As promised some more pictures.


The view from outside my serviced apartment

A 180 shot.

Yes I managed to find a hockey rink - and where is it you ask? Drum roll... a Shopping Mall in Kowloon. Wow what a surprise. I watched a movie in this mall. I enjoyed the seats which rumble and shake along with the movie (Contagion). Parts of it were filmed in Hong Kong and possibly Macau. Makes me want to carry my hand sanitizer around with me.


I have no idea either.

Just a shot of the downtown area - JP Morgan building center.

Time has flown by. Three weeks in and still getting sorted. I bought a cell phone - a Nokia (again) as they seem to be the go-to phone for expats. A whopping $25 and I've been making several calls now on it and still have not used my $5 up yet. We sure pay a lot in Canada for phones.

I have a new place that I will move into either late September or October 1st. Details on that will come, but I think a lot of friends will want to come stay with me just for the amazing views.

But before I get to that, here are some pictures of the serviced apartment or "closet" that I am currently living in as well as some other photos.



The serviced apartment from the door. This is it. To the left is the bed and at the foot of the bed is the dresser that holds shirts, a small safe that doesn't work - or it probably does and it is beyond the hope of those regular non electronic engineer types. To the right is a small table with a TV.

This time a photo from the kitchen. There are no plugs on the kitchen counter area so I need to heat water or plug my coffee pot in beside the bed. That little box behind the bed is a bathroom.

See they spelled my name wrong - but the thought was nice.


My desk - there are 24 such desks in the room and a second teachers' room. All the teachers have similar desks. I am still figuring out the lingo. But to the teachers reading it works like this. There are 3 band high schools. There used to be 5 but Hong Kong changed to 3 bands. What is a band? A band is a form of streaming students from the best and brightest to the bulbs having a little more trouble lighting the room. I teach at a band 3 school or the "lowest" band.

Within the school there are grades called forms. Form 1 is roughly grade 8 in Canada and form 6-7 would be grade 12. Within the form there is more streaming. Form 1A, 1B, and 1C. Each year they pick a different letter to choose as the best class and one as the weakest class.

Unfortunately, whatever advantage there may be to streaming it does not really seem to be created on the back of their English level as I can see only a weak correlation between the supposed better classes and weaker classes. It is kind of sad to be written off in primary school because the hope for good jobs or attending university for a band 3 student seems very difficult and as such their motivation to improve is very low. Still the school is hopeful that a few of them can beat the system this year.

The students are mostly engaged with a few exceptions but we're trying to do things that will get them excited about learning English. We'll be running an English club with writing contests and there will be a choral challenge in November (which I will be running) and we'll compete with other schools in Hong Kong. The kids like some western artists. Avril Lavigne is popular, as is Lady Gaga. Naturally they would be hugely popular as it is a Catholic School. :-)

After my first two nights in the Walden hotel I moved into my new Serviced Apartment which is like certain friends, an apartment with benefits. I get weekly maid service and a small kitchenette with bar fridge. Once you put about 8 drinks in it, it's full. Then again if you put 8 people in this apartment the fire department would have something to say. Still the apartment is clean, quiet, and right near three different subway lines (the closest being Austin Station – they spelled my name wrong but it was nice of them to know I was coming) and the famous Temple Street Night Market and Nathan Road where if you want to buy any one of a dozen $100,000 CAD watches or a Million dollar ring for that special lady - well - you can. Rolex is positively cheap in comparison but then they don’t keep particularly good time and maybe people are figuring it out.

Speaking of cheap - most stuff is – there are no taxes on anything and there is no tipping. I left some money on the pillow for the maid – she cleaned everything but she left the money left on the pillow. I am now in the process of finding a new apartment. This is fine but astonishingly costly. Usually in Canada we pay half a month’s rent as a security deposit when moving into a new apartment. In Hong Kong, they want the first month’s rent. And they want two full month’s rent as security deposit. On top of that you have to pay half a month’s rent to the agent (the owner of the apartment pays the other half of the month’s rent to the agent). Now apartments in Hong Kong are expensive. $12,000 HKD is the one I am looking at and it’s quite nice but not at all considered expensive here. This gets you 610 square feet. If I get I will show pictures. The exchange rate is about $8HKD to $1Cad. So $1,500 for rent but the initial outlay will be $42000 HKD or $5,250 Cad. You get the deposit back at the end with 2% interest so it’s not all bad but you don’t get the agent fee back. Still, the rent is well under the amount the government provides foreign teachers so in the long run I save a bit of cash.

