Well yesterday marks the end of our Summer English Programs with Mother's choice. I say that with shouts of jubilation that it's finished but also a tinge of sadness because I have many memories from the past 5 weeks thanks to the kids who participated in our English Camps ( some good, some funny, some just memorable moments) Our last day of English camp was fairly relaxed and because of that ended up being the best. Because trashketball went over so well with mine and Lisa's small group we decided to expand the game a bit and play boys vs. girls trashketball and with 1, 3, and 5 point questions. The 5 point questions were more like mini speeches. They would be questions like talk for 30 seconds about what you like or dislike about school. Trashketball went over very well.
Also for a last day activity we made mini pizzas ( The girls loved the pizzas and while the girls baked away I played cards with the boys, a game called 7 levels- a variation on the game spoons. Then when it was the boys turn to make pizzas well lets just say it wasn't quite as clean of a project as when the girls made it. They thought it was funny to add like 5 cups of flour to their dough or a table spoon of salt rather than a teaspoon... MESS! MESS! MESS! but it turned out well and the boys apparently had fun ( maybe a bit too much f un with the whole project....) After finishing up camp and heading home and talking to some friends back home for a bit which was great! I went and hung out with a friend who has been working here for the past few weeks but is heading back home to Seattle. On the way to where I met him my taxi cost was $18 HK on the way back it was $36HK I was completely scamed but the cab driver was so funny and spoke some English so I didn't mind a bit of an extra ride. I think he was a bit thrown off when he found out i'd been here for 2 months. He asked for what and I said teaching English but my kids were teaching me some Cantanese ( yeah they were teaching me curse words without my even knowing it.... I left that little detail out....) and he asked me what and I told him and he goes ahhh yes very good very goood. Yes my cab ride might have been a bit more, but the laughter and boost in my self confidence... priceless
Today was a day for wandering, so with my Ipod fully charged and a few new songs added :) I went off to wander Mong Kok for a while. I wandered the Ladies market ( yeah I'm not really sure about the name it seems like a sort of naughty place- I feel like the ladies market should be a place in the red light district in amsterdam not a nice place to wander in Hong Kong. The ladies market gets its name from long ago when women used to bring what they'd made there and sell to other women while their husbands were off at work- little history lesson to anyone interested) It is a market that has just about everything any tourist could want- although technically I don't consider myself a tourist anymore... and i'll give you my top 10 reasons why later. I enjoyed wandering through there( Thankfully I can use my ipod as an excuse that I don't hear the constant " you want copy watch or copy bag... miss miss you want copy shoe"- sorry busy rockin out here can't here you..) After a leisurely stroll through the ladies market and Mong Kok I jumped on the MTR ( not literally jumped because I would look like an idiot- Saw tsi) and I took it a few stops back to Tsim sha tsui and wandered there for a while. And finally got back on the MTR and headed home. It is strange to have to start thinking about packing up and heading back but at the same time I'm excited to see people, just not ready to leave here yet.... This is an amazing place. Anyways enough of the sappy stuff. Hope everyone is having a splendid weekend!
Tina
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Pardon Me, but you've got to be S**tin' me
Well it turns out they were putting it kindly when they said that what I was saying meant feces.... turns out quite literally it means well you can probably guess by the title of this post it's not a very nice word.... that would likely be the reason this little not so angle of a child thought it was sooo funny when I said it. It also turns out I didn't simply miss pronounce it and she encouraged it she intentionally told me the wrong world... yes sweet little innocent child is not so innocent any more! The proper word is quite far from what she told me....
Today was an extremely successful day with Lisa and I's group of boys and in general with the kids. After our outing day yesterday( which I will describe more momentarily- Lets just say after I told my sister all the things I'd eaten she told me she wouldn't share a straw or utensils with me any more) we realized that the kids knew very little about us. The only things they knew were trivial things like our favorite colors and our favorite foods.... so today as a fun exercise to practice English during our opening we had everyone write down at least one question they had for us. It could be about our families our friends the activities we were involved in outside of school ( They must have all been talking in cantanese about asking the same question or have ESP - we had them be anonymous just in case and we proof read them to make sure they were appropriate anyways we got 7 questions that all basically said the same thing... they said said things like do you have boyfriend? Whats your boyfriends name? how many boyfriend do you have? Do you like handsome boys? We would've attempted to make a joke out of it but we've quickly found sarcasm is easily lost in translation) The other questions outside of relational questions were do you like Hong Kong? How did you come to Hong Kong? Do you like Chocolate? Who is your favorite pop star ( justin Timberlake -duh)? What do you like and dislike? Do you like your school? Do you like the NBA if so who is your favorite team? and so on and so forth. We answered questions for about 20 minutes which actually turned out to be a good exercise in English( I'd have to say my favorite question was when you have boyfriend what do you do with them- now this was asking about what we do on American dates basically so we talked about different things you might do on dates like going to the movies or going ice skating- very cliche things I suppose, and then one of the girls said and you meet up at school ohhhhh sooo romantic... Yeah completely the ideal picture of romance right there meeting up in Johnny's )
Following our little question session we split up into small groups. Now after 2 extremely unsuccesful days of small groups Lisa and I decided it was time to totally revamp our techniques. If they want sports, we can do that( on a certain level) so based on a game I actually learned in Spanish today we played trashketball. For one point we would give them 2 words and they would have to use the 2 words in a sentence and for a 3 point shot we would give them a gramatically incorrect sentence on a piece of paper and they would have to correct it. They got pretty into it .
Today equals a big success.
now in regard to the field trip we went to the history museum followed by the ladies market and then finished the evening by a lengthy but delicious dinner at a Korean BBQ. Now the Korean BBQ was amazing. You go up and pick out meat and then put it on a hot skillet that's in the middle of the table. The kids made me try raw salmon and octopus tenticles...yummmmy
It was quite an evening.... Seriously i've never seen kids eat so much( I also learned it is important to teach them about idiums because when I used the phrase bottomless stomaches they looked at me strangely ..... I'm unsure if that's because they didn't understand or because they litterally thought they had bottomless stomaches.) It was a delicious but interesting evening....
