many ways, my job as a program teacher is similar to being an ESL teacher in Korea: lots of different classes, same subject, can't remember names, can't keep track of which class comes when, only have to think about one thing (MUSIC!!!), don't have the stresses inherent to being a homeroom teacher. As you can see, goods and bads. Overall, I'm very happy. It's going to take me a while to find my stride in terms of how much I can teach each class in 40 or 70 minutes. It'll be interesting to see which group retains more info, the ones who see me twice a week for 35 min or the ones who see me once for 70.

Shockingly, the grade 7s and 8s know considerably LESS about music than the 5s and 6s. I think this is a testament to how good of a teacher Monique is (she teaches Gr 1-4). The grade 5s, who just had her last year, are probably the most ahead in terms of knowing rhythms, clapping and certain musical terms. I have a feeling the Ontario curriculum isn't going to play a big role in the lives of the 7s and 8s.

Oh yeah, and the kindies? They kill me. Apparently one of the PE teachers could hear me very clearly in class when he was out on the courtyard (my classroom faces the courtyard). He said it sounded like we were having a grand ol' time. We were probably doing the Hokey Pokey. I'm tellin' ya, when you sing "put your nose in and shake it all about" they all collapse into giggles and think it's the best thing EVER!!!!! It's also quite enjoyable when we have little conversations about life. Kids do say the darndest things.

This weekend we were finally able to do some exploration of this new country I shall henceforth refer to as "the Kong". hmmm, I may even change the title of my Blog to reflect this new label...

Friday night was Katie's b-day, so naturally there was a celebration. After waiting for the delivery of our furniture (which was ordered 2 weeks ago), and the subsequent assembly of said furniture (it's a desk, and there was cursing involved, but I did it. yay me), we (being Sheena, who came over to watch desk-making, Alicia and I) made our way over to Katie's flat for cocktails (read: pre-drink). Close to mid-night we finally shipped out to Central, which is a district full of ex-pats, bars and clubs. There was a bunch of waiting around (my favourite) for various people, with the added bonus of rain. Once we found a suitable place for dancing and imbibing, the night went along smoothly. I haven't danced in quite some time - very therapeutic.

Only two things slightly marred the night: the b-day girl, shall we say "overindulged", andMaegan's purse was stolen. Thankfully, she got it back the next day, however it was missing all her money, transit card andcamera. Boo people!! Why do they have to be a-holes?!

As a result of going to sleep at 4am, the roomies and I did NOT go kayaking Saturday morning as we previously planned. I scraped myself out of bed after 11 and went to the gym to sweat out some toxins. After some R&R and the viewing of the first episode of the new cycle of ANTM (!!!), Alicia and I headed to TST (on the Kowloon side of the Kong, very touristy) with some friends (Jake, Glenn and Clark) to see the Avenue of Stars. There were notable names such as Chow Yun Fat, Jet Li, Bruce Lee (he also had a big statue), John Woo, and - you guessed it - Jackie Chan. The skyline looking across to Hong Kong Island was spectacular. We caught a bit of the laser light show, then took the Star Ferry back to Wan Chai (where I live). This ferry runs all the time and is sooooo cheap! 2.6HKD, which is roughly 35 cents canadian. Nice!

After a good night's sleep, I woke up around 8:30 this morning and decided to walk around Wan Chai, to get a better feel for what's goin' on around here. I walk over to the huge Convention Centre (H-U-G-E), saw a golden statue of a flower (Golden Bauhinia), walked over to Admiraly (next district) and back. Got some pictures, feel a bit more in the loop about "the Wanch" (nickname for Wan Chai).

Puttered a bit more today and here I am, typing a blog, listening to a thunderstorm and eating delicious fried rice made by Alicia. *sigh* a lovely Sunday

no "stay-cations" needed in Hong Kong!

let me start off by saying that I HATE - mean mean LOATHE - the word "stay-cation". Maybe it's because it implies that only real vacations occur when you go away somewhere; most of my vacations growing up were at home and they were fine. Or perhaps I hate it simply because it sounds trendy and/or pretentious. Anyhow, that's the last time you'll ever see me use it, unless, of course, it's to mock it again.

