Wow

I just had my first nursery lesson...and it wasn't that bad! They were doing "F for Fish" this week so I found a plastic fishing set and got them to do that. They loved doing that, and their faces were such a cute little picture when they got one! Then after doing that like 3 times I got them to sing "Fish, fish I like fish..." well I sang and they waved the plastic fish about. Then the teacher put on a CD and we danced around to "Baby Let's Rock and Roll" and we twisted and jumped and clapped, it was so funny. Mainly because I have no sense of rhythm! I'm still stuck for ideas though... If you work with 2 year olds can you give me some idea of what to do with them for 25 mins?

Help!

I desperately need activity ideas for 2-3 year olds. I've been given 2 lessons a week with nursery children and I have NO idea what to do with them. I can't do crafts, it will literaly just have to be songs and simple games. I really don't know why they've given me nursery lessons because they don't do English yet. Well I do know why it's because my timetable was empty but nursery?! Ms. Cat said to read stories to them...which I'm thinking is just more than a bit pointless since they understand less than the K1s and have a 3 min attention span. Soo any ideas please, please email me!

A Bad Day

I'm really not having a very good day. Well, school was fine apart from I learned I will be having to stay until 4:30pm on Fridays. I have a problem with this because I will not be doing anything in that extra 4 hours I have to stay at school. Except sleeping and surfing the net and reading. I know this because I already have a completely free Tuesday afternoon, and that it what I spend my time doing then. If I have work to do, such as lesson plans or assessments, I have plenty of time on Tuesdays and during the morning too. They're saying I have to stay on Friday's because I don't do anything for the church at the weekends- but if I was then I would only be doing 2 hours extra work. As it is I am doing one extra hour working at the high school- but they want me to do another 4 hours on top of that. So I'm being told (by others) that if they want me to stay on Fridays then I should do that instead of the high school thing, but that it would be more beneficial for both the church and me to do the one hour at the high school. When I signed up to do the programme I wanted to be doing something, getting some experience, not just sitting around. Anyway Patrick is arriving tomorrow so it won't be too long before I see him. If things don't get sorted out I'll mention it to him.

So after being allowed to go early-for this week only- I go into town and head down to the bank again to see why I still haven't had my $2500. They owe me $2500 because when I tried to use the ATM machine downstairs it didn't give me any money- but still charged my account. This was 2 months ago. I speak to this young guy who tells me that there is noone to talk to me because it is lunchtime, but if I give him my number he'll call me. I go and do a bit of shopping. 2 hours later there is still no call. So I go back and tell him I would like to see someone now because I am very busy and I need to go soon. He goes into the back for aaggees and eventually comes out and tells me that because it is an international card it is taking a long time to trace the transaction. I tell him I understand this, but it has been 2 months and $2500 is half my months wage! He apologises like 5 times and promises someone will call today. So obviously I leave not very happy. They told me last time they would phone within a week...but no call.

Grrrr!

Ok...I'm fine now...I literally have just had a phonecall from the bank and they have promised me that the money will be deposited in my account by Monday! So with any luck I will be getting it now. I'll give them until Wednesday and if it's not there I'll be going straight back.

Tonight we're going for a curry. So far it will be me, Jo, Joel and Dan. Jules if he can be bothered. I haven't heard from Eben or Ben but I'm guessing Ben is off with someone else...He's like that. Matt is having a meal with friends from church and Zoe will come if she's finished all her school work. It's been ages since everyone has been together! It's alright for the Yuen Long lot because they're literally living round the corner from each other, but for me and Jo it can be a bit of a trek to see the others. Hopefully we can get most of us together tonight.

Ooo I've learnt a new phrase- "Gok wei lo see jo san." We have to say it every morning. Jo san means good morning so I'm guessing it's something like "Good morning everybody"? Who knows! I should find out hehe.

Yikes

Last year Ms. Man taught her K2 class (now K3's) the Twelve Days Of Christmas...and this year the gauntlet has been passed onto me. It's hard enough to teach to any English kid- let alone to 4 year olds for who English is their second language! I started off today doing upto "3 French hens" but it's a really difficult tune, and it sounded so out of tune! Doesn't help when the teaching assistant can't sing either haha. Wish me luck...