All in all a wonderful 2 days and I'm looking forward but feeling a bit sad about tomorrow... Tomorrow marks the end of our camps. So this is a major marker and is very exciting and i'm very glad to be done, but at the same time a bit sad because it means the end of our time here is near and it is a bit sad to be done with the camps and done at the small group homes.. Well hope everyone is having a good week!
Tina
P.S. My Most recent Cantanese phrases i've picked up ( and these were taught to me by the cook and the 15 year olds that i'm teaching this week) are sit down idiot..... Chaw Die Saaw Tsi
The cook is like the funniest woman and speaks no English at all but she yells a lot of funny things in Cantanese....
Today was an extremely successful day with Lisa and I's group of boys and in general with the kids. After our outing day yesterday( which I will describe more momentarily- Lets just say after I told my sister all the things I'd eaten she told me she wouldn't share a straw or utensils with me any more) we realized that the kids knew very little about us. The only things they knew were trivial things like our favorite colors and our favorite foods.... so today as a fun exercise to practice English during our opening we had everyone write down at least one question they had for us. It could be about our families our friends the activities we were involved in outside of school ( They must have all been talking in cantanese about asking the same question or have ESP - we had them be anonymous just in case and we proof read them to make sure they were appropriate anyways we got 7 questions that all basically said the same thing... they said said things like do you have boyfriend? Whats your boyfriends name? how many boyfriend do you have? Do you like handsome boys? We would've attempted to make a joke out of it but we've quickly found sarcasm is easily lost in translation) The other questions outside of relational questions were do you like Hong Kong? How did you come to Hong Kong? Do you like Chocolate? Who is your favorite pop star ( justin Timberlake -duh)? What do you like and dislike? Do you like your school? Do you like the NBA if so who is your favorite team? and so on and so forth. We answered questions for about 20 minutes which actually turned out to be a good exercise in English( I'd have to say my favorite question was when you have boyfriend what do you do with them- now this was asking about what we do on American dates basically so we talked about different things you might do on dates like going to the movies or going ice skating- very cliche things I suppose, and then one of the girls said and you meet up at school ohhhhh sooo romantic... Yeah completely the ideal picture of romance right there meeting up in Johnny's )
Following our little question session we split up into small groups. Now after 2 extremely unsuccesful days of small groups Lisa and I decided it was time to totally revamp our techniques. If they want sports, we can do that( on a certain level) so based on a game I actually learned in Spanish today we played trashketball. For one point we would give them 2 words and they would have to use the 2 words in a sentence and for a 3 point shot we would give them a gramatically incorrect sentence on a piece of paper and they would have to correct it. They got pretty into it .
Today equals a big success.
now in regard to the field trip we went to the history museum followed by the ladies market and then finished the evening by a lengthy but delicious dinner at a Korean BBQ. Now the Korean BBQ was amazing. You go up and pick out meat and then put it on a hot skillet that's in the middle of the table. The kids made me try raw salmon and octopus tenticles...yummmmy
It was quite an evening.... Seriously i've never seen kids eat so much( I also learned it is important to teach them about idiums because when I used the phrase bottomless stomaches they looked at me strangely ..... I'm unsure if that's because they didn't understand or because they litterally thought they had bottomless stomaches.) It was a delicious but interesting evening....
All in all a wonderful 2 days and I'm looking forward but feeling a bit sad about tomorrow... Tomorrow marks the end of our camps. So this is a major marker and is very exciting and i'm very glad to be done, but at the same time a bit sad because it means the end of our time here is near and it is a bit sad to be done with the camps and done at the small group homes.. Well hope everyone is having a good week!
Tina
P.S. My Most recent Cantanese phrases i've picked up ( and these were taught to me by the cook and the 15 year olds that i'm teaching this week) are sit down idiot..... Chaw Die Saaw Tsi
The cook is like the funniest woman and speaks no English at all but she yells a lot of funny things in Cantanese....
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Wait I thought you were LOST?
They say it's wrong to play favorites ( but lets face it everyone does it) Everyone has those favorite campers, favorite coworkers and favorite on and on and on because they make up for the ones who annoy the crap out of you and you really have to act like you like.... Well i've discovered I have favorite campers today ( though my rational as to why they are my favorites may not be so good..) They are brothers and the one brothers name is John and the other's name is Lock.... Together their names are John Lock one of the great ( well actually he's really turning rather evil and bizarre) characters on LOST one of my favorite shows! I'm completely kidding about the whole favoritism thing they're all great kids and i'm learning equally as much about teaching English this week from these 5 boys as I am actually teaching English( if that makes any sense)
Monday started out rough we read an article on Michael Jackson and things went ok but 2 of my kids ended u sleeping on the couch( and included a very pronounced exclamation that NO ENGLISH LESSON THIS BORING!) so yesterday( on Tuesday) I tried to incorporate more of their interests by using 2 articles on sports since they all said they enjoyed sports ( yeah they failed to mention they like PLAYING!!!! sports not WATCHING sports and they all HATE reading!!) so after going around the circle each reading a paragraph ( from an article about Shaq's new reality show and then one from an article about soccer.... I get not wanting to read about Shaq who would? but they said they liked soccer so I was a little baffled on that one) I asked them to tell me anything they remembered from the article any names any words anything anything......I got nothing..... nothing so I started asking specific questions .... nothing finally we played hangman( I gave someone else a turn to create a puzzle it was a 2 word puzzle the first word was 2 blanks the 2nd word was 6 with an exclamation mark at the end... it spelled SO BORING!) finally I just outright said what can we do that would be a fun way to learn English for you.... he came out with his Chinese book he said look loook and I said I can't read that and he said we can't read that you're asking us to do the same thing! no fun So we agreed I would bring more interesting stuff and play more interactive games( like trashket ball) for secondary students not primary students( which is how they were feeling) and they would focus more. Also were trying yet again to teach me chinese.... When I attempted to say what I thought was what I had learned last week ( from this little cute 8 year old girl) I found instead of eat I was saying feices.... And on that note it's time to get ready to start the day.
Today is an outting day.... We head out to the science museum, The ladies Market, and then a Korean Barbeque. Should be very exciting. Hope everyone is enjoying summer.
