The Peak

Also, because it wouldn't upload before, a video of us on the Star Ferry from 01-09-2007:

Update

Wow this week is going so fast! On Friday me, Jo, Joel, Jules and Ben went for a curry and then decided to check out the Karaoke place. You get shown to a room to with a TV and microphones and then you're left to it. Was a right laugh! On Saturday we dragged ourselves off the sofa and went to the Gold Coast- the proper beach in Tuen Mun. It's only small but there is white sand and the sea is really clean. There's also a 5 star hotel and some nice restaurants. Me and Jo went to a small Italian one for dinner.

In the evening Jo went to 180 (young adults worship at the Vine) and I stayed home. Because it was the Mid-Autumn festival this week they put on some shows in the courtyard. I only saw a clown and then the raffle being drawn before heading back upstairs. On Sunday we had to go to St Peter's Church, the church we work for, for the morning service. It was nice except for the fact it was all in Cantonese and the speaker went on for aagges! We met the Revd. Kwok for the first time and he's going to phone us soon and let us know what we have to do there. In the evening me and Jo went to the Vine with Joel. Afterwards me and Joel grabbed some noodles in a small restaurant before heading home.

Monday was interesting. There was no typhoon so I still had to go in! It was really windy and rainy though. I had to do lessons on the Mid-Autumn Festival so I blagged my way through that. I don't really get the whole thing, I think it's something to do with harvest and the moon being really big in the sky?! I tried teaching the kids the "Pizza Hut" song because I'm so sick of "Heads and Shoulders"...I reckon they'll get it after a few more goes. I had Monday afternoon off school so I could head down to Yuen Long and sort out my HK ID card. I got lost trying to find the place and it decided to rain torrentially too so I was very late and very wet when I eventually got there. When I got back home we watched Memoirs of a Geisha- a brilliant film! We've got the book somewhere around so once I've finished my others I'll give it a go.

Yesterday was the official evening of the Mid-Autumn Festival so we had the day off school. We had a lazy day in and finished watching Heroes Series 1- just in time for the start of the 2nd series! In the evening we met Joel, Jules, Dan and Ben at Ferry Pier and watched everyone on the beach- it was absolutely packed!

The lights on the beach are hundreds of candles lit in the sand. It was an amazing sight! We stayed for a bit then took the guys back to ours to play poker and blackjack and had a few drinks.

So that was our week. Today is another lazy day but on Friday we're going to the Cinderella ballet and on Saturday we're going to do the Peak. Busy busy!

We're all going on a Xmas holiday

We've {edit-nearly} booked flights to this gorgeous place for a week at Christmas! It's Cebu in the Philippines, and it's quite touristy with fantastic beaches, a good nightlife and lots of watersports. How excited are we!

Typhoon

Typhoon Level 1 Warning is in place! Thought it was a bit windy today hehe. When it gets to Level 3 the teachers have to go to school but the kids don't, and at Level 8 everyone stays home. Here's hoping that it gets to 8 so that we all get 3 days off work!

Will update soon.

Karaoke Time!

More pictures up at Flickr!

School

Here is a link to the school website and the page with some pictures of parts of the school. I don't know where all the plants from the pictures are though :/ Here are some pictures of "School fun". Aren't the kids sweet?!

Back to lesson I go...

1st Week

I'm halfway through my first week of teaching alone already! My first day was a bit shaky, I have a class that makes my satan spawn look like angels and they did not respond to me one bit. I'm actually quite fond of my afternoon class now hehe! By the third lesson on Monday I was ready to give up, but the teacher in that class is great and helped me a lot. The theme this week was Birthdays so I used a shoebox as a present and got the kids to open it. It's a good lesson, lots of things to talk about but I still finished 10 minutes early! By yesterday afternoon I could fill the time completely but today we moved onto the story book which only takes 10 mins when I stretch it out to the max. Grr! The kids are getting to know me now and on Friday, when I finished at lunchtime, some of them saw me on the train and they were all shouting "Hello Miss Jenny!"

I teach a K1 class (3-4yr olds) twice a week in the afternoons, and the first lesson I did with them was awful. None of them have English names so that was my first activity down the pan (My name is...). Ms. Wendy the other K1 English teacher said that I could teach them the alphabet song and we'll probably only get as far as "E" when teaching the actions- but they managed to pick it up after me only doing it once :/ After exhausting that I still had 15 mins to go...Luckily the main teacher took over for a bit and we sang "If you're happy" until the time was up. I'm not looking forward to this afternoons class with them. They just sit and stare at you. I've only had one girl cry so far though, so it could be worse.

