Catching Up With School

Phew. Now that Max is gone, we can finally talk- right? Well all I want to do is share some photos of what I've been doing at work and in Hong Kong. We can talk later.

First, photos of our Easter Egg-Drop Competition.

Ashley and Joann applies some last-minute tape.

The students crowd the judge's table to see if their eggs survived.

Wrapping the egg.

The winning group, led by Ting and Jerry, hard at work.

Me with the Final Four teams*

*left in the LKPFC Easter Egg-Drop Competition.

Earlier in the week, Max came to the school to watch a drama lesson and meet some of my students.

Peter, Simon, and some chick perform as a dog, a husband, and a wife, respectively.

Dorothy and Ian as wife and husband.

Yo, Teach!

Before that, it was my form 5 students' last day. They get some time off to "do revision" (review) their work before they "face the exam" (take the exam). Even though school runs until From 7, this was an emotional day for them. This year, there were 168 Form 5 students. Only about 62 will be invited back for Form 6, so this was the last day of classes at LKPFC for many of them. Good luck on the exam, Form 5 Students Who Read This Blog!

Ms. Ng's 5AB class

Before that, we had Sports Day, a two-day track and field event. The school was divided into 4 houses: Blue, Yellow, Green, and RED HOUSE.

Hey, that's me running in a 3k race. I finished 12th (I think) out of 42 (approx.)

Feeling a little over-heated.

Cooling down.

Dim Sum Lunch with Form 7B students on day 1 of Sports Day. Same deal for them as Form 5 students, except only 10 percent will go on to college next year.

Lois, Mr. Ho, and I were the judges of the high jump competition.

Lunch at Pizza Hut for a mini-Form 1 reunion with Mr. Ho.

This pizza has ham, mushroom, olives, onion, crab, prawn, tuna, thousand island sauce, and sweet mayo on it. Doesn't that sound like the best pizza EVER? No? Are you sure?

Okay, that's all for now. Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Day 6 (Max)

I started the day by going to Hulu Cafe for breakfast, where I purchased my (now) standard meal - peanut butter toast, two eggs and coffee. The meal was decent, though it was more expensive than the always reliable Toast Box! The popularity of bakeries (encompassing both sweet and savory bread-related dishes) in Hong Kong dwarfs what we have in the USA, so I purchased a quick after-breakfast "coconut bread". It was like a croissant/french doughnut with some mild coconut and butter flavors. In my opinion, the subtleness of the ingredients makes the baked goods far more enjoyable than the over-the-top, almost overwhelmingly fatty/sugary equivalents in the states.

A half hour bus ride from Sam's apartment led me to Sam's school. We started the day with a visit to his office, followed by a trip to his classroom. There Sam and I met his english assistant (a local student at a nearby University) and Form 6 students (17,18, 19 year olds). Hong Kong forms are not a perfect correlation to USA grades because students are held back in forms more frequently and for different reasons than in USA. After waiting 15 minutes for the students to arrive (a shocker for me, considering I grew up in the "zero tolerance" philosophy of schooling), the students read through and performed a play they previously practiced. Completing that activity, we played a quick english game and I did a Q&A session with the class. I told them a little about myself and why I was in Hong Kong. Half way through my speech, Sam interrupted me because I needed to speak slower (the students would continue to nod even if they had no idea what I was saying), so I did.

Interestingly enough, although I spoke slower, I did not have to simplify my English. Hong Kong english speakers have trouble with syllables, unknown sounds (the very popular "L replaced by R" problem) and use unfamiliar (but grammatically correct) sentence constructions but otherwise are very fluent.

Overall, the students were very impressive, especially with respect to behavior. This class structure was repeated again with another Form 6 class that arrived shortly after the first Form 6 class left.

Sam's assistant Kathy took Sam and I out to a local restaurant that spoke exclusively in Cantonese . Thankfully, Kathy took care of all the ordering. We got grilled pork chops with spices (my favorite!), a sweet and sour chicken (without bones!), a vegetable and beef dish and topped off with a bowl of white rice for everyone. We dug in, making sure not to leave our chopsticks in the bowls (a sign of death and very offensive) and discarding our cleaned-off bones on the table. Sam and I went on to grill Kathy a bit, learning that she knew three languages (Cantonese, English and Japanese) and some of the culture clashes she encountered on a trip to Japan as a Chinese person.

