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. :-)