Ni Hao
Tina
Monday started out rough we read an article on Michael Jackson and things went ok but 2 of my kids ended u sleeping on the couch( and included a very pronounced exclamation that NO ENGLISH LESSON THIS BORING!) so yesterday( on Tuesday) I tried to incorporate more of their interests by using 2 articles on sports since they all said they enjoyed sports ( yeah they failed to mention they like PLAYING!!!! sports not WATCHING sports and they all HATE reading!!) so after going around the circle each reading a paragraph ( from an article about Shaq's new reality show and then one from an article about soccer.... I get not wanting to read about Shaq who would? but they said they liked soccer so I was a little baffled on that one) I asked them to tell me anything they remembered from the article any names any words anything anything......I got nothing..... nothing so I started asking specific questions .... nothing finally we played hangman( I gave someone else a turn to create a puzzle it was a 2 word puzzle the first word was 2 blanks the 2nd word was 6 with an exclamation mark at the end... it spelled SO BORING!) finally I just outright said what can we do that would be a fun way to learn English for you.... he came out with his Chinese book he said look loook and I said I can't read that and he said we can't read that you're asking us to do the same thing! no fun So we agreed I would bring more interesting stuff and play more interactive games( like trashket ball) for secondary students not primary students( which is how they were feeling) and they would focus more. Also were trying yet again to teach me chinese.... When I attempted to say what I thought was what I had learned last week ( from this little cute 8 year old girl) I found instead of eat I was saying feices.... And on that note it's time to get ready to start the day.
Today is an outting day.... We head out to the science museum, The ladies Market, and then a Korean Barbeque. Should be very exciting. Hope everyone is enjoying summer.
Ni Hao
Tina
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Hong Kong Illness, Typhoons and other experiences...
Well I spent much of Saturday in the bathroom. It would seem i'd acquired a case of the flu or dehydration... I'm not exactly sure what, but whatever it was I know that it kept me from going to ocean park which is seriously disappointing and I felt quite gross and have continued to feel quite gross since then. Anyways since my bout with this mystery Hong Kong illness I was awake in the middle of the night and during the night there was this massive storm.. It was amazing! The typhoon level was raised to level 3 and the wind was blowing like crazy and it was raining cats and dogs... not literally of course. Then Sunday after church I continued to sleep most of the day. Now you have to understand when I take Nyquill I generally have very vivid dreams and do very strange things in my sleep ( yeah apparently it's not just when I take Nyquill because Sunday night I must have been having an especially frightening dream because I woke myself up I was talking so loudly in my sleep...)
Today( Monday) was our first day of camp at the Small Group Home with the High schoolers. They pull off that whole "I'm too cool for this" act real well( i'm praying it's just an act!!!) We started our small group time and 2 of my kids from my group up and decided they really did wan't to learn English any more so they went and slept on the couches ( On their interview questions I asked them to make up 3 of their own questions one of the kids own questions was how are you the response was so bored I could die... he read this out loud then announced " I go to toilet" yeah yeah yeah sure you're going to toilet that's what they all say) After day 1 Laura, Lisa, Maggie and I all made a mad dash for the room we debrief in and sat in a mix of hallelujah that's over with and oh crap we have another 3 more days of this.... My group is composed of all boys whos main interest is sports( yeah they didn't even enjoy the article I brought today on Michael Jackson... ) so likely i'll come home with a wealth of knowledge of sports mainly the L.A. Lakers.... I've now started searching like mad for articles revolving around sports( i'm open to any and all suggestions)
Anyways that's fairly up to date as of now. Currently solidifying all plans for Beijing which should be very exciting and looking forward to a lengthy train ride :) yeah i'm going to finish a book I think.... Well hope everyone is well
Cheers.
Tina
Today( Monday) was our first day of camp at the Small Group Home with the High schoolers. They pull off that whole "I'm too cool for this" act real well( i'm praying it's just an act!!!) We started our small group time and 2 of my kids from my group up and decided they really did wan't to learn English any more so they went and slept on the couches ( On their interview questions I asked them to make up 3 of their own questions one of the kids own questions was how are you the response was so bored I could die... he read this out loud then announced " I go to toilet" yeah yeah yeah sure you're going to toilet that's what they all say) After day 1 Laura, Lisa, Maggie and I all made a mad dash for the room we debrief in and sat in a mix of hallelujah that's over with and oh crap we have another 3 more days of this.... My group is composed of all boys whos main interest is sports( yeah they didn't even enjoy the article I brought today on Michael Jackson... ) so likely i'll come home with a wealth of knowledge of sports mainly the L.A. Lakers.... I've now started searching like mad for articles revolving around sports( i'm open to any and all suggestions)
Anyways that's fairly up to date as of now. Currently solidifying all plans for Beijing which should be very exciting and looking forward to a lengthy train ride :) yeah i'm going to finish a book I think.... Well hope everyone is well
Cheers.
Tina
Monday, July 13, 2009
Hop on the Dragons back for a world of adventure
Well once again I've failed to update for several days and many important things have happened in those days. Today we had the day off of camp because they couldn't book the venue so Jon and I went hiking up dragons back in Shek O ( yeah I was pretty shocked as well that I went hiking to so try and close your mouths after reading that... because the big news is that I enjoyed the hike amidst the 90 degree heat plus added humidity.) There was beautiful scenery and although there were some very frustrating false peaks it was amazing. So before proceeding onward let us hop on the dragon's back and take a ride back a few days to the adventure of the asian movie expierience as well as a day in Macau.
Last week we enjoyed a luxurious evening at the movies ( although the movie was in Cantanese and seriously bizaare ). It was a thriller action murder suspense filled movie and lets in the end it ends up being the man who is suspected all alongs son who's actually his long lost brother with an aging disorder( talk about a whacked out movie. I'm really hoping that I don't have any long lost siblings who are going to come back to frame me for murder.. although the likely hood of having one with an aging disorder seems highly unlikely.) Also last weekend we enjoyed a rainy but still fascinating trip to Macau. Macau is this great little island that either still is or used to be owned by the portuguese and highly influenced by both Portuguese and Chinese culture (It's like like the esscence of Eurasia- a bit of European influence a bit of Asian influence and you get Macau) We spent the day sight seeing eating tastey Portuguese food and of course taking lots of pictures( it's an unwritten rule that if you're not from that area you must take pictures so to fit in with the crowds of people with cameras perminantly attached to their hands we also perminantly attached our cameras to our hands and snapped the living daylights out of those pictures...)
