Surviving on 7/11

Successfully arrived home at 3am.
...with paperclips in my hair and gross after taste of seafood cupnoodles. Yuck.

It was a productive day and I made my new record: 19 hours at work

I stopped only once today when a friend brought me starbucks and I took an hour break.

Then at 11:30pm I camped at 7/11 for a while just to get out of the building. (And junk out...) When I returned, I discovered a sudden burst of energy to get me through one more task. I was so excited, but, out of nowhere, it felt like someone swung a sack over my head.  And the doom finally came.

My teaching schedule along with my lunch meetings did not allow for time to rest. One class after another followed by due dates drove me forward. 

I had a working 'rush' today.
Followed by a 'high'.

Last time this happened was... drum corps.  Running on adrenaline and support from the other 149 people, it was impossible to give up.  I can't quite compare today to the many nights of coach buses and gym floors, but, it was close.

4 hours later. Changed. Went back to work. Full day with no breaks again.

I charged on forward on a weak singing voice and drowzy eyes.

Made it. School ended. Had dinner. Then back for more.

Saturday: slept in until 9am at a friends. Sweet.

Then back again with dim sum to go with a friend with more work. 

Oh boy.

I got this!

Took a break Saturday night by going to a friend's birthday hang.

Slept in.

Sunday morning Church.

Went back to school after service with Starbucks in hand.

Finished some major tasks using 2 hours.  Had dinner with a good friend.

Returned to my humble abode.  9:30 PM.  

Sunday, 11:30 PM.  Finished final task.

Lesson learned: leave extra clothes at friends' homes and work.

Third Culture Kids

TCK: a new term I learned coming into an international school.

Third Cultured Kids~ apparently these are kids who live in their separate culture.  They can't relate to their parents' culture, nor the current HK culture, therefore they have a world of their own inside the walls of the school.  This is where they make friends, connect on some similar interests (media, activities, sports, etc.), and develop their own understanding of global society.

The challenge for me was to relate to these kids.

On the first week of school, I went to a teacher who taught at this school for several years already, and asked her, "what advice do you have for a new teacher???"
She recommended, "make relationships with your students".

Looking back, that was one of the greatest advice I received all year.  Sometimes it's quite easy for a new teacher to focus on 'teaching the materials' vs. 'teaching the kids'.

My kiddos are great.  Their problems are different from my previous school in the states, but, they're kids, they still have problems.  Teenagers?  Will always have their social problems.  Little ones?  Will always whine a bit and fight over ''little things'' (but to them it's a BIG deal).  I'm still learning how to connect with them, but I've found ways to connect (ex.: music, gamers, pokemon, and candy).

Coaching a sport, joining a team, or leading a field trip always bring a closer bond with the students too.  Memorizing names became so easy once you get to know them beyond their seating chart.   :D

1st Year of teaching

It's been a year... I'm going to put the whole year's experience in a short pin point list and will go into details on another day. 

Teaching at an international Christian school has challenges of its own. 

1~ everyone, everything, every where is new

2~ classroom management is a daily experiment 

3~ bell schedule/6-day rotational system (will explain later)

4~ following a specific system/curriculum that I'm unfamiliar with (Alberta System)

5~ memorizing 350 names

But then again, this is what every teacher goes through at a new school ;)

GID~China

This year, 2014-2015, I joined GID at my school. GID stands for Glow in the Dark. We do a number of serving, some in HK and some in China.

Of course, I cannot give away any names or locations. However, I'd like to share and reflect on what we did and how much it has influenced me.

We had two teams this year, GID-HK and GID-China.  Both have different functions, but our goal is the same: to share the good news! We meet every Tuesday morning from 7am-8am. Led by Mr. Yu, we usually  have discussions, sharings (of trips and testimonies), practices, and prepare logistics/planning. Once in a while we meet during lunch or after school to practice the songs, drime, dance, or play for specific trips. It has been a very humbling experience to do outreach alongside high school students.

Since I participated mostly in GID-China, I will share about my journey with the team. Our primary goal is to visit some cities in China and reach out to the youth. We visit about 4-5 times, in small and large groups.

Small team trips have more focus on outreaching to local churches. We prepare sharings, bible study, discussions, worship, and games. We never know how many will show up, but we always pray that God will lead them to church for the gathering and He would use us to reflect His Word and His heart.

Large group trips are very different. We prepare English games and exercises because we visit schools to do cultural exchange. It has been an amazing experience to see some of these schools in China. We met many middle and high school students followed by inviting them to church. Some will show up later, some don't. When they do, they have a chance to watch our performances and then staying afterwards to ask any questions they might have.  Occasionally, there are discussions with some locals.

