Molding Young Minds

Last week I taught a lesson to my Form 4 (approx. 9th grade) students about comics. After teaching some vocab and going over some concepts, I divided them into groups and gave each group two cards. One card would give a location such as a school playground, library, or hospital. The other card would give characters, like aliens, or cops and criminals, or teachers and students. They would then make a short comic strip using the given location and characters. My students did not disappoint:

Click to view full size:

Byeeeeeeeeee.

Improve Your English

A practical reason to improve your English, courtesy of Benji:

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Day 10 - end of trip (Max)

For day 10, Sam and I smashed together many last-minute miscellaneous activities into one glorious day. Starting the day off Sam and I traveled back into Central for Victoria Park. Highlights include the foot massage rocks (Wearing socks, you walk on top of pointed rocks, creating some discomfort initially but hopefully feeling better afterwards. Sam did this with flip flops on, causing some locals to correct him - I told them we were westeners trying not to hurt our feet!), observing people lounge/sing/dance (there seemed to be a congregation of pacific islanders throughout the park) and bumping into some of Sam's british co-workers, where we engaged in pleasantries and played the UK-US cultural exchange game of "what do you call that?" (Is it a trolley or tram, air-con or air-conditioning, chips/crisps/fries, etc.).

Finishing the park, Sam and I looked for a massage clinic (A note about this - I saw signs throughout Hong Kong advertising massages, especially feet massages. To avoid any tourist traps or illegitimate operations, Sam did some research and found a legit place.). For $208 HK (about $27 US) I received an hour long Thai massage while Sam went back to his place for a trip to the gym. I thought the massage was a very professional and enjoyable experience.

Massage completed, Sam and I met up again in Central for some Fish and Chips. Although a bit expensive (~$13 US), I ate grilled cod, fries and baked beans (it was satisfying but not very memorable otherwise). Sam told me that his British roommate Rob recommended this place, as it had a very authentic UK feel to it.

Leaving Central, we arrived at Kowloon Park for yet another gigantic mall. There was a very modern-looking video-game arcade, with some very Chinese-feeling entertainment. We played games that used plastic hammers to kill cartoon ghosts and plastic balls to smash bottles on a television screen. I also took a stab at the local street fighter 4 machines, pitting me in one-on-one combat against one of the local ringers (with a respectable 1-3 match outcome in favor of my opponent).

Later that night, Sam, Paul (the roommate) and I went out for sushi, where I gorged myself on familiar and exotic sea-faring creatures. Bed-time approaching, we headed back where I packed and reserved my flight.

Unfortunately, this is where my trip ends (the next day I simply got on a plane, watched movies for 15 hours and arrived with a predictable but manageable case of jet-lag). As a fan of narratives and detesting abrupt ends, I'd like to briefly reflect on my overall impressions of Hong Kong:

-Simply in terms of height and density of buildings and public transportation, I have yet to see any other city that comes close to achieving what Hong Kong already has.
-Air pollution can be terrible and directly impacts how you feel (nausea, difficult breathing, etc.)
-Hong Kong schooling can be more difficult and unforgiving in ways that are unfamiliar to me, speaking as a former USA student. That being said, I have enormous respect for those students who come here as foreign exchange students and those students who manage to survive through Hong Kong's Universities (who, in addition to their own major, manage to learn two or more foreign languages with more than bare-bones fluency).
-Life feels more efficient. I'd also say less stressful/more affordable/more manageable but I'm not sure if that's an artifact of my vacation or foreigner status.
-Food and meals requires different and flexible expectations. Having bread as a main course for breakfast (with eggs as a side), eating with a focus on utility and not placing chop sticks in rice bowls are examples that stick out to me.
-People, at their core, tend to be similar in familiar ways. Cultural and language barriers can profoundly obscure this idea in first impressions.
-Having someone who can speak Cantonese to a Hong Kong cab driver is a life saver! For that matter, my most fulfilling and interesting experiences were facilitated by people who, without compensation, translated my experiences (both lingually and culturally) and took me beyond the normal tourist/vacationer spots.


Thank you for taking the time to read about my Hong Kong experience. Let me know what you think in the comments sections below.

Day 9 (Max)

Sam rejoined my daytime adventures today as the weekend arrived once again. After getting a quick bite to eat at a local chinese diner (I had a prawn for the first time - basically a bigger, similar tasting version of shrimp), we decided to explore the outlying islands, using the fishing village of Cheung Chau village as our focal point. Our day's journey started with a "fast ferry" from Kowloon to Cheung Chau, arriving in a blisteringly quick half hour.

The goal for Cheung Chau was simple: explore the island...until we get bored/tired. Our guide books suggested hiking wherever we felt comfortable and some maps on the island suggested trails for viewing. Sam and I walked along the various trails (some more advertised than others) and into the labyrinth-like city, exploring its claustrophobic alleyways and dusty foot-paths. I thought the city had character and a certain mystique not seen in the other areas of Hong Kong.

We returned back to Kowloon via our second "fast ferry" for some delicious Indian food - garlic naans, lamb curry, etc. Sam decided on the restaurant because, of the two Indian restaurants in the area, this one didn't have people in the streets aggressively harass you into their restaurants (They'll say anything, short of being offensive or illegal, to get a person into their eating establishment. Thankfully, the street hawkers nearby Sam's apartment recognize him, so they're a bit nicer.).

Most curiously about the meal - there were Bollywood videos constantly playing in the background. Culturally, the indian people tended to use indians for their models, whereas in Hong Kong, they tend to prefer caucasians (or chinese who look similar to caucasians). In fact, Sam and I saw a large advertisement for eye plastic surgery that helps chinese people look more like caucasians (it was all in Cantonese, so I had to look at the before and after pictures a couple times before I knew what they were selling). I'm not quite sure how I feel about this.