Leaving lunch, Sam and I spent time talking to and playing games with form 3's in a non-classroom time period. They asked several bold questions, including whether Sam or I did better in high school. Shenanigans ensued. Afterwards, I was informed the rest of Sam's day would encompass lesson planning, so I purchased some local baked goods and headed off back home on a express bus (a smaller bus that goes more directly to big locations than the standard double decker busses).

That night, Sam and I went out to the outdoor seafood restaurants in the temple street night markets. We together purchased a single dish of fried crab (looked like Alaskan King Crab). It was delicious, though it contained some of what I call the "deadly food groups" - cayenne peppers and excessively fried garlic (Funny story - I ate half of one cayenne pepper for kicks as Sam and I left the table. One of the short, old ladies who worked at the restaurant quickly said in a broken english "why you do that?!". Why indeed! I thought her quote was funny, at least at the moment, until the burning and numbness set in my mouth for the next 20 minutes or so. I think I'm slowly building an immunity to all food spicyness - that or an unwillingness to change my food eating ambitions). Lacking carbs and feeling still hungry, Sam and I split a medium portion of sushi at a take out sushi place. Finishing the food, we went to bed for an early-ish night.

Cheers!

Max

Day 5 (Max)

G'Day!

The focus for Day 5 is the central district on hong kong island. I started by taking their subway system, known as the MTR. The MTR puts any form of public transportation we have in the USA to shame. You can arrive just about any time of the day and be on a train within 5 to 10 minutes. Furthermore, it is very inexpensive (less than $0.50 a trip), extremely clean, safe, fast and spans many different areas. Also, the credit card used for the trains (known as an Octopus card) can also be used for and refilled in many different parts of Hong Kong. A must for locals and tourists alike.

Once arriving at Central, I walked around the areas immediately surrounding my MTR stop. Areas of interest include the HSBC building - according to my guide book, it cost $1 billion US when it was built in 1985 [my guess is that it costs probably around $2 billion in today's dollars/value], making it the most expensive building at that time), the bank of China, and Chater garden. Although relatively small compared to the larger Hong Kong Park nearby (which I didn't have the time to see... yet), the garden still managed to impress me with its diverse tree population and attention to detail.

After Charter Park, I quickly wandered my way onto the suspended pedestrian bridges (I believe they are called "sky ways" but the actual name escapes me at the moment). These bridges are a necessity for two reasons. First, it is not uncommon to see roads that do not allow pedestrian foot traffic - a big plus, btw, if you are taking a bus or taxi anywhere! To get around these roads, a walker can either take a "subway" (it is not our definition of subway - the term refers to an underground walk-way that frequently contains air conditioning, shopping/stores and are very clean to boot) or one of the aforementioned suspended walkways. Second, at the ground level, the air quality can be very uncomfortable due to humidity and air pollution (the air pollution gets so bad that it can cause allergy-like symptoms, creates smog/fog and can make breathing more difficult than normal).

Additional meandering and general tourist inclinations led me to a trolley car attraction known as The Peak Tram. The Peak Tram is a trolley car, suspended at a 45 degree angle to the. It is used to help people go up and down the tallest mountain of Hong Kong island. At the top of the tram, there is a building (devoted to "tourist trapping") but with some interesting perks - namely you can go to the roof where you can see all the way to mainland China. Unfortunately, all I saw (mostly) was white clouds, as the pollution creates a dense fog that usually goes away only after a heavy rain.

On a side note: Hong Kong is another city that has significant elevation changes between a relatively small area (similar to Pittsburgh but on a much larger magnitude). Interestingly enough, people would strive to live at the highest elevations, initially to help avoid malaria and heat of the lower areas. Over time, as air con (as the British here call it) became more prevalent and malaria was managed, this preference for higher altitude living remained, as a symbol of status/success. This can be seen as more expensive hotels and living areas are correlated with higher areas.

Coming down from the building and going to ground level via a second ride on The Peak Tram, I quickly hopped on a tour bus. The bus ride, yet another tourist trap ($200 HK, which is way too much for a normal hong kong native to afford for an hour-long bus ride), also had perks. I discovered some cool facts about the various parts of the city, including significant buildings, what each area of the city did and historical information.

Realizing I was hungry from walking around all day, I decided to search for some decent western food. Sam recommended going to SoHo via the Central-Mid Level escalators. According to my guide book, the escalators cost about $245 million HK and is 2,625 feet long. My sense of curiosity got the better of me, as I convinced myself to put off eating and to travel the entirety of the escalators from bottom to top, to see what it was like! At the top of the Central-Mid Level escalators, curiosity was replaced by anguish. I quickly realized that no downward facing escalators were present and that I would have to traverse the 2,625 feet of stairs/ramps downward without mechanical help.

