CantoDreaming

Crawling towards the Future

2011-03-27T09:52:00.002-04:00

I am busy doing many things lately. Volunteer teaching. Cantonese studies. Working towards tenure at my job despite my pretty strong belief that I have a better shot of winning the Megamillions and Powerball in the same week. Still they pay me to make the effort, so I am, whether they think it is enough, well ...

So I am also job hunting. But not as a librarian, I am aiming to become a teacher. I have the degree and event though I haven't been a librarian for that long, I have worked in libraries for a very long time. I am ready to make a change. I wish I could put more time and effort into it, but I am doing the best that I can right now. The good news is that I still have a job and probably have at least a year before I need to panic. And sometime in May I will have more time to devote to the effort.

I have revised my resume and started posting it, even sent it to one school that I saw an ad for. It would be a career transition, to teaching. Right now I am focused on Hong Kong. I may broaden that at some point. I have long been ready to leave NYC but various factors have kept me here. Some of those factors, like my sweet pitbull, are gone now, others will be easier to replace.

I'd like to work at a private English Medium School with older kids, preferably high school. I still have a lot to learn about Hong Kong schools but I am learning and my preference may change in the process. That is okay, as I said I have some time.

bad blogger

2011-02-26T09:50:00.003-05:00

When I started this blog I wasn't sure what I was doing. My main thought (or was it? so long ago now) was that here I was reading X, Y, and Zs blog and it seemed unfair not to share in return. And maybe I could connect more with the bloggers I had been reading. And in the beginning, when I was more consistent, it did serve that purpose. But I think it just really isn't me judging by my inconsistency in posting once the "honeymoon" ended. Actually I am not even reading as many blogs or reading them as intently as I used to, commenting even less often. It could just be another phase in my life.

So this is in part an apology for those of you who have supported me by stopping by, reading and/or making comments. I do appreciate it. And I guess it is also an acknowledgment of what you probably have figure out, that I am not the best of bloggers. That being said I still will probably post here and there but I am letting go of that little bit of guilt I would feel every time I realized how long it has been since I last blogged.

LOL to sum up, this blog update is to update you on how little I update this blog. (Sorry I couldn't resist)

Cheung Chau--part 2

2011-01-30T10:05:00.004-05:00

Just off the boat, we started exploring the shops. My friends did a lot of shopping mainly for food items that they wanted to bring back to the US with them but we also took pictures of the items for sale.

More to come at a later date ... the pictures take forever and a day to load so I am only doing a few at a time.

Snow day reading

2011-01-27T22:03:00.003-05:00

I know everyone is waiting breathlessly for the continuation of my latest Hong Kong chronicle and I promise I will get back to it. I have been in a bit of a winter funk, which is not that unusual for me really. This winter has been unusually snowy and I have become a bit of a hermit. I used to be a non-stop reader but at some point I became a non-stop movie watcher. Now, I am, well, either I am switching back to being more of a reader or maybe I am just finding a better balance in my life. Time will tell.

My latest book is "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" which I have been sneaking peeks at over the shoulders of my fellow subway riders for what seems like the longest time now, so I decided to give it a go. And I have to say, I am a bit underwhelmed. Am I missing something? I realize it is a translation of the original. Some of the stuff just was too tedious for me, if I hadn't read a review that warned me about how the book started with that detailed analysis of financial misdeeds I probably wouldn't have lasted long. And the long passages detailing every step of a murder investigation which only served to make me sympathize with the characters needing to alternate between acquavit and coffee.

I did like the character Lisabeth, I found her refreshingly different, she is a highly functional dysfunctional woman. Meanwhile the character of Mikael was too "perfect": smart, high morals and every woman wants to sleep with him. That kind of character is not so refreshing to me, sort of every man's dream of himself. Reeks of James Bond but without the sense of humor.

I am no literary critic and wouldn't even bring this up here except I feel like I missed something here, why is this series so popular? Can anyone explain that to me? It seems like everyone has read or is reading this trilogy and I am just not sure if I want to continue it. I do want to know what happens to Lisabeth, and how she got to be so dysfunctional but I might just skip the books and watch the movies--after all how many more snow days can I possibly have this winter? (Don't answer that question!)

Cheung Chau--part 1

2011-01-20T21:07:00.003-05:00

This had to be my favorite place to visit this trip. And we chose a lovely day to go too.

House of Dancing Water

2011-01-19T20:14:00.005-05:00

Somehow a friend of a friend of probably another friend was able to get us reasonably priced tickets to see "House of Dancing Water" in Macau. It was a bit nerve wracking to fit into our schedule being that the show was at 5 and Andy Lau's concerts start at 8:30 but it was well worth it. We wouldn't have been late at all if we had had an easier time catching a taxi upon our return to Hong Kong, as it was we only missed the first 2 or 3 songs.

The show is accessible to anyone I think, the cast is a mix of most if not all cultural backgrounds and although there is a plot to the show, there are no actual words spoken. It has ballerinas, an evil step-mother, a handsome prince, a damsel in distress who just happens to be a beautiful princess ... but really, forget the plot, doesn't really matter. And forget the water, which moves very fast in every direction, one minute it is barely more than a puddle, next it is deep enough for the cast to dive into from great heights and then before you can blink twice there is no water at all it and at times it is one massive, gorgeously lit water fountain--because at least for me, it was the artistry of the physicality of everyone in the show that is the real star of the show. It was a great demonstration of strength, agility and flexibility of both men and women. And clearly no one was afraid of heights, because there were quite a few entrances from the rafters, high diving and even motorcycle stunts, which seemed out of place and then again, not somehow. Anyway, I enjoyed the show immensely.

Unfortunately for an amateur photographer for me this was a nightmare in terms of trying to get a decent picture but I did try ...

Shopping

2011-01-13T18:38:00.004-05:00

Sorry for the delay. Really had major jet lag on both ends of my trip. But it has been shorter on this end, thankfully, still it has taken more than a week. And this is just a short entry, I just wanted to start. I am going to post my pix chronologically because that is how my pix are loaded onto my computer. Some days I took almost no pix (except for concert photos) and some I took quite a few.

I don't shop, not here, not anywhere. But it seems that when in Hong Kong, one shops, even if you aren't the one buying anything.

Apparently there is an art to buying towels, its all in the fingers

Despite being fascinated by these wax apples, I never got around to tasting them

Happy belated New Year!

2011-01-06T19:27:00.003-05:00

I got back from Hong Kong late evening on Tuesday. I felt as if I had only gotten over my jet lag for a few days and then it was time to head back. I had a wonderful time. Yes, I had a lot of fun at the Andy Lau concerts, no question, but it was also fun during the day.

The concert was different than I expected, no mini-dramas this time which at first threw me but then I realized it was meant to be a journey through Andy's life in song. Having tickets to quite a few shows, one of the highlights for me were the guests. I am not just an Andy Lau fan, I am a fan of Hong Kong entertainment so I knew almost all of the guests. In 2007 when I came for those concerts, Andy had almost no guests so this made it an altogether different experience for me. My favorite guests were Anthony Wong, Sandra Ng, Sammi Cheng and George Lam. Oh, oh, yes, let's not forget the Wynners! I thought the Twins sang terribly and Leon Lai looked downright scared.

Most of the guests sang "Ming Sing" which was a great way to compare singing styles, the only ones that didn't were the Twins. Leon Lai sang it as a duet with Andy then sang one of Andy's songs as a solo. And Deannie Yip was a regular guest, I was a fan of hers before I even discovered Andy and their "mother-son" relationship. She also came out one night to sing "Ming Sing."

By day I was out and about. I didn't adhere to my plan of wandering around because I was with more people this trip. My one friend, who is a former Hong Konger who now lives in NYC, asked me before my trip where I wanted to go, that she would take me there. Not my first trip, I thought, I don't need a tour guide. But I told her a few places I wanted to go and she got the picture, I had done the tourist sites. We went to 2 of the 3 places I requested together. She was also with her father and two aunts and they are in great shape, we did a lot of walking and standing, no complaints at all and sometimes they'd go off on their own to do more things.

I was with this friend and her family most of my days and it was great for me. I certainly got a better idea of how locals get around, eat and shop in Hong Kong. I ate dim sum regularly as well as congee but I also had a variety of meals such as hotpot (pix coming soon), rice in the clay pot (which I have had in NYC but never got around to in HK) and bird's nest for dessert. I even tasted pig's blood. With other friends I went to Sai Kung for a seafood dinner, al fresco. One friend had brought her dog so we had to eat outside, which was too cold for me and a couple of others but we managed. There I finally got to try abalone.

As for shopping, we did a ton of it. Children's clothing, books, jeans, underwear ginger and all sorts of fish in Cheung Chau. We shopped at Ladies Market but also Bowring Street and Sham Shui Po.

I haven't offloaded my pix from my netbook yet. Mostly they are of the concerts but I have plenty others that folks here would be more interested in. I don't have a USB with enough space on it here at home, the ones with the most capacity are at work.

Back to Hong Kong

2010-12-12T09:47:00.003-05:00

So I am headed back to Hong Kong in a few days. My main reason is to see Andy Lau in concert again and to re-connect with the many friends I have met through my fandom with him. The first time I did this was his last concert tour in 2007-08. It was my first trip to Hong Kong and I was frantically trying to see the major sites between concerts and get-togethers with other fans. Who knew when/if I would return?