Ouch pt.2

It's not broken, just badly sprained. So much for hearing the bone crack, Joel :p He's going to collect crutches and more painkillers tomorrow.

Ouch

Joel has broken his ankle playing basketball. He's off to hospital now :(

2 months to go

Until our holiday!! Check out where we'll be spending Christmas Day!

Stanley by Jo

I'm reeaally sorry but I'm too lazy to write an entry myself on Stanley and Aberdeen so I've copied Jo's entry :p Cheers Jo!

"I didn't get up till late, but we still managed to squeeze in a big trip to Stanley, which is on the south coast of Hong Kong Island. The bus journey was nice, we got to see a bit more of the Island which was nice. We're only really familiar with Central. We drove past this huge cemetary it was really hilly, in the centre of the city, and concrete. Was quite a strange view. We drove through Repulse Bay which is the big area where Westerners live. Beautiful, but pricy. Stanley Bay was really nice. I wasn't really feeling very well this morning as I had a migraine yesterday, so didn't really eat much yesterday, so the heat today really got to me, so we ate dinner really early.Had a really nice pizza, very italian style. What was bizarre was that we didn't feel like we were in Hong Kong anymore. The area seemed very mediteranean. It was a shame that there were building works along the sea front, but it didn't spoil the view too much. I was really annoyed that, I'd remembered my camera, but hadn't charged it up. We went to Stanley market, which was different to Mong Kok market in that it was under shelter. A bit like the Souks in Marrakech, but with the shop keepers dragging you into their stalls. I bought a few more pressies, so i won't be disclosing what I bought.
We then went on to Aberdeen, we had planned on going to the floating restaurant, but we'd already eaten, so we decided to save that for another day. Was nice to see the boats though. We were hassled by an old woman wanting to sell us a boat trip, and she seriously wouldn't take no for an answer. I've never known anything like it. We said no, and then she followed us, and stood by us while we sat down, blatantly trying to stop us taking the rival boat trip. She gave us the worst looks when we kept saying no. Was quite funny, but annoying. I did feel bad as it's obviously her livelihood, but sometimes, they have to give up and try somebody else. What was nice was that a Scottish couple (yes, Scottish, I'm in Aberdeen and I meet Scots! The first I've met in HK) came back after walking past us, to save us, but we'd just managed to escape.
We didn't stay long in Aberdeen, we had to get back to Central for 180 service at the Vine which was really nice."

Easter and Christmas

The Creation Story

According to Eddie Izzard.

Warning: Some bad language is used!

Plans

I've downloaded another album! This time it's a bit of Indie. Death Cab For Cutie's "Plans". It's great! A really mellow sort of album, easy to listen to. I think Adam would like them a lot. I'd heard of DCFC but never really heard them but when I first saw the video for "Soul Meets Body" on TV a couple of weeks ago I thought it was a good track- and then when we watched Catch and Release yesterday they played it at the end and it made me really want to get it. My favourite song so far is the opening track "Marching Bands Of Manhattan." It goes:

I wish we could open our eyes

To see in all directions at the same time

Oh what a beautiful view

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. We're off to Stanley Market now and then we're going on to Jumbo- the floating restaurant in Aberdeen. Tomorrow we have to be at church really early because we're going to be Greeters. We're also going to take any newcomers for lunch with the rest of our Plus Group. Fun all the way!

Plus

I survived the rest of school yesterday, and Jules thought I did really well. Angus said he was surprised how well behaved the kids were and that he said that when he watched me teach without all the teachers around i looked really relaxed and in control. So all good :) Don't know what the rest of the teachers thought but it wasn't like they were watching a normal lesson.

It was the Plus group meeting last night and it was really good. We talked about how when you pray for someone it isn't their faith that matters, it's yours. They used the story from 2 Kings 4:8-37 and 8:1-7. We had prayer time at the end like normal and I prayed aloud! I'd never done it before like that. I wasn't very good and I forgot what to say but Jo said it was fine (I was praying for her little cousin).

