Birthday Weekend

This weekend Andrew and I celebrated our birthdays with a few friends from work. Friday night Carol and Lauren came over a brought a cake. We played trivial pursuit, watched a movie, and forgot about work. Saturday was for sleeping in and running a few errands. That night we had dinner with some more teachers from school and hung out in Lan Kwai Fong all night. We had some fabulous late-nite kebabs and went home to fall asleep to another movie.

Yesterday was my official birthday although the party lasts for days. Andrew and I left the apartment at noon and walked across town to an area called Soho. The first place we came across was called McSorley’s. Unbelievable. We had no choice but to go in and replenish ourselves. The place was nothing like the original, but they did copy some things like the motto ‘Be good or be gone’.

After McSorley’s we walked home and watched some ‘TV’ on my laptop and took part in our annual birthday ritual at midnight.

This weekend wasn’t near as extravagant as last year, but I really enjoyed being with friends and relaxing yesterday.

Quiz Night

If you know me well enough you’ll be able to list all of my self-claimed talents, trivia…and Trivial Pursuit. So, you can imagine how excited Andrew and I were when we found out that Wednesday night is Quiz Night around the corner from our apartment. We prepared mentally for a week and assembled a team consisting of the other two people we know in Hong Kong, Carol and Lauren.

At 8pm last night we walked into Dickens Pub hoping that there really was Quiz Night and that someone else would show up. I was thrilled when we were the last of six teams to arrive. We assessed the competition and thought we had a pretty good chance of winning the curry buffet for six.

The categories were almost picked with us in mind; History, Geography, Name the Building, Music, Movies, and Sports. Cakewalk, right? Wrong. After round two we were tied for dead last with dim hopes of making up ground. The questions were severely British biased and some of the music was unknown to any non-Aussie. There were three Canadians and they were the only three to miss the capital of Ontario question.

We ended up finishing last and got the consolation bucket of Chang. We had a blast though and made friends with some teams. You can count on us being at Quiz Night every Wednesday and maybe walking away with the free airfare to Shanghai and grand prix tickets they awarded last week.

Welcome to Teaching

The last two weeks have been pretty busy, but mostly the same routine. Work is very hard and exhausting. All of the English teachers are frustrated with the school and its disorganization. The students have a hard time understanding us and we spend most of our time on discipline rather than teaching. I’m handling it pretty well, but the more I talk to other teachers the angrier I get.

I just had to go watch my first graders for recess. The worst kid in the school is in my homeroom and I had to chase him down the hall, pin him against the wall and yell in his face for kicking another student. This is a daily occurrence and it doesn’t even faze him. I rarely get angry enough that I yell and turn red, but that happens all the time now and isn’t exactly cathartic. Sometimes I just shut the door and stand in the hallway while the kids run across desks and fight each other.

My friend Carol is miserable at work and says she wants to quit in a month or two, which makes me sad already because she has quickly become one of my best friends here. She has an education degree and says this is nothing like teaching should be. Phil is from Australia but taught in Japan for five years. He says this is the hardest teaching job he’s ever had. Hopefully we’ll all stick it out through the year. I have to keep myself from thinking about the end of school because the summer seems like five years from now.

This all sounds bad, I know, but I really love it here. Hong Kong is fabulous and the weekends are great. I love the apartment and we had some fun times so far. I’ve been hanging out with a few of the other teachers on the weekends and having a great time. We try to avoid thinking about the week ahead, but the school inevitably seeps into the conversation. Carol and I spent yesterday afternoon together in the city. I found a great grocery store that sells some great food for really cheap. They even sell Brooklyn Lager! We wandered around SoHo (south of Hollywood Rd.) and had some food and drinks in a little café. Andrew and I had steaks for dinner and drank the lagers while we watched Green Street Hooligans.

Back at work now though and just trying to take it day by day. Hopefully some problems will be solved this week and everyone will start to enjoy work a little more.

Miracle on Paterson Street

A miracle has happened in Eastern Asia. After only three days of easy shopping, Andrew and I have found an apartment on Hong Kong Island. Comparatively, a British girl at our school has been looking for three weeks and is still homeless. After we made an offer on the place we were out bid but then gained it back. So knowing that it was a hot find, we emptied our bank accounts and rushed to make a deposit after work. We only had enough for about half of the deposit, but a wink at Ivy, our landlord, smoothed everything out.

