Another dollar, another day

Year three of teaching in Hong Kong has officially started, and its off with a bang! This is the start of the second week of the semester, and its going really well. The weather has cooled down a bit, the students are excited to be back, and I get to help out with some pretty fun courses- Literature and Adaptation, and Asian Voices in English. I gave my first mini-lecture of the semester on Jane Eyre yesterday, which I enjoyed, but I'm not sure if I convinced any of them to read it, though they should! Its such a great book and I think that they would really like it, given the chance. I love that book.......

So what else is new? I've started up my yoga classes again, and let me tell you, Ashtanga is tough! If you want to challenge yourself at any time, try going to one of these classes. My yoga teacher thought it would be a really great idea to pull me into a backbend on Monday, and my whole body has been sore ever since. I'm a firm believer in the benefits of yoga, so this is going to pay off in the end. I've still got my part time job keeping me occupied, and lots of knitting to do. Life is floating along at a pretty great pace for now. There is talk of me coming back to Baltimore in December for a visit, but right now that is all talk. I'll keep you posted if anything else develops.

My favorite things, red edition

Hand-dyed Yarn
Shoes
Nail Polish
Cookies
Jewelry
Cranberry Juice
Makeup
Scarves

A few of my favorite things that all come in red

Stormy Days!

This is what the sky outside my living room window looks like right now. Add in great rolling peals of thunder and flashes of lightening, and you have one of those days where you don't really go outside, unless you want to get soaked through and through, and/or struck by lightening Oh, another fun fact- this picture was taken at 11ish today, so this might be an all-day storm front. do have plenty of hot coco, so the angry grey Hong Kong skies will be admired from the inside today.

Aside from the stormy weather, the start of the year seems to be picking up with a bang. All 5 of the new tutors are here, and settling in quite nicely. So far, they all seem to be really sweet and fun people, so this year should go pretty smoothly. After all the administrative drama last year, this seems like a go-with-the-flow kind of group, which will make everyone's life easier. I believe that I will be helping out with the Asian Voices in English class, and one other literature class, which means I will get mostly second and third year students. This year looks like its shaping up pretty nicely, and once the heat dies down a little bit, things will be at right about perfect!

So I suppose you all are dying to hear about Europe? In short, it was fantastic! I got to experience my students growing into adulthood and watching their individual personalities flourish! I also go to pack in quite a lot of traveling time, and I feel like I got a lot done for my first trip to Europe. I also can't wait to go back sometime! After all the grand adventures, my best friend from the states, Vira, came for a nice long 3-week visit to HK, where I got to show off my city, and show off my friend. I think that the highlight of that visit was the dolphin-watching trip, because I finally got to see the elusive Chinese dolphin, and they are so pink!!! That is the shortest version of my summer, but that's how it goes sometimes. Now on to prep work, finishing a baby blanket, and rocking out!

I'm still alive

Yes folks, I'm still alive, and going to post something more substantial soon. Lots and lots of stories and trips to catch up on, but first I need to get organzied so I can give you all the juicy details! It will be soon, I promise, and if not so, feel free to yell at me via email/comments.

Back from Yunnan!

Yunnan province, in the south-west of China, is one of my new favorite places to visit. My friend Megan and I just spent a fantastic nine days there, and I have pictures and stories to share. Before I get into all of that, I need to also give a big CONGRATULATIONS to my cousin Aaron, who just graduated from Navy boot camp. He's done so well, and everyone is extremely proud of him, including myself! I know that this is only a sign that he is going to go on to better and brighter things, and I am way impressed with him. Our grandpa was in the Navy, and my older brother is a Marine, so we've got quite a tradition going on in our family, and I'm proud of all of them.

