HK's Education Culture

My dad is a non-conformist, and thankfully so. I dislike doing what everyone else is doing (they're probably just giving into marketing or believing something the government said) or thinking what everyone else is thinking (ie "education has salvific power" as Mr Tall, expatriate blogger from Batgung so eloquently put it. In fact most of this article's sources come from that blog.).

Quoting dad in reference to the stock market and the methods people use to raise their children: "Most people are wrong. If you follow the sheep herd, you can't succeed."

I found a genius article that further support his argument of "if you're not born with intellectual capacity, there's not much you can do to expand it". Ok fine, I reworded it from "if you're stupid, you're stupid". He criticizes the mentality of "more difficult is better" when chinese moms are impressed by schools that teach at a more advanced level. If it's so simple why not just enroll everyone in a higher grade?

*Gasp* Not everyone's IQs are cut out for college: "Intelligence in the Classroom
Half of all children are below average, and teachers can do only so much for them."

I like this quote:
We live in an age when it is unfashionable to talk about the special responsibility of being gifted, because to do so acknowledges inequality of ability, which is elitist, and inequality of responsibilities, which is also elitist. And so children who know they are smarter than the other kids tend, in a most human reaction, to think of themselves as superior to them. Because giftedness is not to be talked about, no one tells high-IQ children explicitly, forcefully and repeatedly that their intellectual talent is a gift. That they are not superior human beings, but lucky ones. That the gift brings with it obligations to be worthy of it. That among those obligations, the most important and most difficult is to aim not just at academic accomplishment, but at wisdom.

And it doesn't matter if your IQ isn't sky-high! "What's Wrong With Vocational School?
Too many Americans are going to college."

Because of society's (in particular HK) overrated view on education, there is academic inflation in which babysitters might need a degree in Education.

And finally, this article, the author of which is from the Ivy Leagues, humbly reflects on the disadvantages of an elite education.

I must quote him:
One of the great errors of an elite education, then, is that it teaches you to think that measures of intelligence and academic achievement are measures of value in some moral or metaphysical sense. But they’re not. Graduates of elite schools are not more valuable than stupid people, or talentless people, or even lazy people. Their pain does not hurt more. Their souls do not weigh more. If I were religious, I would say, God does not love them more.

I am disgusted by 'my kid is better than your kid', 'so-and-so's daughter is going to (insert name school)' talks over dim sum at yum cha by a bunch of 'see lais' (middle aged chinese women notorious for being loud, opinionated and nosy).

And Mr Tall, HK expatriate blogger, provides an excellent summary of the HK education mentality and situation, which explains why salaries for fresh grads have plummeted and have not recovered yet. As I'm in my early 20s, I feel and see this situation, and the bleakness of those still struggling to worm their way into the career world and into a decent living so that they can forge a family (which means buying a house, and since housing is so expensive, that's very stressful....but that's another post altogether).

My dad encourages me to go to school to learn. That's why I'm doing a Masters... I don't put my faith in it elevating my salary or necessarily and automatically entitling me to my dream career. It might do all those things, but that's not the whole point.

The older you get, the smaller you feel in light of all the issues you see in the world.

Christmas

It's been soo long since I've last blogged and I can simply chalk it up to being occupied from day to night.

It's not perfect but I must say I am enjoying life.

I've taken a strong liking to potatoes until I heard on a radio show while in a taxi, that each spoonful had like 45 calories. Or something scary like that. I don't remember the exact numbers but I think I had about 4 meals with potatoes in it that week.

Hence: Salad-soup diet after all the gravy and potatoes.






I also had a record breaking amount of chocolate.

I wanted to talk about global warming in this post but nah... too lazy, and plus, it's time to go out again.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

A theoretically really really horrible morning

I don't even want to begin to explain why, but I have two pairs of glasses with vastly different prescriptions. I can say vastly because my eyes are THAT bad.

Neither pair is correct. One is significantly better than the other and enables me to get through life okay, but it unfailingly slips down my nose and is therefore very annoying.

So I got new ones, but they haven't arrived yet.

This morning, I was really really really sleepy (background information: yesterday was my birthday so I took the day off despite having started only a week before, blissfully enjoying life. I walked through the whole day though, and plus 'that time of the month' began, which generally makes one more achy and tired). I was wearing the bad glasses, the pair with prescription way off, probably by 400 degrees. My world was blurry.

More importantly though is that my mind was fuzzy. I could have fallen asleep standing up. As I dragged my feet (which was in a bit of pain due to too much walking the previous day) to the elevator this morning, I heard the wind howl outside, reverberated and amplified in the elevator corridor. At that point I wondered, could music possibly replicate this kind of mood? I mean, there is music about breakups, loneliness, sadness, anger, tiredness, death, regret... anything for this dead-as-a-zombie, I-don't-want-to-go-to-work, it's-cold-and-windy kind of mood?