What I mean by the title, is that one doesn't need to leave the country of Hong Kong, or even commute any farther than, say 30min, to enter an area that feels utterly unlike the bustling city of the northern coast. The east coast and southern coast are dotted with various beaches which are well maintained for the most part and, perhaps more importantly, have a very small-town, beachy feel to them. There are no (or very few) high rises blotting out the sun, there is a warmish breeze and everything's a bit more laid back. That's how I spent my afternoon on Saturday. I also spent it under the protection of 60SPF sunscreen and a beach umbrella. Sure, I maybe geeky, but at least I'm cancer-free.

The roomies (Alicia and Tracy - I'll get to that bit after) came too and we ended up meeting a bunch of returning teachers there. It was nice to hang out outside of the work place. Although - such is the way with teachers - there was a bit a of shop talk, but that's fine. The only downside to the trip was that the water was dirty. I'm not talking about regular sea filth, I would've much preferred that. There was an abundance of garbage floating around, of various sizes and stages of decomposition. Oh yes, people were still swimming, and I even went in a couple of times, but after about 10 minutes, I'd reached my limit, got out and promptly showered in the outside shower area. We'll try a different beach next time.

The rest of the weekend has been quite nice, but uneventful. Instead of boring life details, like how I did laundry and prepared some food for lunch tomorrow, why don't I fill y'all in on what has happened AFTER my first 24 hours here...

PART 1 - Flat Hunting
In a (made up) word: unfun. Seriously. There was a big push from admin to get it done within the first two days, and at the latest, by the end of our first weekend. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough (in my humble opinion) support from admin in helping us achieve this goal. The result? A wee bit of stress. And bit "Wee" I mean I woke up at 3am (yeah, yeah, jetlag, blah blah) and had heart palpitations for a few hours worrying about it. I had resigned myself to room mates, but hadn't yet solidified who that would be. It was so awkward then, because most conversations had an undercurrent of: do I want to live with this person? Has she already found a room mates? I haven't shared a place with someone since university... no one will compare to my first/only/awesome roomie from uni... *sigh* anyway, as people went their ways, things fell into to place, the group got smaller and I ended up roaming around with Tracy and Alicia. They both seemed laid back enough to be good roomies, so it just kind of happened that we all got a place together. I think it will work out splendidly.

The process of finding a flat is somewhat tiresome as well. You go to an area that you think you may want to live in, you walk around until you find a property agent. You see if this person can speak English. You tell them what you're looking for and your price range. They find some places and take you around to see them. Quite often the places they take you to only follow your criteria to a small degree or not at all. For example, a flat may be listed as "Furnished" when in fact, all there is a wardrobe and perhaps a bed frame. Unfortunately once you agree to go out with the agent, you HAVE to see everything they've picked out, even if it's clear that they are not on the same page as you.

Anyway, many many many flats later, the three of us found ourselves in Wan Chai, a very busy district and a place where, initially anyway, we didn't think we'd be into. Turns out, we like it. Hustle and bustle. The apartment we ended up choosing is not perfect, but it's home for the next 10 months, so I like it. An interesting tidbit about Wan Chai: it's home to the red light district. Guess where our flat is? Right outside it. It doesn't really bug me all that much - I never walk in that direction, and I'm rarely out late enough to notice unsavory goings-on.

Part 2 - Work Orientation and Setting Up Our Flat
Our new home preoccupied most of our lives and thoughts for the next week and into the weekend. Curing the day we'd be in various meetings, then in the evening we'd be out prepared our flat. We stayed in the IBIS hotel until our very last "Free" night, then hauled all our bags to the new pad. After scrubbing floors, walls and cupboards like maniacs, we sat down for a well-deserved brewsky and enjoyed our palace. It wasn't quite complete (as we had furniture left behind by a teacher to pick up and drag over here...that was a task for the weekend).

Our second weekend in Hong Kong was eaten up by flat-y things, like furniture moving and food buying. We also went to IKEA and a cheaper version called Priceright to order other furniture and get households like bedding. This was a bit more enjoyable than the flat-hunting part.

We are now more or less settled, but still waiting on the furniture delivery.

PART 3 - First Days of Work
As a program teacher (music, I don't have a homeroom class), the first days of the year are slightly less stressful. The first day was a half day, and I didn't have any classes (oh, memories of being an ESL teacher in Korea...). The rest of the week, I had a reduced schedule because the intermediate grades (7&8) were doing workshops in their homerooms. So, I only say the grade 5s, 6s and senior kindergarten. All told, I'll be teaching 17 different classes. Yeah, this place is a large international school. The first classes went well for the most part. I always knew this, but it kinda sucks being a music teacher and not being able to play the piano. To remedy this, however, I bought a book and will start practicing again. The other music teacher, Monique, is delightful. She very supportive and helpful with my millions of questions (and need for approval - "Hey Monique, what do you think about this? Will it work? Is it good?"). I'm sure as I truck through the year, I'll hit my stride, find my groove, get into the swing of things, or whatever other idiom you can apply to my particular situation.