Anyway, here are some more pictures

This would be "The Lodge" where I am currently living. 4 flats per floor and separated from each other. No common wall. Apparently they count the hallway as part of the square foot rating - well 1/4 of the hallway. I still don't think it makes 400square feet. Pictures of the inside later.



Beer. You can buy a bottle of Guinness for $1.50Cad. I was out the other night having dinner and I decided to buy a bottle of San Miguel. A Philippines beer that is quite nice. $20HKD for a bottle or about $3.50. But what came seemed to be a jug. A huge 620ml bottle. And this at a restaurant. A lot of sloshed folks walking the streets. You can open the pictures and zoom in to see the prices - remember to divide the price by 8.


Double Decker buses and trolleys are everywhere here but I liked this one. A big black Double Decker trolley with the word Manifesto across the top. I am sure it's going to a mall.


A nice couple I had a chance meeting with. I could not place their accent but it turns out they're both from Cardiff, Wales. I said they didn't really sound Welsh at which point they really turned on the accent. They were both out to go dancing and drinking but I had work the next day.

I want you to imagine living a life in a giant air conditioned clean comfortable shopping mall. Imagine this shopping mall was the size of a small country. Can you imagine it? Well I don’t have to because I live in Hong Kong! Okay, it’s a bit of hyperbole but perhaps only a little bit. Getting off the plane and on your way out of the airport the thing to do is buy an Octopus Card. The card is about $6Cad and you can refill your card in subway stations so you can travel about HK on the fast impeccably clean subway system or use it for buses or ferries taxis – or to buy good at one of the million 7-Eleven chains, or restaurants or whatever else. Why does Hong Kong seem like a mall? Well every major subway station is in some manner connected to some sort of shopping usually massive 2-4 floor shopping mall. George A Romero would have a field day here. There’s really little to complain about. At least in China I was awakened by massive artillery fire outside my window at 5 am which once out of my tired stupor turned out to be fireworks. I noted then that in China they fire the fireworks because someone was getting married, or was it someone had died? Either way.

Hong Kong of course is much more than massive indoor shopping malls. It also has massive outdoor strip malls and markets and numerous entrepreneurs from India wishing to sell you a $30 Rolex or Prada or as one fellow said “anything you’re looking for.” He was all out of Uma Thurman – but I’m sure he’d do his best to find an “exact” copy if I showed more interest. This is a concrete jungle and a consumerist destination. And yet it’s all very well organized and “comfortable.” Everything is in English. I go home and watch for lorries as I cross the street, making sure to mind the gap when exiting the trains and walk home to take the lift to my flat and have a cup of tea. The English/Welsh/Scots/Irish and Chinese are a match made in heaven. No one likes tea more than these folks. And yet it all works. The malls offer air conditioning and when humidity approaches 90% and 34C – the thought of sitting down with a trusty Mocha Frap is quite nice as you watch the seemingly endless numbers of people walking by in some sort of expeditious determined pace to get to who knows where doing who knows what. I wonder why they don’t stop to smell the roses but of course in order to do that you would need to go to some sort of mall.

Gucci sign on the left. Just in case you left the mall for some strange reason - they want to remind you to go back inside and get your Gucci.

As most of you know I have taken a teaching position in Hong Kong for the next 2 years. Fortunately before I left I managed to connect with two colleagues and 2 former students I taught in Wenzhou, China. From left to right: former student X-man, Hans the Math Science teaching guru and my go to guy for all things Hong Kong, The handsome devil none of us can understand isn't married yet, Lawrence - Mr. Math and P.E. - he'd be perfect but he's a Yankee fan - you can start booing now, and former student Joe.

My flight was excellent - Cathay Pacific is leagues ahead of Air Canada - so anyone who thinks of visiting me - if it costs a few extra bucks - do it.

After a 13 hour flight and landing in the sweltering humidity I eventually landed in the Walden Hotel. Small but clean and the staff friendly. I may as well have jumped in a pool by the time I got to my room. Thanks to the Australian girl, the two Russian girls, a local Hong Kong couple and a fellow from Iran for helping me with directions.

For some reason I am not able to upload a bunch of pictures so my posts will be shorter. Tune in soon for another post.