So, nine days in Yunnan has been one of my favorite trips so far- big blue skies, nights full of stars, minority groups, dancing, and great food. I spent a few days prior to the trip in Beijing, where Megan lives, to get settled and also see some of the sights that I missed during my last visit. I got to walk around several parks, including Jingshan park, where you can look down on the whole of the Forbidden City. One of my favorite moments was the day I spent at the Olympic facilities, where you can now go into the National Stadium, also known as the Birds nest, and walk around on the playing field and sit in the stands. It was an overwhelming moment walking into that stadium and seeing how truly massive the space is, but I think that's the goal of the architect. Everywhere you walked on the Green, you head the "Beijing Welcomes You" song, or the "One World, One Dream" song over and over again until they were both burned into your brain. The first song seems to contain every Chinese star possible, and I've found a subtitled version for the rest of you to enjoy!

I also paid a visit to the Temple of Heaven and surrounding park, which you might recognize as one of the symbols of Beijing. The temple itself is typical imperial architecture, but the park surrounding it is magical, with endless acres of cypress trees and carefully plotted flower gardens. The roses were just starting to bloom, and for being in the center of the city, the park was magically quiet. Lots of azaleas around as well, and people taking leisurely strolls. Nearer the temple, there is a place called the Long Walkway, which is part of the temple complex. There, locals gather to play cards, sing karaoke, gossip, dance, and watch foreigners like me gawk at the sights. I hope that I entertained some people while I was there. I also managed to make it to the Lama Temple, which was a little bit of a let-down, but still on the list of things to do.

In addition to seeing the sights in Beijing, it was great to spend time with Megan, who I haven't seen since last November. She and I always have a great time together, and we became known as "the girls who laugh" at a point during our trip. She is a part-time food critic, and took me out for some spectacular meals in Beijing, including a style of BBQ meat from Western China, donkey meat sandwiches, local cuisine, Peking duck, and Sichuan noodles. I can't illustrate enough how much I love the food in Beijing, and yes folks, donkey is delicious as well. I also got to see Danielle briefly, since her folks where in town, which was wonderful too. They were going off to Sichuan province to hug the pandas.

Megan and I flew from Beijing into Kunming, a trip of about 3 hours, and managed to find our way around the city quite easily. I would be lost without her, because she is really great with directions, planning, and reading/speaking Mandarin. She is really a great travel buddy! We spent our first day at Greenlake Park in Kunming, which is the most thoroughly used park that I have seen. Tons of different groups were dancing, singing, and having a great time. Normally I just observe, but the people here were very interested in getting us to join in, which they succeeded in quite a few times. In one group I was "adopted" by an elderly man who took a lot of pains to teach me the dance. We were just going around in a circle doing a simple step, and he counted out everything for me, convince that I spoke fluent Mandarin. He is the one to the left of me in this photo, in the yellow shirt. They are big on dancing in a circle in Greenlake park, and through out a lot of Yunnan. Halfway through this dance, I did manage to run into a tree, which amused the general population. Once the dance was finished, we thanked the kindly grandpa and continued on our merry way. Later on in the park, both of us were recruited to join in on another group's dance party, and stayed there for about 20 minutes. The ladies that pulled us in took extra time to teach us the dance step by step, and went over it until we had it down for sure. We repeated it a few times, and when I glanced up after one of the repetitions, I noticed that we had gathered quite a sizable crowd, and they all were greatly amused and intrigued. Apparently foreigners don't come to the park often, and when they do, they absolutely never dance with the locals. This seemed to be a huge event in the park, and everyone needed to come and see, take pictures, and possibly even video-tape it. Megan and I make a great TV show for Kunming! We had dinner in some local hole-in-the-wall, which was delicious, and tried local beer, also delicious. All in all, a promising start to a great vacation! Up next the Stone Forest in Shilin and on to Shangri-La!

Better late than never!

Sorry about the delay folks, but this week was filled with me pushing things to the last moment, mostly work-related items, so the blogging had to suffer a little bit. Thanks to Gina's oh so subtle "hint", I've gotten back on track with the whole blogging thing, so everyone thank Gina for being attentive (Thanks Gina) The sun has finally burnt through the fog and rain that dominated last week, and the weather has been beautiful. Lots of blue sky and sunshine coming my way!