Half-way down the stairs, my newly formed blisters on my feet allied with my now-revived hunger pains, petitioning me to find somewhere to eat - immediately. I settled on "El Taco Loco". Although humored by the dish named "Nachos Gringos", my focus became eating something not awful, so I ordered the Carnitas Burrito. Hands-down this meal was the most mediocre burrito that I also sincerely enjoyed. In retrospect, I'm just grateful it was edible and that I'm still food-poisoning free. Huzzah!

I headed back home quickly after the meal, eventually meeting up with Sam for dinner. It was a trip back to a mall in TST for Triple-0 burgers. The food was unremarkable, somewhat expensive but fulfilling. Sam explained how this mall rivals the size of the KoP mall - on each floor. It's unreal.

Leaving the burger joint and the accompanying gigantic mall, Sam and I met up with about 10 of his co-workers for poker and beers. The company was excellent, the beer delicious and the night overall very similar to anyone who ever played in a large friendly poker game - specifically, most of us are confused at first, the pacing becomes sluggish, and people quickly lose all their money to the poker shark and/or lucky guy , and everyone talks about their bad hands (or other general topics, once people come to terms with their wins/losses) for the rest of the night. Trust me, guys think this is fun. If nothing else, it gave me an excuse to socialize and interrogate some more people about their lives in Hong Kong, which is all part of my enjoyment.

Tomorrow, I go to school with Saaaaam.

Cheers!

Max

Day 4 (Max)

Today was my first day in the city by myself. To keep things simple, I decided to travel more locally. I started my day by walking down Nathan Road from Jordan to TST, which would take approximately 20 minutes. Pollution warnings aside (though I would only learn about this after the day was over), the day went off without a hitch.

I started by exploring The Park. Actually, I was looking to go to the museums but I saw a rather bland ramp describing how it was a path to a local public area. Seeing as I had a whole day to explore the area between Jordan and TST, I thought, "what the heck, why not?". It was like peeling an onion, as the boring ramp led to a wide open, well-maintained space with a nearby pool. After finding a nearby map, I learned about all the other different areas The Park had to offer. One fascinating exhibit was a nearby aviary. There were giant birds with two massive colorful beaks - one used for eating, one used as a decoy/decoration. Additionally, a chinese garden, a hedge maze, multiple fountains, various tree farms and sculpture gardens all beautified The Park. I also took the opportunity to explore a nearby pier. Even Hong Kong's more mundane buildings tower to obscene heights, with more elaborate "H" shaped buildings and hotels standing side-by-side. It puts NYC's skyline to shame.

Once finished with the Park, I walked the remainder of the distance to the art and space museums. The art museum was smaller than other art museums I've seen but still enjoyable. Their take on modern art seems to be focused on environmentalism, political statements and optical illusions - a bit easier to manage and understand than the modern art I've seen in the USA. Other exhibits included historical ceramic pieces, black and white paintings on parchments and a series of paintings based on China-Western trade (all of which were historical and focused on accurate portayals, rather than something more emotional, abstract or impressionistic).

After the Art museum, I needed to kill some time before the space museum, so I went to a movie walk of fame. It had the same feel as a disney exhibit but, aside from Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, I didn't recognize any of the actors.

Finishing up the walk of fame brought me to the opening time of the Space museum. Unfortunately, the Space museum was a disappointment. After completing the whole museum in under an hour or so, I walked back to Sam's apartment for a bit of R&R.

When Sam returned home, he, his roommate Rob and I all went out for long tail sushi. Long tail sushi is a sashimi/sushi hybrid - the fish/protein used is long enough to extend far beyond the piece of rice it is tied to. I purchased a variety dish, which consisted of 6 normal pieces of sushi, 6 long tail pieces, 3 massive pieces of california rolls (I almost considered getting a fork and knife to eat it!), and two miscellaneous pieces. As the night before, the sushi was extremely varied, fresh, delicious and incredibly cheap - about $18 US.

After dinner, Rob headed back to the apartment while Sam and I went out for drinks. We went to a row of Bars with outdoor seats. Sam and I settled on a bar that was a bit quieter and didn't have someone openly harass us to enter their establishment. We both settled on Hoegaarden, placed in what looked like pint and a half /2 pint glasses. Beers finished, Sam and I trekked back home for some well earned sleep.

Cheers!

