Today in Hong Kong I got a call from Mrs. N about teaching her son English- basically prepping him for the entrance exam for the English Schools Foundation. Since I have already worked with W on this, I have some knowledge of what is needed.
I tell her that I will meet her son this weekend to assess where he is now in his English abilities. She wants me to assign him some exercises that she can pick up and have him complete before we meet.
Of course I will not be paid for preparing these so called exercises. Also, since I have no clue what level her son is I cannot possibly prepare proper exercises for him! This doesn't seem to matter.
"You will prepare some exercises for him, is it?"
"Well I would really like to meet him first and see where he is, what his needs are, how I can best help him."
"yes yes, I can come pick up the exercises for him, is it?"
I tell her that I really must meet him first and besides, after this weekend I will be gone for a week so we couldn't start for another week and a half anyway.
She says she will call me in a couple of weeks.
Great.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Free Wednesdays
Today in Hong Kong I went to the Museum of Art and the Space Museum. They are free on Wednesdays. The museum of art usually has a temporary show and, upstairs, a permanent collection of ceramic antiquities. Actually, this collection of ceramics is quite impressive, going back 4,000 years. There are fine examples of the various techniques that were used through the years: blue underglazing, various colored enameling (wucai, doucai, etc.). The are samples from the different areas that produced pottery for the imperial court or for export or for daily use: jingdezhen, yue, etc. All of the pieces are in good condition and one marvels at the fact that there are few cracks and that they have lasted in such condition for so long.
In the contemporary arts hall there were two installations about hair, of all things. http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Arts/textmode/english/exhibitions/eexhibitions_s_20060701_2.html
One guy, a native Hong Konger, got hair from the US and from Hong Kong – his two homes – to make a huge installation with the hair glued together to make sheets and on the sheets, using the hair in clumps, he wrote false language all over. The point is that even though we have different languages, different backgrounds, different cultures, but we all are humans, with hair, blond hair, black hair, whatever. It ties us together.
The other exhibit was about 1,000 little slippers made of hair. It was interesting because some had gray interspersed with dark brown, or even shots of dyed red; most were straight, but one was curly like bouclé yarn.
The space museum (http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Space/e_index.htm) is interesting and interactive- great for kids. They even have a flight simulator where you can feel like an insect flying through the Grand Canyon, using the controls to bank left or right. Most people definitely would have been smashed bug on the sides of the canyon. And there is a Zero-gravity “ride” that lets you feel what it would be like to walk on the moon. Actually it is 1/6th –gravity, like what you would experience on the moon. There are other simulators and knobs you can turn, buttons to push, things to learn at the Space Museum. So educational. There is also a 306 degree IMAX theater showing such scintillating titles as “Magnificent Desolation” and “Solar Small Bodies.” Actually, I am sure they are very interesting as “Magnificent Desolation” is narrated by Tom Hanks and is about walking on the moon.
For lunch my friends and I ate at a place called Serenade; it's right there in the Cultural Center where the museums are. Not bad dim sum and a great view of the cityscape of the Island.
In the contemporary arts hall there were two installations about hair, of all things. http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Arts/textmode/english/exhibitions/eexhibitions_s_20060701_2.html
One guy, a native Hong Konger, got hair from the US and from Hong Kong – his two homes – to make a huge installation with the hair glued together to make sheets and on the sheets, using the hair in clumps, he wrote false language all over. The point is that even though we have different languages, different backgrounds, different cultures, but we all are humans, with hair, blond hair, black hair, whatever. It ties us together.
The other exhibit was about 1,000 little slippers made of hair. It was interesting because some had gray interspersed with dark brown, or even shots of dyed red; most were straight, but one was curly like bouclé yarn.