Out I went, and the wind continued to howl. People of Hong Kong clutched their scarves, mittens and hats as they waited for the bus. (It was actually like 16 degrees.)

I don't know how, but I made it to work without missing some stop in the middle of my 1.5 hr commute.

I sat down in front of my computer, bewildered.

"Meeting." I heard somewhere.

Just one word and that sent me hurtling like a torpedo through the hall and down the stairs. It was 8:55 am and I realized that I was supposed to set up the room and projector for a ginormous 2.5 hour meeting at 9 am.

It was a maze downstairs but I found the projector. I hurtled back upstairs with the projector and luckily had got it set up in time. I had to pee, but no time...

2 hours later I still had to go pee...

My manager sat next to me.... so I had to look like I wasn't hungry, sleepy (was in REAL danger of dropping off any time by then), and needed to pee.

He also introduced me to everyone, but my world was blurry so I couldn't be sure who was who...

Good thing my weekend was good, and diluted out this whole experience.

I will upload pictures of the cutest things I saw on my birthday later (namely decorations in malls, to summarize, but no really! They're REALLY cute!)

First Day of Work

WOOHOO, I got hair extensions!! (will replace pic once I have a picture of myself with it)

Here's where I live and that's where I work... across HK.

I think it's time I uploaded a picture of myself to let you all know that I don't look any fobbier... except maybe, indirectly, the scarf, since it's not cold at all and I'm wearing one like the rest of the HK population, who cower in frozen fear at the slightest drop in temperature...that is not to say I don't mind the cold; I am very much afraid of the cold but I've gotten used to this kind of discomfort back in the harsh heater-less, bus-awaiting days at Waterloo...

My piano and English student (9 years old, but way more intelligent than your average 9 year old) thinks I'm his best friend or something and actually looked betrayed when I got a real job and couldn't come play with him as much anymore. It would have been cute if he wasn't so annoying and kept whining in person and in bold caps through my email "COME TO MY HOUSE EVERYDAY AND QUIT YOUR JOB." So I used this opportunity to teach him new words: "demanding" and "unfortunately". I told him that I was doing something meaningful, like helping people research bacteria from the Red Sea. He was like, "Red Sea? Like Moses in the Bible? I'll remove all the bacteria from the Red Sea so there's nothing to research." Viscous...

I think he's an attention whore, like most kids, especially HK kids. Back in high school, I liked using the word 'beady' to describe little kids' eyes, but I don't think I understood what that word meant until getting here... I don't know why, but kids' eyes in HK are really beady. Maybe it's the intelligence that is brimming in them, due to the steady diet of EPA and DHA, Mozart and other gross music, 'flash card training' and 'swimming and piano and violin and mandarin and math lessons' their parents fed them. But then, they grow up and it's not like they're any smarter because 'double loss' youth seems to be a real problem in HK. Double loss youth is a term that refers to youth who refuse to work because the real world is too harsh (low income, lack of job search skills, no goals, long hours and under-appreciation) and can't study anymore.

It's like, life is full of ironies. I ate a few soggy fries today for example. I didn't eat them while they were hot and crunchy, because they were oily and bad for the skin, but ended up hungry eventually to the point of accepting soggy fries.

So in conclusion, be happy with what you have right now because things could be worse.

Oh, I just realized that the title of this post is "first day at work" but I haven't talked about it... and I'm too tired to. So maybe later if I'm ever in the mood (Probably never).

AH BUT I did go to the cat cafe again! SO CUTE!

FFXIII versus : ) and offer!

woohoo! I got the offer! I sound more enthusiastic than I really am though theoretically, I should be; it's an awesome job. Although I'm happy about it, I wasn't getting the 'woohoo' feeling. I just calmly accepted the fact, and answered her email.

Seems like my stagnation period is over...well not really stagnation per se I guess, I was studying chinese most of the time, teaching and maintaining a social life... It was also nice to see some friends from Canada in HK. The weather has been improving too...nice to be able to walk around out there without breaking into sweat.

I'm so out of it sometimes... living life like it's a movie, not fully experiencing everything, not really paying attention to dates, details, big events...planning only when necessary. I'm emotionally calm, because I want to avoid excess ups and downs.

Hm, now I sound more depressed than I really am. Well actually, I'm not depressed at all... I'm very much happy and content.

Other than watching 'superlover' repeatedly, I'm also watching FFXIII versus, the extended trailer. It looks soo awesome (yeah yeah, I know...just impressed by white haired and angsty in a suit swinging around and looking bored while slaying heaps of soldiers)!! Yoko Shimomura, composer of the soundtrack, is also very awesome! I've been listening to her before I knew of FFXIII. I am so getting this game when it comes out. Maybe I need a passion that's simple, like a game or a movie.