On Sunday I went to the airport to pick up Jon ( for those of you who don't know Jon he was easy to pick out being as he stood a solid foot above most other people ) Jon stopped by Hong Kong for a 2 day visit on his way back from a year in Cambodia. So we took all his stuff to his hotel ( the famous Chung King mansion- via recommendation of Don- despite my friends who live here saying they would never recommend that someone stay there. But it did turn out to be nicer than expected although my change in opinion may have been swayed by the free pair of slippers they offered. And also proof that it wasn't so bad was that Jon showed up alive the next morning and then also Tuesday afternoon when we met up after I got done with program.) Anyways Monday morning we met up around 8 and after some delicious dim sum( at the russ' of dim sum restaurants we decided- it's mainly filled with older people and is inexpensive yet sooooo good) we headed to Stanley Market to wander around there for a while. After we'd had our fill of wandering ( and of course a stop at my favorite shop to visit the man who sells rugby shirts) we headed to the library to do a bit of research on how to get to this hike called dragon's back( you see as Jon quickly discovered i'm not much of a directionally oriented person. I get myself places usually by just walking there and taking some side streets following some signs and some how I end up there... Maybe a miracle maybe just plain dumb luck, maybe i'm secretly gifted with directions and that's how I get places- yeah the last one is seriously unlikely i'd say one of the first 2 is far more likely all I know is I get where I need to go and I usually have to wander a bit I don't usually think about having to give directions to other people) So although i've been here about a month and a half and know my way around quite well Jon rapidly became the owner of a Hong Kong map( and i'm pretty sure he might have studied it the night before for fear that I would get us lost the next day) after I had accidently taken us the wrong way while we were dragging around all his luggage the first night. At the library we looked at some books and found the hike we wanted so we jumped on a bus where we got dropped off and decided to go explore some random stairs mean while we missed our bus so we waited for a half our finally a minibus stopped and told us they would take us to where we wanted to go( it was a red minibus they told us never to trust the red minibus but we were a bit desperate we were in the middle of no where and our bus had passed and me missed it and we hadn't seen one pass since) ... we ended up at a bus station and got on another bus finally ending up at the park to start our hike after a bit of backwoodsin it ( following a dried up river bed because we couldn't find the trail) we finally ran into the path and we hiked up to the dragons b ack and along the dragon's back. It was quite the hike with amazing scenery. ( No panda or dragon sightings but we saw bamboo and we hiked on the dragon's back so i'm pretty sure we just weren't far enough away to actually see him...) After hiking down we jumped on a bus to Shek-o beach and while Jon went swimming I rented the most relaxing beach chair in the world and parked it in the sand along with a diet coke ( i'm pretty sure they were the 2 best purchases i've made this trip. that may be because i was exhausted or maybe because it was nice to just relax but either way it was simply amazing to sit and relax. ) So while Jon went swimming I took a nice nap in the shade. later that night Laura Lisa Maggie our friend Winnie Jon and myself all went to this thing called Drum Jam it was at the Fringe Club ( as the guy next to me - who please note was a drummer for belly dancers- informed me the Fringe Club is basically a hangout for hippies and flower children and other artsy folk but they put on some pretty great things that people can get really into.) The Drum Jam was basically like they had allll diffferent kinds of drums everything from tamberines to bongos to practice drum pads to bells mostly they were bongos and those kind of drums but any ways sometimes there was a rhythm we would follow by the leader or we would get quieter or louder or you just follow your heart whatever your soul tells you to do ( yeah I guess that would lead towards a hippy-esk sort of thing) It was sooooooooo fun though and actually we met some people peole who are interning here for the summer who are from Detroit. Which is fun because it's rare to find people who have heard of Michigan much less live there! Anyways it's fun to have found people who are familiar with our home...
Tuesday it was back to work with another day at camp and then I met up with Jon again after that. Jon and Maggie and I headed to the Time Square of Hong Kong ( yes there is a Time Square in Hong Kong and the first time we visited it I I asked people here which came first and they were appalled at the concept that the one in New York would've come first and they weren't even familiar with it either...) We also opened Jon's eyes to one of Hong Kong's most tastey treats the pineapple bun.. so we sat in a park and people watched for a while and then headed up to the peak ( where we ran into some interesting Brittish people techno dancing... I wish I had had more time to pick up some of their moves they would've been a real crowd winner at a wedding or something i'm pretty sure.) Finally we ended the evening at Lan quai Fong where we sat for a while and listend to everything from Michael Jackson to the Eagles to Usher to Justin Timberlake and the Blackeyed Peas....Very little consistency to their music selection here. It wasn't just oldies or just new music. Not simply slow jams or upbeat tunes just this massive mixture with a foot in every genre of music and a hand in each era.... very interesting....
Today was outting day in program so we headed to The Museum of Costal Defense followed by lunch at Helena May and then finished the day off by a visit to the peak ( that's right this was my 2nd time to to the peak in 2 days and my 3rd time over all but keep in mind it was my first time during the day so I mean lets just count it as my first then because it's like seeing it in a whole new way... ) After a long weekend I'm simply exhausted and ready for another weekend! Tomorrow is our last day of program and then Friday we're touring the mother's choice facilities and meeting with people from all the services offered. I will attempt to put up pictures in next day or so of Macau and Jon's visit. ALSO HARRY POTTER- That's my plan for tonight! Although it might be a bit odd with Cantanese subtitles I DON"T CARE! Hope everyones doing well!
Cheers
Tina
Last week we enjoyed a luxurious evening at the movies ( although the movie was in Cantanese and seriously bizaare ). It was a thriller action murder suspense filled movie and lets in the end it ends up being the man who is suspected all alongs son who's actually his long lost brother with an aging disorder( talk about a whacked out movie. I'm really hoping that I don't have any long lost siblings who are going to come back to frame me for murder.. although the likely hood of having one with an aging disorder seems highly unlikely.) Also last weekend we enjoyed a rainy but still fascinating trip to Macau. Macau is this great little island that either still is or used to be owned by the portuguese and highly influenced by both Portuguese and Chinese culture (It's like like the esscence of Eurasia- a bit of European influence a bit of Asian influence and you get Macau) We spent the day sight seeing eating tastey Portuguese food and of course taking lots of pictures( it's an unwritten rule that if you're not from that area you must take pictures so to fit in with the crowds of people with cameras perminantly attached to their hands we also perminantly attached our cameras to our hands and snapped the living daylights out of those pictures...)