Now this is my third trip so I will be more relaxed. There are still places I have yet to see and places I want to go back to but I think I want to just wander around in my free time. Pick an area and just explore. We'll see how that goes.

Ironically, I haven't had much time to study Cantonese lately and my tutoring session on Friday proved just how quickly I can lose my vocabulary and syntax. I was so frustrated. And I probably won't get back into form before my trip. It is too bad, I had been doing really well, but I will get back into form again. If not on my trip, then afterward.

Happy Birthday Bruce Lee

2010-11-27T10:40:00.002-05:00

Bruce Lee would have been 70 years old today if he had lived.

I often wonder about the iconic people who die young, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, John, Robert and John Jr. of the Kennedy family. Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee. How would their lives have turned out if they had lived? Greater accomplishments or disgrace? Or maybe after the flame of youth and/or power flickered out they finished their lives much as the rest of us live them. Of course there is no knowing.

I think, especially in Bruce's case, we just need to be happy he lived for as long he did and was able to make an impact in such a short period of time. Long live the memory of Bruce Lee.

That Time of Year

2010-11-21T09:30:00.004-05:00

This is the time of year where I justify my existence at my job by submitting my professional portfolio. Every year I find this portfolio harder to do on an emotional level. I know I am not doing everything that is desired to get tenure so I feel somewhat inadequate when I am updating the "research agenda" prong. However, my work and service areas I think are quite satisfactory. I am running out of time, I have two years before I have to submit that last final portfolio. But here is where the emotional part comes in, I don't want to do the research agenda. I have long thought, even before I became a librarian, the tenure track resulted in a lot of crap articles written by folks for the sole purpose of putting in their portfolio, to get those "golden handcuffs." So there is a part of me that feels like a hypocrite being a part of this process. When I was applying for jobs (except for this place, where I was already working) I didn't apply to any institution that had the tenure system.

If you don't submit a portfolio, you are effectively resigning and in this economy who dares to do that without something already lined up? This job has its downsides but the benefits are excellent. I have been able to travel more these past couple of years as well as finally have some savings. That is hard to let go of, even if there is something one thinks would be more fulfilling in other ways. If I didn't submit a portfolio, I would be out of a job as of August 31st 2011, submitting my portfolio (assuming its approval) buys me another year.

But this portfolio has other benefits for me. It reminds me time is passing and if I do want to make a change in my life, I had better start making some decisions and working towards them. In some ways I have been doing that, in others not. One thing is that in this past year I have been learning more about myself as a teacher. I teach college students about the library databases at work and I am teaching Chinese immigrants English. Every time I teach it is a learning opportunity for me but the most telling thing is that even though there is always "performance anxiety" I really enjoy it.

I will continue doing my job and I will continue the research agenda I have set up for myself but it is time to stop fantasizing about the future and start doing something about it. It is time to start planning the future-switching to a teaching career, preferably in Hong Kong.

Teaching & Learning

2010-11-04T09:02:00.002-04:00

Last night was the third week of my adventures in teaching ESL in Chinatown. The students go to class on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. There are six teachers, 3 for each evening and we rotate as lead teacher. I teach on Wednesdays. I taught the class last week. I wouldn't say I did a great job, I floundered most when it came to getting them to participate, they may have known the answers but hesitated to respond. Not a unique problem for teachers in general from what I understand.

I try to be a good assistant teacher when I am not teaching, making sure the students are on the right page, checking their answers in their workbooks, I don't just sit in the back of the room until it is time for group work. My Cantonese has helped a little, last night M. spoke too softly for them and I understood them when they said they couldn't hear her, later they were saying that she was going too fast. It was M.'s first teaching experience and I thought she took the criticisms well and adapted. Afterward she was asking me about this and that, I reassured her the best that I could. I have found that even experienced teachers question themselves after a class, it seems to be endemic to the profession.

I am teaching the Beginner class but they know a certain amount of English already, they can read along in the book, most of the time their pronunciation is understandable and they seem to know much of the grammar and a fair amount of vocabulary. As soon as the teaching strays from the book however, they are lost it seems. They struggle holding a simple conversation. When we read a passage from the book and the teacher asks why did this person do this or how could he have handled that situation differently they either don't understand or can't articulate the answer in English.

I can seriously relate to my students because I too am learning a foreign language. I know a lot of Cantonese but struggle with expressing myself in the language. Even if I know all the words and know the proper syntax backwards and forwards, I have difficulty conversing casually. It is something I am working on more lately. My tutor and I are working on conversation, if I don't know a word in Cantonese I say it in English but then go right back to Cantonese. Later she teaches me the word I didn't know. She says I am doing well, I still think I speak too much in English but I do feel that I am progressing.

Another thing I am doing is drilling vocabulary and example sentences via the Anki flashcard system. I had heard about it on Sheik's forum but I didn't really understand how it worked until another Cantonese student shared his flashcard deck with me. Since then I have created two decks of my own, one is exclusive to what I have learned from my tutor and the other is a mix of things I have learned from various resources. I try to review each deck for 10 minutes a day, not necessarily all at once. Right now I am adding materials so I am spending even more time on this, depending on how much time I have. I am trying not to add just words but phrases and sentences that will reinforce grammar or syntax. However, there is no hurry to add more to my decks, the deck that was shared with me has almost 2500 cards, it will take me awhile to get through that.

Back to teaching-I do teach at my job as well. It isn't the main part of my job, but because we are continuously short staffed at my job I teach some of the bibliographic instruction classes. This is my 3rd semester doing this and I am finally feeling more confident in this role. I have gotten some nice compliments from the teaching faculty I have been working with and even had one of my colleagues ask to adapt one of my handouts for her class. She is a more experienced teacher and a very good one so that made my day. Then she told the head of the department about it and he commented about it to me, telling me to make sure I put it in my professional portfolio. That made my week.

Major Changes

2010-10-10T08:37:00.002-04:00

Tuesday was a day of announcements that could really affect the quality of my life in the near future. First was the announcement of a new dean at my job. There has been much stress revolving this issue for months, it is quite a long and even a bit sordid of a story, but next week it will just another anecdote thankfully. I liked this candidate the best when we met the 3 candidates for dean last spring and was disappointed when she got passed over the first time around. But now she is coming and I am excited. We desperately need new leadership. How she will like me and what I am doing and what I am not doing (publishing) remains to be seen. She sounds like a real go-getter so she may not relate well to someone like me who is significantly less ambitious. Time will tell.

I have had a chronic leak in my bathroom for years, often little fixes are made and it stops it or slows it for awhile but I have rarely had a leak free ceiling. In fact the ceiling fell down several years ago. The water comes down in more than one place and at times it is like it is raining in there. The amount of water coming down has filled a bucket on some days lately so the time for excuses and delays is over. But the landlord and management company have been stalling, I pay one of the cheaper rents here and so does my upstairs neighbor so we tend to get 2nd citizen treatment.

So while doing laundry that evening I approached my Super again about this leak. He told me that the landlord had successfully sold our building after it being on the market for 3 years or so. This explains the most recent stalling by the landlord, he was on his way out. Again, how does this affect me? Well, rumor is that the new landlords are very good at building maintenance. And even "good" would be great right now. I live in a fairly nice area, but to look at my building out of this context, you'd think I lived in a ghetto.

One thing my Super said was that one of the first things the new landlord mentioned was that they are planning to install security cameras, at the front door, in the elevator. We had two burglaries during the daytime just a couple of weeks ago so this is very exciting news. This has given me a positive impression of the new landlord, that he isn't just going to sit back and collect the rent like the previous one.

It is interesting to be on this end of change. I have done nothing and yet I expect big changes to happen both at work and at home. I feel like I have less battles to wage in the near future. I wonder how long that feeling will last?

Ah, better not to ask that question but to enjoy it while it lasts.

Volunteering

2010-10-08T08:40:00.003-04:00

Last year after finishing years of being in and out of school (2 masters degrees in 7 years) and losing my dog I found myself in need of doing something more meaningful than my first inclination of sitting home in front of the dvd player. A friend of mine suggested volunteering via NY Cares. I did a few projects last year, the main ones being Early Morning Reading (with grade school kids before their school day started) and English Conversation (with adults in the evenings). Both had their good points and bad points but they also left me wanting more structure, consistency and more of a connection. I wasn't so clear last year on what I wanted so it was easier to choose projects.

I have spent the past almost two months trying to decide what to do for my volunteering. Late August is when the longer term projects start organizing, more reading or maybe math with kids this time? Tutoring high school students for their SATs? I have signed up for projects, gone for the training or gone for the first day and decided it wasn't for me. The SAT project was appealing but I realized that I would be spending too much time trying to reconnect myself with math that I never learned well in the first place--how could I help someone else master it if it was still foreign for me?

Finally I went to another website that connects volunteers with organizations with needs, Idealist. There I found what I clearly had in the back of my mind but hadn't clearly articulated yet even to myself--a small organization in Chinatown that teaches English. I went for the interview/information session last week and start next week. I have great hopes for this, this organization has been teaching English for awhile, you teach in a team of 3 so there is good support for new teachers. There is prep work to do, but everyone takes turns so it shouldn't be too much of a time commitment--always a concern for me.

Actually I tried signing up with this group before, last winter in fact. But their semester ended too late, I would miss the last 3 weeks or so because of my summer trip to Hong Kong so it was bad timing. This clearly was meant to be because the last class of the semester is Dec. 15. I leave for my next trip to Hong Kong the very next day. :)

As for how satisfying an experience it is, time will tell I guess.