Max


**NOTE FROM SAM**
The "Park" that Max refers to is Kowloon Park, the largest public park in Kowloon.

Day 3 (Max)

So we started off Day 3 with return trip to Toast Box for breakfast (you order bread as the main meal and eggs as a complimentary side dish - my favorite is a thick white bread with peanut butter, fried eggs and coffee that can only be ordered with too much sugar) and a trip into Aberdeen via the Star Ferry at Tsim Sha Tsui (Random note: the "Ts" sound in Tsim Sha Tsui is damn near impossible to pronounce with an English tongue at first shot. Sam tells me the English speakers just call the area "TST"). The Star Ferry is a boat that takes a person from my area of Kowloon into the main Hong Kong island. Incredible photos of the Hong Kong island are possible on this trip, demonstrating Hong Kong's city-in-a-mountain theme.

After the Star Ferry and a bus or two, Sam and I arrived in Aberdeen. Aberdeen is a fishing village in Hong Kong. We took a trip on a small boat (after some rather direct and persistent endorsements from an old lady with an umbrella) to explore the nearby harbor in more detail. We saw what Sam described as the largest floating restaurant in the world, whose bottom floor is devoted entirely to a popular dumpling-like dish known as Dim Sum. Although Sam and I deliberated about whether or not we should go on the restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner, our tour guide interrupted us by explaining that Dim Sum is primarily a lunch-time food and that the restaurant would not serve us our meal of choice so late in the day (think 3:30PM-ish).

From there, Sam and I boarded a bus for Stanley. Stanley is a popular beach in Hong Kong - lots of hustle and bustle with the Hong Kong modernization touch but also the occasional local area with porcelain hole-in-the-ground public restroom. Not for those of us with weak quads or stomachs! Young, mediocre street performers peppered the landscape as well.

Sam and I got back on a bus all the way back to Jordan and eventually arrived at a local noodle shop. The noodle dishes are a spicy soup with noodles, vegetables, meats and whatever else you can specify for about $4 US. The food was good but unfortunately flavor was soon replaced by a general burning sensation as the combination of near boiling broth and preponderance of cayenne peppers overwhelmed my senses and general well-being.

Surviving (or attempting to survive) dinner, Sam and I left for a local University to watch his girlfriend's play. The show was called No means Yes and involves a young 20-something who bets his father that he can avoid saying yes while receiving $100HK for every No mentioned. Hilarity ensues. Following the show, a ritual where one performance groups transitions to another took as long as the play itself, as thank-you's and references to destiny became the order of the night. Curiously, the strangeness of the night derived more from normal theater group idiosyncrasies than my lack of familiarity with the Hong Kong culture. It appears that, once you get through the more pronounced cultural differences, we share the same basic needs/wants/beliefs.

The night quickly came to a close as Sam and his roommates needed to sleep early for work the next day. Tomorrow, I will explore some local museums by myself and try not to get lost in Asia!

Cheers!
Max

Days 1 and 2 (Max)

Hi everyone,

First off, I know this (sometimes) bugs him but let me take a brief moment to thank Sam. I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to live in Sam's apartment with his gracious roommates for a week and a half. This way I stop living vicariously through Sam, finally get my ass out of "the real world" and into something a bit stranger! Here goes my original post - enjoy.

This blog is for people who want to keep tabs on my trip to Hong Kong. I'll be writing in a stream-of-thought style, so those of you who are easily grammatically offended, consider yourself warned :).

I've been taking some pictures - I'll get those up once I get around to it.

Day 1

The trip started out with a 3:50PM Thursday direct flight from Newark to Hong Kong. The length of the flight is what most people would consider "ridiculously long" - approximately 16 hours long. We actually flew over the north pole! There were several monitors on the plane that would allow you to track the physical location of the plane relative to the ground via GPS. My sense of time was completely shot - I think day and night cycled about twice before I landed - creating a nasty case of Jet Lag for the first night.

After everything was said and done, I entered the Hong Kong airport around 8:30 PM Friday, effectively losing one day in the air. Sam met me after I claimed my baggage. After some hellos and unsolicited instruction from a bathroom attendant on how to find soap, we took a bus to Sam's apartment in Jordan (that's the name of the city - one sign of Hong Kong's british legacy).

Sam and I grabbed dinner at a local diner (my dish was a simple beef curry) and called it an early evening. Curiously, their tap water is always boiled before they serve it to you. Actually, many drinks are more expensive if you want them served cold!

A combination of practically no sleep in the past 36 hours and massive Jet Lag confused me into thinking that 3:30 AM is a good time to stay awake. Insomnia is never fun but, like all moments, that one passed into the next and the next day quickly arrived.

