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As of last Tuesday, it's been two months since our arrival in China. Our initial contract is for two years. Twenty-two months actually: August 2009 to June 2011.Two of twenty-two months means that we have completed almost ten percent of our initial contract.
Futhermore, first quarter ends next week Thursday. How did that happen?
It seems like we just got here. I mean, we just got ourselves a bathroom scale this past week and now it’s almost time to pack up.
Time flies.
-Jack
Last weekend we went to Clearwater Beach about an hour away from our house. We had great weather and –considering it was a holiday weekend- it wasn’t too crowded.
We rented our beach umbrella (HK$50 = US$6) for the afternoon and spread out our little bath towels -we have yet to buy big beach towels. We swam and played in the surf. Julie and the girls collected seashells along the beach. I bought a serving of deep-fried fish balls from the beach vendor, but –surprisingly- I couldn’t get anyone in my family to try them. (Rubbery and very fishy tasting. What were you expecting?)
It wasn’t until we’d been at the beach for a while that I realized something was amiss. Mmmmm. Sky. Beach. Swimmers. Sand. Sunbathers . . . . aha, that’s it. All the people lying in the sun, working on their tans were all dudes. Fit, tan dudes of all ages. Sure enough, I looked around. Soaking up the rays, there were ten guys for every woman.
“Hey Julie, you don’t suppose we accidently . . . “
“No. Look at all the families here with their kids.”
“Oh yeah, I guess you’re right. So, what do you think is going on?”
We hypothesized. It could be that Chinese men are simply more vain than Chinese women. Or maybe the women’s beach was just around the bend. Or maybe, because it was a holiday, all the Filipina helpers had the day off and all the Hong Kong women were at home figuring out how to turn their stoves on. Or maybe, Chinese men enjoy a good tan and Chinese women simply prefer not to tan.
The good thing about teaching at an international school is that I’m surrounded by people who have answers to all of my questions. Monday morning, I shared my observation with a couple of the Mandarin teachers in the teachers' lounge.
Sure enough, Chinese women prefer a fair complexion rather than a deep tan. Apparently that’s not true among Chinese men. The deeper the tan, the better.
-Jack
And just because I know that you were wondering: Yes, the Speedo is alive and well in Hong Kong. Thanks for asking.
We had our individual school pictures taken about three weeks ago. At the same time, we had our group photos taken. This is my home-room. Its actually my advisory -or as we call it around here, FaceGroup.
Facegroup meets for forty-five minutes first thing every morning -except Tuesdays. Tuesdays are chapel. Facegroup usually starts with ten to fifteen minutes of silent reading from the novel of the kids' choice. The rest of the time we take care of administrative stuff, do team-building activities, or have little mini-units on things like study skills or body image & the media.
Our group picture was taken on the fifth floor balcony just outside of the school's chapel. The entire back wall of the chapel is a glass wall looking out onto these hills.
So far, picture day has been the only day I've worn a tie to school.
-Jack
After I push the up button, my baby-boomer, age-of-instant-gratification impatience collides with my middle-age, suburban-bred aversion to self-propulsion. Do I continue to wait for the lift, or do I hike up three flights of stairs? Am I lazier than I am impatient?
It turns out I am more impatient than I am lazy.
I take the stairs.
One of my eighth-grade students has been absent three days this week. Back in August Eudice played in two tennis tournaments: one in the Philippines and one in Malaysia. While she came in 5th in Malaysia, she won the tournament in the Philippines.
Because Eudice is relatively new to the game of tennis, she is not ranked. But her victory in the Philippines was enough to get her a wild card invitation to a big international tournament here in Hong Kong this week. Because she was an unranked wildcard, she was paired against the number-two ranked player from Great Britain.
Eudice won in an upset victory. It was the story to emerge from the tournament Monday. In fact, the Hong Kong Tennis Association has Eudice’s upset victory as their lead story on their web page: www.tennishk.orgIf Eudice wins her next match against a player from Thailand, she will move into the quarter finals.
Congratulations Eudice!
By the way, your English project is still due on Friday.
-Jack
Not sure why, but it gives me a tremendous sense of well-being to get the smallest bits of news from home.
Dad went to the Tiger’s game Tuesday night. The pond is up. The pears are coming in nicely. Mom will be going to her high school reunion this weekend.
The big news eases my mind, but the small items warm my heart.
A few weeks ago, Julie and I had the chance to see the Hong Kong skyline at night. It was impressive. Saturday evening we had the chance to bring the girls down. Along the waterfront is the Avenue of Stars. It’s kind of Hong Kong’s answer to Hollywood’s Walk of Stars. Every twenty feet embedded into the sidewalk is a bronze star with the hand prints of some famous Hong Kong actor.
Being the tourist-y destination that it is, it was crowded with people from far and near. Lots of people gawking and taking pictures. I was hoping to find the Bruce Lee star but was doubtful because it was dark and there were so many people. I shouldn’t have worried. It was easy to spot. It was the one with all the people crowded around it waiting to get their picture taken with it. Yes, I got my picture taken with Bruce Lee’s star and yes, I also got my picture taken in front of his statue. I’m such a tourist. In fact, it was while Julie was busy taking my picture in front of the Master of the Martial Arts, that a middle-age Chinese women tapped Elise on the shoulder and pointed to her camera. At first Elise thought the lady was asking Elise to take a picture for her. But before Elise knew what was going on, the lady saddled up next to her, put her arm around Elise, and had her friend take a picture of her with Elise. And then –poof- the two women disappeared into the crowd.
Wow. What was that all about?
We’re just going to go ahead and assume those were tourists from the mainland who haven’t seen their quota of blonde-haired nine-year-old girls. I guess Elise should be flattered in a strange sort of way.
It was all over before I even knew what was happening.Bruce Lee of course would have had a much quicker reaction time.
-Jack
As of last Tuesday, it's been two months since our arrival in China. 
