Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone! I hope you are centenary with family or friends. So glad my kids are able to be here with me!
It may not be where you are but it is already Christmas here in Hong Kong.
We stared the day with a walk along the water. It is really quiet considering how chaotic it was last night.
I did not think about places closing here for Christmas. We found something to eat at 7 eleven until places open.
Peacefully chilling in the hotel room until places open.
This room is in a guest house. Very clean and no frills. 3 beds close together and a small bathroom with no defined shower space. You shower in the small open area in front of the toilet and sink. That is the end you hold to shower fixed up on the wall.
Funny. For one night it is fine and it was central to everything we wanted to see. Today we are planning to take the ferry across to the island and go to our next hotel. I actually like staying in unconventional places from time to time. Interesting way to meet people and see different things.
Becca and Ryan flew around the world to come to China to visit and I walked them around a few of my favorite spots on the 23rd.
We woke up early on the 24th in Guangzhou to make the train to Hong Kong.
This little girl Phoebe kept looking at us and walking by. She was so shy and wanted to talk. We started talking to her and I practiced my Chinese and she practiced her English. She was so cute. When I used a wrong word she would scratch her forehead and have the cutest look. I have her one of our granola bars which she promptly ate! I so need to practice my Chinese more but have learned some phrases and have enough to get by and cause confused looks!
In Hong Kong we dropped off our bags and went to find some food. We came back to check in and napped (at least I did.) We went for a walk to do some shopping. It is so commercial here. And, I’m not a big shopper.
Becca and Ryan surprised me with a cheesecake for my birthday. We went to Kowloon Park to eat it. Mango cheesecake! It was yummy. I can’t believe we ate the cheesecake for dinner.
More walking the streets and looking at Christmas lights.
On the way back to the hotel, they had so many singers and a parade. So many people everywhere. This place is insane.
One of the malls caught our attention with this:
Inside they had a ball pit for kids. This was taken on the second floor looking down.
We walked a lot and sampled some great dim sum. Ryan loves egg tarts. Becca loved all of the dim sum.
We bought bubble waffles and bubble tea.
A good birthday, a good night’s sleep and now it is Christmas! Off to hike Dragons Back mountain!
Wow. That is over. One semester under my belt! When they say it takes a year to get used to international living and teaching IB they were not kidding. It did not help that I agreed to coach cross country. Actually the athletic director kept visiting (badgering) me until I relented. Never mind I had already agreed to student government co-advisor prior as well.
For the new teacher awards I received the “dive right in” award for taking things on right away. There is usually a rule that new teachers don’t coach but they were short on coaches. It was tough but I survived. Our awards were printed on paper plates! We had a great celebration dinner that night.
Above, my friends Nicole, Killian, and Steven. Below, Nicole and Siqin (Steven’s wife).
A Chinese alcohol with gold flecks in it.
Anyway, the start of the year is a blur as I barely figured out the day to day back then. 5 months in I feel I have hit my stride. There is still a lot to learn but things are a tad easier. I say that now right before my students start their IA (internal assessment which is a full research lab and paper.)
What has changed?
Things don’t seem so over whelming. I learned to settle in and stop fighting what was holding me back.
I know where to get my basic supplies. That is huge. When you are foreign and here for awhile you need to figure it out. I have not bought too much online either. If I can’t find it locally I decide what I can substitute instead.
I have learned a few useful phrases. Microsoft translator definitely helps. I am now taking a Chinese course. This is a tough language to learn.
I know how to get around on the metro. In fact I know how to get around above ground walking many places I need instead of the metro. For those who know me, I have no sense of direction!
I DON’T know yet how to get around by bus. How hard can that be? None of the stops are in English. You may know what bus number you need, but you may not know where you need to get off the bus. Still very difficult.
Many of the places we were at during orientation I have now found on my own. They seemed far away from each other but not so on the map. This city is HUGE and not sure I will actually see it all.
The frame of reference you use to understand biology is very different for other nationalities. In my last school, some kids had different experiences than others. That is still true here, but my American lens is different from theirs. Not better, just different. I have a lot to learn and for those who wondered why I left the states, IT IS FOR THAT REASON ALONE. I can be better by learning from others. (This next statement is political as I do not believe in American exceptionalism: We are part of a bigger world. Time to learn from it.)
I made a connection at an exercise class that led to joining the local Nike run club with another teacher. I seemed like an outsider a few times but everyone now is so welcoming. They come up to talk to us (those who know English that is.) I used that same exercise group to make connections for biking. Knowing Chinese Nationals outside of school is going to be helpful.
Grading mid terms takes a long time. 2/3 of my test is free response (that is about 53 points). It needs to be so to get them ready for their IB test. My stack of papers I graded. Grading is a pain. The kids have a lot of pressure with these tests.
Take time to try something new. I printed a 3D ornament using the 3D printers in the innovation lab. While I was there I also played with the VR headset. We have a human anatomy program. My classes will use it next year. Here are pics of a colleague using it. It is seriously cool as you can choose disease states of organs, slice through sections, and step into the center of the organs. As I play I’m going to look at screencasting and see if student teams can create tours.
3D heart:
Cats helped me by having something to come home to. I could just be carefree but like taking care of a critter.
Reflecting on where your are at now and possible plans for the future allows for many choices!!
8 of us from our school traveled to the great hakka marathon over Thanksgiving weekend (we had Friday off). It took 8 hours to get there. We traveled high speed train to Xiamen and then a bus ride to the hotel in Nanjing County, Fujian province. Before the bus ride we picked up our packets at the airport.
The hotel was better than most in China and we were happy for that as we were able to get a good nights sleep (we see cats on everything in China.)