On Sunday I went to the airport to pick up Jon ( for those of you who don't know Jon he was easy to pick out being as he stood a solid foot above most other people ) Jon stopped by Hong Kong for a 2 day visit on his way back from a year in Cambodia. So we took all his stuff to his hotel ( the famous Chung King mansion- via recommendation of Don- despite my friends who live here saying they would never recommend that someone stay there. But it did turn out to be nicer than expected although my change in opinion may have been swayed by the free pair of slippers they offered. And also proof that it wasn't so bad was that Jon showed up alive the next morning and then also Tuesday afternoon when we met up after I got done with program.) Anyways Monday morning we met up around 8 and after some delicious dim sum( at the russ' of dim sum restaurants we decided- it's mainly filled with older people and is inexpensive yet sooooo good) we headed to Stanley Market to wander around there for a while. After we'd had our fill of wandering ( and of course a stop at my favorite shop to visit the man who sells rugby shirts) we headed to the library to do a bit of research on how to get to this hike called dragon's back( you see as Jon quickly discovered i'm not much of a directionally oriented person. I get myself places usually by just walking there and taking some side streets following some signs and some how I end up there... Maybe a miracle maybe just plain dumb luck, maybe i'm secretly gifted with directions and that's how I get places- yeah the last one is seriously unlikely i'd say one of the first 2 is far more likely all I know is I get where I need to go and I usually have to wander a bit I don't usually think about having to give directions to other people) So although i've been here about a month and a half and know my way around quite well Jon rapidly became the owner of a Hong Kong map( and i'm pretty sure he might have studied it the night before for fear that I would get us lost the next day) after I had accidently taken us the wrong way while we were dragging around all his luggage the first night. At the library we looked at some books and found the hike we wanted so we jumped on a bus where we got dropped off and decided to go explore some random stairs mean while we missed our bus so we waited for a half our finally a minibus stopped and told us they would take us to where we wanted to go( it was a red minibus they told us never to trust the red minibus but we were a bit desperate we were in the middle of no where and our bus had passed and me missed it and we hadn't seen one pass since) ... we ended up at a bus station and got on another bus finally ending up at the park to start our hike after a bit of backwoodsin it ( following a dried up river bed because we couldn't find the trail) we finally ran into the path and we hiked up to the dragons b ack and along the dragon's back. It was quite the hike with amazing scenery. ( No panda or dragon sightings but we saw bamboo and we hiked on the dragon's back so i'm pretty sure we just weren't far enough away to actually see him...) After hiking down we jumped on a bus to Shek-o beach and while Jon went swimming I rented the most relaxing beach chair in the world and parked it in the sand along with a diet coke ( i'm pretty sure they were the 2 best purchases i've made this trip. that may be because i was exhausted or maybe because it was nice to just relax but either way it was simply amazing to sit and relax. ) So while Jon went swimming I took a nice nap in the shade. later that night Laura Lisa Maggie our friend Winnie Jon and myself all went to this thing called Drum Jam it was at the Fringe Club ( as the guy next to me - who please note was a drummer for belly dancers- informed me the Fringe Club is basically a hangout for hippies and flower children and other artsy folk but they put on some pretty great things that people can get really into.) The Drum Jam was basically like they had allll diffferent kinds of drums everything from tamberines to bongos to practice drum pads to bells mostly they were bongos and those kind of drums but any ways sometimes there was a rhythm we would follow by the leader or we would get quieter or louder or you just follow your heart whatever your soul tells you to do ( yeah I guess that would lead towards a hippy-esk sort of thing) It was sooooooooo fun though and actually we met some people peole who are interning here for the summer who are from Detroit. Which is fun because it's rare to find people who have heard of Michigan much less live there! Anyways it's fun to have found people who are familiar with our home...
Tuesday it was back to work with another day at camp and then I met up with Jon again after that. Jon and Maggie and I headed to the Time Square of Hong Kong ( yes there is a Time Square in Hong Kong and the first time we visited it I I asked people here which came first and they were appalled at the concept that the one in New York would've come first and they weren't even familiar with it either...) We also opened Jon's eyes to one of Hong Kong's most tastey treats the pineapple bun.. so we sat in a park and people watched for a while and then headed up to the peak ( where we ran into some interesting Brittish people techno dancing... I wish I had had more time to pick up some of their moves they would've been a real crowd winner at a wedding or something i'm pretty sure.) Finally we ended the evening at Lan quai Fong where we sat for a while and listend to everything from Michael Jackson to the Eagles to Usher to Justin Timberlake and the Blackeyed Peas....Very little consistency to their music selection here. It wasn't just oldies or just new music. Not simply slow jams or upbeat tunes just this massive mixture with a foot in every genre of music and a hand in each era.... very interesting....
Today was outting day in program so we headed to The Museum of Costal Defense followed by lunch at Helena May and then finished the day off by a visit to the peak ( that's right this was my 2nd time to to the peak in 2 days and my 3rd time over all but keep in mind it was my first time during the day so I mean lets just count it as my first then because it's like seeing it in a whole new way... ) After a long weekend I'm simply exhausted and ready for another weekend! Tomorrow is our last day of program and then Friday we're touring the mother's choice facilities and meeting with people from all the services offered. I will attempt to put up pictures in next day or so of Macau and Jon's visit. ALSO HARRY POTTER- That's my plan for tonight! Although it might be a bit odd with Cantanese subtitles I DON"T CARE! Hope everyones doing well!
Cheers
Tina
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
I like to eat wegetables, but I don't like to eat fish....
Monumental day today! I learned my first complete sentence in Cantanese. Today was like being in school all over again ( also my kids turned my laundry method on me- modified of course... it was point at an object I'd say English word, they'd repeat English word then they'd say Cantanese word i'd repeat Cantanese word- followed by tons of little giggles due to my poor pronunciation or complete butchering of the word) After today I've decided my laundry method needs a bit more pizzaz.... I guess I did leave out the spin cycle so maybe tomorrow i'll have to add a new component because after realizing what I put them through .... My laundry method is just about as much fun as doing actual laundry....