A West Village Institution

2010-09-28T23:09:00.003-04:00

Club Groove, the corner of MacDougal St. and West 3rd, heart of the Village in Manhattan. It has always been one of those reassuring landmarks for me. I don't know how long that mural has been there, but it has to be at least 30 years.

I was passing it recently and having my camera in my bag, got nostalgic, thinking wow, it is so great this place still exists. I remember being 18 years old and seeing this mural and marveling at it. I walked past it for years because I went to college then worked in that area, for almost two decades this sight was a part of my daily life. Ironically I have never been the club in all the years I have lived in NYC.

It is true that I am not really up on the local music scene and never really was, but at one time I had friends that were and I would follow them to various places. But I don't think we ever went here. I think I am going to have to create an "opportunity" sometime soon. Even if it isn't what I consider to be "my type" of music, I bet it will be fun, and even if it isn't I will have a story to tell.

Has anyone been there? Sometimes people come to NYC as tourists and see more than some of us locals (or in my case long-term transplant) do.

Renn Faire & the Battle of the Sexes

2010-09-25T09:31:00.006-04:00

Clearly I am not a natural blogger, it has been quite some time since my last post. Being a journal keeper (diarist?) I already write quite a bit, but most of it is too personal or too boring for public consumption. But it does seem unfair that I read so many blogs and don't respond in kind.

Instead of going to the 1st annual Chinese Film Festival in NYC (because despite being on every film list in town I didn't know about it) I went to the Renaissance Faire in Tuxedo, NY with friends. I guess the film festival was only promoted in the Chinese language press, which didn't just leave me out, left out many Chinese Americans who cannot read Chinese. But let's hope it was still a great success and there will be a 2nd annual festival next year.

I did have a good time but re-enacting the Renaissance isn't really my thing so going two years in a row wasn't a good idea in retrospect. On second thought it gave me a totally different perspective this time because instead of going to every little booth, one particular friend and I concentrated on getting good seats for the shows, last year we could barely hear or see because we arrived too late to each event.

What I found interesting about the Renn Faire how obviously they have updated the era to be more politically correct, more inclusive almost to the extreme, at least in terms of gender. Women take on just as much leadership, dancing and fighting roles as men do--and they win. Clearly more fun to watch than the reality of the time so it is understandable I guess. The comedy duo, The Washing Wenches, get a lot of laughs targeting the men in the audience. During the live Chess match, when Will Scarlett and Robin Hood are supposed to fight, Maid Marion takes Robin's place because she couldn't bear for her husband-to-be and brother to fight. Actually this was the most fun and funny fight to watch, because she used every weapon in a sister's arsenal which had nothing to do with swordplay but she also had some decent sword moves. And the final event of the day, the Joust, was to determine whether the challenger to the throne, a male, would usurp the Queen. And you can guess who won.

Every event starts with a dance

Maid Marion kicking her brother's butt

Washing Wenches and one of their "volunteers"

Down? Websites

2010-08-14T08:15:00.004-04:00

Ever since I came back from HK I have been trying to rejoin my favorite Asian online rental site ehit.com, but I can't get through. I even emailed them, thinking that there was some way around the problem--no response. After much thought I joined my second choice, cinflix.com. I don't think their site is as user friendly and their selection isn't as extensive. Both sites have a special plan for tv series rental, which I don't want to do because my focus is on films. But I do like to watch the occasional tv series. This is where cinflix is the better choice because there are some tv series that you can rent without being on the special plan. Right now I am midway thru an old Stephen Chow, Alex Man and Theresa Mo series.

Another site I have been missing is Monkeypeaches.com. It hasn't been updated since May. I have long relied on that for info on upcoming Chinese and Hong Kong films. I can't help wonder what happened, anyone know? I hope it is nothing serious. I can't help but think of another site I used to follow, HK Entertainment, where the webmaster got seriously ill. He has recovered but the site is forever gone it seems. There are blogs that fill in most of the gap of information but still, I like how MonkeyPeaches was presented and do miss it.

I am off for the week to see my family, the last of my vacation. I haven't been there since December so it has been awhile. Yep, I am going to have to be in suspense on the rest of the tv series until I come back.

Doing the Catwalk

2010-08-08T17:11:00.004-04:00

I remember when I first was made aware of Alexander McQueen--it was when I read of his suicide. That is how out of touch I am with the fashion world. No one has ever accused me of being a fashionista. However when I heard of this public art display created by top fashion designers along Broadway, I was intrigued.

Here are a few, as you can see, the designers had to use different materials than they would in an indoor environment and some of them really took this to heart.

Don't ask me which designer did what, most of the names I didn't recognize. Although even a non-fashionista like me could pick out the Tommy Hilfiger and the Betsey Johnson, can you?

Back in the USA

2010-07-03T00:36:00.002-04:00

Just a quick update to say I am back home. I practically didn't recognize my apartment, it seemed so ridiculously huge after that tiny room. LOL

I am trying to catch up on mail, sleep, laundry--not necessarily in that order. Will post more on my Hong Kong trip later.

Spiritual Rain

2010-06-28T10:30:00.007-04:00

I am a self-professed weather wimp. I never liked rain unless I was inside, warm and dry preferable with a good book to read or a new dvd to watch. But sometimes that isn't possible and one has to dig a little deeper.

So it has been raining here. At first this was a welcome change to the heat and humidity but what to do in it? I was hoping to go to some of the outlying islands, but, oh, well. I recall my sister's graduation gift to me way back when, we went to Martha's Vineyard for a long weekend. It rained, and I mean pouring rain, from the moment we arrived until just hours before we left. We made the best of it and that is what I am doing here. In fact, we had a really nice time.

Back to Hong Kong, my options? Explore unexplored shopping malls (really pointless for the non-shopper), go to museums--finally got to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum on Sunday. But dodging the rain is already feeling old, so today I decided to go to Chi Lin Nunnery and Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple. I would have preferred to walk between the two but this wasn't the day.

I was surprised at not only how many people were at the temple but that it was just as many worshippers as tourists. Kneeling on plastic bags, praying under umbrellas, some with their barely lit incense sticks their devotion was impressive to me--one who was brought up to kneel on a padded bench in a usually comfortably dry and temperature controlled church.

As you can see from the pix, the surroundings at both locations where not diminished by the rain, in fact it felt like a more spiritual experience somehow. Despite this spiritual connection with the rain today, I am looking forward to it clearing up enough for me to at least go to Lamma Island before I leave on friday morning.

Ding Ding!

2010-06-25T10:09:00.003-04:00

From my fav spot on the tram (Kennedy Town)

Central

Democracy in action (Central)

North Point market

A great way to see some parts of Hong Kong at a leisurely speed is the tram or the Ding! Ding! I spent a whole afternoon going from Wan Chai to North Point, North Point to Kennedy Town and finishing up at Western Market. I would have continued but my bladder had other ideas. The tram isn't air conditioned but there was an enjoyable breeze.

Today was my last class. I am officially at the Intermediate level. Which stills seems like I know so little but it is progress.

This week I hope to get to the New Territories and a couple of the outlying islands to escape the heat of the city and just basically relax. Instead of counting weeks, it seems like all of a sudden I am down to counting days, I leave early in the morning on the 2nd. So only 6 days left in Hong Kong.

Hot Sunday

2010-06-21T10:39:00.005-04:00

Okay, not my wisest move to go to the Hong Kong Zoo and Botantical Garden on the hottest day I have been here thus far. But in my defense, it was my friend's idea. Yeah, bad defense.

Later, we went to see what Cat St was (a shopping street with all sorts of souvenirs) and Man Mo Temple.

That was enough heat for me for the day. My friend was headed to Ladies Market for shopping, I passed on that to go cool down.

Random Observations

2010-06-19T09:33:00.004-04:00

A close up of Bank of China (I can't decide whether to feel sorry for those window washers or not, scary job but clearly plenty of work)

It's me at Madame Tussaud's ;)

Hong Kong Park

Times Square -- can you see Buzz Lightyear? Lots of promo for the new Toy Story film in this mega shopping centre

The third most expensive street in the world, Russell St.

You never know when you are going to come across a lion dance ... this happens to be in WanChai between Lockhardt Rd and Hennessy

Still here

2010-06-16T11:40:00.003-04:00

Construction Hong Kong style

Bonham Road walk, maybe Caine Road at this point?

Bonham Road, this is what I consider colonial architecture

@Museum of the History of Hong Kong

@Museum of the History of Hong Kong

Sorry, I haven't been posting. No excuse, busy, yes, but ... whatever.

I had a busy weekend with my fellow Andy Lau fans, there were two events this weekend. Several of them were here just for the weekend and besides the events, they had shopping to do. I am not much of a shopper. I got a lesson in how efficient, experienced shoppers get around Hong Kong. We went from Megabox, to Mongkok, to Tsim Sha Tsui by taxi so that we could speed up the process. We were looking for packaged foods, dvds, designer bags and sweets. In a few hours they had big bags full and were quite pleased with themselves.

Back on my own I went to the History of Hong Kong Museum, thanks for the recommendation. And I took a walk my Fodor's book suggested in order to see Colonial architecture. One takes the bus to Hong Kong University and walks downhill to Western Market. It was an interesting walk, definitely, some of it I had seen before, but either I don't really know what Colonial architecture is or my book is out of date.

