Dr MacMillan meeting with our colleagues, Ken Li and Siuyo, from the International Office at the EdUHK

Mikayla had an exceptional experience at the Early Childhood Learning Center on the campus at the Education University of Hong Kong!

It’s been an exciting and fun week for my students! The ECLC is split up into three different groups depending on age; K1 (3-4 years old),  K2 (4-5 years old), and K3 (5-6 years old). Each group is also split up whether they are at school the whole day, morning or afternoon. I only work with teaching lessons to K2 and K1 groups but I do spend time with K3 children during free play periods.

My initial concern was that I wouldn’t be able to establish strong connections with the children. It’s great that I was wrong! (I spend most of my time with K2 whole group because I originally was following the local teacher before making the transition to work with the English teacher. When the English teacher isn’t teaching a lesson or having a planning period, I spend my time with K2 whole group.)

Every English lesson is 30 minutes long. The lesson includes a good morning/ afternoon song and a goodbye song. K2’s good morning/good afternoon song goes like this:

Good morning, good morning, nice to see your smiling face.

Good morning, good morning, to you and to you.

Hello, hello, how are you?

Hello, hello, how are you?

Good morning, good morning, to you and to you.

K1’s good morning/good afternoon song goes like this:

The good morning train is coming, how are you? (choo, choo!)

The good morning train is coming, how are you? (choo, choo!)

The good morning train is coming, the good morning train is coming,

Good morning to (student name), how are you? (choo, choo!)

Repeat as necessary.

The goodbye song is the same for the groups: 

Bye, Bye, Bye, Say Goodbye.

Bye, Bye, Bye, Say Goodbye.

Bye Bye!

The English lesson is either on phonics or related to a theme and this month it is related to Earth’s resources/ materials. 

K1 had a fun lesson when learning the sound of the letter f. The students are given a review of letter sounds that they have been taught before where they are shown the letter card and they have to repeat the letter sound. They are then shown a large poster of the letter f and four words that start with f and a picture. The kids were then told they would find lowercase f’s and capital F’s in a tub of foam. It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it. We didn’t anticipate that the shaving cream would be so thick that the letters couldn’t really be seen so I had to step in and help the kids scrape off the huge chunks of shaving cream because they didn’t understand how to scrape it against the tub. Their aprons did not help much because they got the shaving cream all over their clothes so after the activity we had to get them a change of clothes.

Back in the States, I’ve had experience working with ELLs from my experience of substitute teaching in ESL classes and the general classroom in a middle school setting as well as my one-on-one instruction with a 2nd-grade ELL student for reading practice for the block. So it’s interesting how similar and how it differs back home. The majority of the students here have proficient basic knowledge of English. During their time with their local teacher where the institution is either in Cantonese or Mandarin you will hear the majority of the children’s conversation in their native language but there are many students who will switch back and forth. This amazes me as they are so little and they pick it up so quickly and it’s interesting to see because my own family also switches between two languages seamlessly as well. When the children are attending their English lessons, the expectation is that they only speak English. Many accomplish that very easily and some struggle with that so you don’t see them participate as much or it’s a combination of not knowing the English words to communicate and shyness. It’s very cute though as this happens often, the kids will start answering in English and pause and say they don’t know how to translate what they want to say in English so it’s like a guessing game trying to figure out what they want to say haha.

All the students in the school have been there since the beginning of the academic school year except one student. Wallace from K2 pm class had come a few weeks ago and his progress has been amazing as he has picked it up so quickly. As I have said before, the school gives instruction in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. Most of the instruction is in Cantonese though, but in the school day schedule the kids are getting an even amount of time of instruction in Mandarin and English. Wallace had moved here from Mainland China, and he picked up English fairly quickly. He is an interesting case as unlike all the other students, he only knows Mandarin. The other kids in his class have welcomed him with open arms and it definitely also has to do with the class being so small as there are only 4 students in the K2 pm class. I have noticed that his pronunciation of English words are proficient and he is not shy at all to speak out during the lessons. I think a lot of the time he doesn’t understand what is being said which goes to say how important visuals are when working with ELL students which is what Ms. Chloe does. He does a lot of mimicking the words of the other students so I’m not sure how much of the information he is understanding but nonetheless, the progress of his English usage from when he first got here is immense!

Hello!

