We decided we’d had enough of the sedentary life, even if we had used the excuse that we had business to attend to. So we caught the ferry across to Hong Kong side, to do a spot of sight-seeing. We’d picked up a book from the Tourist Office listing six short walking tours in different parts of HK, so we thought we’d tackle one of them. The one we chose was around Western, a big local shopping area, where particular local products are sold. The walk included the ordinary commercial market, but there were also many less usual areas. Cloth St, Egg St, plus areas which specialised in snakes (prized for both their flesh + for making snakes’ blood wine – fortifying in the winter, we read), second-hand shops which weren’t flooded with Europeans, shops selling jade, selling potions. There was even one street which specialised in outdoor barbers’, but we somehow missed that – we managed to lose ourselves in the suggested walk once or twice, but the streets were confusing. All in all, quite a melange. In SE Asia, the unusual is common-place, so it is good, once in a while, to look at it with fresh eyes.
We did also manage to include some business, when I visited a couple of language school to enquire about work. I forgot to mention that last night we visited one school – they needed someone to help teach kids on a Sunday morning, so Val went to see about that, while we both thought it would be a good idea to have a look at the place. They had a conversational club going, so naturally we fell into that, chatting with a group of about 6 or 7 young Chinese, ages from 17 to 21 or so. They were friendly, + generally fluent – it was a good chat. Afterwards we talked with Roddy, a young English bloke who seems to be more or less running the place. He was both friendly + helpful, but considering he was younger than me, condescending in the extreme. He likened teaching English in HK to being a whore, which is probably fair enough. But he reckoned I had the potential to be a well-paid whore, since with an Oxford degree I could walk into the British Council, where they pay upwards of US$10 an hour (as opposed to two to two and a half in the other places.) I was not so sure, but willing to find out. Which brings us back to today.
I first tried the Maxwell School of English, another biggy which was on the way, but the Director of Studies was not available, so I filled in a form + said I’d get in touch. I was able to talk to a lady official at the British Council. As I’d expected, they only employed teachers with recognised EFL qualifications. They were, however, running a course this summer, the same as the International House one, only for free, with the stipulation that one worked for them for 2 terms afterwards. Certainly worthy of consideration.
Strolled back thro’ the city (once I’d spent some time reading The Observer) + decided to kill some time in town,+ then go to one of the HK Film Festival offerings – we’re quite fortunate to be here for it, as it seems a big + well put-together affair. They’re even showing “Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence” so we might get to see it at last. Decided upon “Loose Connections”, a recent British film. Had a meal first, at a Chinese fast-food place – it was a mistake, as I got flustered in the hurly-burly, + put myself in a bad mood. And unfortunately the film wasn’t good enough to compensate, an amateurish affair, with the acting on the stereotypical level of ITV sitcoms. Not that the script was much better. We should have followed our instincts + gone to see “Terms of Endearment”, the big Oscar winner this year – not part of the festival, just on ordinary release.
After the hectic business-making of the past two days, a more or less ordinary day of sight-seeing (though I did manage to do some searching for well-paid employment at the same time.) And, after a long time without, the opportunity for some western culture, in the form of cinema.