Today I tried to go to Aberdeen and ended up in Stanley. I had been debating which place to go see the dragon boat races and decided on Aberdeen since I had just been to Stanley. But I missed my stop and the next stop was too far and too difficult looking of a walk to go back. And that would have been the better place to be it seems because there were colorful boats in the water and a huge crowd. Even the locals were craning their necks as we drove by.

Stanley was fun the second time around because I did it more my own way. I saw more things, even went to the beach. I bought some souvenirs for my family. I had a leisurely lunch at one of the restaurants. And I was early enough to go into the temple dedicated to Tin Hau. But the only trace of the dragon boat festival that I saw was the Sun Life folks handing out goody bags (they were sponsoring the event in Stanley). So I guess I was too late for that. Being a public holiday it was quite crowded but I didn't think much of it but as I was leaving I heard this couple behind me complaining at how ridiculously crowded it was.

Humbled by Hot Pot

2010-06-11T06:11:00.002-04:00

I have had hot pot twice before, in the US, with other friends who really don't know what they are doing. Sure we know you wait for the broth to boil, then you cook your food. But I really am not fond of hot pot because it requires too much coordination for someone who barely cooks. Here I have to cook, then eat and cook ... and I actually don't like my food to be that hot when I eat it. Even when I get pizza, half the time the guy behind the counter tells me that it isn't warm enough yet and I say it is okay because they usually warm it so much it burns my mouth.

So why? Why did I go for hot pot? Honestly I am not sure. It could be that I have been eating a variety of food, Thai, American, Italian, Indonesian, Singaporean, even vegetarian so I was feeling as though I should eat something more Cantonese. And the Cantonese do seem to love their soup.

Anyway, because I was alone they seated me at a bar facing a wall. Which was fine but I say this because I couldn't watch the other people for hints on what to do. The staff first had to explain how to order the ingredients. Even with his help I was confused when the food came, did I really order all that? The spices and sauce were lost on me since I couldn't identity what was what--several green options, yellowish option, red option--got that one--hot peppers!

But the fun part came with putting the food into and then taking it out of the pot. I was so uncoordinated that one staff person, bless her, kept coming up to help me especially after I dropped a glob of freshly cooked noodles. And she clearly felt I needed to use the sauce on some things because she did that for me too. I bet they had a good laugh when I left and I don't blame them, I found it comical and was laughing at myself throughout the experience. I think I actually did better the previous two times, I really was at my most uncoordinated last night.

In the process it was necessary to use an extra plate and an extra set of utensils, and I left a really big mess because I dropped soup and food several times. Luckily no one sat on either side of me, so no one else suffered because of me.

I did enjoy the food and the experience, despite feeling somewhat humbled by it. But I think there is plenty of other things in the Cantonese cuisine that I am better suited for.

Class days

2010-06-10T09:15:00.004-04:00

Sculpture outside the museum

Poster for Wu Guanzhong's exhibit outside the museum

Wu did a painting of Victoria Harbor and the museum has superimposed a rendition of it onto the windows facing the harbor

Two swallows - the artist says this is his most important work

One of Wu's more modern works

I am really glad that I didn't take the CUHK course. I am enjoying my class but I feel I haven't absorbed one day's lesson before I go to the next. Taking class every day is intense enough for me. And actually I know a lot of the vocabulary, so it is the structure of the language that I am working on the most. It is on one hand good, it is making me realize how much I know. But on the other hand, there is still so much vocabulary I don't know. I am trying to add to this by asking specific questions, like how do I go to the movie theater, ask for a ticket, pick my seat, etc.

One of my big problems is constructing sentences. I was advised by a fellow blogger to work with patterns so I am trying to apply that to the individual sentences they are giving me in class and within the dialogues in the text. The more I absorb the patterns, the easier it will be for me to think in Cantonese I am told.

My class is in the middle of the day which I find awkward. II am doing my best to work around it. I take my time going and coming, trying to take various routes so as to take the Star Ferry (my favorite form of transportation). I had an early lunch with a fellow blogger and new friend on tuesday, wednesday I went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art afterwards and today I went to the Hong Kong Space Museum today.

Am I speaking Cantonese? Well, my record is spotty I admit. It is really too damn easy to speak English here. So it depends on my mood or my level of confidence which can vary immensely in a short space of time. In one restaurant I might order in Cantonese and in the next in English. Yes, they speak to me in English most of the time, but if I am feeling confident I just continue in Cantonese.

The space museum was interesting because it was a different perspective of the history of space exploration--in other words, not American-centric like one would get in the U.S. The only point I quibbled with was one of the first things I read, it was about how the Romans based their gods on the heavens and mentioned the goddess of the moon and yet didn't mention her name? How hard it is it to say her name was Diana? HMM? But since the Romans acquired (or stole, depending on your perspective) their gods and goddesses via the Greeks and the Greeks got no mention at all, I guess I need to let the Diana "dis" slide.

The Museum of Art has some really cool stuff. The contemporary art display had a variety of types of art, sculpture, painting, video. There was one video which is an elevator door opening and closing, each time you see different people in the elevator. No one gets on or off, you just see these people reacting or not reacting to the door opening. The pottery was beautiful, I had no idea there were so many different styles. I especially liked the Wu Guanzhong exhibit, he seems to have found a Chinese way to do modern art. I can't exactly explain it but it feels a bit like Hong Kong to me, a blending of East and West.

If you are interested I will tell you about my humbling experience in a hot pot restaurant next time.

Great Weekend

2010-06-06T21:38:00.004-04:00

Saturday I met up with another blogger now friend. We had a lovely brunch in the Mid-Levels at The Phoenix then went gallery hopping and saw some really cool art. I used to gallery hop in NY, although the art might be just as interesting, the snobbery of the scene itself can take the fun out of it. Here I felt appreciated for stopping in.

The Mid-levels escalator or "travelator" was fun to ride. I wanted to do my Faye Wong imitation at one point but restrained myself. This is such a hilly area, I wonder how someone with a disability would function here.

Since we were in Central at the end of our urban hike :) I went to Marks and Spencers to see if there were clothes there that would fit me. I saw some nice stuff and at prices that I would be comfortable with but after trying a few things on--well, I am just out of range, but closer than I had expected so I am encouraged by this. If I moved here, this would be important to know.

In the evening, I headed to Monkok to see Fa Yuen Street and Tung Choi (Goldfish) Street. I kind of felt sorry for those fish who were in those plastic bags. But then again, when I had goldfish as a child, was the fishbowl any bigger? Probably not.

Sunday I went to Tai O with the friend I was with last sunday. She must have been tired or in a bad mood because she wasn't much fun to be with. But Tai O is beautiful. The first thing we did was take the boat ride to see the houses on stilts and then the pink dolphins. But the pink dolphins were not in a cooperative mood because we didn't see any.

They have a little museum there of clothes, fishing nets, tools, really quite interesting. And then there is the town, which had all sorts of food, especially fish for sale--fresh or dried. We didn't go outside the village, so I didn't see much of the countryside there. Maybe another time.

After dinner at Sweet Dynasty we said goodbye and I went off on my own to the Symphony of Lights and walk the waterfront. It was a beautiful night, with a slight breeze. I couldn't pass up the cuttlefish vendor without trying it out. I was surprised there weren't more vendors there and very glad too, I was really able to just enjoy the nice weather and the waterfront. Unfortunately my camera (or is it me?) doesn't take night photos well. I actually thought the photos I took with the proper setting "night scenery" came out worse.

21st Anniversary

2010-06-04T11:28:00.004-04:00

Another blogger told me about this anniversary demonstration of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. I got there early and before I even got to Victoria Park, there were people commemorating the day. At the park, more protestors with t-shirts for sale or just soliciting funds as well informational booths on the way to the main event, the roped off area with a stage. Maybe I was too tired by that point, I am still dealing with some residual jetlag but all of a sudden I felt like I was intruding, like I was at a family funeral of a mere acquaintance. I could also feel the emotion and the unity--it brought back memories of the days when I was more active politically.

The crowd was growing bigger and bigger and I was swimming against the current trying to leave, I wasn't the only one, but we were definitely the minority. But I managed to push my way thru the crowd and head out. It wasn't even dark yet so the main event, the candlelight vigil hadn't started. Even at the MTR station, I could see more and more people were still coming. I was already impressed, and even though I didn't stay, I am glad to have been there to see it for myself.

June 3

2010-06-03T12:35:00.002-04:00

Subways are either sandwiches or trains that go underground in NYC but here they are a safe way to get across the road. Since almost daily I endanger my life by not looking in the right direction as I am trying to cross the street I really appreciate these subways.

Market at Yau Ma Tei. I think I recognize about 10% of the food that they sell. I have lived a sheltered life :)

Temple Street. If was really daring I would have taken a picture of one of the fortune tellers who line a nearby street (anyone remember the name?) but I decided it was unwise, just in case ...

Funny, cool looking and heartwarming. Not bad for what is technically a cast of mostly "has beens."

Hotel issues and Wan Chai

2010-06-01T19:44:00.004-04:00

Every day there is something to resolve with my hotel and it is getting tiresome, I hope it ends soon. In the first room the fridge at first didn't work, then froze everyhing. The toilet wouldn't flush at first either. The bill was wrong and had to be recalculated. The move from one room to another. In the new room the tv reception was bad. They gave me a different tv, that tv blew a fuse or something--smoke came out of it and it no longer works. The tiny space has become the smallest issue. Actually I like this room better than the other even though it is smaller, it seems to be a better setup. Let's hope the tv is fixed today and that is it, no more hotel issues. What I have saved in dollars I feel that I am spending in effort. Something to keep in mind for the next trip.

Yesterday I went to Wan Chai via the Star Ferry. So far I have taken the airport bus, MTR, double decker bus, minibus and now the ferry--I love the variety of options one has here. First I went to Golden Bauhinia Square to see the big golden flower and the reunification monument. Then I was going to explore the area near my school but of course went the wrong way. Luckily figured it out in time to not only make it to class on time but to have lunch beforehand at a Thai restaurant.

Class was good. I feel familiar with much of the lesson that they gave, but I don't know it well so it seems like a good enough starting point. The only other student in the class is a chatty young American guy is fairly well established there.

After class it was raining and I had neglected to carry my umbrella. The covered walkways saved me! I wandered along them for awhile, checking out the shops and restaurants, even bought some books. The books are wrapped in plastic to protect them from humidity. I had wondered about this, thinking that it was very unlike Barnes and Nobles' philosphy of allowing people to browse but Dymocks kindly had a sign to explain the reason.

In the evening I met with a fellow blogger who has been great about giving me advice on how best to learn Cantonese. It is great advice but I can only apply it so far because I don't have the same access to native speakers as he has with his wife, but there is still plenty of his advice that I can apply. He made me realize that I have been haphazard about my language studies thus far. In fairness, I was working full time and doing a masters degree for a good portion of the time I have been learning Cantonese. Also it has more of a hobby for me than anything else. So I have no Cantonese learning goals. Right now I am okay with that. However if I do decide to move here that might change.

Fangirls and Stanley

2010-05-31T05:17:00.006-04:00

For some people my desire to come here alone is rather strange. But I have been telling these people that I know people who will be there at least for part of the time I am here. Let me explain a little here--

I am a member of Andy World Club--Andy Lau's fan club. It has been a great way to meet people and one of the ways I keep motivated to study Cantonese (although the majority of his interviews are in Mandarin now). I am a fan but don't mistake me to be one that believes that he is the best this or that--I just like him. I can watch him in total crap and have seen films where he seemed to be going thru the motions--no problem, it is Andy. Yep, I am a fangirl. But I don't think I am obsessive about it. I support him like he is a friend or a family member. Being part of the fan club has its advantages, not only does one get priority for concert tickets but there are events throughout the year that one can attend. And here are two events this month, so at least for one weekend, I will be with some of my friends that I have met via our mutual fandom.

I met up with one of those other fans yesterday, we have known each other for years but this was our meeting. She moved here a few years ago and was kind enough to guide me around. We had lunch and I bought a cell phone and a SIM card all on one block of Sai Yeung Choi Street. Then we made a brief trip to the AWC clubhouse. It has moved since I was here last so it was new to both of us. We weren't there long, it is smaller than the previous clubhouse and there were no other fans there to socialize with, maybe the rain kept them away, but it was productive because my friend needed to pick something up.

Then we went to MegaBox since it was nearby. Hardly anything was open, we were both surprised. There seemed to be a lot of renovation and new stores not quite ready to open but nothing to keep us there.

That was our whole agenda and we finished early. So we decided to explore Stanley because she had never been there and I had, but with a tour so it a super fast vist. It took awhile to get there, mainly because we were guessing how to get there and made a few missteps.

Sadly we didn't eat dinner there, we went back to Kowloon, but then the restaurant we were plannning to go had a big queue. We had to find a not-Indian vegetarian restaurant--veg for her, not-Indian for me. We had dinner at 10 p.m. I never eat that late! It ended up being a long day, with perhaps too much walking around in a temperature I hadn't acclimated to, I was totally wiped.

Unfortunately my exhaustion didn't help me in terms of sleep. I slept well, but for only about 5 hours. I am still operating under a deficit. Hopefully all will resolve soon.

Today I decided I would take it easy. I went to Central and was walking around but I felt very underdressed in my shorts and t-shirt so didn't stay as long as I expected. I came back to my hotel to take care of a few things and ended up moving to my smaller, permanent room and resolving some problems with the bill and the room.

Class starts tomorrow. They assessed me over the phone and put me in a level 3 class. Classes are in the afternoon, which I am not thrilled about but there are only two of us in this class so there were less options.

The prodigal has returned

2010-05-29T09:43:00.002-04:00

Forgive my fancy title, I have gotten 1/2 hour sleep in 36 hours.

My flight was uneventful--just the way I like them. The heat and humidity hit me in the face when I walked out of the airport. Quite a shock after the cool spring in NYC and the artificial cool I had been cocooned in for more than 16 hours. Last time I was here it was in December, for me it was spring like weather in the middle of winter.

I was considering going back out when it started pouring out ... maybe I will stay in, rest, start fresh tomorrow. Overall I hope it doesn't rain as much as the forecast seems to be indicating. I don't have a decent umbrella at home so I didn't pack one, looks like I might have to make that a priority purchase.

I have been watching tv, flipping channels, some sort of award show on TVB--I recognize some folks but am fuzzy on most of their names, Dodo, Nat Chan, Vincent Kok and some other guy that I see all the time but his name escapes me--he is wearing a bright pink suit which somehow works for him--are MCs. Looks like it might be for public service announcements, but I am not sure. Then there is America's Got Talent (you got to be kidding!) and Ghost Whisperer--neither show I have ever watched in the US. I don't have many channels on this little tv so there is even less selection I imagine. But I have seen an orange juice, was it Minute Maid?, commercial with Eason Chan and just saw Louis Koo hawking something ... already forgot what it was but he looked well tanned as usual.

Oh, I saw "Mulan" "Storm Riders 2" "Black Ransom" and "Bodyguards and Assassins" on the way here--I feel more caught up on my HK/Chinese films. I do plan to see some films while I am here. I really want to see "Gallants" but not sure what else will be playing while I am here.

final prep

2010-05-27T07:30:00.003-04:00

Just a quick post here--tomorrow I leave for Hong Kong.

Ir has been great telling people about my trip and hearing "I am so jealous." I don't hear that very often. I think if one has at least once in their life when almost everyone they knows tells them that--that is much better than "15 minutes of fame."

Work has been stressful so I am very happy to be away from there for awhile. This was unproductive stress--we were engaged in a process that ultimately we have no power in the final result. But who the new dean is, what s/he does stands for and is able to accomplish directly affects us, as well as the students we serve.

So today I am going to try to shake all of that off me and finish getting ready for my trip. I have someone staying in my apartment so I want it to be cleaner than normal, "guest ready" so to speak, so I will be cleaning as well. I hate cleaning but it but I have noticed it can have a meditative effect which wouldn't be a bad thing right now.

I would like to report daily like Glenn did during his Hong Kong trips. But it depends on my internet access for one thing. Anyway, I may post much more than usual in the next 5 weeks, or I may not. All part of the Adventure. :)

2 weeks to go

2010-05-14T11:14:00.004-04:00

My trip is coming up fast and my excitement is growing.

I am pretty much ready, just have to pack which I will most like start doing next week and put my apartment in "guest ready" order. I have a friend staying in my apartment for most of the time. He is retired and has moved back to his hometown, he loves NYC, a real culture buff. It is a nice trade, I have someone to look after my place and he can stay in NYC for free for awhile.

My new theme at work is that everyone needs a vacation. It seems like every situation is going straight to argument mode, discussion is completely being bypassed. I have mentioned this to several people now and I am getting nods of agreement. Certainly it can't hurt. Even if folks don't go away, the summer schedule is generally lighter and even having less students and colleagues around can be calming. The next two weeks are going to be interesting, we are going to be meeting the candidates for our new dean. Hiring a dean is a complicated process and not particularly democratic so it presents its own drama. Having my trip to look forward to hopefully will keep me from getting too emotionally involved.

Pearl

2010-05-09T09:50:00.003-04:00

Things have been contentious at work. Lack of leadership and lack of communication are taking their toll on our little library. People are getting closer to their tenure deadlines, the stakes are getting higher and the sense of community we once had is disintegrating. Thankfully summer is coming! My trip is just 20 days away!

I was listening to NPR radio one day and they were interviewing Anchee Min about her latest book “Pearl of China” which is a novel about Pearl Buck. She said that she wanted to give the Chinese perspective of Pearl Buck. Min has her own story to tell, as a teenager she denounced Buck as anti-China without having ever read her books. It was only later in the United States, when she could read it English that she realized how misinformed and misguided she had been. I went out of my way to borrow this book from the library. The novel is a tribute to Pearl Buck but through the eyes of a lifelong friend. Perhaps this is why the dates are a bit murky and the historical events aren’t flushed out more. I don’t know a lot about this time in China’s history but I do know enough that I actually questioned one point. In the Author’s Note Min admitted she had indeed manipulated this part of history to suit her story. It is a novel, not an historical account so she has that right.

I enjoyed reading this book very much but at the same time feel as though it only gave me a taste of Pearl. Pearl wasn’t really given a character arc and her feelings were rarely explored. Min had created this lifelong friend for Pearl which should have enabled her to explore those feelings a little bit more. Perhaps she felt a little too reverential towards her subject to really do it justice. I have not read anything else by Min so it is hard to know if this is her style or not. I want to read “Red Azalea” sometime soon, which is her own memoir. And I'd like to read a good biography of Pearl S. Buck too, anyone have any recommendations?