Day 2

We started with a very late breakfast at the Toast Box. Sam at this point was kind enough to pay for everything but I needed to take the plunge into HK dollars, so we headed over to an ATM.

As Sam explains it, over the last ten years, exchanging money has become significantly easier. Going to currency exchange places are considered over-priced and, as I understand it, a tourist trap. All that is needed is a quick trip to an ATM, using a current checking/saving account and the bank will take care of the rest. My exchange rate was about $7.75 Hong Kong Dollar for every $1 American Dollar. Overall, getting used to the Hong Kong Dollars can be someone difficult (seeing $20 come up for a bottle of water could give anyone sticker shock at first glance) but it comes easier over time.

Anyway, Sam and I traveled from Jordan to another city [The name escapes me at the moment

] where we saw the 10,000 Buddhas area. Our destination was this quasi-rural village area that had various temples with many different types of buddah statues. Each buddha statue was somewhat different than the last and each looked like they were hand-made. Truly a breath-taking sight to take in.

After our trip with the 10,000 Buddhas, Sam and I went to a local mall for some food. This time I bought a japanese take on chicken and egg dish. The food was raw when I purchased but it was served on frying pan that cooked the food as I sat at the table. Overall it was decent. The only odd thing worth mentioning is that the chicken used dark meat and still had some skin/fat attached. As someone who usually eats leaner cuts of chicken, it took me somewhat by surprise.

Something about Hong Kong is that malls are everywhere, extremely elaborate (marble is used everywhere), and gigantic. As with the street markets and subways/transportation, there is a sense of planning, efficiency and thoughtfulness unlike anything at home, save for something resembling Disney World. For example, it won't be unusual to see a street entirely devoted to selling cell phones. These sorts of things must have been essential to manage what I can only describe as a sea of humanity that bustles through Hong Kong every day.

Sam and I randomly bounced into some students for a quick hello, then it was off to home to recover for the night's activities. Sam, along with his two roommates, and I all went for Sushi for dinner. I got a couple of rolls and pieces of sushi. Not only was the food of a higher quality than the best sushi at home but it was probably a half to a third of the price to boot! For example, my two pieces of lean tuna, two pieces of squid and two pieces of octopus came to a total of $6 US. Incredible.

After dinner, Sam and I traveled through the Temple Night Market. The Temple Night Market, as the name suggests, is only open at night and consists of what seems to be endless rows of vendors selling their various wares. Most places had copied movies, stuffed animals, cheap clothes, etc. Haggling is encouraged, as Sam was able to knock off about 50% off of any list price. It was impressive to see Sam and the store owners go through their negotiations - offers, reasons, precedents and awkward silences were all necessary parts of this most essential of rituals.

That's all I have for now. Sam and I will be seeing a play tomorrow and following day will be my first day alone in the city!

Cheers!

Max

Maaaaaaaaaxxxxxxx

Exciting blogging news! Hong Kong Party Time has a new contributor! Max, one of my oldest friends, will be writing a series of guest posts chronocling his 10-day Hong Kong Party Time Vactation. Hope you enjoy!

Max, right before I picked him up for prom.

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Lights Out

The light in our bathroom went out about a week ago. In a normal world, this wouldn't merit my first blog post in a month. But as we all know, this aint no normal world, son. For one, it's not a normal light bulb, it's a florescent. For two, we live in Hong Kong and none of us have any idea where to get a florescent bulb. More significantly, however, is that my roommates and I all still live by a certain code that I like to call, "Mom Will Take Care Of It."

Allow me to explain. Even though I've been out of college for 2 years and have been living away from home since 2004 (the same can be said for my roommates), I still operate under the assumption that my mom will just take care of it. About 5 days ago, it was a little stuffy in our living room, so I opened a window. This morning, I noticed that the window was still open. It's rained 3 times since I opened it. Why didn't anyone close it? Because we all assumed that our mom would close it. All my life, if I opened a window, someone (mom) would eventually walk by, notice the open window, and close it. I never had to do it myself. See, my mom understood that no one else would take care of it. Not me. Not my roommates. Someone else will take care of the light in the bathroom, right?

In the meantime, I've written a song that I sometimes sing to myself at night in our dark bathroom:

Poopin' in the dark
Poopin' in the dark
Can't see a thing
Cause I'm poopin' in the dark
What if I miss?
I won't be able to see
Poopin' in the dark
Is a little risky

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

*****UPDATE SUNDAY MARCH 21*****
We took care of it!

To celebrate, this awesome Korean clip, courtesy of Kristin: