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Published: November 13th 2008
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A sunny day in HK
Taken from the star ferry from Wan Chai to TST (12th Nov). I haven't written for a while so thought it was time for a catch up on HK life. No major events have happened recently, partly due to having acquired a chest infection and laying low (fine now). The only newsworthy thing about that is the ridiculous amount of drugs doctors prescribe over here!! Drugs for any eventuality, they hand them out - paranoia! I was prescribed anti-biotics which did the trick, but alongside that, about seven other sets of pills! I find it difficult to believe that I need all these when I am also paying for them...am I a patient or a paying customer?!
Meanwhile, I have been getting a little bit cultured...I've been to see a contemporary ballet performance, by the Nederlands Dance theatre. The dancing was very good, and contemporary was very interesting having never seen a performance of this style before. As part of my cultured weekend, I also went to see 39 steps at the theatre, inspired by a Hitchcock movie. It was a very clever and comic performance with only 4 actors playing many different parts. The rest of the weekend was a relaxed affair, with an exciting shopping trip for a new baby
girl in England (Congratulations Gill!) and then a bbq for a family moving to Australia.
As part of attempting to be cultured, I went to 'an evening on Giselle' presented by the Hong Kong ballet, which was fantastic - a series of talks on different parts of the ballet and then dance demonstrations by the company in a very small theatre, very personal, and even better it was free.
Other events...halloween certainly does not bypass Hong Kong - all my students at school came in dressed up for the party, and then in the evening, Lan Kwai Fong (the central bar/club area) was absolutely packed - not necessarily with people out partying, but with people walking around taking photos of people in costumes. It's all a bit of a spectacle!
At work recently, I spent two days interviewing 2 year olds...no I am not kidding! The intake for the next academic year are all interviewed, so I had to ask 2 year olds some English questions, and get them to do activities and grade them...this is pretty standard and reflects the education system in HK, it's tough. I was presented with portfolios of children in an attempt
by parents to impress me/the school and tell me about every detail and achievement of the child's life so far! On the other hand, one father sat down with his child and said - she's not speaking yet! Brilliant! That was an interesting and somewhat painful interview! We also had to grade the children on walking ability, eye-hand co-ordination, eye contact, speech, and physical normality (!). We had to work all day Saturday to do the interviews so in return I had the day off for Dr. Sun Yat Sen's birthday (12th Nov). He was the first provisional president of the Republic of China when it was founded in 1912, and he founded the Kuonmintang. In Chinese history he is known as the 'father of the revolution'.
Other good times in Hong Kong....a champagne brunch on the 'Jumbo floating restaurant' (which I learnt is actually supported by concrete and not floating!) -regardless, it is a lovely lazy Sunday eating good food and sipping champagne!
Also, Oktoberfest came to Hong Kong so we danced to the alpen horn and raised our beer steins to celebrate a friend's birthday! I've been playing more netball matches too which is great.
I also had one of my best money-earners recently - a lot of rugby fans were in town for the Oz-NZ Bledsloe cup. I went to the 'Rugby Legends' dinner at the Marriot hotel and sold some raffle tickets and spotted for the auction. After collecting my $500, we were invited to sit down and enjoy the meal...a gourmet 4 course dinner, whilst listening to three rugby legends on stage. (Owen Finnegan, Eric Lush and Steve Larkham if you're interested - I hadn't heard of them either!).
I'll leave you with a comedy line from one of the kids at kindergarten (age 5):
Me: tell me a road safety rule.
Elodie: If you are blind, before you cross the road you should look.
J x
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