The space museum (http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Space/e_index.htm) is interesting and interactive- great for kids. They even have a flight simulator where you can feel like an insect flying through the Grand Canyon, using the controls to bank left or right. Most people definitely would have been smashed bug on the sides of the canyon. And there is a Zero-gravity “ride” that lets you feel what it would be like to walk on the moon. Actually it is 1/6th –gravity, like what you would experience on the moon. There are other simulators and knobs you can turn, buttons to push, things to learn at the Space Museum. So educational. There is also a 306 degree IMAX theater showing such scintillating titles as “Magnificent Desolation” and “Solar Small Bodies.” Actually, I am sure they are very interesting as “Magnificent Desolation” is narrated by Tom Hanks and is about walking on the moon.
For lunch my friends and I ate at a place called Serenade; it's right there in the Cultural Center where the museums are. Not bad dim sum and a great view of the cityscape of the Island.
Sunday, October 8, 2006
What makes Hong Kong Hong Kong
TODAY in HONG KONG I appreciate that there is a lot of "china" here too, and this is what makes Hong Kong Hong Kong. My street is lined with elderly people selling who knows what: fish for your aquarium, aluminum hand-pounded into trays, dried snakes and puffer fish turned inside out (really!), clothes from someone's closet… sometimes you can find them selling knick-knacks with pictures of the royal family on them! One street over is the open air vegetable and fruit market and perpendicularly they sell meat, fish still jumping around. The fish monger keeps up his constant call for customers “YU” “FISH.” He has some big fish heads there- they are still gasping for air, slowly closing and opening, although there is no body to breathe life into!
On the corner is a famous, very old (been there forever) Chinese medicine shop with its skinny patron looking out at you wondering why you're looking at him! And amongst the chi-chi restaurants you can find the best wonton noodle place, or a place famous for its Beijing style dumplings, or a noodle shop that has been there forever with the same décor and maybe some of the same staff! And of course there is the famous, very old, been-there-forever tea house with a line out the front door. They are waiting to seat themselves at one of the ever bustling noisy tables to eat old-fashioned dim sum. On several corners you can get a cup of medicinal tea for 50 cents. And on any street at any given time you can see skinny old men or unkempt old women or sinewy young guys pushing carts laden down with who knows what, waiting patiently for impatient cars to push by, people to cross the street, an opening so that they can swing the cart around the corner. One evening I saw an old woman pushing such a cart across the road, head down, full force of her body behind the cart, only to have to stop to let the red taxis and the black Mercedes go by before she could make that final push up and over the hump of the street.
Friday, October 6, 2006
Fire! Dragon!
Today in Hong Kong I went to see the Fire Dragon, an annual event corresponding with the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival. This is a a 70 foot long dragon with incense sticks poking out all over, creating a smoking, glowing, undulating sight that parades through a small neighborhood in Wan Chai.
It is difficult to get a good vantage point to see as the area is totally crowded. There are also a lot of other participants: little girls in shiny outfits carrying lanterns, men holding big lanterns on the ends of staffs, and a banner is hoisted by young people from the neighborhood.
The dragon is kept aloft by several men, one positioned every few feet along the body of the dragon. A few of them are needed for the head. They are hot and sweaty and streaked with smoke. They have to switch out once in a while as the whole square is choking with the smoke.
The crowd, the yelling, the smoke, the glowing incense sticks, the weaving of the dragon through the crowd, down the street. It is an exciting part of Hong Kong heritage that I think few people even know about. I am coming back tomorrow for another show!
It is difficult to get a good vantage point to see as the area is totally crowded. There are also a lot of other participants: little girls in shiny outfits carrying lanterns, men holding big lanterns on the ends of staffs, and a banner is hoisted by young people from the neighborhood.
The dragon is kept aloft by several men, one positioned every few feet along the body of the dragon. A few of them are needed for the head. They are hot and sweaty and streaked with smoke. They have to switch out once in a while as the whole square is choking with the smoke.
The crowd, the yelling, the smoke, the glowing incense sticks, the weaving of the dragon through the crowd, down the street. It is an exciting part of Hong Kong heritage that I think few people even know about. I am coming back tomorrow for another show!
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