On Friday's I will be helping the teachers with the maths lessons. When Ms. Wendy went in last Friday though they were expecting her to teach it! I'm going to play dumb, because shouldn't they be learning maths in Cantonese?! I'll just have to see what happens I guess.

Oooh- I'll tell you about the food! I love food here, so far everything I've had has been really good. I've started having cooked lunches from school since it's only $7 and means I don't have to make manky sandwiches. I don't know what I'm eating half the time but it's nice. Yesterday I had pork in a nice pepper sauce and there was also fish and cubed chicken. Today I had scrambled egg with tomatoes, fish, and beef with peppers. All with rice. I've just about got the knack of eating rice with chopsticks- noodles are still a challenge though! Me and Jo went to a restaurant at Ferry Pier the other night and had steamed crab, prawnballs in sweet and sour sauce, and pork ribs in orange sauce. It was all so delicious! Eating the crab was a task though, couldn't get at the meat! It was probably one of the more costlier restaurants but it had an English menu. Didn't matter about anything else as long as we knew what we were ordering! Cooking at home has been fun too. It's mostly spaghetti bolognese, or sweet and sour chicken. Whatever sauces we can buy at the Parknshop we try! My favourite so far is terriaki chicken. I saw steak in the supermarket the other day for $22 each so I'm hoping we'll have that maybe on payday?! Even though $22 works out at less than 1.50 in British money, it's starting to feel extravagant.

I've got to dash to my lesson now. Wish me luck!

Argh!

Third lesson with the Satan Spawn. Went better this time I think, although 2 of the group still weren't listening. Thank goodness I have 2 other girls who are good and answer my questions! I read them a story today "Grandma Goes To School' and managed to stretch it out to 15 mins, which only left 10 mins to fill. I sang "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" with them and "If you're happy and you know it"- but did silly actions like "pick your nose", "sniff your feet" and "lick your elbow" which made them laugh. Ms Man came in early so I've finally learnt their names- they're meant to have name-badges but I haven't seen any yet. I got out quick anyway hehe.

Ben, the final Gapper, is arriving either tomorrow or Saturday. Joel said Saturday but Eben said tomorrow...so who knows! We're all going to go upto Yuen Long to meet him anyway this weekend.

Also planned this weekend is shopping (again!) for a new phone and hairdryer, and 2 church services (again!). Me and Jo are going to try The Vine church which is very charismatic apparently. In the evening Joel, Jules, Zoe, Jo and I will be heading to St Andrew's for a service and welcome meal. I've quite enjoyed the St Andrew's services but The Vine looks great!

Back to work anyway. One more lesson to go today and them I'm done!

Lee Evans

Weather

It has been ridiculously hot this week! I was standing outside for P.E. with the K3 classes and it was unbearable-and that's at 9:30am. It's been at least 30 degrees C and the humidity probably pretty high. It's nice not having to wear a jacket when you leave the house but I can't stand feeling all sticky before I've even left the building. I think I'm starting to miss British weather! The water spray I bought from a "Boots" type shop have been a lifesaver when I'm stuck standing around in the sun. Apparently though it has been hotter (up to 40 degrees) the past few months and loads of people have died from heat stroke or whatever. Thank God for air conditioning!

Back to work now...

Me and Jo

At the beach. Taken on Jo's Mac because neither of us had our cameras. Jealous?! The beach is literally 3 minutes away on the LRT.

Last week

I've just sat here for 20 mins trying to decide where to start. I had my first lesson last Thursday which was shaky. On Friday all I did at school was help in the classrooms. I get Friday afternoons off (yay!) so I went to change what I thought was a faulty mp3 player- turns out I wasn't pressing the right button or something! Felt a bit of a silly sausage :p I also went to the bank to try and get some money back. (Short version: ATM machine said it gave me $2500 when it didn't, but the money came out my account.) It's being investigated, yay! Joel came round that evening to watch Saw 3. He didn't want to watch it but I made him heehee. Jo went and read a book. Only me who's into gore films then!

On Saturday Jo, Zoe and me went to the Ladies' Market in Mong Kok. It was great! Not as big a selection of things as I'd expected but still some good stuff. I bought some gifts for my parents and sister, and shoes for myself. I even did some bartering! Felt cheeky at first, but it's fun when you get used to it. We bought some food from a street thing as well- Jo bought something that was bright orange and looked like intestines and said it was nasty, and I bought pig-in-blankets on a stick and they were really good! In the evening we had all the Gap group round to our flat and got through a few drinks. Had a really good time! Angus, a guy who is now a proper NET teacher at Jule's school, was giving us loads of advice. Dan was sick into a glass after drinking a bit too much cheap vodka. He phoned when he got back to apologise! Eurgh. I'm so glad I didn't see it.