I am really lucky as I got two weeks off for Easter Break! So my break was from April 1st – April 16th! I was fortunate enough to have a family member come to visit me as they were already traveling around Asia. We stayed in Northpoint on Hong Kong Island from April 7th-April 11th. There are three major regions of HK: Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and New Territories (EdUHK is located in New Territories) 

Here are some places that I went to that I think are worth visiting if you end up in Hong Kong at some point!

Nan Lian Garden

Tang Dynasty-style garden park featuring tranquil walking paths, waterfalls, koi ponds & a cafe!

Victoria Peak Tram/ Victoria Peak/Madam Tussauds HK

My uncle and I got tickets where you got to take the Peak Tram and a Madam Tussauds Wax Museum. Some figures there were Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran, Barack Obama, Spiderman, etc.

Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery 

This is definitely a must-see location! I didn’t realize that Po Fook Ancestral Halls (public cemetery) was in the same vicinity so we were at the wrong entrance. It was quite a hike so be prepared for it but definitely worth it!

Lantau Island (Ngong Ping 360)

If you love cable cars like me, then you won’t be disappointed in this one! Both ways are 25-minute rides and have views over the water and the forest. The Big Buddha is definitely a must see!

From the 11th – 16th, I took a solo trip to Phuket, Thailand. I was quite nervous to be traveling on my own. While I had two weeks off, my friends at the university did not because their classes were still going on and I only had to focus on student teaching. Thailand is very close so I had a quick flight that was 3 hours! 

While it was quite intimidating to travel solo, I made friends on each of the excursions that I went on! It was also nice to explore by yourself as it’s at your own pace and nothing is holding you back! I recommend booking through Klook as they give you good deals. Additionally, the 2 excursions that I had done provided pickup at the hostel I was staying at. 

James Bond, Phang Nga Bay & Hong Island Tour

There are so many islands in Thailand and ultimately I ended up on the James Bond, Phang Nga Bay & Hong Island Tour. The tour brought us to Phang Nga Bay, Phanak Island, James Bond Island, and Paddle Rock. On two of those islands, we got on kayaks and someone had kayaked for us which is nice because one of the islands it was a cave and we basically had to lay down in the cave. I had made friends with these two other girls who were on the break as well from Malaysia so it was nice to have someone to hang out with during this excursion because it was very long. I got picked up at 7 am and I got dropped off at 5 pm. They provided drinks and lunch as well. 

Green Elephant Sanctuary Park

The next thing that I did in Phuket was my favorite part of my trip! I did a morning tour at the Green Elephant Sanctuary Park. The tour included feeding the elephants, information about the vision for the park, the history of elephants in Thailand, a mud spa pool with the elephants, rinsing the elephants off, and a Thai buffet. The tour also had people taking photos throughout the tour that are free to download through Facebook which is really nice for solo travelers like me. The sanctuary had 13 female elephants and 1 male baby elephant and all of them are rescued. Their recent rescue was the mother elephant and baby as they were going to be separated before the sanctuary stepped in. The tour guide was telling us how elephant rides are a very popular tourist activity but the practice is a form of animal cruelty as they are not designed to be ridden. She had said that the sanctuaries go around and have to buy the elephants off people because they are not just going to give them up willingly. She said it cost up to 2,234,700 Baht to buy an elephant (~65,000 US dollars)!

Songkran Festival

I had come to Thailand at the perfect time and I didn’t even know it. Songkran is Thailand’s most famous festival. An important event on the Buddhist calendar, this ‘water splashing’ festival marks the beginning of the traditional Thai New Year.  This year it was from Thursday, Apri13th – Saturday, April 15th. Water is symbolic as it washes away the previous year so people can get ready for the new year. The streets were filled with pickup trucks throwing water at locals and tourists alike and pretty much everyone had a water gun on them (which was very nice because every day was over 90 degrees with high UV!)

Chillva Market

Hitting up a night market is essential not only in Hong Kong but in Phuket as well! It offers a fascinating mix of secondhand goods, curios, and souvenirs, as well as great local food. I went with two girls from my hostel and we went to a bunch of stalls and shared everything.

(my previous introduction post was submitted by Dr. MacMillan due to technical difficulties!)

I can’t believe a week has already passed in Hong Kong! 