Our place is in an area called Causeway Bay, which is just east of Central Hong Kong. Twenty-seven floors below home is the central shopping area for all of Hong Kong with virtually every store you see in Soho or Fifth Avenue. A Starbucks is conveniently located across the street and there is a 24-hour supermarket in our building. I guess its worth mentioning that we have a view of the harbor out of our apartment, but it hardly compares with my view of Manhattan from Jersey.

Unfortunately, we can’t move into the apartment until October 1, but there is an empty apartment at the end of the hall that we can have on Sunday. The living room provides ample space for guests and our first major purchase will be a sofa bed for all of our Asia-bound friends.

I Live in China

I made it! Unbelievable. I flew into Hong Kong from L.A. on Thursday. The flight was surprisingly easy and fast. As soon as I got off the plane they handed me a cell phone and a list of errands I had to run that night. We slept about 5 hours and the went straight to school for our first day. They told me to just prepare a 15 mintue game to learn names. I ended up teaching a full day and was at the school for 11 bloody hours.

The school/job is very different from what I expected in a good way. I actually work at a private school called Pegasus Philip Wong Kin Hang Christian Primary School. It is a very expensive and recognized private school. We aren't really English teachers. I am actually an elementary teacher that teaches in English. I really fooled them. My home room is full of 26 adorable first graders. Some speak and read English very well and some speak to me in Cantonese. We rotate classes and I'll be a math teacher for the most part. I think I actually teach a Bible class too! The staff is Christian and at least half the teachers are too. There are 15 english teachers and about 20 Hong Kongers. As for the english teachers, there are a few Americans, a Canadian, one Brit, one Dutch/Asian, two Ausies and a Turk. They seem very cool. I'm actually on my way to a party to get to know all of them. The invitations says there will be 'chicken wings and 12 dozens beers'. I don't know what that means, but it sounds yummy.

We haven't spent very much time getting to know the city, but from what I can tell, it is exactly what I expected. Weather just like Houston, bleh. The streets look exactly like the pictures and feel just like New York only filled with Chinese. The subways are spotless, quiet and air conditioned. We went to a hip area called Lan Kwai Fong in Central Hong Kong last night and hung out in an expat area filled with a ton of American and Brit bankers/students/people like us. It felt amazing to sit there and realize I am in China. It really doesn't feel that far away from home. I think I'm gonna love it here. The next step is to find an apartment today in a sweet neighborhood and make some expat friends.

My ride to the party is here now. Stay tuned to hear about the weekend and first few days of school.

Getting There

I'm sitting on Dan's deck right now in L.A. He just moved into a sweet apartment literally one block from Venice Beach. I've got the California sun shining on my back, coffee brewing in the kitchen and the Pacific breeze keeps the temperature in the 70's. This would be the life, except in about 24 hours I'm finishing off my journey towards Hong Kong.

Briefly, I want to say how amazing airplanes are. I flew to Dallas from Houston over the weekend to save time and actually some money too. I left for the airport straight from the pool and when Luke picked me up, my swimsuit was still wet. And yes, I was wearing it the entire time. Yesterday, I flew the cattle car (read: Southwest Airlines) to LAX. Four hours after takeoff in I was laying on the beach in California. I watched the jumbo jets taking off to my right and heading straight out over the Pacific to places like Asia and Australia. Tomorrow it will be my turn to get on one of those big birds and time warp into a different world.

I've got a busy day planned at the beach and then a second Dodger game tonight with Dan. I never thought I'd say it, but I love Southern California! ...minus the damned heat when you're in the city and the hellacious traffic which is every bit as bad as they say. Dan has a great setup here and a pretty sweet 'stache too.

I was fortunate enough to see many of my best friends over the past week; Micah, Luke, Mark, Collin, Ryan, and Dan. I was glad to spend some fun times with them on my way out. Now, in a few long hours Andrew will be waiting in Hong Kong and we shall begin this new episode I’ve been anxiously awaiting.

The Ol' Ballgame

Its been over a month since I've been to a baseball game and I was itching for one. It's been over a year since I saw the Astros, but I wasn't itching for them.