Before dinner we were offered tea downstairs in the foyer of the hotel. They were very nice and told us we were all beautiful. I’m afraid they would not say that after we finish the run the next day. After tea, they walked us to a local restaurant they recommendef and it was fabulous.
The bus to the race start took an hour over the mountains and to the other side. They had entertainment and warm ups.
We were asked to be in a part for their promo video. We are the group walking to the start line and I’m wearing a red top (I filmed the showing of it in when it was played at the celebration dinner.)
The run was beautiful. Gorgeous weather. We ran through the countryside through villages and we even had to run in a hakka house! I wore a go pro to film along the way. I need to learn to keep my arms out of the way of the camera. If you ever wondered what a half marathon is like or the views in China, here it is. 2 hours and 8 minutes time lapsed to 8 minutes. You can pause parts of the video.
I finished slower than I normally do but I had a fall 3 weeks ago and fell hard on the right knee striking the patellar tendon. I was unable to run the last 3 weeks so just happy I finished it. But I did finish 8th with a time of 2 hours 6 minutes. The course was more technical than the pittsburgh half with uneven trails and winding runs through alleys in villages. More hills as well.
Here is a pic from the end of the race.
While I was waiting for one of our group to finish the marathon we walked around the village and into a hakka house.
Video of hakka House. The round house holds many families, each with their own space, and a common area in the middle. They cook outside their doors. The houses have been standing for centuries.
Other pictures from the village:
They dry flowers for tea.
We will be touring the region on the second day. More pics and info to follow.
I’m sure I’m not the only one, but I think of delicious food often. I plan vacations around it! In every neighborhood there is a wet market of produce. Multiple vendors are in the area and the produce and food they offer is amazing. I can buy grains, beans, some staple supplies, tofu, meat, fish, eggs (quail eggs!!) and mostly veggies… The produce is fresh.
I have bought black forbidden rice, red rice, brown rice, something I thought was corn grits but was much coarser, a variety of different beans to use. In orientation we asked about shopping for produce and they were kind to walk us there after an already full outing. Many other shops are along the way, One sells hardware items, many small ones offer household goods, another is a small pharmacy, and there are some boutique type shops.
Here are a few pictures from my visits to the market. Look at those carrots! They are my favorite buy every week.
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These are mangostines. They are high in antioxidants and have small white sections of fruit inside. They are delicious. The price is in rmb which is a conversion of 6:1 to the USD (So in dollars would be $2 per pound). Food is cheap here. The other fruit I buy often is dragonfruit and lychee. Of course they have apples, oranges, and bananas but am more interested in other fruits.
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I have been buying one vegetable and fruit each week that I don’t recognize and then learn something about it and use in my cooking.
This is a cherimoya. It has the consistency of a hard apple but has a slight taste of pineapple.
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I wanted to make muffins that have zucchini and carrot inside. I was not sure which vegetable was a zucchini so used the translator app to ask. To my surprise this was the zucchini:
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What I would have guessed was the zucchini actually was a bitter melon. I thought it was a type of okra but it was not. It was bitter eaten raw and after cooked still had a slight bitter taste. At the time I thought it was a vegetable. Oh well, so I had already put it in spaghetti sauce!
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They even have fish, squid, frogs, snakes, turtles…I know…I don’t like seeing them either. Those are snakes that are reaching the sruface of the water.
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You can choose a fish and they will clean and fillet it for you. I plan to do that (maybe tonight?) I went to do that yesterday but all of my other errands put me at the market too late and they were cleaning up. Fresh fish sounds good for dinner. They also have just killed fish, squid, clams, etc. to buy. They will fillet the fish also.
A slightly longer walk takes me to an organic supermarket where I sometimes will buy my leafy greens. They seem to last longer and there is still some concern about cleaning the greens properly enough.
I finished orientation week and prepared to start a full week at school (without students yet). Throughout the week, we took care of the necessities, ate fabulous meals, spent time making friends with other new teachers, and gradually feeling like we could go out on our own…
It feels like I have been here for a month. It has been really busy setting up life here. Still hurdles to get through to get the residence visa and that is rolling along. Opening the bank account at Bank of China necessary to get paid and also to set up life.
Paying for goods here is insanely easy. I loved We Chat for keeping in touch with family (can you say free video and phone calls as well as texts through the app?) But the best part is that you can pay for anything through we chat. You can scan the vendor or they can scan you and since it is set up with the Bank of China, it is immediate payment. This can be used in restaurants, vending machines, department stores… You can even pay your friends and split bills. Amazing. I love not having to carry cash, but so tempting when you have your phone with you wherever you go…
After hiking Baiyun mountain yesterday, I was exhausted and finally slept a couple hours in the afternoon. Today I feel much better. After staying in the bulk of yesterday, I spent a couple hours shopping at the Chinese version of a Sam’s Club (called Metro). Then I went on a long bike ride using bike share (MoBike). So easy as bikes are left on the street anywhere. You find one and scan the QR code and it unlocks. When you are done, you leave it wherever you want and then push the knob on the bike to lock it. It was super cheap (about $0.44 for 1.5 hours). I biked along the river until I reached construction then back down along the road. There are many parks and it is beautiful biking along the river.
I left the bike at Tianhe which is not too far from the apartment. It is a pedestrian area that leads to many malls (one is called Mall of the World) and has a huge underground labryinth between most of them. I also enjoyed mango sorbet.
This is the IFC tower at Tianhe.
While I was there they turned on the fountain which coordinated with music. it was a delight to watch the children.
Oops. Need to not change the orientation of the phone next time.
And the best part of coming back to the apartment – rooftop pool to cool down!