Now, back to my first full sentence... it was an extremely useful one so prepare yourself for this I will first type it out ( using my own phonetic spelling of course..) and then give the translation.... aw jongee sic chai donhi aw mm jongee sic yuhh.... when I asked Sally what that meant she said it means - I like to eat wegetables but I don't like to eat feesh ( I like to eat vegetables but I don't like to eat fish... v's are very tricky business) Any ways I also learned sit down( very crucial thing to know when working with kids now I can say CHAW DIE! and they will sit riggght down)
Today was a fairly good but verrrry hot and tiring day. It was a full day but for the majority of the day it went quite well and another successful day with my small group I think. Well if you're standing Chaw Die..... Enjoy your Wednesday.
Now, back to my first full sentence... it was an extremely useful one so prepare yourself for this I will first type it out ( using my own phonetic spelling of course..) and then give the translation.... aw jongee sic chai donhi aw mm jongee sic yuhh.... when I asked Sally what that meant she said it means - I like to eat wegetables but I don't like to eat feesh ( I like to eat vegetables but I don't like to eat fish... v's are very tricky business) Any ways I also learned sit down( very crucial thing to know when working with kids now I can say CHAW DIE! and they will sit riggght down)
Today was a fairly good but verrrry hot and tiring day. It was a full day but for the majority of the day it went quite well and another successful day with my small group I think. Well if you're standing Chaw Die..... Enjoy your Wednesday.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
wash, rinse, repeat
Well camp numero dos is under way and after day one it became very apparent that I needed to change my teaching methods for small group time. On day one Sally, Wendy, Snow White ( yes, I know that's the real deal folks...no joking here) our translator Jonathon and I all sat trying desperately to find a way around ( or through it or over it) this massive language barrier but instead we sat reviewing emotions a concept they haven't quite grasped yet for a solid 20 minutes doing every possible activity I could think of with my laminated flash cards ( that they could see through apparently) and once those had thoroughly been exhausted we talked about their favorite things about summer, favorite foods, etc. ( every normally 2 part question- question and answer- very quickly became a 6 part question- Step 1- I ask English question, Step 2- Jonathan asks Cantanese translation of question, Step 3- one of them responds with Cantanese answer, Step 4 Jonathan gives me the English Translated answer, step 5- I repeat the word/words of the answer to everyone, Step 6 they repeat the word/words in an attempt to learn them) as you can tell conversing is a lengthy process....
After what seemed like hours( poor preparation on my part) small group time ended and my group and Maggies headed down to play squash ( yeah they expected us to teach the kids to play HAH!) thankfully today and for the rest of are time we have a table tennis room( the unfortunate thing about that is that about half of the kids totally wrecked me at ping pong today... on the positive I have a week and half to improve and they've already shown maggie and I how to properly hold a paddle..)
Today, in small group time I applied a laundry theory as I like to call it(yes I'm developing my own teaching theories i'm not quite ready to be published their still in the developmental and testing phases.)....the laundry cycle washes-rinses-repeats ( with some added steps of course) in teaching English today I showed a picture said a word repeat... we went through pictures and I said all the words they repeated... I showed them the words they found the picture that matched it they said the word repeat... We played the matching game and every card they flipped over they had to say the name of what it was... see the card, say the name, repeat . We then attempted full sentences which went surprisingly well. Tomorrow we have an outing including lunch at an American restaurant so phrases included "Please pass the______" followed by thank you. Also I like to to eat_____ and I don't like to eat____ Followed by What Do you like to it? What Don't you like to eat?..... I have this ball and on suggestion of laura I wait to pull it out until the end because it is a distraction but They had to throw the ball and ask What do you like to eat? or what don't you like to eat? and then if they got the ball they had to respond to question with I like to eat or I don't like to eat etc. ( it worked until one of them decided the game was better when she just threw it to herself.... so she threw it in the air to herself a few times and every time ask what to you like to eat I like to eat.... and that ended the game) All in all though a much more successful day than day one. Heading out to do some grocery shopping and wandering... Happy Tuesday!
Cheers,
Tina
After what seemed like hours( poor preparation on my part) small group time ended and my group and Maggies headed down to play squash ( yeah they expected us to teach the kids to play HAH!) thankfully today and for the rest of are time we have a table tennis room( the unfortunate thing about that is that about half of the kids totally wrecked me at ping pong today... on the positive I have a week and half to improve and they've already shown maggie and I how to properly hold a paddle..)
Today, in small group time I applied a laundry theory as I like to call it(yes I'm developing my own teaching theories i'm not quite ready to be published their still in the developmental and testing phases.)....the laundry cycle washes-rinses-repeats ( with some added steps of course) in teaching English today I showed a picture said a word repeat... we went through pictures and I said all the words they repeated... I showed them the words they found the picture that matched it they said the word repeat... We played the matching game and every card they flipped over they had to say the name of what it was... see the card, say the name, repeat . We then attempted full sentences which went surprisingly well. Tomorrow we have an outing including lunch at an American restaurant so phrases included "Please pass the______" followed by thank you. Also I like to to eat_____ and I don't like to eat____ Followed by What Do you like to it? What Don't you like to eat?..... I have this ball and on suggestion of laura I wait to pull it out until the end because it is a distraction but They had to throw the ball and ask What do you like to eat? or what don't you like to eat? and then if they got the ball they had to respond to question with I like to eat or I don't like to eat etc. ( it worked until one of them decided the game was better when she just threw it to herself.... so she threw it in the air to herself a few times and every time ask what to you like to eat I like to eat.... and that ended the game) All in all though a much more successful day than day one. Heading out to do some grocery shopping and wandering... Happy Tuesday!
Cheers,
Tina
Saturday, July 4, 2009
My week in review....
