Update: Hong Kong

We are here!

I have spent three days teaching English at a school in Hong Kong and getting to know the students. They have been so welcoming and some of them have been real gems! We have gotten along well and the door has been opened for some wonderful conversations.

Teaching has been tons of fun and we have been able to teach good values and moral lessons, along with getting the students to practice their English. By using tons of activities and games we have gotten the students excited about learning English and have also had fun with them and helped them to relax right before their major exam times. Exams are a big deal in Hong Kong and one of the social issues the students have talked to us about are the student suicides that happen around this time. The pressure is just so strong from society, their teachers and their parents that it is easier for them to give up. The students and the majority of people we have talked to are upset about it, but they don't know what the solution is, apart from a major academic change.

The weather here has been cold, believe it or not! When we first arrived it felt much colder than Edmonton, and none of us were prepared for it. I have been wearing my hoodie and rain coat together nearly every day!

The crowds weren't quite as bad as I imagined they would be, but over time the amount of people starts to wear on you. We rode the train around rush hour a few times and had to really "shove in" at the doors in order to fit. I think we have spent over 15 hours on the MTR (the subway) since we arrived, but their system is so easy to navigate because it's all in English and it's all color-coded!

Right now we are volunteering at an NGO doing very hard physical labor. It is exhausting but it is a great feeling to help them out a bit. At the end of the day we definitely sleep well! They have recently moved over to an old military base and they have many buildings that need cleaning. We spent the day yesterday moving furniture out of the Guard House and scrubbing it down. The building was very neat and had a prison door in one room with bars on the window and another room with ammunition storage and a gun rack! 

On Sunday we will be grabbing our huge backpacks, our day packs and our team bags and boarding the train to China for Phase 2!

I don't know when I will be able to write next or be able to post pictures, but I am looking forward to it!

I miss you and love you and can't wait to tell you more over the summer!