Anyway, that about brings us up to date. Oh! I also joined a fitness center near my flat (like, a 1.5 minute walk, literally. nice-uh). I've been twice. Paid for a personal trainer. Man, they are hardcore. I learned some new things, was really sore the next day. Perhaps I'll describe it more in a following entry.

until next time!

ps - I won't be posting pic here for the time being. If you want to see what few pictures I've taken, you'll have to find me on Facebook.

Just couldn't stay away

Well, welcome back me! After a not-so-long debate about the pros and cons of Blogging vs mass emailing, I went with blogging. We got a bit of warning from our admin about blogging or discussing work on the web, but if I'm vigilant about content, and not do any inebriated blogging, I think I'll be alright. I've also changed the settings so that search engines can't find me. I'm a bit sad about that as I'm an attention-seeking megalomaniac and in my world, EVERYBODY wants to google my blog. At least I can rest easy knowing that it will show up on my facebook feed. But only to my friends... *sigh*

Anyway, I think my first (and only) mass email from Hong Kong would be an appropriate way to start the new chapter... here it is:


Subject: musings after less than 24 hours in hong kong
Hi Everyone!

Well, I made it and after 27 hours of travel, I'm no worse for wear. It's 9:40pm here on Wednesday and I'm surprisingly still awake. After little (if any) sleep on the planes or in the airport and a fitful 6 hour sleep last night, I made it through the first day and didn't freak out (outwardly). To the public, I am the picture of calm, the essence of stoic-ness (?? stoic-icity?), the spirit of cool. *ahem*

Anyway, the flights went like this:

Get through the line-up for American Airlines at 6am, jump through American customs hoops, get on the plane. Sit on the plane for and hour and a bit before take off because they had to replace a part that was broken (something to do with the speaker system...or something) and because lots of flights into chicago were delayed due to thunderstorms. Wonder if I'm going to miss the connecting flight.

Make it to O'HAre (Chicago), switch terminals, get boarding passes for the remaing two flights, find our gate and wait.

13 hour flight to Tokyo :
minutes of sleep: maybe 5, MAYBE
times I got up out of my seat to walk around: innumerable
movies watched: 2
crossword puzzles completed: 4 (but they were a bit easy, therefore not fun)
and lots of reading

Get to Narita (Tokyo) and hang out for another 4 hours before our NEXT flight. Tried to catch some zzzs, but failed miserably.

Flight to Hong Kong, marred by baby a few seats over that wouldn't stop screaming. I'm not exaggerating - 4 hours of fussy, screaming child. *gags* Mom also had to deal with a very active 4-ish year old son as well as her miserable baby. Best. Contraceptive. Ever.

Find our bags waiting patiently for us *sigh*. 1 hour trip to our hotel. Checkin.

shower

crank the A/C

sleep.

Today was whirlwind-ish. We had to meet in the lobby at 8:30 to take the subway to the school. Then we talked with the Principal for a good long time, had a tour of the school, did something that had to do with technology, then went for lunch. After lunch we talked some more (about money...stressful!) then got our bank accounts set up. This took a very long time.

Finally, we were free to roam and a group of us went to look at some apartments (flats!) in a particular area. There's a number of us who would much prefer to live farther away from the downtown core for our sanity's sake.

Oh yeah, my idea about living on my own? SQUASHED!! After the money talk with the principal and reassessing my situation, I will actually send a HECK of a lot more money by splitting rent. We're also encouraged to get a flat by TOMORROW!! WHAT?!?! How long have I been here?! Probably not going to happen. At least we have the weekend off to complete the search.

I'm excited/nervous and this music-teaching gig. Saw my classroom today. Charis, but no desks (kinda cool). A an upright piano, waiting for me to hack out some chords on it. I've always had doubts about teaching music without knowing how to play the piano well, so I'll let you know how that goes :P

I'm undecided as of yet whether or not I'll start up a hong kong blog. I may just stick with the mass email, we'll see.

Anyway, that's it for me now! I hope everyone is well!

lots of love,
Vanessa