What I struggled with...
- using some Mandarin/Putonghua
- squatties (no toilets)
- crazy pollution
- being rejected for my faith
- meeting lost students with harden hearts
- sometimes unable to help others
- guiding/mentoring our own students (new to me)
- finding time to prepare on top of running a music program

What I loved...
- meeting the locals
- children's ministry in some places
- making new friends
- listening to local students
- getting to know our own students
- learning how to minister and outreach

What I learnt...
- I need God's strength
- Holy Spirit should guide me
- pray a lot
- listen first
- there are so many who have never heard of Jesus Christ (even in historical context)
- prepare my heart before going
- sharing the Gospel takes time and patience
- relying on God and remembering it's not about me
- pray, pray, pray

I had a lot of fun traveling to China and sharing the Gospel, but, I also had moments where I was speechless because I didn't know what to say... I was called crazy for believing there's a God.

In the end, I just remember, that God is good. And if anything, through GID, I myself have gained so much faith in God's provision and love.

I'm so glad I joined GID :)

Music Ensembles

When I came into the position, the music program was centered on instrumental band.  This was something I was not used to.

The school had been in a Grade 5-12 band system for 14 years. This would've been fine minus some hidden calculations.  There were two groups of students that did not fit into the band category on the first day.  In both grades 7 + 8, I had students who had options in the past the opt out of band and took other electives for 2 years.  The year I started teaching, it was decided to make grades 4-8 music mandatory.  Really not an issue as long as the scheduling works out. 

I proposed to offer something else to G7 since there were any new students as well.  I decided to start a choir (had 10 amazing young laides and trained them up).

Then. Came the issue of the G8s.  On my schedule was G8-12 band class. First day of school I had 92 students in my stuffy classroom.  Help.

I immediately seeked help from many. Soon, I split the ensemble (mixed) to two groups with no level difference. Major mistake. Note to self: always group in similar levels.
First week was rough and setting up the details was a lot of work. I was finally able to work with a group of 45ish kids while the other group had individual practice in another giant room.  This routine continued until the end of the year.  Not the best situation, but fit for survival. However, I made clear that was a very difficult task.

Difference in 2nd year? I currently teach Graded 4-12 still. Grades 4-6 are officially general music in rotation order. We had 10 upper primary homerooms, and due to scheduling, G4 takes music by semester whike G5-6 are on trimesters. 

G7 has the option to do choir or band :) My G7 choir has 31 students and this helped tremendously with balance in the band. 

G8 choir (last year's 10 girls) now has 28 students! Many band students found out they could switch and they like to sing. Perfect.

New change: grade 9 is now also mandatory to take music all 62 of them. I requested to split them into 2 groups, a general music class and band (let's face it, not everyone is meant to play an instrument). I was supported and now have a G9 band and general music/music appreciation/history course. 

Last part of this year's change, G10-12 band has only 15 kids or so. Very hard to find music for such a small instrumentation.  The program is not able to grow. Many older students took science and math instead since it's backed up next to each other.  When students get to G10, they naturally assume they need those courses to get into college.  Music doesn't even stand a chance.

After school ensembles that I started: drumline, pep band, honors band, and jazz band.  Good stuff.

Eating

Food selection in HK is very diverse.
Thank goodness for no more midwest Kroger.

It's good in terms of convenience and cost.  Going to the wet markets is the best way to save.  Most grocery stores have international items by now (including the important Mexican section).

My eating habits have changed quite a bit since moving to HK. My veggie curry days are long gone. Due to time, I am actually eating more fruits, meat, and bread.

Another favorite of mine is the hk style bakeries. They are quick,  yummy, and always an element of surprise. I never truly know what they put in it... :/ oh well.

Local HK cafes are not bad, maybe a bit too much preservatives in which I avoid.  I still enjoy cooking, but again, in HK, time is a huge factor.  It's not about the cooking anymore, it's all about the amount of time, space, and gameplanning before making the meal. 

I'd say I cook only 2-3 times at home per week.  This is one of the biggest adjustment seeing I cooked everyday when I lived in Indy.

Not much have changed in terms of craves. I still miss my chipotle.

6-day rotations

I currently teach in a 6-day rotational system. This is new to me and most of my American colleagues have never heard of this.

Basically I'm given a schedule that is separated by 6 different days. Most teachers will have some patterns to their schedules while others (me) have one that changes daily.  In a 6-day rotational schedule, we don't teach on Saturdays, thus the next Monday will be a continuation of the 'Day' that we left off from the previous week.  (For example, if Friday was Day 4, then Monday would be Day 5)

My first year's teaching schedule had a flow to it. I started the day with upper primary students. Right after lunch, I had some combination of middle and high school students.  This was a nice schedule because Days 1,3,5 were similar and same for Days 2,4,6.

The only challenge was having my own bell that I must keep track.  Since primary and secondary have separate bell schedules, I had to be careful not to let the primary out late or the high schoolers out early (this happened about 10 times during the first month).... -_-;

I got this though! The system has been instilled within me by now.

But, of course, my schedule for my 2nd year of teaching is NOTHING like my 1st year's.  Lovely.