Well as previously mentioned We've officially completed one full 2 week camp and that marks that we've been here for almost 4 weeks ( Friday was our 25th day here I believe). I feel caught in a strange limbo where i'm unsure whether it feels as if i've been here a long time or I have a long time left. It's the rainy season/typhoon season here, so in my mind any heavy rain is a typhoon so i've added some new words to my vocabulary one being typhooning- it's a verb. It's likely not a word, but heavy rains qualify as typhooning outside...currently on this rainy sunday it is typhooning outside so once the rain lets up ( and if it doesn't I still plan to or i'll go stir crazy) I intend to go wandering in Wan Chai
Well this week went well it was just certainly a tiring week. It was Laura and I turn to lead camp this week so it meant taking on a whole new set of challenges and responsibility ( crap.. reality check i'm working here too not just here to explore, shop and enjoy all that Hong Kong has to offer, but of course that is an added perk) Laura and My's theme was sort of like an around the world adventure where we taught kids about the continents and different cultures while also teaching them English. They seemed to like our theme. Day one we studied Africa and baked elephant ears ( yes we baked not fried them... The thought of frying something in an unairconditioned area- fire hazards aside- seemed like a torturous idea so we baked them) the kids helped put the ingredients together and roll their own elephant ear and then we put them in the oven and baked them for them. it was quite the yummy treat. Tuesday we studied Asia and kind of compared cultures. We did 2 different crafts ( generally we try to cook something with the kids and then do a craft because crafts are fun as is cooking and also then they get to eat the snack which always makes for happier kids...) Now on the day we did Asia we didn't even attempt to cook anything because considering what we consider chinese food in America ( fried chunks of chicken and fried dough with crab in the middle or perhaps chicken globbed with sesame sauce.. I've yet to see any of that fine American Chinese cuisine here) we weren't quite prepared to attempt to cook authentic asian food plus we figured they probably eat enough of it as is soo why make them cook more.... Wednesday was a public holilday so we didn't have camp. Instead we went to the beach and some of us ( myself included- mind you this is with SPF 50 sunscreen on) got terribly sunburnt.. ( if you've ever seen or been on Young Life spring break with me i'd say it's comparable to my worst days there...) I've been radiating heat since Wednesday.. Too bad it's not snowy here. Anyways Wednesday was interesting because it isn't celebrated with fireworks or parades instead people flood the streets protesting! The protest marched along and seemed to continue for hours! it was insane! Ohh yes and on Wednesday we went out for Dim Sum with Abby and Amy and ClareBelle - 2 volunteers for mother's choice on a 1 year term ( Abby is from the UK she has a phenomenal accent and Amy is from South Africa- she also has a great accent so basically we spent the entire dim sum just listening to them talk because there accents were so captivating... if I come back with a British accents it's only because I feel as though I seriously wish I had some sort of accent here. Even the guy who reads scripture in church has an awesome Irish accent... It's great!) Anyways Thursday was our outting day and on our outting day we visited a nunnery which was beautiful and also the space museum which was awesome and then we had lunch at the Clearwater bay country club which was delicious. I've discovered a new love for asparagus and especially asparagus soup. It was great to have American food again... After that we played a few games of tag on the playground there ( If you tag someone that doesn't mean you're not it anymore... you're still a tagger. The goal is to be the last one not tagged. Then you become the first tagger the next game. that probably makes noo sense but it does if you play it) It was quite fun I joined in and felt like i was like 7 again... Then Friday we had a rap up day and review and all day the kids were just bouncing off the walls (little did we know it was because they were like mega excited for a party they had planned) they put on a dance for us ( it was to High school musical) and they served some american food ( pasta) and spring rolls, fruit salad, etc. noo fishballs and nooddles! and we didn't have to hide what we didn't want to eat because we wanted to eat EVERYTHING! it was soo great! They gave us precious cards and it was sad to say goodbye. We'll be back at the small group homes for the last week to work with the older kids who served as our translators.
Now when I started this post I hadn't gone outside but since then i've gone out and done some exploring in Wan Chai and i'd like to share my biggest upset about shopping in Hong Kong.... SHOE SIZES! they never have sizes above like an American size 7. Now I am well aware that I don't have dainty little feet but i'd also like to note that my feet are not awkwardly large either...in fact I can always find shoes in the US no problem. I now understand the struggles that people with large feet face... here I have large feet. FRUSTRATION!
Well new pictures at http://tinawestra.shutterfly.com/
Check them out if you want.
thanks
Cheers
Tina
Well this week went well it was just certainly a tiring week. It was Laura and I turn to lead camp this week so it meant taking on a whole new set of challenges and responsibility ( crap.. reality check i'm working here too not just here to explore, shop and enjoy all that Hong Kong has to offer, but of course that is an added perk) Laura and My's theme was sort of like an around the world adventure where we taught kids about the continents and different cultures while also teaching them English. They seemed to like our theme. Day one we studied Africa and baked elephant ears ( yes we baked not fried them... The thought of frying something in an unairconditioned area- fire hazards aside- seemed like a torturous idea so we baked them) the kids helped put the ingredients together and roll their own elephant ear and then we put them in the oven and baked them for them. it was quite the yummy treat. Tuesday we studied Asia and kind of compared cultures. We did 2 different crafts ( generally we try to cook something with the kids and then do a craft because crafts are fun as is cooking and also then they get to eat the snack which always makes for happier kids...) Now on the day we did Asia we didn't even attempt to cook anything because considering what we consider chinese food in America ( fried chunks of chicken and fried dough with crab in the middle or perhaps chicken globbed with sesame sauce.. I've yet to see any of that fine American Chinese cuisine here) we weren't quite prepared to attempt to cook authentic asian food plus we figured they probably eat enough of it as is soo why make them cook more.... Wednesday was a public holilday so we didn't have camp. Instead we went to the beach and some of us ( myself included- mind you this is with SPF 50 sunscreen on) got terribly sunburnt.. ( if you've ever seen or been on Young Life spring break with me i'd say it's comparable to my worst days there...) I've been radiating heat since Wednesday.. Too bad it's not snowy here. Anyways Wednesday was interesting because it isn't celebrated with fireworks or parades instead people flood the streets protesting! The protest marched along and seemed to continue for hours! it was insane! Ohh yes and on Wednesday we went out for Dim Sum with Abby and Amy and ClareBelle - 2 volunteers for mother's choice on a 1 year term ( Abby is from the UK she has a phenomenal accent and Amy is from South Africa- she also has a great accent so basically we spent the entire dim sum just listening to them talk because there accents were so captivating... if I come back with a British accents it's only because I feel as though I seriously wish I had some sort of accent here. Even the guy who reads scripture in church has an awesome Irish accent... It's great!) Anyways Thursday was our outting day and on our outting day we visited a nunnery which was beautiful and also the space museum which was awesome and then we had lunch at the Clearwater bay country club which was delicious. I've discovered a new love for asparagus and especially asparagus soup. It was great to have American food again... After that we played a few games of tag on the playground there ( If you tag someone that doesn't mean you're not it anymore... you're still a tagger. The goal is to be the last one not tagged. Then you become the first tagger the next game. that probably makes noo sense but it does if you play it) It was quite fun I joined in and felt like i was like 7 again... Then Friday we had a rap up day and review and all day the kids were just bouncing off the walls (little did we know it was because they were like mega excited for a party they had planned) they put on a dance for us ( it was to High school musical) and they served some american food ( pasta) and spring rolls, fruit salad, etc. noo fishballs and nooddles! and we didn't have to hide what we didn't want to eat because we wanted to eat EVERYTHING! it was soo great! They gave us precious cards and it was sad to say goodbye. We'll be back at the small group homes for the last week to work with the older kids who served as our translators.