Regardless of my itches, I got some sweet tickets to the game tonight and took Jacy with me. Some other people came, but I don't remember who. We sat five rows off the field, Jacy and I. She kept talking about Brad Ausmus and how hot he was. I couldn't see him through the facemask. She took alot of pictures of him but they were all of his back for some reason.

The Astros blew the Pirates out, which is hardly a feat this year so we left in the seventh. On the way out, she told me she was just dieing for a cider so we went to the Saucer. I don't remember who else came, but I'm sure they were extremely insignificant. Jacy and I just talked the night away and had the time of our lives. I'm so glad that Jacy and I can be such good friends.

P.S. I think she's married to this guy, but I'm not sure.

Go Time

I accepted a position finally. I will be teaching kids in Hong Kong; Kowloon specifically. And, I think Andrew and I will be in the same school which is good because I just don't think living and hanging out together is enough. I fly to L.A. to see Dan again on Aug. 27th and from there to Hong Kong on the 30th. Be sure to check the blog as I will update a lot over the next few months.

Funemployment

I have been unemployed for two weeks now and it has been bliss. I spent the first week on a futon in the West Village looking for jobs in China. Andrew and I applied for about 23 jobs in Hong Kong within 3 days and then waited to hear back. In the meantime we drank coffee and stared at each other all day long. I had some great going away events with some close friends during that week. I said goodbye to the teacher crew, church friends, Jenn and Kari, and Collin. After a week of goodbyes, I was ready to just leave and be done with that painful process.

I came to Houston on Monday to spend some time with my family. Its great to be here, but I already miss New York and have actually experienced some reverse culture shock. The heat here is deadly so I’ve quarantined myself into the living room in front of a massive TV and my laptop. I’ve seen some close friends that whom I missed while in NYC. Ryan and Laura made me dinner last night and we laughed about old times as always. Micah, Jacy, and I sat around the pool and enjoyed the High Life which we live so well. Cheers to Jacy for choking one down. I’m blessed to be around such close friends, like Jacy, even after leaving my big-city crew.

After a week of job searching and no responses, Andrew and I started to get a little nervous so I applied to some positions in Shanghai. I had 4 replies before the night was over. Last night we got an offer from a Christian school in Hong Kong and I believe we have two conference calls tonight. Things are finally shaping up and China is becoming a reality. I think we are both equally excited about each city and now the hard part will be deciding where we want to live.

Finally, I have been broke for weeks now. I get an e-mail every morning telling me that my checking account is empty. I changed my setting to not receive the alert, but they keep coming anyway. To alleviate my financial problem, I’ve decided to go work at my dad’s company for a few weeks. I’ll start in the office on Monday and while I’m disappointed that my fantasies of reading by the pool are now just a dream, the move to China will be much easier with some scratch in my pocket.

This is the end. My only friend, the end.

Well, I'm really doing it. I moved out of my apartment last week and shipped my stuff home. My last day at work is tomorrow and there is a celebration planned after. I bought a plane ticket to Texas and I'm almost certified to teach English.

I hope this is a good decision...

Actually, things feel great. I've been dreaming of my last day at work for months upon longer months. It feels like the last week of school there and everyone is congratulating me for escaping our company. I've been staying at Andrew's apartment in the West Village and having a blast. I woke up at 8:30 this morning and still made it to work on time. Over the long weekend, I went to Fire Island with some friends to hang at the beach all day. We had so much fun that we skipped the ferry boat and hung out on the island for a few extra hours that night.

Last night I found out that a bistro around the corner, which we all pass a few times a week, has some great free live jazz each night. I thought that I would hear so much live music moving to New York, but it usually cost too much. Now I really wish I had known about this place earlier. The timing was a little off though.

Speaking of bad (my dating life) timing, within my final month of living in New York I have met two really cool girls that I would love to hang out with and attempt this 'dating' thing everyone talks about. They are both very cute and I have fun every time I'm around them. Its a good thing I'm moving to Asia or else I might actually begin a relationship with one of them.

All of that said, I'm excited about leaving. I'll have about two months to relax and do things I can't in New York. I'll see some friends and spend plenty of time home. I might even try to leave the states a few weeks early and do some traveling before my new job begins. Speaking of which, I should probably start looking for a teaching position.