Sunday was recovery day! The guys who stayed over brought us up MacDonalds for breakfast, and we stayed in bed till lunchtime. Me and Jo attempted a swim, but only managed 10 lengths. We met Zoe at St Andrew's in the evening for a really nice service. They had great hymns and the minister is good. It was a relaxed service, no communion and there's wasn't much liturgy. At the end we chatted to some "regulars" and we put our names down for the Welcome Meal next week. Everyone there is really friendly! We came home very tired and ready for bed that night.

Today was school day. I'm shadowing Ms. Man this week, and she's getting me more involved with the classes she does. Today I danced in front of the children and did silly actions and things! Ms. Man teaches K3 so they understand and can speak a decent amount of English. Wish I was teaching K3, so much easier than K1 and 2! I did another lesson alone with the same K2 class as last week. Didn't go very well again. There's only 6 children and they're all really quiet. They do understand English, I know because all the other K2 classes I've been in do, they just don't seem to want to cooperate! I'm struggling to engage with them I think, don't really know how to talk to them. Also, they all seem to know the stuff I'm teaching them like "bag" and "book", they can spell and recognise the words for them. Argh! They liked it when I did the songs with them, I can make them laugh that way. Does anybody know any simple songs to do with school? I don't think I can keep getting away with "Heads, shoulders, knees and toes" or "If you're happy and you know it". Maybe having a bigger class will help?! More children to get involved and all that.

After school me and Jo found the beach! We sat for a bit in the sand, basking in the sun and enjoying the sea air. We'll definitely be back with the others to show off :p We got the best deal with regards to our location and what we have literally on our doorstep! I'll take some pictures next time we head down.

Au revoir for now!

First Lesson

I just did my first lesson alone! How did it go? Hmm...it could have been worse. I only had a group of 6 which was good. But I rushed through everything and didn't really deliver it in a logical order so I was left filling in the gaps. Will definitely watch Ms. Man very closely next week to see how she does it. I started with the song "Hello Teacher" and gave them bells and most of them sang along. Then I did the alphabet song with all the actions which they liked- especially when I did it really fast! Then I asked them their names. Bad idea! One of the kids decided to tell me their name was "count-to-ten" and the rest of the kids copied. I can't believe 4 year olds were playing me up! Luckily the teacher came and told me their real names. After that I showed them a card with "F' on and they recognised it straight away. Then I showed them a card with "Friend" and told them this was the word Friend and it began with an F. Then I asked them if they had any friends...apparently not. Well one girl started talking to me in Cantonese so yeah...didn't understand. I read them a story about Rusty the dog, and got them to make the animal noises which was OK but then I gave them little cut-out cards with the animals on and they started getting silly. Panicked a bit then so went back to the other picture cards I'd taken up. They all knew what gender they were, and could read "school" and "teacher." Just as I was really starting to get stuck Ms. Man came in to teach the other half of the class, so I did the song again and then left. 25 mins is a really long time when you're blagging your way through!

Hong Kong Island and Kowloon

Pics now up!

The Others

Everyone is here in HK now! There is Joel, Julian and Zoe in one big flat in Yuen Long. Next door is Eben and Dan. Then in Tsam Tsui Po (maybe?) which is near Kowloon, is Matthew. They all seems very nice and easy to get along with. Except Joel. Can't stand him :p

We all met up in Kowloon Tong on Saturday and did touristy things like the Star Ferry and...I can't really remember what else we did except that we were all knackered by the end! Lots of shopping malls and coffee shops.

On Sunday we did church twice! Kara and Steve from an organisation called Crossroads met me and Jo in Tuen Mun and we got the bus together to St Andrew's in Kowloon. The service was very similar to St Andrew's at home, so I felt very comfortable. After the service I met Heather and Wing-On and they very kindly took us for Dim Sum with other people from the 11am service. In the afternoon we walked along Nathan Road, bought some postcards and eventually found an Irish pub to have a drink in. In the evening everyone bar Jo and Dan went to the service at St John's cathedral. It was very high Anglican like you'd expect, not my thing but Joel and Jules enjoyed it. The Bishop who led the service was crap- couldn't hear a thing he said. They put on a curry supper after the service and we were all made to feel very welcome. There were some interesting discussions around the table!

Today was my first official day at work. Well kinda. I met Ms. Man and Ms. Wendy the other NETs and they're both lovely! I'll be shadowing them for 2 weeks so I haven't got so much to do yet. Today all I did was greet the children and read through all the English resources. Tomorrow I get to meet the children...argh!

Sorry this post was brief- I think the posts will be now I'm working and feeling exhausted. Staying up all night on Friday was a baaad idea!

Bill Bailey: A Legend

Hmmm guess who got no sleep last night! Been watching stuff like this. WIll update properly soon x