Beware of your belongings... they're out to eat you in your sleep.

HK Ocean Park & an Interview

I went to ocean park and here are pics of either cute or ugly-yet-cute animals:

Pretty

Ugly yet cute.

Cute

Okay, this one warrants some explanation. If you click to enlarge, it's FF8 on the screen. This is the HK Science Museum, "Technology" exhibit. Yes, nothing to do with Ocean Park, but decided to upload.

Also nothing to do with Ocean Park. This one's a figure/toy with 16 bit music.

.
Back to ocean park... ugly yet cute category.

Ugly-yet-cute

Not cute, just ugly...poster in HK MTR (OH KEITA WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU)

Cute

Ugly yet cute

I was thinking my usual mess of unconstructive thoughts amidst a noisy crowd when the subway rolled noisily into view, and my phone noisily blared L'arc en ciel's "Loverboy."

Twas all very noisy, but I managed to record the details for...an interview!

I was surprised, even though I shouldn't be, considering I still throw out my resume from time to time. (I secretly didn't want to go to work because I wanted to continue to enjoy my semi-lazy lifestyle of part time school, but then I'm reminded of the fact that I have no $$ *cries*)

The interview wasn't all that special and I'm too lazy to record the details...
Main point : I'm well qualified for it, except it's 1.5 hours away from home, which is extravagant in terms of HK standards. Also, it's full time, and apparently "very very stressful with tight deadlines and potential overtime...can you handle it???! you're a girl!" said a Dr. I forgot his name. It's admin work with a University and they're doing some cool research on bacteria from the Red Sea, and we all know about me and my unhealthy fascination with bacteria (no pun intended).

I'm scared of getting an offer and having to start like, this week and get super busy and die from three nights of school, a full time job and a part time job.

I got a second interview, or something akin to a second interview...they invited me to see their operations tomorrow. (Actually, I should review my molecular genetics notes.)

But whatever happens, happens! God knows best. : )

In Class, being entertained by what should not be very entertaining

I'm in class, perfecting the art of tuning things out.

I'm so entertained by the occasional word I catch from the student presenters.

microbes --> mico bobs
fluctuations --> fuk u asians
vegetarian --> veget alien
formaldehyde makes you disease? dizzy? --> formel deehai makes you dieselless

So I acknowledge the fact that I'm being mean, laughing condescendingly down at the poor HKers who are already trying their hardest to learn the language, but it goes to show exactly how bored I am in class, being so readily entertained by the smallest of things.

There's one white guy in the class; everyone expects him to be the most fluent. Actually, he came from Canada. From Quebec. "Bonjour? Ca va bien? Merci? J'adore la mal anglais? " were the meagre French I still remember and once threw at him. "Why are you here?" I asked him (nicely), to which he confidently answered "Why not?" Well, good for him. It's not easy not knowing chinese and being a big white guy sticking out like a sore thumb in HK. I, on the other hand, look so local I often get asked for directions. And I do mean often, like over what is statistically reasonable. We all know I'm probably the worse person to ask. (recalls the many hours of getting lost on the world map in FF)

People are staring and wondering what is up with that girl with the laptop typing fast and loud and laughing to herself, clearly not paying attention....

My group is up.

We're presenting phytoremediation (an interesting topic actually) about using plants to suck up contaminants from the soil so they don't end up in our water, and subsequently, our babies, who will grow up with genetic disorders.

The class looked at me glassy-eyed. It was like talking to a bunch of dolls. The prof seemed fascinated by our powerpoint slides, so fixated on them that he did not once look at me speaking, and trying damned hard to make eye contact, as all good presenters do (theoretically).

No matter, not important.

What's important is this cute seal, called "ODaisy", painstakenly named by me and my bf. (yeah I'm aware that it's not grammatically correct but I think it sounds better that way)



OH, this is me but it looks NOTHING like me. It's the sunglasses.


O--O

"Stealing" in Macau

I lugged my 3 hole puncher all the way across the ocean, and find out that the new standard is 2 holes. I was dismayed. I've been using 3 holes all my life! It doesn't even make sense! 2 holes!! What about the edges that flap around, untethered? What about 'aiming' for the middle when punching? What about 'aiming' when you want to quickly snap the pages in place? But anyway, I eventually stopped grumbling and organized my notes into a binder.

About a week ago (at least I think it was a week ago....bad sense of time), I went to macau for a day.

Pork buns... serradura...portuguese dinner...biscuits and beef jerky to bring back to loved ones as souvenir...actually, I didn't experience any of the above macau trademarks. When pork buns showed up at a random street stand, my stomach was full of apple green tea. When serradura showed up, my friends were 10 meters ahead of me gawking at some building. When portuguese dinner should theoretically have been the next item on the to-do list, there was cirque du soleil, which was at the other end of Macau. When biscuits and beef jerky, nicely wrapped and fragrant reached my nose, I ran out of money.

But. Cirque du Soleil was crazy awesome. I was so impressed by the beautiful vocals, shimmery colours, and crazy acrobatic feats that I bought the CD (which was very very expensive, even by Canadian standards), AND unwittingly 'stole' another CD. My friend thought I'd forgotten to pick it up from the cash register, so I headed back, grabbed whatever was lying on the table with conviction and marched out of there.

Ooops....

I've been craving pork buns since then.

School started. For the first two weeks, I diligently 'sat' through all the courses in my program so I could pick what interested me the most, and also for learning's sake. 3 hours at night 4/5 days/week + 2 hours travel time was actually quite tiring, so I stopped.

My University's entrance.


Random shipping dock in HK


Macau casino - lots of tacky gold paint






Anyone up for "bungy" jumping?


the venetian...

Some free show.

Quit

I've submitted my resignation letter and successfully disengaged myself from an unexciting and passionless job. Am I free from the cage of employment or trapped in unemployment? I think I'm free, because not only have I crossed off something on my mental to-do list, I'm free to look for something better. It's out there and I'm sure of it.

I want to take some time to gather myself and properly conduct a job hunt, no... career hunt. Call me idealistic, but I want a job that fits into the long term career path that I've set out for myself. Yes I sound like such a loser for stating that... I mean, who at this age doesn't?

But you know what? By stating it out loud, it helps me remind myself that I do in fact have a dream and that I have a direction. Thus, I can keep moving and we all know that I'm a sucker for concepts like "progress".

Maybe I'm inadequate at the moment for this 'future', or maybe what I have in mind regarding 'it' isn't exactly what it is! It doesn't matter... those kinks will work itself out. What is important is hope in human beings. Without hope, there is no image of the future, and thus nothing to propel us forward. There would be no motivation to work hard, to invest in oneself, and to contribute to society.

And she's late for orientation

IT'S SEPTEMBER

I arrived at University Orientation late yesterday, tumbling into the room out of breath from climbing the wrong flight of stairs, running back down, and going up the correct one.

And you know what? Other than missing the first 15 minutes of the program intro, I don't particularly give too much of a crap that I bungled in, disturbing people, not having access to a computer cuz they're all taken, and looking like a befangled mess...

And you know what? After sitting in a classroom for a few hours, I think I can actually do this... the whole part time school + part time job hunt + part time work + part time chinese thing (plus my social life).

In all honesty... I just want my ideal career to just drop out of the sky without going through all of the above. And of course, that is impossible. I have to be interviewed even for my ideal job. *big sigh*

OH yeah. After orientation, I got lost because everything looks different in the dark. I wandered onto a sketchy street full of hotels. Like, one hotel after another. And dark alleys.

Thank God for GPS.

I look up.

Hello Kitty stares back at me.

The little girl who used to occupy this room must have loved Hello Kitty. The mouthless cat is seen in random places in the form of stickers, and now, a light.

NO MORE.

This is my new light and it's pretty damn cool. Isobutane on my ceiling is better than being in the ozone layer.


My manager treats the team to a meal, which includes a salad of mountainous proportions obtained from the salad bar. (Yes, this would be MY work of art!)
And on the subway, I spotted something RARE. A CASSETTE PLAYER. No, I'm not mistaken, I saw the cassette wheels spin.

I'm not sure how a cooler gel pack is used for fishing, on the beach, or for driving. "Eatable" is actually a word though...Remember the phone that could only do 'manho' and not 'mango'? Maybe this is why... it's apparently someone's name.


Time really flies! It's already the end of August, and for some reason I think there's one more month before September, but there isn't. And for some reason, right after September, I usually freak out cuz I know my birthday is hanging around the corner and getting older (and thus theoretically more mature) can be disconcerting.

But I'm happy time passed because it means I got into some sort of rhythm, and came out of the move alive and well. And I'm excited about school. School has become some sort of comfort zone for me, and even having a bit of it, is reassuring.

I went to the beach ('cheung chau') last weekend. The scenery, sand and water was quite awesome, as this is the actual sea, and not some disappointing murky pond with smoke stacks sticking out in the distance. Water was hella salty though. Seafood was great. The beach experience was enhanced by 'drama'. Which always makes life interesting.

Me in the middle with the UV umbrella.



To my dearest friends... thank you for your kind words. I'm happy, but I do get those 'moments' where I'm stressed out and in those moments, your messages really help lift my spirits and give me motivation to keep working at it.

And thank you especially to God who's always there, and blessing me with so much I don't deserve.