Constantly Learning

2010-04-30T22:30:00.005-04:00

For whatever it is worth, I am the most educated person in my family, with two masters degrees. I have also taken other classes along the way, such as language classes. I have always enjoyed taking classes and it has always made me feel as though I am improving myself, because I am learning. But I don't have to take classes. It isn't as if I didn't know this and yet for some reason just lately I feel as though I have finally learned this particular lesson.

I have been attending many professional development workshops/webinars/conferences lately and have a couple more coming up. Some are librarian related, some are more related to being a faculty member in an academic institution and then I have had a few teaching and ESOL one. There has been some overlap, which is nice and hopefully some of this will lead to a better defined research agenda for me.

And then there is my volunteering. At Early Morning Reading, I have worked alot with this one particular young girl and to be honest I doubt she can read. She is smart and seems to be able to read ... but only certain books which makes me think she has them memorized. Any time I propose a book that she hasn't chosen she wants me to read to her. Is this how kids can go for years not learning basic skills? Some kids really get thrown if you correct them while they are reading or even interrupt them to ask a question, such as a prediction question and some really like it. One little girl usually points at what she is struggling with, repeats it after I say it a couple of times, says thank you and moves on. Which I find very amusing because in casual conversation she has such an attitude--she reminds me of Rosie Perez in one of her more exaggerated roles sometimes. But while reading, she is very serious and polite.

At English Conversation (which I don't go to as often) I read with an adult ELL for the first time and every verb contraction she came across she read in the full form. I only corrected her once, when the main character said "I'll say" in a short dialogue. I explained to her that is one is more of an idiomatic saying and if you change it to "I will say" it doesn't make sense. She is a very good reader, mechanically but it wasn't clear to me how much she was comprehending. Afterwards we talked a little about how she consistently avoided the contractions and she was aware of the problem and she said she found them really difficult. I told her she would get more comfortable with them over time, as she hears them and as she continues to come across them in her reading. It is a small thing in comparison to comprehension which she is clearly working on.

I am also learning a lot about creating a new language and cultural program because I am on the Advisory Board of one. I originally took classes via a small organization that only taught Cantonese, taught by volunteer enthusiastic but untrained teachers. The teachers pretty much ran the organization for years but in the Fall the founder came back on the scene and wanted to make significant changes which made the main 4 teachers uncomfortable but also seemed to exclude some of the senior students. So with the encouragement of the many of the students a new organization was started and I was asked to be an advisor.

Mandarin is now part of our program and it is intensely popular with our students and it has challenged some of the leadership's perception of what our mission is. Teaching Cantonese for free was what made the previous program unique (which as far as I know is being run by the founder but on a much smaller scale). What will make this program unique? I am learning a lot about leadership, about the politics of alliances and the tricky nature of trying to improve the curriculum when you have volunteer teachers who are long on enthusiasm but short on training and experience.

Of course this is nothing in comparison to what I will be learning on my trip to Hong Kong, which is a mere 3 weeks and 6 days away now. :)

Personal Shopper

2010-04-25T09:23:00.003-04:00

I have been doing the shopping thing lately. I am not an experienced shopper. I tend to buy the same things over and over because I am comfortable with those products or because I know where to find them. So this has been challenging for me. Especially when it comes to clothes.

My upcoming trip to Hong Kong has forced me to look at my summer clothes much earlier than I normally would. I had some things from last summer, but not much plus I have lost weight so even what I did have some of it is too loose. I am set for sandals, last year I bought several pairs and I will of course have my sneakers with me.

So I have been shopping. Online, in stores. And then I went to a "personal shopper." Macy's has this free service and I decided to try it out. I shop alot at Macy's. I know exactly where to find my size and the store brand is in my comfortable spending bracket. I think I have bought a designer label all of twice. I thought this would be good for me, expand my mind on what to wear.

My appointment was on thursday evening and it was interesting. She is primarily a saleswoman but she comfortable enough with her product to say, "that does nothing for you." She tried a couple of colors for me that I never wear-yellow, fuschia. Yellow somehow makes me look like a totally different person. My favorite color when I was a child was yellow. My family discouraged this and I didn't understand for a long time. It was only after not recognizing myself in an old family photo that I understood. Fuschia is a beautiful color but I have to be in the right mood to wear it. So even though I told her I was looking to expand my horizons on how I dress, I clearly had my limitations. I wear a lot of blue, I like the way it looks on me.

She brought out some suits and some dresses. I did try a few on but I didn't see the need for them for my trip. I do have a couple of casual dresses that I plan to bring. I honestly don't expect to go to any fancy restaurants or events. And rarely do that here either. But they were nice to try on. This one dress was beautiful on me. I felt like I had just stepped out of a Joan Crawford film. She brought out some tank tops. Eek, expose my arms? But I love the cut on them, not the usual ones where I feel exposed in every which way. And I bought some lightweight blouses/jackets to put over them so that I can wear my tank and still hide my arms.

Despite my limitations on her I still walked out with 12 items. And quite a few are Jones NY, a designer I like but rarely buy because they are usually out of my budget. But somehow I caught some special sale and got an extra $25 off of everything. I had walked in there with a dollar amount in my head. I overspent it by $27. Now some of the things I am still iffy about, will I wear it? Is it me? My personal shopper was very practical about this--pack it with the tags still on it. I can return it for up to six months.

Personal shoppers are a free service, tipping is not allowed. It was a positive experience overall and I plan to do it again in August for work clothes. As I become more of a "player" at my job, I am feeling the need to dress the part a bit more. Of course now I will want to be timing this for another one of those 25% off sales. I have told 3 of my friends about this and they all reacted much more positively than I would thought. Even my one friend who almost always shops at Goodwill was fascinated by this. I wonder if I am starting a trend :)

What am I doing?

2010-04-10T12:16:00.004-04:00

What am I doing? I am freaking out. Or at least I was. I think I am past the worst of it. At some point I lost confidence in myself and the whole idea of learning Cantonese and going to Hong Kong alone for 5 weeks seemed absolutely absurd. I have been avoiding studying Cantonese and even went back to my roots so to speak and was studying Italian again--probably not that usefull in Hong Kong, LOL Just the fact that I am writing about this tells me that I am coming out of it. And it isn't absurd, it is an adventure. An adventure I have wanted to take for years but couldn't for various reasons. As soon as my freak out is completely over, I will get excited about that again I am sure.

One thing I did do in this time was to decide finally where I am going to take classes in Hong Kong. The 3 week intensive class at CUHK intimidated me and I was worried that I would be spending too much of my trip alone in my room doing homework. I am sure it is a great class, but not really for me, not this trip anyway. So I am going with the classes via languagesabroad.com. The description of the classes seem like something I could comfortably do and still hopefully learn a lot of Cantonese. They actually have a homestay component which sounds appealing on one level and stressful on the other--I haven't lived with anyone in decades so right there that would be quite an adjustment but then to have to only communicate Cantonese with them ... that is for a future trip, not this one.

Now that that is settled, my trip is planned. Which is why it has been frustrating to me that I have been freaking out versus getting excited. And I am getting excited, this is my biggest trip ever. And hopefully it will answer a question I have had about myself for a long time--am I flexible enough to live overseas? In my mind if I can't do it in a big international city like Hong Kong, I won't be able to do it anywhere.

Meanwhile I am planning on doing a lot of vocabulary review in the next few weeks as well as listening to some CDs and mp3s that I have, mostly Pimsleur and those from www.learnchineseez.com. I have been exposed to a lot of vocabulary, some I know really well, some not so well, the rest I have been exposed to only once or twice and haven't retained. Another blogger cantonese.hk/wp advised to focus on vocabulary in a recent post which makes sense to me right now. I have been focused on grammar and word order lately and maybe that has been a factor in loss of confidence.

Details, details

2010-03-27T09:09:00.002-04:00

Life is full of details. This week I went for my regularly scheduled cleaning at my dentist's office so that she could give her regularly scheduled lecture on the benefits of flossing. I know she is right, I just don't like to do it. But as I get older (and older) I have started to make peace with alot of things I don't like to do that are good for me and do floss more than I used to--but clearly not as regularly scheduled as my dentist recommends.

I also got my taxes done. I don't understand much of this stuff and one of the best decisions I made a few years ago was to pay someone to take care of this for me. In an hour I am out the door with a promise of a refund. Nice! And he pointed out a detail that I have known I needed to look into more--what I am putting in my 403B--his subtle question was "do you want to retire before you are 80?" LOL I looked over my paperwork on this and I realized I was under a misconception that I was putting in more than I actually am. But that is easily remedied and I have already gotten the necessary form from the Benefits office.

But the details I have been taking care of have been for my Hong Kong trip are the most fun. This week I purchased a travel iron and a travel hair dryer as well as a voltage adapter. And being that my trip is my longest one ever, I am looking into a larger suitcase. It is a little early to worry about my wardrobe, I do still have two months but I am "window shopping." My recent trip to Florida did give me an idea of what I would need to buy.

One more detail, which can also wait, is to buy a Kindle. I love the idea of having reading material with me without having to carry a lot of extra weight. And generally I do give myself a gift when I get my tax refund so this will be it. The rest goes into savings for my future, whether it be traveling or retirement.

Florida

2010-03-20T20:21:00.014-04:00

Pretty Victrola in Thomas Edison's "Little Office"

I had a very nice time in Florida, I spent a little time in quite a few places, Ft. Myers for the Edison Ford Winter Estates and Museum, Sarasota for Ringling Brothers Museum, Tampa-St. Pete to see my aunt and uncle who also live down there and a few more wonderful things. It was a busy trip and yet relaxing too, we were home every evening to either watch tv or play their Wii and the mornings we all gradually woke up, ate and got dressed.

I forget in between trips to other parts of the US, usually to see my family, how much Americans live in their cars. I don't have a car and although I do have a license I rarely drive. And at some point I became fearful of driving so I have no burning desire to either. My sister and brother live 45 minutes from almost anywhere of interest--the nearest airports, the nearest major cities or tourist attractions. This doesn't bother them because they like to drive. Which worked out well for me.

Banyan Tree @ Edison Ford Winter Estates

Anyway, for once, I have pictures. Unfortunately, one picture I was hoping to share really didn't come out well--I was in the Ringling Bros museum in front of one of those body altering mirrors and got to see myself shrunk down to less than 3 feet.

Local wildlife

-- an Ibis Crane who walked by during lunch at Ringling Bros -- Sandpiper Crane
mother and child walking the median near my sister's townhouse
-- a turtle a park ranger was protecting from tourists at Ringling Bros

Mild March

2010-03-07T17:31:00.003-05:00

We are having some wonderfully mild weather right now, sunshine, mid-50s--just a little more than a week ago we had a monster of a snowstorm. I was out with a friend, walking thru the park which still had a few piles of snow which haven't quite melted away. It is supposed to be this way for the next couple of days. Nice! Of course winter isn't over with, we could easily get more snow and most likely will go back to colder weather at some point.

So, of course, my trip to Florida is coming up on Friday. :) A trip I planned back in January when the winds were howling and the snow was blowing and I was wearing my sweatsuit to bed. However, right now it seems my respite from the winter weather won't be as big of a deal as it could be, unless the weather changes radically before I leave. I am visiting family, not doing the surf/sun thing or the golf thing, or even the Disney thing (other side of the state) and this is the more important reason for my trip. My sister lives down there half the year and I will be staying with her. At some point we will drive further south to see my aunt and uncle.

I am actually not that fond of Florida. But it will be nice to get away for a week. And it will nice to see my sister, because I just don't see my family that often. They don't like NYC, they are comfortable suburbanites who never quite understood why I'd want to live in such a big, crowded, dirty (to them) city. And so the onus of traveling tends to be on me. Which for the most part is fine but it does tend to mean I see my family only a couple times a year, sometimes more but usually not. And this will be the first time I will be visiting her in her new Florida home so it will be fun to watch her show it off, talk about changes they've made, changes she wants to make, etc. My sister lives for this kind of stuff, it is all Greek to me frankly and probably always will be. I am a renter, I don't make significant changes to my apartment and don't even have anything up on my walls (they painted my apt. two years ago, I haven't bothered to put back the few things that were up). My sister would be appalled, but she hasn't been here in more than a decade and I don't expect her to visit anytime soon.

I remember when I first said to one of my brothers that I would like to live in Asia someday. He was more supportive than I expected but then said something to the effect that they'd most likely never go visit me if I did. And before I could ask how would this be different from now, my sister-in-law asked the question first. We all laughed. I have made a radically different life style choice from my siblings. We have all gotten to the age where we can accept it for what it is, I don't expect to change nor do they expect me to. They have stopped asking me when I am moving back 'home,' which is good but ironically I sometimes miss.

Paul and Harry

2010-02-28T09:57:00.002-05:00

When I first moved to NYC I wanted to experience all the culture it had to offer. I went to museums, plays, and dance performances regularly and saw films from all over the world and the whole range in terms of size and budget. Gradually I realized that I didn't like alot of it and I started to become more picky. I grew tired of looking for meanings within meanings within meanings, it just made me feel stupid. I was looking for culture that created connections to my own life and how others are similar/dissimilar to me and to really sound shallow-for beauty. I have never been the fan of art that is created to shock me. Real life is shocking enough. I do like how it can make me look at an idea/concept in a different way but at the same time I hate being hit on the head with a hammer in the process. And I don't know what it is but no matter how much I am enjoying an exhibit, I start yawning and can't wait to get to the last piece.

So I started going less and less frequently and often lost track of even what was going on. But luckily I have a friend who breaks me out of this mode periodically. He buys 2 or more tickets via TDF for things he wants to see and then goes down his list of friends to see if they would like to join him. I am not at the top of his list, but he knows I am on a budget and only have time to do these things on weekends. Last night I went with him to see the Paul Taylor Dance Company perform. There were three individual pieces and although the third was clearly the best I will probably always remember the first one because the first evoked wonderful memories for me.

The opening is a guy alone sitting crosslegged getting high dressed in a tank style t-shirt and blue jeans. As the piece goes on, more dancers join him and they all dance in a carefree, exaggeratedly relaxed style which I am sure much harder to do than it looks. They are all wearing jeans in the styles that were popular in the 1970s--various degrees bell bottoms, the flat front with the double row of black buttons (how I wanted those at one time!), all that very pale blue. And the music--all Harry Nilsson songs, songs that I knew, songs that I heard on the radio when they first came out. I was very young in the 70s but this piece brought me back to that time in a way that I had not expected.

Frankly I felt so connected to this piece that although I appreciated the other two pieces on a intellectual level, they seemed too serious, too mechanical, which I am sure is an unfair assessment. And because the Olympics are still at the top of my brain, I started comparing moves to those I have recently seen in the figure skating competitions. LOL so clearly I wasn't in the moment like I had been in the first piece. For me, that piece should have been last because it set an emotional standard that the others couldn't reach. I didn't ask Larry what he thought, I didn't want to sound uncultured but also he is older and I am sure that piece didn't affect him in the same way.

My friend walked me to the closest subway station but I wasn't ready to sit on a train. I felt like moving and it was a beautiful night to be in Manhattan. My head was full of the better part of the 70s and Harry Nilsson. I walked past the next station and was about to continue walking past the third when reality set in, my boots aren't the best walking shoes and it was 11 p.m. with at least a 45 minute ride home.

But today I am listening to Harry, thanks to Paul.

Hong Kong Planning

2010-02-23T20:24:00.004-05:00

Flight reservations, done. Hotel, also done.

The idea is to immerse myself in the language and the culture. I dream of living oveseas but I wonder if I am truly capable of it. So this is kind of my experiment. At worst I will just a wonderful vacation in the land of my dreams.

After some research I decided I would take a 3 week intensive course in Cantonese at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. But the application and the student visa required are making me rethink this. Maybe this is a bigger deal than I want it to be. I want to improve my Cantonese but do I want to work that hard on my vacation? I could study Cantonese more informally while I am there, it might even be more fun. I would be taking the beginner class and I am not strictly a beginner so it wouldn't be all brand new material, but it is 3.5 hours in class every day for 3 weeks with nightly homework. I like the idea of having somewhere to go everyday and it would fortify my foundation.

Then I think that I have been learning the language in a classroom long enough, now I need to go out and use it more informally. So maybe just some tutoring sessions or less formal classes would be fine. Again, I am thinking--my vacation. And having such an academic routine may not achieve my objective of immersing myself in the language and culture--I will be living the life of a student, enveloped in an academic bubble for 3 weeks. But adding a CUHK certificate would look good on a resumé, really good.

Pfft. Clearly I need to think on this some more. Maybe some divine inspiration would be good.

Winter blah

2010-02-21T09:59:00.002-05:00

I have been in winter blah mode. Part of it is that it got colder, windier and snowier. Then I caught some sort of sore throat/cold that has been dogging me for at least 10 days now, it has been up and down, some days I feel I am almost over it then I start feeling sicker again. I am not one of those people that go to the doctor when they have a cold normally. Nor do I take a lot of meds, I believe in extra fluids and lots of rest generally. Being sick always puts me in the dumps, I am a bit of a drama queen when it comes to these things.

So I have been living even more monastically than usual. Work, the Olympics and lots of sleep. I don't usually watch the winter Olympics. Even though I have spent half my life in winter weather (so it seems) I am not a fan and so people who enjoy activities on ice and snow are kind of freaky to me as a rule. Then I look at the crowds in the stands wondering how many layers of clothes are they wearing? And because I tend to drink a lot of water I always have toilet facilities in mind--now there is a detail NBC has yet to cover LOL--I would hate to have to use a portapotty in below freezing weather.

I did go out yesterday to celebrate Chinese New Year with my fellow Cantonese students and our teachers. Chinatown was awash in dancing lions, flying colorful paper and I even had a little colored string battle at one of my friend's storefront with both adults and children. I had never done that before and it was fun. It was funny to see the variety of reactions of those who accidentally would get streamed, it was so crowded on Mott St, it was bound to happen--one woman was really annoyed, clearly not in the spirit of the holiday. CNY is not the time to be in a hurry walking via Chinatown or expecting not to be accosted by a dancing lion or something else colorful--but maybe she was in winter blah mode too.

Now I am feeling somewhat better and the weather is actually pretty nice again--for winter that is--so hopefully this winter blah is on its way out.

The self-serving volunteer

2010-01-29T11:04:00.003-05:00

Back in October I started doing some volunteer work via NYCares. My first project was/is an Early Morning reading program that I do every week. We go and read with kids between grades 2 and 4. This can be fun, frustrating, rewarding--sometimes at the same time. I signed up for it because it takes place at a dual language school and I could learn more about how language is learned. It depends on the child and the situation whether that actually happens of course. But today a little interaction with a young boy was something along the lines I was hoping for. We were reading "The Lorax" and he said someone "colored" the Lorax. And I didn't see it. We went back and forth between two pages and I said the colors were the same and then he came up with the word "ink" and I saw what he meant-sure enough someone had made a couple of small lines in pen on the Lorax. I love those moments when someone uses a different word than I expect because it really makes me think about the language.

In December I started going for English Conversation in Chinatown with adults a few evenings a month. These are immigrants from China and Hong Kong who are working on their English skills. At first I was working with this guy whose English was not good enough to be there quite frankly. It was hard for him to understand me, no matter how slowly I spoke and when he would answer me it was often not an answer that fit my question. It was frustrating for both of us. Lately I have been with other students who can understand and respond much better. We have interesting coconversations, with them sometimes explaining things to me about their lives and with me sometimes teaching them new vocabulary. One example is when two women and I were discussing coupons and one woman said that they don't always work for what you want to buy and I introduced them to the term "fine print." I love it that we are all learning.

I am in awe of them because for most of them, English is not their 2nd language but 3rd sometimes 4th. I have long wanted to be bilingual but have yet to get close. I think about my level of Cantonese and I am nowhere near the level where I could partake of a program like this. I am hoping that my trip to Hong Kong will propel me closer to it at the very least.

unnecessary stress

2010-01-24T18:45:00.003-05:00

I am a librarian. I don't have a job where anyone's life is on the line. I barely have a role in anyone's future, I might make it easier for them in some small way (or more difficult) but really in the scheme of their life, my role is minimal. But life at the library has been stressful lately mainly because I work where we evaluate each other and everyone is working towards the golden ring (or noose) of tenure. We have had quite a few disagreements in this process and it has been very uncomfortable for me. I don't eat as well, sleep as well, I am tired and I don't want to do anything but veg when I get home. I thought maybe this was because this is my first experience with this process but I know other committee members have been struggling as well. It is almost over but it has really left a bad taste in my mouth. I think of escaping to a different job or a different career and then realize it doesn't much matter because all jobs have office politics that come to a head at some point or another. I just need to endure and to keep my integrity and my sanity until it is over.

I wasn't going to do an all text post again, I am sure it is boring for folks. I was going to take some pictures when I went for a walk in the park this weekend but forgot the camera. Too bad, I think I could have gotten some nice shots. So instead here is a picture of my dear departed dog, I had to put her down in mid-October. I think of her when I least expect--for instance my super called me at work on friday, something went wrong when repairing a leak in my upstairs neighbor's apartment and I needed to go home right away. It ended up being that water backed up via the sink, so not as big of a crisis as I had imagined when he called but still required two plumbers hours to fix it. But when I got the call my first thought was that if Yardley was still around she'd be in a panic. Two or three years ago my bathroom ceiling, which is no stranger to leaks, fell in and she tried to get out the bedroom window, damaging the window frame and hurting her paws in the process. And it took her days to truly calm down.

Clay Pots and Paper Sons

2010-01-09T20:18:00.002-05:00

Today I went to have lunch with a friend. We started with the idea of hand pulled noodles but then ended up at Yummy Noodles (48 Bowery) which despite the name is known for their clay pot rice dishes. We had a Chinese sausage with preserved duck and Minced pork with preserved cabbage. It was excellent. I have walked by this restaurant hundreds of times, I can’t believe I haven’t eaten there before, what a shame! But you know there are probably couple dozen great restaurants that I have yet to try in Chinatown. It was a better meal than I had the other night when I was with another friend; we went to Wo Hop (17 Mott St.) and had Salt and Pepper fried Squid and Fried Tofu. Sadly the squid was too chewy. I have had it there before and it was fine, so I was surprised. My friend is going to take me to a different restaurant for squid next time we go out, she says it is always good there. Since I love squid, I am looking forward to that.

Back to today--after our yummy lunch we headed over to the Museum of the Chinese in America. It is quite a step up from the previous location because it is newly designed by Maya Lin. We arrived exactly as planned, for the gallery tour. Our docent wasn’t the most experienced but he was quite enthusiastic. And quite patient with some of the questions and comments. After the tour we went back thru the exhibit again to take a closer look at things. My friend was showing me this one particular display and said that it was symbolizing the “paper sons.” This was new to me. I knew about the Chinese Exclusion Act, of course, but I didn’t know of this way of getting around the law. A fire in San Francisco created this opportunity because many birth records were lost. Our docent had touched on the interviews at Angel Island and how detailed the questions were but if he mentioned this as being one of the reasons, I didn't hear him.

Then because we both study Cantonese we were looking at some of the Chinese to English phrasebooks. The docent was nearby and seemed pleased that we were taking the time to notice these. Then I observed a simplified character and commented on it. He explained that when they simplified the Chinese characters sometimes they used older, no longer in use characters which were perhaps earlier attempts at simplification. Interesting, I wonder how true that is. That aside, the phrasebooks are quite revealing because it is all work related phrases, not something you'd see nowadays I imagine. I wish I could remember one completely but I can’t, but it was all about being able to understand or be able to give orders to do particular manual labor tasks.

Not a bad way to spend a cold day. I don't usually get to adventure too much on Saturdays, I usually have Cantonese class. But right now we are on a hiatus, so I have to take advantage while I can.

Clean Slate

2010-01-06T19:43:00.003-05:00

Finally this morning I got my hard drive back, as a clean slate. Wow, how bizarre. It has been damn inconvenient being without my computer, then having to set up all the drives and programs so that I could work again. But I am loving how fast it is now and that because there is so little on it, what is on it is so much easier to find. Stark Simplicity. It also solved a dilemma of mine--whether I should change my wallpaper or not. It was a photo of my dearly departed, the best dog a woman could ever have. She died in mid-October. I was trying to decide if keeping it up there was getting to be morbid or if it was just a sweet memorial. Well, it is gone. I could get it off my USB or facebook or any number of places I have my dog's pix but I decided this was a good time to move on.

I had my Cantonese tutoring session last night. Via Skype, which I love. I was having a lot of difficulties with my tongue, I guess I was a bit rusty from the vacation. But it was really funny at one point, I was counting, 1oo1, 1oo2 ... and I kept mixing up my consonents, so "l" when it was supposed to be "ch" and vice versa. I must have done it 5x in a row, I would correct myself and do it again. Not only do I pay my tutor, I give her a good laugh. She is either really good or really bad at giving homework, I haven't decided. Sometimes I really have to think not only of what I would answer in Cantonese but also sometimes what I would answer in English!

Danger, Danger!

2010-01-04T20:58:00.003-05:00

I went to work today with the best intentions to be productive (well, that might be a bit overstated) but then my computer went nutso on me. Apparently I am infected with some sort of trojan. I didn't want to call the systems guy, they always give you this accusing look and ask "what were you doing?" as though you had been trying to hack into some secret government website. But to my surprise, he came and acted like it was no big deal. Apparently, I have been dammed lucky not to have one of these things before beause my job doesn't exactly provide the best antivirus software.

So I kept getting warnings from my trojan which was trying to get me to buy better antivirus protection from his masters, to demonstrate my need it kept loading porn onto my computer. I am actually laughing, but if my systems guy can't fix it I may be very cranky by the end of the week.

Tomorrow I will bring my laptop. I can't really work on it but I can do my own stuff on it. This way I won't have to resort to cleaning out my file cabinets like I was doing today ...

2010--the year to blog?

2010-01-03T23:00:00.000-05:00

I don't live an exciting life, really nothing to blog about, really don't know what I am doing here. But I have big dreams for this year, life changing stuff, so I thought maybe I should share them.

These dreams mostly involve my interest in Hong Kong. I have watched many Hong Kong films and some tv series. I probably know the names of and can recognize more Hong Kong actors and singers than I can American ones at this point.

I recently finished a MS in TESOL and want to make a career change. I am not young anymore so this is a big, big deal for me. I am way too comfortable in my present career, bored actually would be a better word.

I have been studying Cantonese for years but I don't really practice it outside the classroom so what I know is rather limited. My comprehension is better than my speaking ability. Now that I have finished my degree, I have tried to improve my vocabulary and have started working with a tutor to develop my conversational skills.

Now I am basically a lazy person but I have two concurrent goals that are motivating me right now. My first one is to spend the month of June in Hong Kong. My focus is to work on my Cantonese. I am probably going to do a 3 week class at CUHK. I need to immerse myself in the language. I live within a subway ride of more than one Chinatown but I am a bit shy about my Cantonese here. Only when I am with either my fellow students or Cantonese speakers do I put myself out there. And the responses have been good, it is all in my head, I know that. But if I go to Hong Kong for an extended time (versus a 10 day vacation) I expect that I will have to use it more. This is in the planning stages: I need to apply to the school, make the airplane reservations and find a place to stay while I am there.

My second goal is much bigger, and sometimes seems more like a fantasy of myself versus the real me. I want to teach English somewhere where I can use my Cantonese. Hong Kong would be great but there are other places that would work almost as well. I have never lived overseas nor have I ever taught. It is alot of change all at once and part of me loves this idea and part of me is petrified that I am not flexible enough for that much change all at once. So this is another reason to go to Hong Kong in June and really try to immerse myself, if I can't hack it, then I know this second goal is more fantasy than reality for me.