This week wasn't too terribly exciting, aside from Friday's event. I had my classes and library hours as usual, and even invigilated an exam on Monday. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, invigilation is a fancy word that they use here to talk about administering an exam. Using invigilate makes me sound like I'm doing something quite complication, and I think that it might be funny to include it on my resume some day. In the middle of the week, we had rehearsal as usual, and I managed to fall down the stairs and possibly sprain my ankle again, for what would be the 7th time. One of my professors thinks I should go see a Chinese bone-setter for my ankle problems. I told her that I would have to get back to her on that one.


I think that Friday was probably the best day this week, mainly because I finally got to see one of my favorite authors, Margaret Atwood, give a lecture at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, but getting there was a bit of an epic journey for Hong Kong, because in order to get from Lingnan to HKUST, which are on completely opposite sides of the New Territories. It takes about 2 hours, because you go by bus, then MTR, and then another bus, and then a short walk across the campus to the lecture hall. I also met up with a few of my colleagues, Preet and Alastair. Preet and I were all sorts of giddy, because for us, this was something akin to meeting one of your favorite movie stars, and then being able to listen to them talk about their creative process and what makes them work. She was a great lecturer, very entertaining, witty, and a little bit feisty. I really didn't know that much about her, so this was a first for me. What else was interesting to me was that the Consul-General of the Canadian Consulate here accompanied her to this lecture, and they arrived in cars with flags, all diplomatic-like. Apparently Canada's biggest exports, next to hockey and beer, are Margaret Atwood visits. She generously sat for more than an hour to sign books, and when it was my turn, I went blank and the only thing that I could manage to say was my name. I'm also sure that I just stared at her for an awkward minute or two before I managed to pull myself together to mumble my name at her. So now I have my own personally autographed copy of one of my favorite novels, The Handmaid's Tale, which I am reading again, for the millionth time.

This weekend revolved around attempting to finish marking my journals, and then moving on to the next stack of journals for Kristina, and scoring exams for the psycholinguistics class. Somewhere in there, I also managed to get all my errands done, and send in my application for my mainland visa. Americans still can't get multiple-entry ones, unless you're a businessman, but they said I could get the double-entry, which turned out to be half the price that it was last year. I guess that we are starting to see the effects of the new president over here! (You can always tell where the relationship between China and the US is by visa prices and availability) I'm also getting excited about planning a trip to Yunnan in April with my friend Megan. Yunnan looks like it is going to be a great trip!

Foggy Weather is Here Again

The weather these past few days has been suspiciously like what I imagine London to be, or at least a Sherlock Holmes novel; wet, dark, cold, and a fog so thick that you can hardly see through. Its the type of weather that makes you want to put on your pajamas, get a mug of hot coco, wrap yourself up in a blanket and watch movies all day. Now, if you substitute the hot coco for coffee, and movies for marking journals, you've got my Sunday. I've really just avoided going outside as much as possible, since the weather has been so miserable and unwelcoming. Serves me right for bragging to everyone else about having warm weather whilst they were stuck in snow. Hopefully the fog and rain and wind will move on this week and we can get the pleasantness back that is spring in Hong Kong. Spring here is the most perfect weather that I have seen, blue skies and warm air before you hit Hong Kong summer, when it gets so hot and humid that you feel like you are melting as soon as you step outside.

Journals can be just as unpredictable as Hong Kong weather, in the sense that you almost never know what you are going to get, even when you think you've got things down. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my students, but sometimes when you have to read the same paragraph 6 times in a row, to try to understand what they are communicating, it can be a bit tedious. On the other hand, they quite often suprise me with how insightful they can be, or unknowingly wise. They find a moral lesson in unsual places, and never cease to entertain me with their ever-changing grammatical collages that they use to convey a complex idea or thought. Seeing what they come up with makes you think twice about how languages can be so descriptive, and at the same time, so restrictive to the thought process. What I take from this is that you never cease to be a student or a teacher, no matter your position in the classroom.

