She Only Looks Innocent

Last week Julie got called into the principal’s office.

Okay, it wasn’t exactly the principal’s office. It was her boss’ office. Oh, and the boss didn’t call her into his office, he stopped by to visited her. And okay, it wasn’t him, it was actually his administrative assistant. But close enough.

When she came into Julie’s health office, the administrative assistant plopped down onto the desk a picture. In the picture were several students in ICS uniforms on the sidewalk a hundred yards from our school. Also in the picture was a blond woman. “Is this you?”

Well how many five-foot-six women do you know that are living and working in the Shek Mun neighborhood? Julie thought.

“It’s pretty obvious it’s me,” Julie confessed. “What’s going on?”

Turns out some Citizen Do-gooder, had used his cell phone to snap a picture of our local scofflaws. It seems that some of ICS’s students have been walking -not on the asphalt foot path- but the adjacent bike path. Citizen do-gooder submitted the incriminating photograph to the local police who then forwarded it to our school so that the appropriate actions could be taken. The appropriate action of course was to do absolutely nothing other than to show Julie the picture and embarrass her.

Julie made the mistake of telling the little story to Elise who is our own one-woman Gestapo. Now whenever we are out, Elise makes sure that we are riding on the bike path and walking on the pedestrian path.

Next thing you now, Julie’s going to be receiving a fine for spitting in a gutter.

-Jack

Hong Kong is a surprisingly law-abiding and orderly place which most days we really do appreciate.

Because I Said So

Annika recently emailed her former logic teacaher back in Chicago asking to have a worksheet forwarded to her. She cc'ed Julie, so that she could prepare.

Mrs. Burns,

As sad and pathetic as it is for only a moment of desperation to be the excuse for my first communication with you in months:

Can you send me my "best friend" the grid from logic class with the rules of argument? "Ad populum", "ad bactum" (i think. . . whatever means "to the stick" a.k.a., threatening someone)? I am in a heated debate with my mother and I think she has broken just about all of the rules of logic by now, but i can't call her on it without my "best friend."

Love,

Annika

Pick Up Basketball

In the year preceding our departure for Hong Kong, I was playing basketball three mornings a week before work at Willow Creek Church. I miss it.

Here in Hong Kong, a few other teachers and I have managed to throw together the occasional basketball game after school; but it’s been sporadic.

Recently, I heard some rumors that there was some pretty good outdoor pick-up basketball across the river in Shatin. So Sunday, I borrowed a bike and went looking. It took me a few minutes, but sure enough, there were fifty or sixty guys hanging out on four courts. They were playing all three-on-three half court. (In Hong Kong, they almost never play their pick-up games full court.)

I asked a few of the fellows who were standing around about the pick-up games. Games are usually going all day Saturday and Sunday and weekday evenings starting about 4:00. Games are to twenty-one. Twos and threes. Winners stay on the court until they lose.

That’s all good to know fellows, but what I was really hoping for was an invite to join a team.

Nothing.

Then I saw another westerner. I stuck up a conversation and before you know it we had a squad of three and were waiting our turn on court A. It turns out that back in Sweden, Gustav played organized ball at the level just below the Swedish pro team (but then again, didn’t we all?)

I am happy to report that Gustav, Lee, and I went six games straight. We bowed out to take a break, got back in the rotation and then won three more games. So far, my street ball record in Hong Kong is nine wins and zero losses -but with very little of the credit going to me. The last seven month of sporadic exercise has been brutal. My game is rusty and I am out of shape.

Gustav and I exchanged numbers. I’m going to have to give him a call. If I want to keep my Hong Kong winning streak going, I’m going to need somebody on my team who –say- played just below the pro level in Sweden.

-Jack

Adapting

While I was typing on my computer, Elise asked me to click on the weather forecast so that she could lay out the appropriate school uniform for the next day. Being Hong Kong, the weather forecast was in Celsius.

She peeked over my shoulder. “22 to 24 degrees. Oh goody, it’s gonna be warm,” she said and dashed off to set out shorts and a short-sleeve blouse.

A month ago, she would have asked what “22 to 24 degrees” meant in “real temperature.”

None of us may be making great strides in speaking Cantonese, but at least some of us are becoming fluent in Celsius.

-Jack

A Traditional Boys Haircut . . . from the Mainland

Mainlanders

The charter bus the school had rented for us pulled into the parking lot. It pulled up next to a bus that was full of Chinese people. One of my students took one glance out the window and with a certain edge to his voice, proffered his one-word verdict: Mainlanders.

“What?” I asked.

“Ah Mr. VanNoord, they’re Mainlanders,” he said dismissively.

Fascinated, I pushed the issue. “How do you know?” I asked as we got off the bus.

As we walked across the Disney parking lot, he said “Ah Mr. VanNoord, you can just tell.”

Unable to let it go, I pressed, “Is it their clothes? Their haircuts? What?”

I couldn’t get him to be more specific, so a minute later, I move on to another student. And then another. It was the same thing each time. “Ah, Mr. VanNoord, you can just tell.”

Well, my students might not have been able to break down the specifics of how they knew, but I was drawing the conclusion that the important thing was that they could tell.

I hesitate to read too much into a fourteen-year-old's tone of voice. But I think the one-word statement “Mainlanders” had packed into it the implication, “They’re mainlanders and I -most decidedly- am not.”

-Jack

By the way kids, get used to all those Mainlanders, because with the amount of money being made up north, you’re going to be seeing a lot more tourists from across the border. In fact, one day in the not-so-distant future, you may be working for one of those “Mainlanders.”

March 12 Field Trip to Hong Kong Disney

Hong Kong Disney

This past Friday, we took our eighth-grade class of seventy-five students to Hong Kong Disney for a science field trip. The school chartered two private buses to drive us all to Disney.

After spending an educational day at Disney, students and teachers met up at 3:00 o’clock by the main gate and did a head count. With everyone accounted for we did that uniquely Hong Kong thing: we simply dismissed the kids. Some kids got back on the charter bus, some started making their way home on their own, and some stayed behind in the park for as long as they wanted.

We have done this on several previous field trips, but it still freaks me out every time we do it. My fellow teachers tell me they’ve been doing this for as long as anyone can remember and they haven’t lost a student yet.

Annika and a group of friends decided to stay ay the park until it closed at 8:00 p.m. I hung back just for good measure and called her every so often just to check in.

Annika and her friends thought that a forty-three year dad would kind of cramp their style, so they gave me the slip moments after everyone was dismissed. So I was on my own in the park for several hours. It all worked out okay; although I must confess I felt a little weird when I went on “It’s a Small, Small World” all by myself.

-Jack

Hong Kong Disney is much smaller than the parks in the U.S. It makes for a perfect one-day outing. My only question is, who left Cinderella’s castle out in the rain? It was so tiny.