Cheers!

Max

Day 8 (Max)

Day 8 was a return back to Central in Hong Kong Island to catch up on missed attractions. First I walked to a nearby noodle shop for a quick bite to eat. A vegetable and rice noodle soup was my dish of choice (the lighter meal was a nice change of pace from the richer protein/fat meals I have eaten since I've gotten here).

After eating, I strolled over to the Man Mo temple. It is a place of worship for both the Man and Mo chinese gods. The temple is known for its decorations, statues and constantly burning incense candles. Although tourists regularly go through the building, I found the smells overwhelmingly irritating and left soon after arriving.

My next destination was the Museum of Medical Sciences. I learned about the Chinese perspective on medicine - including an analysis of SARS, the logic and structure of eastern medicine (with western equivalents), the outbreak of plague in China, and how/why China performs quarantines. My studies and background in biology/chemistry certainly helped my appreciation of the museum, along with my fascination of medicine and science.

Returning home, myself, Sam, Sam's roommate Paul and Sam's friend Kathleen/Kathy (the english assistant from earlier in the week) all went out for Hot Pot. Hot Pot is a popular Hong Kong meal where everyone places a type of uncooked food into a boiling communal soup. Think Melting Pot with chinese food/vegetables, far more popularity and affordability. Thankfully for our group, Kathleen was fluent in Cantonese, a veteran of Hot Pot and understood Hong Kong culture, so we let her order the majority of the food. I didn't recognize everything she ordered, though some of the highlights of the meal included beef, squid, and a type organ meat (Kathleen didn't know the english translation but my suspicion was a type of intestine). One of my favorite meals of the trip so far!

Kathleen left our group and we completed the night's cabal with Sam's other roommate Paul, Sam's friend Taylor (with girlfriend) and Sam's girlfriend. The group traveled to SoHo in Hong Kong Island (think Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia but more intense/Chinese) and visited a couple of bars. The first bar was just a standard open-air sports bar with an impressive beer collection (Chimay Blue was my favorite) and mounds of discarded peanut shells on the floor. The second bar fostered a sense of mystery and confusion, as large curtains covered and obscured the door. Once in, victorian-era furniture defined the interior decoration, with strawberry and chocolate margaritas as the drink of choice.

We left the second bar close to 3AM, heading home for some sleep and declaring the night a profound success!

Cheers!

Max

Day 7 (Max)

Day 7 became a foray into the New Territories. The New Territories is an area that was initially developed as a placement response to the many chinese refuges caused by World War 2. It is less of a tourist area, focusing more on the needs of the Hong Kong citizens and those of us who want to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

I started the day by dropping off my laundry (washed, dried and folded for $5 US), eating breakfast at Toast Box and taking the MTR to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, near the city of Sha Tin. The ticket to the museum was just $10 HK (~$1.25 US). I learned about chinese opera/movies from the 1940s and 1950s (it didn't resonate strongly with me) and the history of the New Territories (very interesting!).

From the museum, I hopped back onto the MTR to the city of Tai Po. Lunch became a priority, as it was around 2PM and I had some significant hiking ahead of me. I ducked into a local noodle shop in the MTR terminal. After failing miserably with a Cantonese menu, a local guided me through ordering a vegetable soup and ramen with shrimp dumplings (all for naught, as the english menu was right below my Cantonese one). BTW, the ramen, unlike the horrors inspired by our styrofoam american college-student version, was delicious with a pleasing texture.

Taking a five minute taxi ride, I arrived at the Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve. According to my guide book, this reserve began in 1926 as an effort by the government to reforest and restore some of Hong Kong's lost forests (resulting from normal human activity and the Japanese Occupation). Through the hour and a half stroll, I learned about the biology of the area, including special birds, plants and trees. The area was breathtakingly beautiful and peaceful, especially considering it was only the second time in my trip that I left the chaos of the city. Bizarrely (at least to someone from the USA), there were monkey control problems in this forest. Interactions with monkeys had specific instructions (Don't feed them or look at them - otherwise they may intimidate you for food).

Returning home exhausted, I briefly relaxed before preparing for dinner. Sam suggested we try a very popular Dim Sum restaurant named Tim Ho Wan. Dim Sum is basically Hong Kong's interpretation of unhealthy but delicious food - dumplings and pastries filled with meats, sweets and the occasional vegetable thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, in exchange for Tim Ho Wan's excellent food and prices, the restaurant is fairly hostile, hard to find, and requires long waits (up to two hours according to Sam). Due to getting lost a couple of times, Sam and I missed our reservation and decided to go to another less famous Dim Sum street restaurant. The food was decent but was a bit rich for my tastes (maybe just a response from all the unhealthy food I consumed in the last week or so). We returned home soon after eating, as my feet howled from today's hours and miles of walking.

Cheers!

Max

Fart Chart

None of us are sure where the smell came from, but for the last month or so, Rob's room has really stunk. I mean it really stinks in there. It smells like a mixture of b.o., mold, more b.o., more mold, and mold. So when Rob went on vacation to Switzerland last week, the first thing I did was close his door to trap the smell in there (sometimes when the door to his room is open, the fumes seep out.) Then later, when I farted in the living room, Paul and I got to talking. Why stink up the apartment with our farts when there's a room that smells so much already? We might as well keep it all in one place, right? We both agreed, right then and there, that whenever either one of us had to fart, we'd take a deep breath (you don't want to breathe inside of Rob's room), walk inside, and let it rip.

But what's the point farting in Rob's room over and over again if he never

finds out about it? That's why I made the Fart Chart. It's pretty simple. Every time Paul or I fart in Rob's room, we mark it on the chart and

when Rob comes home, he sees that we've been farting in his room over and over again. As you can see, I'm winning.

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeee.