I'm Going to Guam!

Well I'm on the flight list at least.

Details here >>>

Mongkok Funnies

-Thanks for the warning. I'll grab an umbrella.




-Battle of the NBA superstars for Mongkok street supremacy!



"I like the brown one, no maybe the green one. It matches my hat."

-Good to know HK city workers are just as lazy as every other country.

3 out of 4 teachers recommend "Pin the Tail on the Reindeer"

Today was a relatively amusing day at school. The kindergarten I'm at Tuesdays was having a big meeting of all the local kindergarten principals. I was told to be extra good. Haha. My principal said to play games all day with the kids and make them happy. Just ignore the English part of English teaching I guess. So I decided to play......?

PIN THE TAIL ON THE REINDEER!

Oh what a funny game when played with little kids who don't understand up and down, or left and right. The past 3! weeks I've been trying to teach them directions as lead-up to this game. Only one class remembered how to say up and down etc. We played anyway. I even made it extra safe by laminating the picture of the reindeer so they wouldn't get paper cuts and was guiding the student trying to place the tail. All was fun and games, until..... Ms. "Someone shit in my cornflakes today" teacher roared her disapproving self at me. The first 3 classes who played the game were fine. No one died. Not even a minor abrasion. So I thought that the last class, my K3 class, the BEST class in the best school out of all the schools I teach, could handle it. Well, they could, but Captain Bringdown said she didn't feel 'safe enough' to put a warm cozy felt bag over the student's head to blindfold them. The kids loved it. They couldn't care less if they couldn't see. That's kind of the point of the game dumbass. Oh well. I told all the kids we couldn't play because their teacher said no. hehehehe. I'm always Mr. Niceguy. Always. Now they don't like her, and they love me even more. Mwaahahahahaha.

Here's my lobby

Well the 2nd lobby actually. I have to go through security on the 1st floor to get to this lobby. The one here is on the 6th floor. There are 9? towers in our complex, but every 2 towers have their own lobby on the 6th floor. Needless to say, it's quite devine, heh heh, but for a few thousand residents I guess the rent can pay for stuff like this. There's even a piano playing Christmas tunes all by itself. For everyone who has been asking...YES! they do Christmas here. They do it over the top. Wait until you see the pictures of the skyline all Santa-ed up.

Don't spill any water!

I had a very funny realization the other day while riding the bus home. There are many similarities between various aspects of my life. It has to do with multiples. Most of my work involves teaching groups of 12 or more little rascals otherwise known as students. It got me thinking. Where have I seen such hijinx and mayhem before....? hmmmmmm...?



GREMLINS!

Hahahahahahaha. That makes me laugh. Seriously though - I would much rather deal with homicidal little green slimey frog-like creatures, than Gremlins, sometimes. (catch that?)



They just sit there...waiting...until you turn your back. Than wam! The worst part is they think it's funny to constantly hit the big tall dude in the back of the legs. Grrrr. I usually just pick them up and hold them upside down until they say sorry. But all they do is laugh. Then because they like being picked up and twirled so much, they do naughty things on purpose! I need to be more mean...

Roots is Bling-Bling in HK

$480HKD for a Roots hoodie?!?!?! You gotta be kidding me. These things used to be like $20 in Canada. Maybe they are a bit more now, but I'm pretty sure they're not $70 CDN. If they are, Roots you have sold your soul. Still can't believe I actually saw this here, and it wasn't just the hoodie, there is an entire Roots store in TST. This is surprising for HK, seeings how Roots isn't exactly high fashion, and it is rarely hoodie weather. It did dip down to about 18 degrees for a couple days, brrrrrrr.

Food Fun

TOP 10 THINGS not to be eaten with chopsticks:

1. pizza
2. uncut meat on the bone
3. whole oranges (I don't know how they do it)
4. soup (spoonsticks?)
5. cheeseburgers
6. non-sticky rice
7. salad (it's too damned slippery)
8. spaghetti (see above)
9. steak (it's designed to be eaten with a big knife!)
10. french fries

Yes, some people eat all the above with chopsticks sometimes. It's just zany. Some I can see being easier than others, but not for me. Also plastic chopsticks are absolutely terrible. And they aren't even traditional, so I need not worry about offending anyone. I'm getting better, but I still prefer the good ol' knife and fork. It's miles easier. If someone who has been using c-sticks their whole life picked up a k and f, they'd have a heck of a lot better go at it than someone who had grown up with k and f trying to use c-sticks for the first time.

Today's recommendation: Knife and fork (go eat a big-ass Canada steak for me (the ones here are tiny))

A TST Story

Today Mai and I went to TST, aka Tsim Sha Tsui. TST is probably one of the busiest and most well known tourist areas in Hong Kong. It is actually on the Kowloon side of HK, right across from Central/Wan Chai on HKIsland. This would make it North-West of where I live. Anyway enough of that mumbo-jumbo.

The trip started off not so well with Mai getting mad at me for not making her toast for breakfast. She gradually got cheerier as she played with her creepydoll and got ready to go. We took the express bus to the Wan Chai ferry-pier where, guess what?!, I embarked on my first ever ferry ride in Hong Kong! It has been 3 months since I've been here, but being the slowest means of transport, I really hadn't ever felt the urge to take a ferry during my work hours, and usually we just take the subway across the harbour. Well today was a nice hazy lazy Sunday, so we took the Star Ferry. It's like 100 years old (not the boat) but the company, and it's the cheapest means of getting across, only $2.2 (about 30 cents CDN). The ride only takes about 5 minutes, but you do have to wait longer than anything else. Mai and I got a window seat, and I attempted to take some photos out the window, but a combination of hazyness and dirty window made for not the ideal situation (good excuse mr photo).

Upon docking in TST, I noticed a very large Swedish vessel parked down the seaside. Turns out it was a Swedish replica of some really old boat. It was pretty cool, but there was a gazzillion people around it so I didn't ask Mai to go for a closer look, as it was shopping time. We went inside the Ocean Terminal, which is a really long mall for Hong Kong (most malls are tall and thing) with lots of little stores almost like a market, but with local and international brands etc. According to Mai's site it's a big department store. Mai bought some tough girl boots, I got a present for her sister, and we also did some wandering and looking. We went to a greasy burger joint in the food court, mmmmm.

From there we went to Nathan Road, which is possibly the best place to be called 'Boss' by at least 20 Indians (what? they're from India) all saying they can get you a suit or a leather jacket for HKD$100. Ya right, high quality I bet. Still it's kind of fun somewhat like the markets in Mexico I remember. Just ignore them and yur fine. We walked down Nathan Road a bit more, then turned to the MTR to go to Mongkok. Why Mongkok again? Because it is possibly the best place ever to shop for everything and anything. My quest, to find a smaller camera bag. Why? Because the luggage I drag around weighs a good tonne loaded up. I need something smaller for just my camera and the basic lens (I say basic because the new lens I'm buying makes the one I have look like garbage). We wandered into Man Shing Photo Supplies. In my search on the net, this was one of the most respected and well known places for giving good deals and not ripping you off with fake shite or grey market stuff. I ended up going with the Lowepro Toploader 65AW. A very nice pro bag, made for SLR's that a slightly large with an average lens. With the new telephoto I'm getting it won't fit, but that's what I have the above mentioned suitcase for.

I got my Camera bag. Woohoo. Something's missing? Yes of course, I'm shopping with Mai and she hasn't bought anything yet in Mongkok (rather I haven't bought her anything yet). The following would make my past associates at Saneal Cameras laugh, but I enjoyed it.

