School's Out for Summer

Last week, Julie and I finished up a four-week stint teaching summer school. During the first two-wek session, the program had 400 hundred students; during the second two-week session we've had over 600 students.

Schools in Hong Kong fall into several catagories. ICS is an international school. Around here, non-international schools are simply refered to as local schools. By extension, we refer to non-ICS students as local kids. This identifies them not only as attendees at a local school, but the assumption is that they are from families that generally do not hold international passports, don't necessarily speak English at home, and probably have not lived overseas for any length of time.

Our summer school program was dominated by local students. The summer school program gives families who don't send their kids here during the school year an opportunity to expose their children to an English-language program taught by English-speaking, certified teachers. It's also a Christian-based curriculum which is a draw for many of the families.

Although our program is open to students up to fourteen years of age, the vast majority of our summer school students are four-, five-, and six-year olds. We were overrun with little ones this summer. Since I teach middle school during the school year, it was fun for me to have interactions with the little ones every day. They're so tiny. And cute.

The program started out very modestly just eight years ago but it has grown beyond anyone's expectations. As much as the school would like to accept everyone who applies, they end up turning away students every summer.

It's amazing what happens when you offer a product or a service that people want at a price they are willing to pay.

Even in education.

-Jack

New Digs

We've moved.

Not very far though. Just across the hall. We are still living in on-campus housing, but instead of being in two adjoining studio apartments, we are now in a three bedroom apartment.

We were very happy with our place last year, but I must say, we are pretty jazzed about the new place. The girls are excited to have their own bedrooms -with actual doors that close. Previously, because of the nature of the layout of the two studios, if one of us was watching t.v, all of us were watching t.v.

Glad to have a little room to spread out.

-Jack

If a Tree Falls in the Forest . . .

Apparently, my mom, my Uncle Larry, and you dear reader are not the only one's reading this blog. Turns our, I've had a few visitors.

This from George over at One Travel:

"Hello, after reviewing your site, I would like to offer you a guest post at One Travel. if you would be interested in writing as a guest, please contact me so we can discuss the details. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you. George Christodoulou."

And this from Karen at GPS My City:

"Hello Jack, this is Karen Ciripitca at GPSmyCity.com. I came across your blog about Hong Kong and is seems that you have good knowledge of the city. GPSmyCity is looking for partners to jointly develop city walk iPhone applications (also known as iPhone apps). We have developed a cutting edge technology platform for publishing self-guided city walking tours on iPhone and iPad Touch, and have by now publsihed such applications for 150 cities worldwide. We are now looking for authors to work on the next generation of city walking applications. If this is something you might be interested in, please contact us. I look forward to hearing from you. -Karen."

The whole iPhone app development thing is pretty intriguing -if for no other reason than I would get to use the word app a lot.

As if I don't have enough things on my plate already.

-Jack

Reunited

The girls got in last night at about 10:00 p.m. exactly one year to the day of our arrival in Hong Kong last August.

I am glad to have our family all in one place after more than two months apart.

A Shady Deal

We were staying in a colleague's apartment for the summer. It was one of those residency suite type hotel-apartments that come fully furnished.

We wanted to make sure that we left the place in ship-shape condition before we left -which included replacing a damaged lamp shade on an end table.

The 300 apartments in this building are all decorated exactly the same, so I knew that management would have a supply of replacement small lampshades. I was fully prepared to pay for it, it was just a matter of getting a hold of one.

I stopped by the front desk, explained the situation, and ask for a new lamp shape.

No problem, she said.

Good. May I have one then?

We'll have maintaninance bring one up.

Perfect. I am on my way up now. They'll be up in -what- five or ten minutes?

No, you need to schedule a time.

I have to schedule a time to have lamp shade dropped off at my room?

Yes.

Okay, what times do you have available?

Oh, we don't take care of that here. You have to schedule an appointment at the maintaince desk, she said pointing to the desk next to her.

