I ate...something...

So I can identify some of things in my dinner tonight-

Winter melon (only known because it was on the menu)

Tea (of an unknown variety)

Rice (obvious and easy to ID)

Chicken (according to the menu)

'dried seafood' (all I know for specifics is that several pieces definitely contained tentacles....)

Dinner, cooked and served IN other foods, awesome

All in all not too bad, though I didn't think it would keep well as leftovers, oh well.

Meet the Parents

That's right, it was the dreaded first meeting with the parents today at school. My co-teacher and I spoke to all the parents of our new classroom children and gave them a short seminar on the area of practical life. I think it went well. While the returning students from last year, and any new student who is 4 or older, will be beginning tomorrow we will have a few days for these new parents to take in all the information we gave them. The rest of the day was spent putting the final preparations on our room so it all ready for the older children to come in tomorrow morning. It's going to be a busy day.

Classroom ready for the children

Special dessert before the first day of school!

The Cutting Board: My New Best Friend

Yes, you did read the title right. My large cutting board (recently reunited with me in Hong Kong) is my new favorite thing in the apartment. After all, it does everything!

Need extra counter space? The cutting board fills in those gaps!

No room/money/time for an ironing board? Use this handy substitute!

Now come on, add that to the fact that is also (gasp) functions as a cutting board, and I think this might have to start traveling in my carry on. Oh, and it makes a nice surface for your poor, ancient, overheating laptop that doesn't have a permanent location in your tiny apartment.

That was the most exciting part of my day since work consisted of being inside setting up and doing paperwork. So instead enjoy some outdoor photos of my weekend trip to Aberdeen and Stanley on the south side of Hong Kong.

Sitting area near the harbor of Aberdeen, a copy of the old Junk boats

Old style fishing boats in Aberdeen

Statue of a fisherman on the harbor promenade

Even the trees get limited space in Hong Kong

Promenade in Stanley on the south side of the island (wish I could afford to live here!)

Montessori Monday

So I did want this blog to be not just about my doings in Hong Kong, but also to add some Montessori philosophy into it. I'm also hoping it will help me learn how to explain the Method in a concise way that people who know nothing about it can understand. So I'm going to try to every Monday have a post about a different Montessori material and how it plays an important part in the curriculum.

Maria Montessori with children

But since today is the first post let's do a quick overview of the Montessori curriculum. Maria Montessori began the first Montessori class in 1907 in the slums of Italy. The owners of a building for low income families initially hired her to keep the children who were not old enough for school occupied while their parents were at work so they did not damage the building. Dr. Montessori began this school with only a few materials originally designed for children with special needs, and some practical activities such as hand washing and sweeping. The children in this setting flourished and their behavior so impressed visitors that new schools following the same method were opened and the scenario repeated with children from different backgrounds. Over the years Maria Montessori developed materials for teaching reading, writing and math due to the prompting of parents. She found that not only could children do these higher level academics when given the right materials, but that they enjoyed mastering them as well. As the years progresses Dr. Montessori expanded her teachings to children of school age, and then for children from birth to three.

100 years later the Montessori method is still in use and succeeding with children around the globe. Some schools follow the philosophy as laid out while others have adopted new ideas as the years have progressed. The Association Montessori Internationale is the body which helps monitor schools for their adherence to the original Montessori method. Unfortunately the term 'Montessori' is in the public domain and many schools which claim to follow the philosophy do not. Today many research studies about child development are finding that the ideas developed by Dr. Montessori in the 1900's have a scientific base.

