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
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