I slid over six feet and then scheduled an appointment for the following Tuesday at 4:30.

The maintenance guy -actually there were two of them- showed up right on time.

They replaced the shade for me.

There was no charge.

-Jack

Bare Necesseties

As summer winds down, our colleagues are starting to trickle back from their trips to their home countries, it's fun to see what they bring back with them. In Hong Kong, you can pretty much find anything. It's just a question of how hard are you willing to work to track it down, how far are you willing to go to get it, and how much are you willing to pay for it?

When Julie came back from the States this month, she brought gummi vitamins for the girls, disposable razors, his and her Tom's of Maine deodorant, lots and lots of tubes of anti-fungal cream (darn that sub-tropical humidity), Benadryl -which is not sold over the counter here, spices, packets of taco seasoning, the book Sacred Influence by Gary Thomas, and a Pampered Chef hand-crank cheese grater she liberated from her mother's kitchen cabinet.

Our neighbor brought back an electric breadmaker machine all the way from Canada.

Last year, a colleague of ours attempted to bring back two large tubs of salsa from Cosco. But without thinking, she packed them in her carry-on luggage instead of her checked luggage.

Homeland security confiscated it.

-Jack

Something Different

When I was a little girl, I loved watching movies from my VHS library. Some of which were taped from when the movie was shown on TV. One of my favorites was Annie. I liked her loathsome life. She had something REAL to pity, unlike yours truly. While she had clean that dump 'til shone like the top of the Chrysler Building, I had a mom who wouldn't let me sit in the front seat. Annie had real problems, so it was OK for her to deviously run away. I always thought that it would be fun to be homeless; to live Hakuna Matata. To discover the world around me and to not have to worry about making your bed or taking showers. (hey, I was trying to be environmentally friendly.) Elise and I would even play homeless sometimes, where we would ration food, sleep in a corner, and have one lone bag to travel with.

Well, living without your parents isn't as fun as TV makes it look. Surprise, surprise: TV lied. Now, don't get me wrong. I absolutely love being here. I'm thoroughly enjoying seeing my grandparents, my friends, my church, and my family here in the states. But i miss my Mum and Pop. We have been video chatting and calling each other pretty regularly, and I am super thankful for technology. But in my opinion, technology never has -- or will-- replace being there. I recently saw a commercial for the Iphone 4. It featured a video chat where a man was showing his father his newborn granddaughter. Over the camera. While it might be the best option for some families, I don't really like it. Technology could never replace seeing that baby girl in person. To see her, smell her, hear her, and touch her for real would make all the difference in the world. Ive decided to not read my dad's blog posts from Vietnam. I want him to tell me in person. I want to hear his voice and to see his hand gestures. But i don't ignore his blog altogether; some things are told even better in a blog post. But technology will never replace the real thing.

Like i said. I love being here. But I cant wait to see my parents. I miss them so much, and I was really disappointed not being able to be there to help them move into our new apartment. I haven't seen them in person for the whole summer, which is a lot to handle on a tween and teen, and I cant wait to go home and see them.

My little Madeline VHS recording always said: "Home is where the heart is. If your heart is there, its home." My heart is split right down the middle. I am madly in love with both countries; HK and US. But the number one thing my heart belongs to is my family. I have my sister with me, which makes being away from the other half of my family more bearable.

My parents are the most amazing parents in the world. They are incredibly brave, for starters. Moving to a different country with little information or experience is a pretty scary thing to do. They're also very strong. Mom somehow manages to keep us fed and healthy, and clean, not to mention working as a school nurse part time and helping me with my endless science homework. Dad teaches all day, organizes hikes and gatherings, helps me every single night with my confusing math homework, and still writes a beautiful blog. Even if he does have to go to great (embarrassing) lengths to get the photo. Our parents love us dearly, and under all their stress, they always manage to make our house (or apartment) a home. I love you dearly, Mom and Dad. And I can't wait to come back and see you.