My journey to HK began on Sunday morning when I flew out from Boston through United Airlines with a layover in San Francisco. I traveled a total of 29 hours!! The airplane was a Boeing 777-300, AKA the biggest airplane I have ever seen. It was also completely full- every single seat was taken. On the flight, I was given a dinner and breakfast meal, 2 snacks/drinks, and a blanket and pillow. When I finally landed in Hong Kong it was Tuesday morning due to the 12-hour time difference. 

I can’t stress this enough but it is important to obtain an Octopus Card before arriving at the Education University of Hong Kong (Eduhk). It is definitely essential to having during your time here. It is HK$50 to get one and I recommend loading at least HK$200 to make your life easier for the first few days. The Octopus Card is not only used for the transportation system, but can also be used in supermarkets, fast food chains, and shops- basically like a credit card. You can reload it at any 7/11 but you have to use cash. You can also add it to your wallet if you have an iPhone which is even more convenient.

The Global Affairs Office has a program that helps exchange students get situated and they have been very helpful with my transition here in HK. Before my arrival, they assigned me a buddy through their Buddy Programme and they were available through WhatsApp to answer any questions that I had before I got to HK. I went to the GAO first when I got to campus and my buddy gave me a tour of campus and introduced me to some of the exchange students to whom I am glad to say that I have gotten really close!

It’s pretty incredible how the international exchange program of the university is so far-reaching that I have met people from all around the world; Pakistan, Netherlands, Kyrgyzstan, the U.K., Sweden, Japan, and of course, America!

I will be working at The Education University of Hong Kong Early Childhood Center (ECLC). I will be working 4 days a week, Monday-Thursday from 8:30 am-5:30 pm (I will be working some Fridays depending on whether or not the following Monday is a public holiday). It is quite nice that where I will be staying (JCSQ) is in the same building as the ECLC. The ECLC is the whole ground floor of the building and I am residing on the 5th floor, so it is the shortest commute to work I will have in my life! ECLC has three groups for kids: K3, K2, and K1. I was told that I was going to be working with Ms. Yue and K2. There are 9 children in the K2 group. There are three english teachers at this school and they work with all three groups at different times. I was surprised that I was going to be following Ms. Yue since all her instruction is in Cantonese (she/’ll talk in English occasionally but only for a few sentences). I’m in the process of switching to following an English teacher, which demonstrates how important it is to advocate for yourself which is definitely an important thing to do for not only yourself but for your students!

All in all, I am enjoying my experience here so far and am looking forward to what I will learn and the beautiful places I will visit. I am also coming at a time when they have Easter Break and I will be getting 2 weeks off! 

Hello from Hong Kong!

With this post I wanted to talk a little about my school, my last week, and my overall experiences here in Hong Kong and at the Early Childhood Learning Center (ECLC).

I was placed with the English teacher at the school, so I didn’t have one class that I was in all the time, instead visiting all of the different classes throughout each day. I was really worried about this initially because I didn’t think I’d be able to make strong connections with the children. I’m very glad that I was wrong! I still struggled with some names (because most children have an English and a Chinese name!), but I made a lot of wonderful connections in every class and will always remember them.

I loved my time at the school and was surprised with how much I learned and will be able to use in my future. I was always super busy and I loved being able to work with very young children, which was my first more permanent placement with preschool aged kiddos. It was always interesting to talk to the children whether they were just learning English or developing their ability to use it. I have planned and implemented a unit of lessons, which I loved doing. In my unit, I was able to read stories, have the children decorate their own pancakes, and even made pancakes with each of my classes!  They had so much fun and loved talking about the story whenever they saw me throughout the week. I talked as much as I could with all the children and loved playing games or doing activities with them whenever I had the chance. I read a lot of stories to all different ages of children, helped with writing, danced and exercised with them, went on outings, participated in outdoor lessons/activities, and observed their daily activities and routines.

I have learned so much from this school. It’s interesting because I didn’t think I would learn too much that I would be able to implement in my future classroom because of how strict I believed the Hong Kong education system was. But this school is exempt from the rigidness that is seen in regular Hong Kong schools and they are proud of that! If I could find this type of school at home, I would jump at the chance to work there.

Overall I made SO many connections with students and I was surprised with how upset many of them were that I was leaving. The memories that I have made at ECLC will always be some of my favorite. I will miss my little ones very much!

I’m going to miss Hong Kong very much.  It was a very worthwhile experience and I’m so happy with how much travelling and adventuring we were able to fit in while we were here. Even though we were often exhausted, sore, and had a lot to do, we always pushed through and made the most of our time here. We have made an extreme amount of good memories and funny stories and I’m so happy with all that we’ve accomplished. I highly recommend completing your student teaching abroad!

Please reach out to me if you are ever thinking of going to complete your student teaching in Hong Kong (or elsewhere!), are already there and have questions, or just want to travel there for fun! (My email: annalisecarney@gmail.com)

Signing off for my last time in Hong Kong,

Annalise (or as my little ones will yell: “Miss Anna!”)

 

JCPS Overview 

Something I loved about this school was the fact that it was on campus. It was only about a 5 10 minute walk from the dorms. The campus is beautiful. It is very hard to explain it, but the recess areas were basically outside on each floor. The kids were able to go outside for recess everyday. The view is also BEAUTIFUL. It is something I won’t ever forget. 

Being at the Jockey Club Primary School has given me an amazing outlook on education. The school consists of grades 1-6. In total, there are 24 classes. 5 classes for grades 1-3 and 3 classes for grades 4-6. The classroom size ranges from 25-35 students. The classes are split up by educational level. For example, the highest students in each grade are placed in class A, and the lowest for 1-3 are in class E, and in 4-6 they are in class C. Classrooms are co-taught in most cases whether it is with a student teacher or another teacher. Some classes are also taught with tablets to work on self-learning skills and their E-Learning skills. Students spend majority of their day in the same classroom because students have a different teacher for each subject being taught. 

An example of the student’s day would be: 

8:40-9:10—Reading/Homeroom 

9:10-9:50/9:50-10:30  Periods 1&2

10:30-10:55— Recess (English Activities) & Snack 

10:55-11:35/ 11:35-12:15/ 12:15-12:55— Periods 3-5 

12:55-1:50— Lunch/Reading/Recess 

1L50-2:30/ 2:30-3:10— Periods 6&7 

3:10-3:40— Self-study 

3:40-4:40— After School Activities 

Teaching:

Each student teacher was given an English teacher to work with. This semester there were 10 student teachers and 10 English teachers, so we were only given one class to teach per day. Along with teaching English with our designated teacher, we were given a PLPRW class to work with. I am not exactly sure what PLPRW stand for, but basically, each grade is given a day off during the week from English to have this class. It is a double period. Each grade has a book they read and they have a packet to go along with it that contains grammar, phonics, writing, and vocabulary. You help the teachers teach the class. The teachers are not typical English teachers, they are teachers who strictly teach PLPRW. For example, my two teachers that I worked with were from California (Sal) and the UK (Gavin). There were two other teachers, one from the States and the other was from the UK as well. 

This semester, I worked with class 4A. I was given 1 week of observation before I started teaching. (It can be 2 weeks but since my first week was Curriculum week, I was short a week.) I worked on a Balanced Nutrition unit. Their units always have a life lesson to them. The unit before I started teaching was based on portions, where my unit was based on what foods they should be eating and what happens if you eat too many bad foods. Within each unit, there is a story, 2-3 grammar lessons, a learn and discover (Mine was about reading food labels), and a listening activity. All of the A classes use tablets. All of their books used throughout the day are on the tablets. This took some adjusting to me because I did not have one to use, but the teacher was kind enough to let me use hers during the lessons. 

During PLPRW, I was able to teach a lot as well. It all depends on which teachers you are placed with for the semester. I had two different teachers, Sal and Gavin. Gavin let me help him teach a lot during the class, which I loved. It gave me an opportunity to get to know all of the students more. This gave me the opportunity to work 5A, 4C and 6C. It was amazing to be able to work with all three grades and see the differences in levels. We were reading The Wizard of Oz and Puss in Boots, which were both so fun to do with the students. 

Lessons: 

Each week, you will provide your mentor a lesson plan. They are very very simple here which I loved because usually my lessons wouldn’t go exactly how I planned. To begin each lesson, I used PowerPoint games, Quizizz (AWESOME WEBSITE) and Kahoot to review the material I went over the class before. The students absolutely loved doing them because they are extremely competitive! Then, I would focus on one part of the unit (grammar, vocabulary, reading, etc). It is very important that you remember these are all ESL students so plan to spend a decent amount of time on parts that you wouldn’t expect to. It took me a little bit of time to get the hang of that. It is also very important to word your questions using very simple terminology and without any slang. I did not realize how much I used until I got here! Little things like “why?” Instead of “how come?” make a huge difference. 