In the children's house, which covers children from 3 to 6 years of age, there are four main areas of the classroom: practical life, sensorial, language and math. Practical life encompasses those simple, everyday activities that we do to maintain and beautify our environment and selves. Activities like buttoning, dusting, caring for plants or preparing food may all be part of the practical life curriculum. The sensorial materials are specifically designed to isolate one quality of the world such as color, smell or weight, and give it a physical form. These materials are not designed to teach the children that objects have different properties (such as roughness or smoothness) but to help them classify and name these qualities. The area of language in Montessori covers both oral and written language (which is both writing and reading). Much of the language material is given after the child has had experience in practical life and sensorial as these activities indirectly prepare the child for writing and reading. The math materials are designed to give children physical objects that they can manipulate when working with numbers. Montessori found that even very young children could do arithmetic with numbers into the thousands if given the right material.

Beyond the materials the Montessori classroom emphasizes the building of community. Children are given a chance to practices the lessons of grace and courtesy, which include things such as blowing your nose, and greeting visitors. The children are encouraged to collaborate and help one another, a system that is greatly enhanced by the mix of ages in the classroom. The youngest students are shown the culture of the classroom by the older ones, and in turn help them practice leadership skills. Montessori focuses on the whole of the child's development, not simply the academic skills.

Local Tour

So Hong Kong may be in that warm tropical place of the world, but I have to say that I've seen very little of the sun since I got here, this picture is much more typical:

Gray day in South Horizons

I'm sure it's partially the season, right now is the time for typhoons, and probably it's all in the best for me since I'd be dying even more from the heat if it was not only this hot but sunny as well. Now don't get me wrong, the sun has come out on occasions, such as this time (can you see the little itty bit of blue sky?):

Appreciating HK island from the Kowloon side

This was during a wonderful tour given to me by a local couple who knows some friends of mine back home (thank you Kalia!). They not only gave me great instructions on where to meet them (so helpful when you're new to the area) but took me out for a my first dim sum, took me on the Star Ferry, did a littlewalking tour of the Kowloon area, and helped hook me up with a cheap phone. It was a so nice to have a couple of tour guides who had spent so much time in the area. Now I'm all set up with not only a phone, but some great hiking areas to explore when it gets cooler!

Happy travels of your own!

Small shrine/offerings at the Bus stations garage

Finding my feet

Well between getting on the correct bus to both get to  school and back home, as well as finding my way back to school after lunch,  I think I'm getting in to the swing of things a bit. I was also introduced to an actual grocery store near school so I now have *gasp* two options that offer foods I can easily identify. Between that and knowing that I'm near my apartment without having to stand right in front of it is making me feel a lot better.

My classroom before set-up)

I have been spending the last two days of work setting up my classroom, with yesterday being the major part of moving furniture around. I think though that I have the classroom designed in a way that will allow the children to have plenty of space to work at both the floor and tables, without simply having all the shelves shoved up against the walls. That to make just leads to a mass of children in a large area moving around and distracting each other. I will have to see how it works though because I know that it is going to be crowded. I have 25 children in my classroom and I know for a fact that in the US there would not be enough space to get this room licensed for that number. Welcome to crowded Hong Kong.

Unfortunately the other adult in my classroom does not start work until Monday so I am limited in how much setting up I can do. She is also Montessori trained and has just finished her training is well. I'm not sure how this will work in the classroom though. In a Montessori environment there is usually one trained teacher, and one assistant. The assistant can be Montessori trained but usually is not. Only the teacher actually presents the materials to the children, and the assistant can then assist them if they struggle when taking it out again later. A Montessori classroom ideally does not have two different adults giving presentations because we want the adult to be a limited resource, encouraging the children to ask each other for help or to solve the problem on their own. When I was hired for this job I was told that this environment would be slightly different because of the emphasis on learning Mandarin as well. Obviously I do not know Mandarin well enough to teach it to someone else so those lessons were to be done by the Mandarin speaking teachers.

So before I get too involved in setting up the classroom I need to find out how the classrooms duties will be divided up so my co-teacher and I can both access the materials we need. Guess I'll just have to work on my patience until then.

Waiting, waiting, waiting (on the escalator)

Transportation

Note: Due to technical difficulties this post is late, please pretend that it is Wednesday when reading.

