Woh, how embarrassing...I can't believe I haven't posted anything for so long (for a second there I thought I'd forgotten my password - proves my point). The longer I wait each time the more I want to put it off because, well...experiences start piling up and after a while it starts to seem like more of a 'task' to keep this thing updated than just a fun way of processing things. However, tonight I am excited to write a bit! I guess it's been a month since I updated my blog and I don't really know where I left off so I'll just start randomly...
The weather has definitely been warming up. It's not always sunny but it is definitely almost always hot and humid! So far I haven't minded too much - I definitely prefer the warm over the cold. Funny...in class I usually grab anything and use it as a fan (not uncommon - even the students do it). The other day (while fanning myself with a random piece of paper) I was scolding a student because he was disrupting the class. It was clear that he could hardly understand me as I was telling him to be quiet but I am sure he got the point simply by looking at my face. As soon as I was done my little disciplining session he pulled a beautiful and colorful Chinese fan out of his desk, opened it up, put it in my hand and said "for you, teacher!". Little brat, I couldn't help but smile. Smooth kiddo, smooth!
(1.5 hours later - after playing games and drinking smoothies with some students who stopped by...)
The last month has been very much routine again. I am teaching fewer classes than last semester which is somewhat nice. One Thursday evening at 9:15pm I got a call from a headmaster at the school and he told me I would be teaching my gao san (grade 12) classes for the last time that week. I had some sort of 'telephone conversations' class planned for that week - not exactly a lesson I wanted to end the school year with... So that Thursday night I threw together a somewhat more meaningful lesson (not sure if it was exactly the lesson I would have picked if I'd had more to plan it but it was ok). So, the next morning at 7:20 I taught one of my last grade 12 classes. I ended up teaching the song "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts. It was quite fun and a good 1/2 hour of relaxing for the hugely stressed and over-worked students! No more grade 12 for me...
Two nights ago I purchased my return ticket back to Calgary. I should be arriving home on Friday, July 4th at about 2:25pm...I'll leave Hong Kong on the same day at 12:45pm so I'll be arriving 2 hours after leaving - although there will be a whole lot of traveling in between!! I'm excited and yet I do sense that it's so bittersweet (I remember using that same word on my first post on this blog about 10 months ago when I was preparing to leave Canada). I have decided that one of the crappiest things in life is saying good-bye to people...it's just rotten (especially when there's a chance you'll never EVER see the people again!). Having said that...I am going to cherish my last 2 months here!
Last week Karen came home again. Ridiculous. I finally asked her "what the heck are you doing home so often...shouldn't you be in school???". I mean, each time she comes home from university it's 11 hours on the train 1 way (that doesn't even include the 2 hours on the bus). She said that she missed home and that she wants to spend as much time together with me now that I am still on this side of the world. What a crazy thought! Well...it's true - whenever she's home we spend a ton of time together and don't seem to waste a minute.
The first day Karen was back in town last week she came over to my house with a bag of vegetables from the market. When I opened the door she said "I need to teach you how to make Chinese food for your family when you go back to Canada". So...I learned how to make some more Chinese food. I think the food tastes really good in general and the super hot and spicy pepper is definitely starting to grow on me (even for breakfast!) but the food is soooo greasy and salty (it doesn't taste salty but they use a ton of it)! Perhaps I'll prepare it every now and then when I go home but I don't think it'll be a daily thing (partly also because I doubt I'll be able to get some of the key ingredients in Canada - Lacombe that is).
Yesterday we went to Zhang Bu with 5 of Karen's friends from college who came to visit. Zhang Bu is a beautiful park/village in this province and I am so glad I got to go!! Karen's family rented a van and a driver for us for the day which was much more convenient than having to take a bus. Right after I taught my 10:10am class I headed over to Karen's home. First we ate at a wedding lunch and then we were on our way. The bus ride was about 2 hours but it was beautiful...again, I am SO thankful I get to live in the mountains for a year and that the weather has been warm and that everything is green again! Anyway, I'll post some Zhang Bu pictures because I don't know how to describe it.
The weather has definitely been warming up. It's not always sunny but it is definitely almost always hot and humid! So far I haven't minded too much - I definitely prefer the warm over the cold. Funny...in class I usually grab anything and use it as a fan (not uncommon - even the students do it). The other day (while fanning myself with a random piece of paper) I was scolding a student because he was disrupting the class. It was clear that he could hardly understand me as I was telling him to be quiet but I am sure he got the point simply by looking at my face. As soon as I was done my little disciplining session he pulled a beautiful and colorful Chinese fan out of his desk, opened it up, put it in my hand and said "for you, teacher!". Little brat, I couldn't help but smile. Smooth kiddo, smooth!