Today we have a day off for Cheung Yung, yay! We've both had a lie-in although Jo has got up once but has a really bad headache and gone to lie down again. I'm up and dressed and I've been trying to make pancakes. I don't know if it's because I'm guessing how much pancake mix to milk and eggs I need, or what, but only 2 or my 5 pancakes worked. I'm not happy. And I've gone through 2 cartons of milk. Jo's come back in, she's not going out today so I guess it gives me some time to explore around here a bit. Considering we've been living here 8 weeks now we really haven't adventured much! And it's a really nice day so there's no excuse for sitting inside. Can't believe it's October and I'm still walking around outside with only a vest top on- no jacket or jumper or anything! Hope you're not too chilly back in Britain :p

Nooooooooooooooooooo

Some of the local schools have a teacher training day today. Teacher training here involves going to other schools and observing the other teachers. Today we are being observed- and not by just one or two teachers at a time but EIGHT. I've just got back from my second class of the day where I was lucky enough to be oggled at. So I'm feeling nervous to start with and then I look up and see I'm surrounded by all these teachers AND Heero (school tech guy) is sticking a camera in my face! I literally felt sick. And my voice was shaking. And my hands. It's a good job I didn't have to stand up otherwise I probably would have fallen straight back down hehe. Two of the teachers who came in to watch were Jules and Angus, so I'm sure they weren't too critical. I looked up and Jules was smiling at me which helped. I'm just so glad my class behaved, and when they didn't they listened to me when I told them to be quiet. I'm sure my class was smaller than normal so I'm wondering if maybe they kept the bad ones out of their english lesson heehee- I know that for Ms. Man they kept the bad ones away.

Ok, I'm feeling slightly calmer now. I'm glad I'm not the only one who got really nervous though- Ms. Man said she was really shaky too. Tea time now I think!

Yay!

The hotel is booked! We are spending 7 nights at the Alta Cebu Hotel....check it out here. It's got everything we need- the beach close by, lots of on site activities (we get a free class in something like cooking or massage), the hotel will organise a tour...perfect. Can't wait!

Week "Lop"

Another quiet week. So quiet I'm having trouble thinking back to what we did. Hmm...We rented Nip/Tuck so we spent quite a bit of time getting through that. School was good last week- my lessons were on the body so nothing too out of my depth. I got feedback from my K1 lessons which was basically slow down and focus on the keywords. There were no criticisms just good advice. I went to see Joel on Wednesday and helped him do some prep work for his lessons- he had to cut up 100 sheets of keywords. Such monotonous work. Friday...Friday...Oh yeah, we couldn't really be bothered to do anything so we watched a lot of Nip/Tuck and also rented Anchorman. It's a great film- I never enjoyed it that much the first time but this time was different. Better company maybe hehe.

Saturday morning wasn't particularly exciting either. We went to the Doctor's to have a set of routine tests done. Then we went to Yuen Long to collect our ID cards- we are now official Hong Kong residents! After that we tried to do some shopping for our holiday but there's only winter stuff in the shops now. Poo. I'm going to get my Mom to post some of the summer clothes I left behind. The evening was a lot more interesting. We went to 180, the 18-30s Worship at church, and listened to a really good talk. They're doing a series called "Preparing For War" about Christian Armour- Saturday was the Breastplate of Righteousness. I still don't know what it means to be righteous though. I should look it up hehe. We got back at a ridiculous time and then got up early to be at church for 11:30am the next day. Another really good service and talk- this time about being a 21st century Christian.

After church we headed up to Lan Kwai Fong- the main purpose was to find a second-hand bookshop but we stumbled upon a carnival instead!

There were loads of stalls set up selling various things and people giving away free stuff. There were also live events in different places. We caught a live band playing:

They were singing "Wonderful World" in that clip. They were pretty good. After we walked around the carnival for a bit we went to look for more shops for clothes but came back empty handed. By this time it was time for the 4pm service back at The Vine so we headed up for that service for the "Worship Undone" service. 3 church services in 24 hours- not bad haha. I am really enjoying worshipping at The Vine, the services are great and the people are so friendly.