Now when I started this post I hadn't gone outside but since then i've gone out and done some exploring in Wan Chai and i'd like to share my biggest upset about shopping in Hong Kong.... SHOE SIZES! they never have sizes above like an American size 7. Now I am well aware that I don't have dainty little feet but i'd also like to note that my feet are not awkwardly large either...in fact I can always find shoes in the US no problem. I now understand the struggles that people with large feet face... here I have large feet. FRUSTRATION!
Well new pictures at http://tinawestra.shutterfly.com/
Check them out if you want.
thanks
Cheers
Tina
God Bless America ( celebraiting the 4th China style)
Well happy 4th of July! I must say celebrating here is much different than celebrating at home... there were no fire works and there was certainly no grilling going on ( that is due to the excruciatingly hot temperatures making it unbearably hot to even entertain the thought of eating something hot much less cooking it over smoking hot coals) none the less After a full 2 weeks of camp had come to a close we were feeling really good and decided to celebrate ( this was a celebration of completing 2 weeks of program and 4 weeks of eating pretty much purely asian food) with a veeeeery American meals and what better place to do this than T.G.I. Fridays. So we all get gussied up- made ourselves look presentable( we were mainly dressing up for the food we were about to eat because we were soooooo excited) and all went and ordered 4 very large hamburgers complete with potatoes ( Maggie and I opted for mashed potatoes while Lisa and Laura were more partial to the French Fry variety of potatoes) and proceeded to eat and eat until our plates were clean. Now some might say really? really? and to you I say yes! REALLY! we ate it all and to top it all we all ordered our own dessert and proceeded to finish our desserts as well. We didn't even consider the possibility of walking up the hill to our house( one of us might have popped- in reality we probably should've walked to sweat off some Lb's but at that point in time that just didn't seem realistic.) AnAmerican meal.... Now that's patriotism right?
Well if that wasn't enough patriotism today ( on the actual 4th of July at least here in Hong Kong) we took an excursion to Lantau Island and all dressed up in our finest red white and blue ( or whatever red white and blue we could find- which was mainly t- shirts and shorts so maybe not the finest but whatever) Now on Lantau Island is the Biggest OUTDOOR, SEATED, BRONZED buddah.... ( you see it's not technically the largest outdoor buddah and it's not the largest seated buddah, and probably not the biggest bronzed buddah BUT it's the largest outdoor,seated,bronzed buddah- they're like one grouping it's not like there can be an "and" between those descriptor words) Anyways It was quite a site. Now I know the Bible says you shall have no other God's before me and I have no intention to start worshiping buddah, not by any means, but really this things was crazy big and really intricate. I took lots of pictures but it felt seriously irreverant to take pictures of the temple because I considered what if people came up into my church and gawked and took pictures in an irreverant sense and potentially later looking back at them and saying " Holy crap would you take a look at that..." I mean it seemed just wrong no matter if it's my religion or not to stand there and take pictures... Anyways after buddah and the temple we went to the stilt village on Lantau Island it's called Tai-O It literally is a bunch of houses on stilts all cramed next to one and other and then you have to drive a boat to get to your house or you can walk accross to draw bridge to get to a road It's crazy I always felt like I was invading someones privacy while I was wakling through the city.. wierd. While riding the bus back we saw some cattle grazing by the side of the road- a lovely site I don't know why but it gave me quite a laugh. And then finally we took the ferry back to Central and then walked back to our home sweet home. Lovely lovely day...
Now I promise at some point tomorrow hopefully i'll try and recap last week with camp etc. and also upload pictures yikesabee i'm a bit behind I suppose.... well Enjoy your 4th of July I know I sure did :)
Tina
Well if that wasn't enough patriotism today ( on the actual 4th of July at least here in Hong Kong) we took an excursion to Lantau Island and all dressed up in our finest red white and blue ( or whatever red white and blue we could find- which was mainly t- shirts and shorts so maybe not the finest but whatever) Now on Lantau Island is the Biggest OUTDOOR, SEATED, BRONZED buddah.... ( you see it's not technically the largest outdoor buddah and it's not the largest seated buddah, and probably not the biggest bronzed buddah BUT it's the largest outdoor,seated,bronzed buddah- they're like one grouping it's not like there can be an "and" between those descriptor words) Anyways It was quite a site. Now I know the Bible says you shall have no other God's before me and I have no intention to start worshiping buddah, not by any means, but really this things was crazy big and really intricate. I took lots of pictures but it felt seriously irreverant to take pictures of the temple because I considered what if people came up into my church and gawked and took pictures in an irreverant sense and potentially later looking back at them and saying " Holy crap would you take a look at that..." I mean it seemed just wrong no matter if it's my religion or not to stand there and take pictures... Anyways after buddah and the temple we went to the stilt village on Lantau Island it's called Tai-O It literally is a bunch of houses on stilts all cramed next to one and other and then you have to drive a boat to get to your house or you can walk accross to draw bridge to get to a road It's crazy I always felt like I was invading someones privacy while I was wakling through the city.. wierd. While riding the bus back we saw some cattle grazing by the side of the road- a lovely site I don't know why but it gave me quite a laugh. And then finally we took the ferry back to Central and then walked back to our home sweet home. Lovely lovely day...
Now I promise at some point tomorrow hopefully i'll try and recap last week with camp etc. and also upload pictures yikesabee i'm a bit behind I suppose.... well Enjoy your 4th of July I know I sure did :)
Tina
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