Recess: 

I had recess duty on the floor that my classrooms were located on so I was able to create great connections with my students at recess! Each student teacher is given a floor/area for recess duty. We would come up with “American” games to play with the students at this time. For example, students love charades or pictionary. 

English Week: 

This was one of my favorite weeks here. During recess, all of the student teachers and the PLPRW teachers were in charge of table games. The games were charades, riddles, heads up, name 5 things, and chatters’ corner. (Perfect games for recess duty!!) Each student was given a stamp chart. When the students were able to successfully answer the question, or complete each assignment, they were given stamps. When they filled their card, they got a prize. It was amazing to work with the students of all grades. The younger kids loved playing the games and I loved working with them. They are SO stinkin’ cute. 

Curriculum Week

The week I began at the school was their Curriculum Week. Curriculum Week is STREAM week. (Science, technology, reading, engineering, art, math) Each grade would create something different. 6th grade created rocket ships, 4th grade created futuristic instruments and 2nd grade created planes, 3rd grade created aprons and hats. This week was a bit intimidating at first because it was all in Cantonese. Nothing like my first week being in a completely different language! Luckily, my mentor, Tiffany was with me the entire time and she was able to translate a lot of it to me. Also, I was working with 4th grade, which was a lot of hands on work. I was able to help them as much as I could with what I understood was suppose to be happening. Students then used Mictobit to create music for their futuristic instruments. I was amazed that they knew how to do that because honestly, I had no idea what they were doing. Then, students created a catalogue that was advertising their instrument. This part was in English so I was able to help them with that. My favorite part was when the students presented their instruments. All of 3rd and 4th grade was able to go around and observe everyone’s instruments/clothing. Then, the teachers gave awards to instruments that they thought were most creative, most realistic, etc. 

It was incredible to see how quickly students were able to create actual instruments with sounds. The students were all so proud of the work they created and I was honored to be able to participate and help the students with this. 

Other Student Teachers:

I spent majority of my days here with the other student teachers. We were all in the same room everyday working on lesson plans together, planning trips, and just learning about each other’s cultures. I met friends from all over the world. There were 4 students from Northern Ireland, Latvia, Spain, and two students from the EDUHK. They pretty much saved me from feeling completely lost here. Coming laster than all of the other exchange students, I was nervous I wasn’t going to have the same experience, but the student teachers made sure me and Annalise felt comfortable. If I had any questions, they were the ones to go to. It was also having other student teachers from EDUHK because any strange or random questions I had about HK, they were my go to people. They also would bring in HK snacks all the time for us to share! The other student teachers did the same if they brought stuff from home. I highly suggest bringing your favorite American snack to introduce to them! 

I will add pictures to the comments because it won’t allow me to on here!

Hello from Hong Kong!

 

We have been super busy with teaching, exploring, and travelling on our Easter Break. With this post, I wanted to talk about travel and adventuring around Hong Kong. I found it really helpful to look at the blogs to see what to do when travelling before I came, so I wanted to do my best to add to the information with some of my own. Kiley will also be posting another blog detailing some more of our adventures.

It’s very easy to get around the city, but some prior planning can be really helpful when you first arrive because Hong Kong can be a little confusing to get around. There are multiple levels to the city and lots of different ways to get to the same place (by bus, taxi, escalator system, walking, MTR!). Google Maps doesn’t really like it here and often thinks you have wings or a boat on hand, but using Google Maps was still very helpful in helping us get the general direction that we needed to head in and for the names of streets. I would also recommend watching the crowd and reading all of the signs. Many of the things on this list are easy to find on the pink “tourist” signs that are usually all around the city and you can always ask someone for help. One huge suggestion would be to be careful when exiting any MTR (train/subway) station. Many of them have multiple exits and signs that will help you to get to the right level that you need to be on.

 

Helpful Apps

“Klook” is a free app that allows you to look up deals on any kind of ticket for a lot of the places on this list. It also shows you a lot of interesting ideas if you are searching for some things to do.

“Google Maps”

“Maps.me”

“XE Currency” Converter (very helpful for quickly calculating HK dollars to USD).