This brings me to today. A new week at school. I'm meant to be teaching about Chung Yeung- a festival where people traditionally went to give offerings at the graves of their ancestors. But after failing miserably to teach it I'm now doing Autumn. My lessons are still a little patchy but I'm not rushing them so much now. I'm really, really enjoying it too! I got to name a boy today- the children have a chinese name but they also then get an English name for school. This boys parents didn't know any English so they asked me to choose a name. So I called him Jim. A good, simple name that won't bring any ridicule. If you saw him you'd think he was the perfect Jim hehe. Honestly some children have really odd names like Cream, Olie (like Rolie Polie), Dicaprio (formerly Dick Ho), Mayto, Ringo (for a girl!), Genius, Charmie...the list goes on. Joel plays basketball with a guy called Chicken-baby. No kidding. What were his parents thinking?!

Enjoy the pictures on Flickr, I'm off to bed now.

I can count to ten!

Yap
Yi
Sam
Say
Mm
Lop
Chat
Bat
Gow
Sap

Go me!

What I'm Watching

I am missing programmes like this. I love Dara Obrian!

Eeeeeeek

I've been watched by both the Principal and the Head Teacher today! Didn't realise at first, I just thought that the Principal was waiting to speak to the teacher but then I saw her again in my second lesson. And I was waiting for my K1 class to settle down and the Head Teacher came and said she was going to watch my lesson. My K2 lessons have been going really well this week, so I'm glad she saw those lessons, but my K1 lessons leave a lot to be desired... These children are 3 years old and don't understand any English. They don't understand much cantonese so I've got no chance hehe. I should go and watch Ms. Wendy do a lesson sometime, see how she does it. I'm not too worried about the observations though because it's not like I'm doing an awful job and they can't sack me can they?!

I've got an hour and a half to fill now. I've streamed some Chris Moyles because I looooooove his show and I've missed it so much. Also, I'm missing out on all the new British music here so I've gotta keep up somehow.

Good Morning

I downloaded Kanye West's latest album the other day and it is awesome. One of the best albums I've listened to lately. It's been on non-stop since I got it and Joel is probably sick of me telling him how good it is :p Go and get it! Unless you're over 35...because then you'll just look tragic.

I've just got back from having quite a nice lunch in the school kitchen- today we got chicken and onion in a nice white wine sauce, fish with spring onion and ginger with tofu, bok choi and some weird veg and mushroom thing. I've been doing about the body in class today so I'm a bit achey- lots of "Heads and shoulders", "Hokey Cokey" and "Teacher Says..." Oh and now they keep asking for "Pizza Hut!" I've got my afternoon class in a while and I don't know how well the activities will go down with them. I don't dread having them anymore though.

I'm getting into a routine now- which is why I'm only updating once a week. Honestly you wouldn't be reading if I wrote everyday. Weekdays involve getting up at 6:45am, showering, eating and getting onto the LRT for 8:00am. I get back home about 4:45 and I'll pop into ParknShop, the local supermarket. Then one of us will start tea and then we'll put on a DVD and surf the web. It's only Fridays and Saturdays we actually do anything of interest.

Well every other Thursdays we'll now be going to a church plus(cell) group. It's in Central in a really amazing apartment and a bit of a trek on a school night, but the people there are lovely. I spoke to one of the Pastors yesterday though about setting up a plus group in the new territories and he did say it was going to happen soon. Yay!

Last Friday we met with Revd. Kwok and we had a nice chat. He asked us what we want to do for the church. At our plus group meeting we asked them to pray for us and what we were to do for the Revd. so it looks like it worked! We're thinking of going into the high school and doing a fellowship thing with a group of teenagers. I'm so excited about it! Although I have no idea what we're going to do...

Saturday we went out round the bars in Lan Kwai Fong. It's where all the ex-pats go and is meant to be really expensive, but I spent approx 25quid which isn't bad for a night out! Sunday we spent recovering and watching the first series of Nip/Tuck. I eventually dragged myself up for the 6pm service at The Vine. I'm glad I did because Dawn, the speaker, gave a really good talk. After the service I went to a cheap restaurant place and had Prawn Wonton Noodles which were yummmmmy and then did the 1-hour bus journey home. Whilst listening to Kanye. I would be listening to him now if I hadn't forgotten my mp3 player!

Anyway, I must go and prepare my lesson now...

What I Miss About Britain

• My family and friends
• Gardens- any green space actually, and birds.
• Food- proper cadbury's Chocolate, salt and vinegar crisps, Marmite, proper bread

... That's it... I thought the list might be longer haha.

Busy Busy

Wow what a weekend! We started the weekend off with a trip to the Ballet with Jules and Joel. We saw Cinderella which was good even if they did drag out the whole ballroom scene- everyone danced together, then the Ugly Sisters did a dance, then the Prince did a dance, then Cinderella alone, then Cinderella and the Prince danced together, then everyone together again...Just get on with it! The characters were great-the Ugly Sisters were really funny, and the little squirrels were so cute. I don't need to say they were all great at Ballet and it was a really good show.

Saturday was our trip to the Peak. We took a taxi from somewhere in the Mid-Levels to the Tram station (we were going to walk but it was baking hot and we got lost). It only cost $48 return (£3) and it included going upto the Sky Terrace where we got really great views. Also up the Peak is a Madam Tussaud's- we didn't go in because we wouldn't have known many of the "famous" waxworks. We had lunch in Bubba Gump's Shrimp Restaurant which was very, very yummy and quite reasonably priced too. We walked around all the souvenir shops and then caught the tram back down. The tram ride is a bit of an experience in itself especially on the way up! It goes up at a ridiculously steep angle but it's the stopping that really unnerves me. Going down wasn't too bad since the seats faced backwards and it didn't stop at all. When we got to the bottom about 5:3pm people were queuing round the block to go up!

Sunday was church day. We went to the 11:30am service and listened to a guy called David Wang do the talk. He worked for an organization called Asian Outreach which is Christian ministry in China. He's such a funny guy and he's got some great stories to tell. He co-wrote a book called Still Red about 3 persecuted Christians in China which me and Jo bought together. I not long ago finished Chasing The Dragon and I think Jo is half-way through reading it. Anyway, after the service we went along to a meal for newcomers with cell group leader Vinny, his wife and daughter and a couple of other regulars. Had a really nice time! We're going to try their cell group out on Thursday. After lunch Jo headed to H&M and I found my way to Mong Kok to meet Joel and Jules. I can't believe I did it by myself haha- I didn't pay attention to where we were walking on the way up so didn't think I'd be able to find my way back to the MTR station. Somehow I managed it :) I met J&J in a shopping Mall and we did a bit of shopping. There was some famous chinese singer up on the top level and the place was packed. It was a nightmare trying to get in and out the shops. After Mong Kok we went to a nice Thai place back in Yuen Long. Only cost us $60 for a good decent sized meal! We finished the night at New York's where I had the best Sex On The Beach I've ever had! The cocktail I mean :p The owner is really nice and used to have last year's gap group go too I think. They do really good food too but I haven't tried it yet.

Today was National Day...another bank holiday yay! We decided to go to Lamma Island and try the beaches there. Lamma is about half an hour away from Central and I think it is one of the biggest outlying islands. I could be wrong about that though! The ferry trip is very bumpy. I wouldn't recommend it if you get seasick however there is no other way of getting there. We landed in Sok Kwo Wan and had a meal on the pier there. Then we walked over to Lo So Shing beach. It's only small but it's got nice sand and the sea is clean. We took our swimsuits and had a swim in the lovely warm sea! We didn't spend too long on the beach though because it started to rain and we had to save our stuff. There were fireworks this evening in Central somewhere for National Day and they're meant to be really spectacular but it was half 6 when we got off the ferry (journey back was even worse than the one there) and they didn't start till 8ish so we went home. We've got school tomorrow so it wouldn't be a good idea to stay out late.

Speaking of school tomorrow- my lesson is meant to be about National Day and I have no idea what to do! Argh. 25 mins and all I've got is "I am English, you are Chinese- what are you? Chiiineeese!" Ohh I'll do the "Pizza Hut" song with them again, just so they don't forget it! I tried doing "Do your ears hang low..." with them but it didn't go down to well. I'll try again later in the year.

Bed time for me now methinks!