Today was a hoot. Although to this point, you probably have the perception I have been nothing but on a nice free vacation, we have actually been walking ourselves to blisterdome! Ok, I made that word up and only have that one blister, so that's not exactly true. I've been trying to tell you the interesting parts because there is just sooo much to tell, but what we've been doing each full day that I've been here is walking, training, subwaying, busing, riding, etc. around the city to a variety of English language centers and universities to understand what they do and how we can do our jobs better once they start. I have learned a lot. The most I learned was yesterday at the Confucian Center at Hong Kong University, which teaches Chinese instead of English, but they brought a lot of English teachers in to talk to us. Maybe it was most helpful because I was more in question mode, but I learned a lot about Chinese culture.
The Chinese and many Asian cultures are very big on 'saving face'...that is similar to what we would know as pride, but in a way that is much larger because what people think of you can go downhill much quicker than just a prideful person making a mistake. Because of this, we teachers have to find unique ways to never tell someone they're wrong, but yet still teach the right way...this may mean involving the whole class, using the word correctly in the sentence, or waiting until the end of class to go over issues. It's unique for me, and your prayers that I don't mess up and destroy face (or however that is phrased) for one of my students is appreciated. This will be a learning and growing process for sure.
Okay, now on to the fun stuff. And it has been.
1.When we visited on of the English centers today, there was a picture of Uncle Sam on the door saying "I want you to be quiet." Classic.
2. There was an article in the China South (English) newspaper that had piglets feeding on a dog. The caption itself was rather comical as well.
3. There was a spot in the elevator that said "what's hot" and then some Chinese characters...we didn't find out until later this was a place to tape up events. All I had to say is I knew the answer....the elevator was hot. Air conditioning is present, but they tend to only air condition the rooms they are in, not hallways, etc. Much more economical.
4. In one of the English centers they were checking the fire alarm system, but they didn't tell us. So when the fire alarm (identical to the ones in schools at home) went off, we were like ummmm...but they didn't react at all. I then guess that they used it as bells to switch classes because it would go off for less than 30 seconds every like 5 minutes....but surely they didn't change class 15 times an hour. lol. They eventually told us it was testing. I'm not sure why that didn't cross their mind earlier, but they gave us miniature Twix bars, so it's ok.
5. Okay, last, and most amazingly. The guy in charge of the Hong Kong America Center, who organized this segment of our orientation, invited us back to his home in the New Territories/nice/village/spread out area of Hong Kong. Housing in HK is extremely pricey. One of the ladies in our group is staying here. She found a modest, tiny, not so clean single bedroom apartment for about $1000US a month. I've heard people say it costs more to live here than in NYC. So when we went back to this guys house in the village, my response was 'dang.' Mind you, it wasn't all that big, but for HK it was huge. He and his wife lived on this like peninsula/waterfront setup where you could swim, etc. There were these little boats that came and got us and took us out to a fishing farm. There, a local fisherman friend of theirs and his wife made us a fresh catch home cooked meal. Amazing! The head of the Hong Kong America Center's wife was British and just the most adorable thing on earth. She was so happy and giggly, and I just wish we could have bottled her up and taken some of that happy with us! lol. She used great words like 'that's so fab' and 'oh, giddy me.' I felt like I was in the most precious movie ever. She also was talking about the most precious 90 year old man in Colorado that took her to church and how old men turned her on in her giggly little way. Of course, she was joking, but it was a great line, especially sitting next to her husband who she said she guessed would have to wait like 30 years. lol.
Okay, I must depart, the day is about to begin and my time on here is limited. I hope you all enjoy your weekend!
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