TODAY in Hong Kong I am struck by how similar to my high school my university is. The students groan at the thought of homework, they giggle at the words "girlfriend" or "boyfriend," and they will only interact with others of the same sex. The school is similar to a high school as well as there are lockers lining the halls (yes, halls, and not those "hallowed" ones they have at Stanford with columns and arches), and young hipsters schlepping in front of you or chatting in a group that barely moves to let you through.
There is a large "canteen" or cafeteria that is much better than my high school caf, but it gets AMAZINGLY crowded at lunch. Overwhelming. The school has a small fast food eatery that serves sandwiches, pasta, other stuff.... so far I like their hot dog the best. There is also a Chinese restaurant that is subsidized so it is possible to get great dim sum for a pretty good price, although it too gets over crowded. And there is a staff lounge that has a cheap afternoon tea set of tea and sandwiches with the crusts off. I believe these are the only eateries available. Of course we are connected to a mall that has its own food court but when you only have an hour for lunch- at the same time as the rest of the world, it is hard to make it there and back. I usually just bring something from home and work through my lunch so that I have less to take home.
There is a lot of work. I have 7 classes plus work in the Self Access Language Centre (the SAC- which always elicits a giggle from me when my boss says things like "let's meet in the SAC" or "We need to figure out what we want to do in the SAC"! (Didn't I say it is like I am back in High School!?)
Most classes meet only once a week so I am having a hard time learning everyone's names. There are only 16 students in a class, but they aren't very imaginative with their English names so I may have 3 Wilsons in 3 different classes so I get confused. Thank goodness they do use English names though!
