Allo allo allo!

It's 2am, and I have officially created (another) blog, but this one is intended specifically for the purpose of documenting my time spent in Hong Kong as an ETA. With that in mind, a quick recap:

I left for HK on August 2nd. Arriving at the airport on my fourth flight of the journey, the heat and humidity struck me as I imagine the term 'smote' to be used. There are 16 college graduates who were flown from various areas around the States to teach English at HKIED (which interestingly is pronounced Hong Kong Ied). Bundled onto a bus, we arrived on campus and were shepherded into our various dorms. There are four living quarters for students on campus (despite the fact that the 16 of us are technically 'staff'). I'm in the one closest to the entrance and the bus stop which is very convenient both for catching public transportation and for carrying groceries back. My room is equipped to be a double, but I get it all to myself. Facilities is supposed to come remove the extra set of furniture sometime soon, but so far has not done so.

In the last week and a half, we've been in trainings and orientation sessions. I just started learning Cantonese this week, and it's hard! I expected it to be, but having studied Romance languages all my life, I guess I didn't realize how much the tones were going to throw me off (there are 6 tones in Cantonese, and each syllable has a tone, which gives it meaning when combined with the sound...thus dou1 and dou6 mean entirely different things, though at this hour of the night, I have no idea what they might be).

I've also been around and about HK. HKIEd is in the New Territories, and getting into Central is something of a trek. I've actually only been in once. But I have been to Tai Po (the closest area to the school) A LOT. And some other areas as well. The campus of the institute itself is amazing. The mountains are right there, literally backing right up into campus. Hilly as is, the campus is built as a series of levels. Although it was quite complicated to get around at first, I now feel fairly confident wandering around the grounds.

This past weekend, for something fun and exciting, I went to the HK Art Museum to see a special exhibit, the last day of said show. It consisted of maybe 14 scrolls of calligraphy and paintings from ages ago. It was really quite interesting, except the whole having to stand in line for fifteen-twenty minutes at a time to see one scroll. We took the ferry to Central, which I thought was uber lots of fun. I like ferries. And when you get to the other side, you walk across a covered bridge that crosses a stretch of water that the boat can't get through. And I may sound crazy, but it was one of the most awesome travel moments I've had here thus far. I love the scenery (both natural and man-made) here. It was misting slightly (it's an open, though covered, walkway), breezy, and overcast. I remember standing and leaning against the rail, looking out over the water to the skyline, feeling the rain on my face, and just being struck by something I can't even explain. It felt like something out of a movie. I don't even know why.

The food here has been good...not quite what I expected, but good nonetheless. I've eaten in nice restaurants, corner of the street places, and on campus. The one thing that is driving me crazy is the fact that the chicken always has bones still in it. I hate gnawing away at that. It's not nearly as satisfying as having a piece of chicken. On the plus side, I get tea and rice at practically every meal. :) I've had 'Chinese' food, however one wants to define that, Thai, Korean, and Japanese so far. I've walked through countless malls, wandered through streets of shops and restaurants, been repeatedly mistaken for Cantonese, and am starting to learn how to navigate my way around on public transit.

We have another week and a half before classes start. Until then, we'll be doing Cantonese three hours a day and English for two hours. We're also taking two field trips around the sites of HK. I won't get my year schedule for probably a week or so, but the hints given have been that I will work with some French and Spanish, the drama dept, the dance area, and possibly help with writing, this all in addition to working in the primary school, one of the dorms, and the Center for Language Education. Busy busy busy.

Another very important aspect of my life right now is El Gecko. He's been here since I moved in I believe. He likes to run around whenever I come in at night, which is one of the reasons I haven't been sleeping a regular schedule.

But on that note, I think that I should try for some sleep, since I need to be up around 8 to go over some Chinese/talk online/get ready for class/eat etc.

Night night!!!!