Well vague and some what sarcastically ambiguous title voice..... I'm glad you asked!
Things are going well here. A lot to deal with... etc. etc. (see last post). We're still getting settled, but things are moving along. I mean hell, It's already over a week into March!!! We've been here for over 6 weeks. We've found the local trough buckets we like the most, or so we think..... found a White Spot... yea that's right, WHITE SPOT!!!! Can't get a triple O burger in Ontario..Noooo, but Hong Kong has like 6 of them or something... so that's kind of cool.
We managed to break through to some students that were.... to be nice and politically correct.... a little.... difficult. We have learned a good way to cope with some of the more lack-of-disciplinary-means classes, is to divide them into smaller groups, separate the troublemakers from each other, and it seems to work. Well, it seems to have worked for the past two weeks we've tried.....
Brian's space week went SUPER well. We had 27 students sign up to go to the space museum. That was cool. These kids were great. One of them clearly wants to learn English, and is pretty good at it, but loves space, just never had the chance to learn about it. So he kept asking us questions and spent the entire walk there talking to me about an app he downloaded to give him a basic understanding of space, and then spent the entire walk home talking to Brian asking him different questions about space. It's SO neat when you get these kids who just WANT to learn. It's even more neat when they want to learn from YOU. It sounds corny, but it really is rewarding talking to these kids.
A lot of them don't have the best life at home... parents are rarely there because they're working, or there are 9 people in a small apartment we wouldn't feel comfortable in with 2, so a lot of the kids like to stay after school... they will stay until we basically kick them out and have to go have dinner.... Which is what we did today... we were there until about 6:00pm just talking with kids, and finally said...we're STARVING, and they still waited for us and walked out with us, and walked down the street to the bus with us. It's neat.
One kid who is a little younger has been causing trouble with a lot of the teachers, parents, students, and anyone else you can name. His home room teacher asked Brian to speak with him because he is the only kid in school that plays hockey. He likes us. We asked if we could come to one of his games, and he lit up and started smiling. We had his class today, and he didn't cause ANY trouble, didn't talk out of turn, didn't follow along with his buddies, he was great. So he clearly didn't want to disappoint us. We're going to get up bright and early and go watch his game tomorrow morning, so it should be fun. Then off to bike riding for a couple hours with one of our colleagues/friends.
I have some other things to talk about, but we just got home from school/dinner... Bri went and dropped off the laundry, and we have to get up early tomorrow, so my RANT will have to wait for another day... However, I will upload some pictures to show you what it is actually like... kinda. There is also a particular picture for Jenn and Elle.... Taken tonight especially for you.
Have no fear, the popple made it. It hasn't really gone anywhere exciting, but it sure likes it in our hotel room (that you can see slightly in the background)...but it's HERE... this is proof
On Sundays, it is the day off for all of the people (women) who work as domestic helpers. Most of them live at the homes that they work at, so they take to the streets. It is unimaginable how many of these women there are. They fill up bridges, walkways, stairs, anywhere they can gather, there are groups of women hanging out with their friends and talking, playing cards, sleeping. They lay down cardboard or plastic to sit on and stay there all day until it is time to go home and start the next week of work.
Brian on the Star Ferry that crosses the harbour, with the city in the background.