Mai has been asking/bugging/reminding me of this Blythe doll she really wants. And it just so happens it is Christmas soon. I had pretty much made up my mind that I would probably get it for her. We both went into this mallish building that had lots of doll/toy/generally cool stuff, which she goes to weekly now apparantly with her new obession. The doll she wanted was $1500! I bit much for a doll, but not to crazy in terms of how much I was willing to spend on her xmas gift. But I wasn't gonna buy it today for that price. A few stores later, we saw the same doll for quite a bit less. Wow a lot cheaper, must be a good deal. Mai looked at it, and was sure it was real, and looked like she wanted to take it home. I took a business card from the store, and was pretty sure I'd come back and get it for her. Well as we were walking out he sorta convinced me to get it today, in case they sold out which was a good chance as there were only 2 left and it's busy as hell in Mongkok all the time, not to mention XMAS. So I got some money, and said OK, I'll get it today. What's that's you ask? She knows what she's getting for Xmas? Ya it's kind of spoiling the fun, but she doesn't mind, and now I know she'll like it. Here comes the fun part.

Mai had told me she saw the same doll on the Japanese website for $700HKD. Sooooo, I went in with the intention of not payin more than $900 for it. At first I was nice, I told the sales dude that we had seen it a lot cheaper, and would they go any lower.

"Fixed Price" he said.

Pfffffff, nothing is fixed price in China, I thought to myself, and it's not like it's a diamond. So I got a little bit more assertive. I offered him $900, which he kindof laughed at. I said "why not? It's $700 in Japan, there's no way you pad anything close to $999, why not?"

"Fixed Price"

Hmmmm, this guy wasn't budging. I pulled $950 out of my wallet and said here, here's my money give me the doll.

"Sorry, $999"

Man, this guy sucks. I argued with him a bit more, asked if the owner was around, called them bad sales people etc. etc. Had a little more fun.

"Fixed price."

BAHHHHHHHH! Oh well, I paid it, but not without a fight. Now I'm all done shopping, no more spending money. I enjoyed my little "talk" with Mr Tightwallet, and it reminded me of my days as a sales associate at the camera shop in Calgary. It's all about the B.S. hahaha.

23 days early! Wooootie woo woo

Best thing ever = Finishing Christmas shopping almost 1 month in advance. I'm all done! Wooohoo yeahhahah! It feels good. Now all I have to do is fork over the bag of money to ship it to Winnipeg. I need to find a new box to put all my gifts in, which I'm hoping will not be too hard (soon to be famous last words).

Mai and I went to some pretty cool shops today. I wanted to get my family some 'authentic' Chinese stuff (at least authentic looking), you know, things they don't have in the 'Peg. I think I managed well, we even checked out the world's longest escalator. It wasn't quite what I thought it would be, it's actually sections that are all called one, so it's not all one piece. Speaking of escalators, most malls here have wildy amusing ways of getting people up the floors. Check out the photoblog to have a look at some pics from Millenium City 5 APM mall. It's a 7 floor shopping mall with many cool stores.

Tomorrow Mai and I are off to a "photoshoot." I'd try to be serious about it, but we're going to take pictures of her new obsession, creepy dolls. mwaahahaha. We'll be going to TST, the famous tourist area Tsim Sai Tsui? and we're gonna take the ferry across the harbour, which I have not done yet!

Anyway, merry merry shopping is done Christmas!

2 cool fur Skool

I'm such a good teacher, so amazing in fact, such and awe inspiring native speaker of English - that I've been told I'm too nice.

Screw You!

If the kids happen to find me more fun and enjoy things with me more than their regular teacher, maaaybe it's because their normal teachers are mean and nasty and terrible. Ya sure, maybe we spend more time laughing than being productive, but if I can put a smile on a kids face within their regularly miserable days sometimes, so be it. Yes most of the time their other teachers are nice (sort of) but some of the things they get upset about and yell about are rediculous. What's even worse, if when I'm teaching a lesson and the other teachers come in and discipline the kids for doing stuff I could care less about if they did. In my class! Who's the teacher? I am! For the most part, the kids find me so intriguing they pay attention to some extent. I really don't see the point of me being 'meaner' to them. They all think I'm a big clown anyway. The schools have basically asked me to act like a big dumb clown and do nothing but play games and talk like a 2 year old, so why the sudden change in tone. I'm too nice?!?!? Shove it...