If you want to see some of our student's more creative and artistic work first-hand, one of our classes, Painting and Poetry, now has their own blog where students in the class post their assignments and creative pieces from the class. I will also link the site in my blog log so you can keep up with them if you are so interested. It shows how creative our students can be, and I am very proud of all of them for what they have contributed to the creative universe. Enjoy!

Lazy Sunday.....I Don't Think So

I have been up since 7:30am on a Sunday, and I can hardly believe it. I fear that I might slowly be transforming into a morning person, or some other weird kind of mutant. This day has been filled with getting a lot done that needed to be done, but I don't see this becoming a habit. I need to sleep in for one more hour at least on principle. Aiya!

So today I ran around from yoga to my office, to my apartment, to dinner and beyond! I feel like I haven't sat down all day, but that's not necessarily a bad thing if I'm getting a lot of things accomplished. I've got my workshop all set up for this coming week, my outlines marked and ready to return to the students, and managed to give myself a good head start for the week ahead, because this week, I face a tutor's feared challenge: first-year journals! Don't get me wrong, I adore my students, but reading 25 journals in row is almost as bad as taking a stats class over again. My students have a tendency to all write about the same issues along the same timeline. In the first semester the pattern is usually:

• Getting used to university life
• Missing their families, even though most of them are just a 45 minute bus ride away
• Mid-Autumn Festival
• English Society activities

I could time my watch by the pattern in which my students write their journals about. I'm sure that all these new experiences are exciting and relevant to them, but around journal number 7 or 8, they all start to run together, the lines on the page start to blur, and my students stop becoming individuals- instead, they all form together as one homogeneous blob that needs to learn how to be more introspective and when to use shifts in verb tense! With some poking and prodding, they usually spin off into other topics by the second semester, but there is still a strong pattern among the students. Maybe they get together at secret meetings and plan out what they all are going to write about just to mess with me?



In other news, I am also extremely proud of my group of third-years who just got to the finals of the Shakespeare competition! It's amazing how far they have come since we started rehearsing last semester, and I know that they will do well in the competition, and hopefully win, or at least beat Chinese U. The video that you can see here is about 30 seconds of a rehearsal back in November, with my space heater as a fantastic set piece. Since this filming they have come leaps and bounds. We filmed a 20 minute video in January, and I hope to get my hands on a copy of that so I can share it with all you lovely people. I am so very proud of them. We are also putting on a production at the school as an expansion of what we did with the extract from "Two Gentlmen of Verona" with a bigger cast. All the students involved are extremely talented and I am very excited to see how this will all turn out. Of course, as with the competition, I have had my first try at directing, and I quite like it so far.

This week will be quite hectic, between my workshop, reading a new batch of journals, practice reading tests, and marking outlines. There are some great things coming as well, like the lecture by Margaret Atwood, one of my favorite authors, at HKUST that I have a space reserved for, and the next episode of Lost, to name a few. I still have no idea what is going on with that island!

5 MONTHS?!

Aiya! 5 months have passed by without one post on either of my blogs! People must think that I have fallen off the edge of the planet..........but I haven't. I'll go stand in the corner and hang my head in shame if that will make you feel better?

Lack of posting is due to several factors in my life, including, but not limited to:

• Flexible work schedule that has me running all over this S.A.R. that I call home
• Insufficient amount of pictures to do knitting projects justice
• Earning online certificate for TEFL
• YouTube........it will suck you in and never let you go.

But seriously folks, I have been slacking off in the online posting department, and I'm going to remedy that by re-instituting my Sunday rule; Sunday evenings are for getting caught up with emails and blogging, and other such correspondence. Things work out much better for me if I schedule them into my calender and have a chunk of time blocked off for any activity. I'm also the person that needs to have everything written down, otherwise I probably won't remember. So, starting tomorrow night, things should start to become more regular in the blogging universe for me and for all that read this. Until then, my dearest readers!