Last Day at School

May 28th, 2010

I am writing this on my final day at school. I can’t believe that I have completed 9 months at the school and my time in Hong Kong is almost complete. I fly back to the U.K. on June 2nd to see family and friends and to start training for a teaching job in London.



This week has been really difficult as the students slowly realize you are leaving and say really kind things and make beautiful cards and presents for you. I have had so many photographs with staff and students in and outside of lessons which will be a lovely memory to keep with me. Everyone has been so welcoming here.



My teacher – in – charge, Cecily, asked me whether Hong Kong was what I had expected and it took me a while to think of the answer because, it’s hard to remember how you felt and your feelings and views before I had experienced any of this. However, upon pondering for a while, I think I am right in saying that it is not what I expected, but its better. There are so many things I have experienced and learnt here that has been over and above my expectations and even hopes for this year.



For one, I did not expect to have become so much part of the school, to have been welcomed at every turn to join in and participate as one of the staff rather than as a language assistant. I have been privileged to have been asked to join in both whole school events, and daily activities like assembly and to be able to be completely immersed into school life here despite the language barrier.

Most importantly, I did not expect to meet such wonderful people and to have made really genuine friends at the school, with whom I want to keep in touch with, but I have, in abundance. I did not expect to have been so completely humbled by how the students and staff have gone out of their way to make me feel as welcome and as valued as I have been made to feel. It really has been a privilege to work here and I will miss it very much.


I did not expect to have learnt and experienced as much as I have whilst being here. Living and working in, not only a different country but a vastly different culture, where the values and the norms often vastly differ from that which you have assumed to be normal, has resulted in a steep and often overwhelming learning curve, having to adapt and adjust in order to understand the different mindset which accompanies how the people live their lives here. This ranges from the widely practiced tai chi ‘morning exercise’ here, which you see practiced each week by the whole school, in parks, playgrounds and even on the public transport as early as half 4 in the morning by huge numbers of people across the city. This calm, focus and serenity, demanded by the practice of tai chi, stands in stark contrast to the seemingly never ending bustle and noise of the 7 million people in the city. It is so enjoyable to come across it when you least expect it. E.g. on a basketball court on your way to work or in a courtyard next to the school, as I am waiting outside the classroom for a lesson. Not only does it have clear physical benefits, improving your agility and flexibility amongst others, it also is probably also a real help when dealing with the fast paced life that makes up Hong Kong, enabling people to keep focused and not get stressed or angry or frustrated with the crowds, as is so often the temptation when you are trying to make the leap onto an overflowing MTR carriage or simply trying to move along the pavement to get home!

Also, another small thing is the way in which, despite the often stifling heat here, they do not eat nor drink cold things. They believe that cold water, especially, is bad for your stomach and always drink hot water. Indeed, all of my staff, throughout the day seem to drink little else than hot water. They hardly drink caffeine, as dairy is also not part of their diets in any big way at all, often just having herbal tea or usually just water. It is a habit I found really odd and almost absurd in 35-40 degree heat but, sufficed to say, I now drink mainly hot water as well! Similarly, with food, the only cold food I think they eat is sushi. All meals are hot, from breakfast to supper and often snacks are often hot too. They often have bakery products but they often warm those up as well. Again, while I thought it was strange at the beginning, I now find myself swapping my homemade sandwich and joining the microwave queue to heat up my rice and vegetables at lunchtime!

I could continue forever, but I guess the only other thing I want to mention is the hygiene and the cleanliness of the whole city. It seems a given that people are clean and hygienic but Hong Kong makes me and U.K. appear filthy! It was not helped that, when I arrived, they were still highly paranoid about the H1N1 virus, and so as soon as I got off the plane, my temperature was taken, a face mask was put on me and hand wash was applied to my hands, even before I have left the airport! An overwhelming but in many ways accurate taste of what was to come!

On the MTRs, in lifts and any public buildings, you will find signs saying that the buttons, handrails escalators, doors, etc have been sanitized every 2/3 hours. Often they are covered by protective plastic that is again replaced often to prevent contamination. In KFC, when you order a basket of chicken, you get clear gloves to put onto your hands to eat them with! At school, all the staff mugs have a cup cover, - a sort of lid that is applied to the cup while it is not in use, to prevent germs getting in. Mine, being basically the only one that doesn’t, is covered by a cloth each night by the janitors..! Then, there is the ubiquitous face mask, that we all wore every day for the first few weeks when we arrived and still remains as standard practice for people of all ages, who are feeling unwell so as not to spread germs. It is strange how something that seemed so strange and foreign, becomes so commonplace and expected – indeed I do not even think twice about seeing people in masks and have gotten quite used to wearing them myself if I am not feeling well.



I guess these, and the million other small things are all part of adapting to a new culture and the fact that they become normal is, I guess, I sign that you have started to become a part of it, adjusting your own views and expectations to be more in line with the environment that you are in. And these are the things, bizarrely, that I will most probably miss or find strange back at home as well now! I feel as though this year, I have learnt, and experienced so much that it is hard to put into words and I sometimes wonder how easy it will be to slot back into life in England after this 9 months here. However, I reckon it will be easier than I think and I am sure to be back in the swing of things soon. I am excited to get back home and see family and friends and to start a wholly different challenge next year.

I am aware that this is a long and rambling post and I will end it soon! But, sufficed to say, Hong Kong as a city, is one of the most interesting, exciting, vibrant, energetic and manic cities that I have ever been to in the world, and one that was worlds away from the small Scottish town of St Andrews, and even so far removed from where I went to school but one which I really have grown to love and would recommend to anyone to come and experience it for themselves. I did not expect, I guess, to have settled here as firmly and as well as I have.



Thank you all for reading this blog!

Easter in Vietnam. – 1st – 7th April, 2010

I have just returned from Vietnam, where Katy and I spent an amazing 5 days over the Easter weekend, travelling around and exploring what is most definitely one of the most fascinating and exciting countries I have visited. We spent the first two days in the capital, Ho Chi Minh, and then travelled up to Dalat and Nha Trang before coming back to the capital and flying home very early yesterday morning. Every single day involved seeing completely different things making for an interesting and diverse trip as we travelled between the stunning beaches of Nha Trang to the jungle of the Mekong Delta to the hustle and chaos of Ho Chi Minh. I will try and keep it brief and hopefully will let the photos speak for themselves. Day 1: Our first day was spent travelling to the Cao Dai temple as well as visiting and exploring the tunnels of Cu Chu where the Vietcong famously fought a lot of the Vietnam war underground. The tunnels were tiny and it was nearly impossible to think of how anyone could have spent days and even weeks down there as the Vietcong guerillas did. Katy also jumped at the chance to fit down one of the entrances to the tunnels! Faced with the vastly superior weaponry and technology of the U.S., the Vietcong expanded the series of tunnels which they had built previously during the anti colonial campaign against the French and took advantage of the dense jungle territory from which to launch their liberation campaign. I lasted only a few minutes as I bumbled and practically crawled through the tunnels (which had been widened from their initial size (80cm – 60cm wide) in the near dark and was incredibly pleased to then see the light and come up to ground. However, you could not have anything but respect and admiration for the Vietcong guerillas who fought and essentially lived in such underground barracks and tunnels over the course of the war. We saw so much over the course of the day but, what will remain with me for a while, are some of the deadly handmade traps that the Vietcong constructed. Resourcefully recycling literally tons of shrapnel that was dropped all over the area by the U.S. in an attempt to bomb them out of their bases, the Vietcong instead melted it down, (in these underground barracks, cleverly funneling and emitting the smoke away from the base entrance to disguise its location) and moulded the iron into their own camouflage traps which inflicted horrific injury onto unsuspecting soldiers. Amongst the door which releases a sheet of nails, to the collapsing chair which folds into itself with nails, one I probably will not forget, was the aptly called ‘souvenir trap’ where an upfacing nail is hidden. Once trodden on, it is attached to four similarly razor sharp points that all face in and begin to tighten and squeeze onto the knee level of the leg. It was so designed that, once it was set off, it could not be removed from the leg and thus had to be taken to hospital wearing the trap as a souvenir. Our guide, Minh, had himself been a guerilla fighter in the war and spoke proudly of the fight and the bravery of the fellow Vietnamese soldiers. He had an infectious love for life and a determination to be happy and positive as was demonstrated throughout his tour, where facts on Vietnam and the places we visited were intermingled (and often secondary in importance to) his own life lessons and thoughts about marriage, old age, etc! We were also lucky enough to attend a noon prayer session at a Cao Dai temple, a syncretistic religion mixing elements of Buddhism, Christianity and Taoism. The temple itself was beautiful and incredibly serene and the music and the service was beautiful. The different religions wear different colours during the service. Day 2: Our second day in Ho Chi Minh saw us on a second tour, this time to the Mekong Delta. The river itself is huge however it is also made up of many smaller tributaries which snake their way through the thick undergrowth of the jungle-like landscape. We had the opportunity to be rowed down these parts of the river in a traditional narrow fishing boat, complete with Vietnamese conical hats! We stopped off at many places along the river where we saw locals making rice paper, a coconut candy, listened to traditional Vietnamese singing and instruments, tried delicious honey tea (complete with bee pollen) tried local fruits, and rode in a horse and cart through the riverside villages. Although I am sure it existed for tourists mainly, it was nevertheless a fascinating insight into the lives and traditions of the Vietnamese. In the evening, we continued our culture and went to see a water puppet show!


Day 3:
The third day could not have been more different! We travelled by night bus up to Dalat and thus arrived rather bleary eyed and sleep derived in Dalat about 5:45am. Dalat is a beautiful town up in the mountains with a distinctly French colonial feel to it. It was much more relaxed than Ho Chi Minh however it still contained the ever present hum of motorcycles. We breakfasted outside in a beautiful café overlooking the town and then decided on a highly recommended motorcycle tour of the town. Two wonderful motorcyclists took Katy and I on a whirlwind tour of 9 different sights in and around Dalat as well as being able to take in the incredible lush countryside of this part of Vietnam. It is hard to explain all that we did that day but highlights include… Being sung to (multiple times) by an old man in his shed/workshop behind his house before being offered a straw and asked to drink some of his wine from a large ceramic vase covered over by clingfilm…Surprisingly we did not join him in the communal drinking of what seemed like sawdust.. Liangabang mountain. The views from up here were simply the greatest of the entire trip. You went up in a Jurassic park style jeep to the top and then had time to wander and take in the panoramic views from all around you. Crazy House. I will let the pictures speak for itself but sufficed to say it most definitely lives up to its name. Also somewhat stranger, I think people live there. Day 4: We did not stay long in Dalat and headed soon after the tour to Nha Trang, arguably the nicest stretch of beach in Vietnam. We arrived in the evening and had a beautiful supper in a local restaurant where the waiter took quite a fancy to Katy who ordered an amazing supper which came in a coconut. Nha Trang was a typical beachside town filled with bars, restaurants and boutique style shops. We found an amazing beachfront restaurant complete with an outside pool for guests (as well as an ice cream and cake counter!) so needless to say we spent quite a part of the day there. In the evening, it was such a nice treat to bump in to 2 other Chatteris girls and have a drink with them! We both knew each other were going to be in Vietnam but it was nevertheless an amazing coincidence and such a treat to be able to have met up and had a drink with them on the beach in Nha Trang. While they were going to stay there for a couple more days, we headed back to Ho Chi Minh, this time on a sleeper bus (complete with bunk beds) for our last day. Day 5: The war remnants museum was top of our list for the day and although sleepy, extremely hot and carrying our bags, we made it to the museum and I am so glad we did. It contained 2 floors of relics in the form of posters, photographs, weaponry from the Vietnam War and was an extremely moving and shocking experience especially considering the ongoing effects of the chemical warfare today. Later, we gave up on walking around in the heat and opted instead for the extremely toursisty but surprisingly comfortable cycle taxis which took us around the main sights of the city. The reunification palace gates were where famously the national liberation army drove an army tank which was caught by worldwide media and symbolized the end of the war for all. The architecture in the city was beautiful and you can see the French influence everywhere especially in the impressive Notre dame cathedral, the post office, and the court house. Our final evening we went for supper at Huang Lai, a restaurant which trains up young homeless children and orphans to be waiters and chefs. The food and the service and the general atmosphere was wonderful and could not be faulted. Thank you to Katy for her wonderful company, for her travel expertise and knowledge, for her patience when I had a near sense of humour failure on the last day! for lovely evenings trying delicious Vietnamese food and wine whilst discussing the past present and future! And just generally for her positive outlook and attitude towards life and her constant refrain of truly excellent! Quite the way to sum up our trip!