I can't believe it has already been one week since we arrived! Things have been going well for us here in Hong Kong. The school takes really good care of us! The first week we went with the other first year teachers in groups to get our Hong Kong ID cards, set up bank accounts, apply for credit cards and get cell phones. We have also been exploring quite a few places in the area and eating new foods too!
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| Simba came with on the plane:) |
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| We just landed. Not bad for staying up all night!! |
Today was a big day today! The rest of the faculty came for the first day so we got to meet our colleagues in the music department, our new iPhone's sim card kicked in and we got the internet installed in our apartment! We will be moving apartments in about two weeks because our actual apartment's air conditioning is getting replaced. (Thankfully the move will only be two rooms down and across the hall so not a big deal).
A good story from today - Tim went into our actual apartment (705) to grab something. We have been going in and out of there quite a bit to get supplies or check and see if we have something (wall clock). Today for some reason the key card decided that it wouldn't work (after it had been used 3+ times today) and now there is a piercing alarm going off and they can't get it to shut off (I wrote that at 6:15pm) Hopefully that will be fixed soon :)
Oh goodness what to write about??? There have been so many new things that we have experienced this past week its hard to remember them! Here are a few snippets of what we have learned:
-Napkins and toilet paper are not always provided for you. You can purchase small packets of napkin/tp things to take with you wherever you go
-In the MTR (train) station people walk on the left to go up and down stairs. Escalators are just like the states where you stay to the right if you are stationary and you use the left if you are walking through. Don't be an esce-lefter! Everywhere else I'm not too sure what side to walk on - it seems like a free for all
-Mom and pop noodle shops are usually the best way to go for cheap (and very tasty) meals. You don't always know exactly what will come out of the kitchen but it is worth it!
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| One set to serve with and the other to eat with! |
-Portions are actually quite large for noodle dishes. If you eat at a local place be sure to leave some behind to show that you are full. Apparently if you finish your plate completely they might bring you more.
-The streets and trains are very clean! They are much cleaner than any other big city that I have been to.
-There are two main options for purchasing things - 1. The markets (wet market, electronics market, clothing market, etc) and 2. Stores in malls. The malls are HUGE and are thankfully well air conditioned!
-McDonalds delivers! We haven't eaten much western food since we arrived but since Tim's experiment in cooking didn't go so hot, we ordered some McDonalds to be delivered just because we could :)
-Exploring the city is awesome because you walk around everywhere! I am looking forward to doing some more exploring as the years go by :)
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| View of Hong Kong Island from Tsim Sham Tsui. |
-Black flip flops are hard to find! I bought a new pair at Superstore in Brandon just before coming here and when we were in a mall a kid stepped on it and it now looks like it is starting to die. Thankfully I found some in about the millionth store that we went to but I might be asking people coming from Canada to pick up another pair when (note I'm not saying if :) ) they visit.
-Life in Hong Kong can be so similar to life back home in the states and so different at the same time. I also find myself seeing people that look like friends from back home :)
-You can watch the olympics in English every night on the tv - you just need to push enough buttons to get there :)
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| First day of orientation! |
Christine (and Tim)
ps we are 13 hours ahead of Central Time!
ps #2 I came back after dinner to finish this post and as of now (9:05pm) the alarm is STILL going off. Here is the solution the security company came up with :)
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| (Yes, that is a sock taped over the alarm...) |
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