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My pronunciation class finished this week, these are some of my students (Alan, Nancy, & Kevin):
It looks like I cut all my hair off, but I didn't. Don't worry! :) These were my favorite students (shh ... don't tell the other ones) because I think they genuinely enjoyed my classes. Hooray!---
I went to a local primary school we're working with to help with their Olympics day camp yesterday. A teacher from their school and I were in charge of a group of P1-P3 (primary 1-3, or in other words first through third grade). We took the kids to different English game stations, and then they all got a prize at the end. It was super cute, especially the sack race--they wouldn't stop playing it even after the teams had finished. ^^
[Someone is bound to have some photos of that. More later?]
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I started doing research for a visiting professor last week. She did her doctorate work at UC Berkeley with a noted linguist who did work in Second Language Acquisition. The research itself is really interesting, though I'm probably not supposed to talk about it too much. Anyway, I'm hoping this pans out!
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After deciding to stay in Hong Kong, I'm now faced with the whole finding-a-job-and-a-place-to-live dilemma. I've applied for a few different positions, hoping to hear back soon. Unfortunately I have to wait to see where I'll be working before I can really commit to housing. The catch is, generally, the people who have apartments are much more responsive and so far I have 3 or 4 apartments I could live in, but no solid job prospects.
Shrug. We'll see how it goes.
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I got some really crazy news on Tuesday.
Backstory: The teacher I worked with at the Primary School on campus got sick around Easter break, and she went home to the UK with really bad bronchitis. I hadn't heard from her for a while and had been teaching the class alone.
On Tuesday, a different teacher (who is basically our liaison) came and pulled me out in the middle of my class to tell me this: the teacher I'd been working with had cancer, and she was also infected with TB. She passed away in the UK at the end of April, while we were in Nanjing.
I don't know anything else, but basically my jaw hit the floor. It seems that the Primary School had just found out about the whole thing, so that's why they hadn't told us sooner.
Tomorrow morning, myself and the ETAs who worked with her are going to get a chest x-ray because there's a possibility we could have been infected. A whole bunch of the students have already gone and will go tomorrow as well. I'm not sure what to think. Basically, I haven't had any symptoms, and I'm not worried about it, but I'm still in shock about the whole situation.
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Our friend George came to visit for a couple days.
He had been to Hong Kong like 9 years ago, and his family is from China, so we didn't have much to show him.
We went to the harbour and the peak anyway, which was fun.
He ordered dim sum for us a couple times since he knows Cantonese, and I finally figured out that I like these little guys! They taste way better than they look--there's pork and shrimp inside. I thought they were some kind of fish ball.
Siu mai:
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My friend Ray applied for a study tour grant from HKIEd, and won. He's taking 15 students to Italy (my suggestion, naturally!) at the end of May for about 2 weeks. I've been helping him set up train tickets and hostel accomodations, and I taught them some basic Italian phrases at their meeting this week. Just picture a room full of Chinese kids going, "Ciao ciao! Grazie!"
I knew those Italian classes would come in handy one day.
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Remember Jeffrey, the boy I tutor? He played piano in a concert Friday night with the HKIEd orchestra. His sister Audrey also played a violin solo at the end of the concert. I'm pretty sure it was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
Cutest thing ever.
I also got some illegal footage of one of the HKIEd students. The usher came and scolded me for videotaping. Towards the end you can tell where Matt nudges me so we don't get kicked out. hehe.
I managed to get one of the parts where she messes up, but she's still amazing. Matt said she looked like a Tim Burton character (The Corpse Bride, maybe?).
I have to agree.
Note: The video won't upload. That makes me sad. I'll try later.
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Sam had the foresight and motivation to get tickets to the AND1 Streetball Asian Invasion tour. A few of us went on Saturday night. I know you're jealous.
It was even more ridiculous than I thought it would be; they had a team of regulars from the States and then the other team consisted of a bunch of Hong Kong kids (I guess??), none of whom were taller than 6'2. They even had a little white boy who couldn't have been more than 13 years old, who couldn't shoot and got stepped on a couple of times. I have no idea where they got these people. I just hope they got paid for all the humiliation that ensued.
At one point, a guy from the US bounced the ball off a HK guy's forehead. Another HKer on defense got his shirt pulled over his head while the American continued to dribble the ball with the other hand.
I think the final score was something like 102 to 60, but that was only because the Americans just started messing around and shooting from the far end of the court, for kicks. One time a guy put the basketball under the back of his shirt when they played "Superman" and did the Soulja boy dance.
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And finally, your moment of zen:
