It has been a long time since I have written in my blog but I haven’t abandoned the venture, I swear! I’ve actually been sick. It’s weird because no one else around me seems to be sick. At first, I thought it was a bug Harold brought from Canada, but he was fine when he arrived (though he has started to feel sick over the past few days… my fault, I’m sure)… As it turns out, I think I can trace the source of my illness to our lovely friend, Black Mold. Ewwww! I have a dark purple water bottle so I didn’t notice until it got pretty bad. It’s weird though seeing as I only ever keep water in there and I make sure to wash it regularly. At any rate, in my efforts to keep my sick self hydrated, I think I was actually creating the problem. What a catch 22 situation!
So, as you have likely picked up from the last paragraph, Harold has arrived in Hong Kong! I couldn’t be happier. I went to meet him at the airport and I really don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to see anyone in my life. His first week here was sort of blah because we were plagued with the lingering effects of a typhoon’s tail-end. Luckily, the sun is shining now and “rainy season” is almost done. The past few days, we’ve been sitting under palm trees at the pool and planning our wedding.
Before Harold arrived, I spent the weekend at Nicole’s flat and had a wonderful time with her. We hit the town and painted it red. We ate (oh boy, did we ever!), drank, and bar/restaurant hopped in Soho until the wee hours of the morning. We took a ferry ride across the river and watched the buildings put on an incredible light show with shooting lasers and pulsating lights in time to music. The weekend also included shopping, visiting a temple, sipping martinis in a very posh lounge, seeing a live band, dancing, and just a lot of general merriment. The bar scene here is much different from Windsor (and certainly much different from Nanaimo, in that HK actually HAS a bar scene). Everything felt very safe. People were just out having fun and no one was looking to break the law or have a fight. Actually, there don’t seem to be many laws here, and I think that’s why this system works. For example, you can walk around the streets or stores openly drinking a beer. When no one pesters you about the petty little things, there is no forbidden novelty to it and no drive to rebel or abuse your privileges. It’s very much a “live and let live” society with a huge reliance on the honour system.
You know what does need some rules though? The English language. People always say this but you never REALLY notice how ridiculous everything is until you try to teach it. I started teaching this week (yesterday). So far, I’ve only actually taught grade 4 (today) but yesterday I went to different classes to introduce myself. I can’t believe how good it feels to be back in the classroom. This is where I belong… not behind some ridiculous till, in a uniform, small-talking about the weather with a bunch of ingrates. The children are so sweet… and so POLITE. I’m teaching grades 1-4 in their own classrooms, much like the French teachers back home. I also have my own room called “The English Wonderland.” I’m having tonnes of fun decorating it. There is still a bunch of organizing and planning that needs to be done, but once I’m settled in, I know I’ll be very happy here (and I’ll have a lot more to say on the matter).
In other news, we are planning a Christmas trip… anyone care to weigh in on our destination? We are debating between Perth, Thailand, and Bora Bora.
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