(1.5 hours later - after playing games and drinking smoothies with some students who stopped by...)
The last month has been very much routine again. I am teaching fewer classes than last semester which is somewhat nice. One Thursday evening at 9:15pm I got a call from a headmaster at the school and he told me I would be teaching my gao san (grade 12) classes for the last time that week. I had some sort of 'telephone conversations' class planned for that week - not exactly a lesson I wanted to end the school year with... So that Thursday night I threw together a somewhat more meaningful lesson (not sure if it was exactly the lesson I would have picked if I'd had more to plan it but it was ok). So, the next morning at 7:20 I taught one of my last grade 12 classes. I ended up teaching the song "My Wish" by Rascal Flatts. It was quite fun and a good 1/2 hour of relaxing for the hugely stressed and over-worked students! No more grade 12 for me...
Two nights ago I purchased my return ticket back to Calgary. I should be arriving home on Friday, July 4th at about 2:25pm...I'll leave Hong Kong on the same day at 12:45pm so I'll be arriving 2 hours after leaving - although there will be a whole lot of traveling in between!! I'm excited and yet I do sense that it's so bittersweet (I remember using that same word on my first post on this blog about 10 months ago when I was preparing to leave Canada). I have decided that one of the crappiest things in life is saying good-bye to people...it's just rotten (especially when there's a chance you'll never EVER see the people again!). Having said that...I am going to cherish my last 2 months here!
Last week Karen came home again. Ridiculous. I finally asked her "what the heck are you doing home so often...shouldn't you be in school???". I mean, each time she comes home from university it's 11 hours on the train 1 way (that doesn't even include the 2 hours on the bus). She said that she missed home and that she wants to spend as much time together with me now that I am still on this side of the world. What a crazy thought! Well...it's true - whenever she's home we spend a ton of time together and don't seem to waste a minute.
The first day Karen was back in town last week she came over to my house with a bag of vegetables from the market. When I opened the door she said "I need to teach you how to make Chinese food for your family when you go back to Canada". So...I learned how to make some more Chinese food. I think the food tastes really good in general and the super hot and spicy pepper is definitely starting to grow on me (even for breakfast!) but the food is soooo greasy and salty (it doesn't taste salty but they use a ton of it)! Perhaps I'll prepare it every now and then when I go home but I don't think it'll be a daily thing (partly also because I doubt I'll be able to get some of the key ingredients in Canada - Lacombe that is).
Yesterday we went to Zhang Bu with 5 of Karen's friends from college who came to visit. Zhang Bu is a beautiful park/village in this province and I am so glad I got to go!! Karen's family rented a van and a driver for us for the day which was much more convenient than having to take a bus. Right after I taught my 10:10am class I headed over to Karen's home. First we ate at a wedding lunch and then we were on our way. The bus ride was about 2 hours but it was beautiful...again, I am SO thankful I get to live in the mountains for a year and that the weather has been warm and that everything is green again! Anyway, I'll post some Zhang Bu pictures because I don't know how to describe it.
Karen and I at the entrance of Zhang Bu park.
Some local woman who are from the Buyi minority group. They were singing a song in their local dialect.
A buyi woman cleaning chickens. Perhaps we ate one of them for dinner later??
Gorgeous waterfall.
Karen and I
Perhaps you notice some of the writing on this rock - they are Chinese characters. Around here it is widely believed that the words were formed naturally - no humans involved. The words mean "China Communist Party"
Neat bridge.
We walked inside a HUGE cave for about an hour. It was soo neat!
In order to get out of the cave we had to take a boat-taxi. It was so fun!
In order to get to the exit of the park everyone had to walk on this little path of unsteady rocks through the river (unless you wanted to walk for 3 hours to get back to the entrance for 3 hours). It was really quite fun and not something you would typically experience at a touristy park in North America (the faces/gates would be chin high -for me, anyway- in North America).Hmm, it's bedtime for me... (abrupt ending). Thanks for reading this. I hope to meet many of you again in about 2 months and I am SO excited for that! For now I'll cherish my time here :) With love...
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