Kicking it ex-pat style

Apparently, Hong Kong's population is 10% Canadian. I guess that's because of the Hong Kong Chinese with connections in Vancouver.

It's now Wednesdayafternoon and I've been here for a little over 3 days. It's hard to believe it's only been that long because these have been long, long days. On Sunday, I spent a quiet morning organizing my room and that sort of thing. Sunday afternoon I met up with the son of one of my mother's friends. His phone died in the middle of our conversation so I had to follow my principal around the giant shopping mall all morning because I left Adam her number on his voice mail. He told me that he, his business associate and some friends were heading to the south side of the island to so some beer-pushing shmoozing at the local tiki bar there (he imports beer from Laos into Hong Kong). I said "I'm sorry there is no south to Hong Kong island because my maps end after the downtown section". It was an adventure.

The landscape is beautiful. Much more like what I've seen in pictures of the South pacific than any part of the west coast of Canada. The water was warm but filthy so sadly I didn't go in despite having carried my bathing suit and towel and other stuff all around the Mong Kok shopping mall waiting for him to call Bev's phone. By the way, the shopping malls here just go up and up and up. They remind me of the Victorian houses in Toronto. Very small plot of land but with many tiny tiny shops piled one on top of the other (and I mean 40 stories high). And they all have ridiculous names like "Me love Princess" jewelery, or "Ju-C Sushi".



As it turned out, the dj they were in contact with wasn't there that day because the weather was poor. So we went back to Central station and split up temporarily to get ready for a typical shmooze party. I tried to find an outfit to wear to this because I was dressed like a bum. I am not good at shopping under pressure especially since I don't understand the currency. And furthermore, the styles here are not designed for my body type. Chinese girls have this way of making a potato sack with a sash look elegant and winsome but I just looked like a washed-out white girl in a potato sack. So I went dressed as a bum but lucky for me the bars in Hong Kong love girls no matter what you look like.



I love parties and I chatted happily with a couple of Chinese guys who were their contacts. Turns out one of them went to public school in Brockville and was delighted to learn that I was from Ottawa and Adam, having grown up in a small town too, actually guessed the name of his high school. The party was in a swanky place in the bar district near Central station. It is a pedestrian-only series of winding streets with lights and signs everywhere. People get their drinks and stand in the middle of the street. This party was for a restaurant owner named Massimo and every now and again a group of drunk girls and boys would yell out "Eh! Massimo" and toss back their drinks. I had some very nice Pinot Grigio and pizza. There was a DJ that played re-mixed 80s songs and they had a violinist who was plugged in to the stereo system and he just improvised on top of the music mix while he wandered around the room. He wore those giant black-rimmed glasses with slicked-back hair. It was awesome.

The ex-pat lifestyle is a bit more than I can handle and I am looking forward to some Ontario peace and quiet.

The school is a concrete block with courtyards that are open to the sky and walkways that have no exterior walls. Everything is rusty and ancient except for the computer rooms which would make Morris back at Earl Haig cry. It's a good thing I remember what all of the tabs in Microsoft word are because I tell you the commands in Chinese are totally un-guessable. I have class of 21 students. I don't know what I was expecting but they are spirited, cheeky, happy little guys and girls who love to chat and play fight and so on. It reminds me of teaching ESL grade 9 back at home only without the emotional problems that come with being yanked or thrown halfway around the world.

Last night a big group of us went for dinner in the Central station area and I had some fantastic Thai food on a tiny cobblestone twisty street. We walked through a crummy little alley past all of the junk to get back to the subway entrance. All this right around the corner from the giant Coach store.

That's all for now.
Leslie