Lesson of the day: Buses in Hong Kong do not travel in a continuous circle. If you accidentally get on a bus going the opposite direction of your destination you cannot just ride it for an extra long time until it goes around again. Instead you will take it all the way to the terminus, find an english speaking attendant to point you to the right bus, and then arrive 20 minutes late for work even though you planned to be there 1/2 hour early. If you are lucky your co-workers and boss will be slightly amused and insist on reminding you what bus number to take the next day and even allow you to go home early to make sure you can get home in good time. Ok, so it wasn't all bad!

For my future reference....

And So It Begins

Ok, I apologize for not posting yesterday, but admit it, you really did not want to read about orientation. If you've ever started a new job (or several more likely) you know the drill; a lot of talking followed by a whole lot more talking. So enjoy a little photo summary of the highlight of my day today (homemade dinner!)

I did officially find out though that I will actually begin teaching a class starting in September in a campus on the south side of the island so that was exciting, including seeing my classroom for the first time. It's small but really, what else did you expect in Hong Kong?

Little 'park' area on the roadside, there was also a nice fountain with benches behind me.

Challenges of cooking in Hong Kong

Homemade Pad Thai (ok, sorta)

Up, Down and All Around

Another day of wandering the streets of Hong Kong, and boy are they hot! I've gotta start remembering to bring an extra water bottle because this is sure a far cry from Minnesota weather. Well come on and take a second tour with me-

Welcome to my street

 So pretty much everywhere I have walked thus far (with the exception of the Mid-levels area on the hillside) has been made of building crammed side by side with this little, tiny shops towered over by housing. That's right, most of windows you can see seem to belong to housing after the first 3 levels or so, it's crazy! Some of the stores are only a few feet wide!

Construction everywhere and what are they using to work on the skycrapers?
Why bamboo poles of course, who needs steel?

Seriously there is construction on every block I think, I'm not quite sure what they're doing, but there are bamboo working platforms everywhere. It's all nicely marked, including signs for pedestrians detours, though adding this to only being allowed to cross major streets in only certain places definitely made for a few extra detours on my part.

View across the harbor to Kowloon (which is part of Hong Kong)

 Ah a harbor, reminds me of home...including that stagnant water and fishy smell....Oh well. I'm not sure if there is a pretty part of the harbor for walking, but I don't think this was it. There was a lot of construction where I was and it was a really foggy day but it just didn't strike me as a destination. There were some cool statues though, one for Hong Kong's reunification with China and another gold colored one everyone was taking pictures of, though I didn't get a chance to see what it was actually for. Oh well, I"ll have plenty of time to go back.

You find the strangest things when wandering without a destination...

Storm water drain (this one's for you Dad!)

Where do you go when you don't know any of the local life?
Why the zoo of course! Then it's all nicely labeled :D

 Best part of the zoo and gardens- They're free!! I like free activities. As far as zoos and plant gardens go I wasn't horribly impressed, but on the other hand I was also extremely hot and tired from walking and getting low on water, go figure. I think I"ll have to take a trip back, using the bus this time!

The narrow walkway on Kennedy Road

Welcome to my kitchen

So that was my morning, by the time I got to making dinner in that last picture I couldn't believe my cross-town hike had been the same day. I had to come back and take a siesta in the AC for the afternoon to cool off, then went and explored a few local shops in the PM. I am  now the proud owner of a reading lamp, local cell phone, and some groceries. So now if worse comes to worse I can make myself a pb&j to call home, though I think the first day of work will keep me plenty busy. I hope they have AC!

First Impressions

Welcome to Hong Kong!

Victoria Gardens

All sorts of new trees and animals to learn (though there are still pigeons!)

Spiky tree

Library! 

Happy Valley Racecourse

Local Cemetery, only slightly packed full

Display at Times Square HK (bonus points if you can name that character!)

So after not falling asleep until about 2 am local time, I was still up and about, ready to explore by like 6 am. Man, flying on planes messes with your sleep schedule. I killed some time re-arranging my box of a bedroom (I believe my parent's fifth wheel trailing is bigger) got some local money from the bank and set off exploring.

First stop Victoria park, a lovely patch of green space only 3 blocks or so from my apartment. I was really surprised with how quiet it was walking around. Granted the day was really overcast but it was still saturday and I expected more people walking around. HK has a lot of fences along their streets sot hat pedestrians can only cross at designated intersections and these were the only time I felt crowded at all really.

Anyway I wandered around, just taking it all in. Found my way to school for Monday and then set off in search of food. I wasn't very adventurous for lunch (turkey sandwich) but in my defense I had enough weird plane food and no real breakfast. Lucky for me, anyone I actually needed to talk to spoke English, and only one guy at the bank had an accent I had trouble understanding. Strangely enough though, whenever I hear someone talking Cantonese of Mandarin (can't tell the difference right now) I have this really strong desire to respond in Spanish. I dunno what it is, other than just recognizing that the language is not English so I know I can't respond in English. Though I don't think Spanish would be of any more help!

Then I got lost. So lost in fact that I ended up inland at the Happy Valley Racecourse (picture above) when I thought I was headed back towards the harbor. Oops. Ok, so it's just a little harder to navigate when there are buildings EVERYWHERE and the sun isn't out. Guess I'll need to work on my orientation a little bit more....

Up, Up and Way Far Away

First off, few things feel less satisfying than a one hour flight to begin a journey. You go through the entire hassel of checking your bags and going through security, then you gotta sit and wait. Then you sit and wait in the terminal. Then you sit and wait on the plane. Then you finally take off and wait until you can turn electronics back on because your paper book is in the carry on that wouldn't fit in the overhead bin and got checked instead. But all too soon that time is over so you turn off the electronics and wait to land. Then there's waiting through the long taxi to the terminal.

And all of this waiting for what? For a 5 hour wait for the next flight! Ok, so this part was just particular to me, but the whole one hour flight was still annoying. It certainly did not make me look forward to repeating the process twice more in the process of getting to HK. My advice? Remember to keep the physical book accessible.

On a lighter note the food was ok, and United Airlines will defintely not let you starve when you fly across the ocean with them. I haven't really thought too long and hard about my consumerism habits until they started serving meals on my 12+ hour flight. So much garbage with everything wrapped in it's own layer of plastic and a new set of plastic silverware and condiments each time. It seemed like a far cry from bulk mango and trail mix I'd picked up before I left home.

But the most startling American thing about my flight was these:

Ok, so I have to admit that I was pretty excited when I first saw this, and they did have an excellent movie selection (basically I ran out of flight time before I ran out of movies I wanted to watch). But after 12+ hours and only 3 or 4 words out of my two seatmates I was feeling a little less keen on them. Granted I think the guy at the window didn't speak much English but every time I looked around the plane everyone was absolutely glued to their screens, even to the point of not noticing the stewardesses handing out drinks. And here I was expecting to have some interesting conversations with the people around me, silly me.

A flight change in Tokyo led to more of the same, followed by a surprising easy entrance in to Hong Kong thanks to some wonderfully clearn directions from one of my new bosses. One taxi ride, ending with help with luggage up to my new box of an apartment (more on that another day) and a quick trip to the nearest 7-11 and I finally feel like I've arrived in Hong Kong. Now it's time to explore, I'll let you know what I find!

Hello Adventure!

Tomorrow marks my flight to Hong Kong. Waking up at 4 am and spending 24+ hours either on a plane or in an airport. Flying halfway around the world to teach at a school I've never actually seen, in a city that is one of the most densely populated in the world where most of the people don't speak the same language as me. Can you say adventure?

Wish me luck, the official blog begins when I touch down and have a chance to experience some of what HK has to offer.

-Ame