“Hong Kong” (MTR train map and times)

“KMB . LWB” app for the bus system that gives you times and locations

 

Zoological and Botanical Gardens (Free)

A hidden away outdoor garden with birds, monkeys, and lots of different trees and flowers. There were a lot of animals, more than I was expecting, and I loved being able to see all the different types of monkeys who were climbing around, eating, sleeping, and making lots of loud noises!

 

Ladies Market (Free)

This is an outdoor market right in the middle of a city and you can get lots of designer bags, clothes, jewelry, souvenirs, phone cases, art, and a whole lot more. It is a crazy place to go bargain hunting and haggling is the norm. If you aren’t getting something for half of what the seller offered, you’re getting ripped off. I personally hate haggling because you never know if you’re actually getting a deal or not, but it’s definitely fun to barter and try different tactics to get a steal. Especially because if they say “no,” the same items are available at the next stall.

 

White Cube (Free)

This is a modern art gallery. It is pretty small, but worth it if you are into the style of art that they have or you like whichever artist is being shown.

 

Museum of Space (Free with your student card from EduHK)

A very small exhibition room, but they have a large movie viewing dome with lots of shows!

 

Hong Kong Public Library (Free)

A large and beautiful public library with a bookstore. It is right across from Victoria Park, which is a very nice park with some statues and sculptures.

 

PMQ (Free to look around)

The PMQ is a building filled with pop up art stores and art exhibits. We were able to see an exhibit by KAWS, an artist who I love! It is in an awesome area in the city, SOHO, which is filled with interesting food shops, art galleries, artsy stores, and the walls are covered in beautiful art work. It can be a little pricey, but definitely worth exploring, especially if you take the escalator system up, which we didn’t know about on our first trip and it ended up being quite the hike!

 

Man Mo Temple (Free)

A temple near the SOHO area is one of the oldest temples in the city. We have seen a lot of temples while we have been here and many of them have interesting histories and are right in the middle of cites. It’s an interesting contrast.

 

Tai Kwun (Free)

A old prison in the SOHO area that has been transformed into an art filled area and a bit of a museum about its history. They had some interesting exhibits outdoors when we went and we loved exploring all the art stores and learning about the history of the area.

 

Victoria Peak Tram and Victoria Peak (Costs vary, we paid about $13USD with included egg waffle!)

Victoria peak is beautiful and worth seeing. It is a mall, viewing area, and has a lot of restaurants at the highest point in the city. It has a beautiful view, some areas to walk around, and when you take the Tram up it’s really interesting to see how tall the city really is.

Festival Walk (Free)

Festival Walk is a large mall that has a lot of different stores, places to eat, a cinema, and an ice skating rink where we watched some young figure skaters compete.

 

Party Room (Costs vary)

We went to a “party room” that they have in the city with some other exchange students, they had a pool table, food, karaoke, a ball pit, stuffed animals, a claw machine, places to take pictures, and lots of video games. We had a great time hanging out and I love learning more about the other exchange students and the programs that got them here in Hong Kong!

 

Sai Kung (Free to look around)

                This is an area on the water with a large fishing village. My students took me here and we looked at the giant tanks of fish, shrimp, and crab, talked to the people selling their product right off the boats in the water, ate some delicious food, and saw a lot of the boats that can take you around to the small islands and beaches all around this area.

 

Lam Tsuen Valley Wishing Tree (Free)

This is a very small area, but my students took me here and we had a great time. It is a valley that is the site of an old wishing tree that has an interesting history. We had a lot of fun trying to toss our orange into the tree so that our wish would come true!

 

Garden Hill (Free)

We found this place with some exchange students who had been before. It is a place where you can see the whole city after walking up quite a few stairs to get to the top of this hill. The view was amazing and I would highly recommend it. It was very tricky to get to, because the formal entrance is pretty hidden, but it is a well-known lookout and at night provided a breathtaking view.

 

Kowloon Walled City Park (Free)

                This park was very beautiful to visit. It has a lot of information about the area and its history and beautiful architecture, art work, landscaping, and really is unique to look at compared to the towering buildings that surround such a small and quaint park.

 

10,000 Buddhas (Free)

It’s a bit of a hike to get to and like most things in Hong Kong there’s some stairs involved, but the stairs are lined with gold buddhas and once you finally get to the top there are beautiful statues and temples that are worth the hike. Sometimes there’s even monkeys around, but they must have been sleeping when we visited!

 

I’m really happy with how much adventuring we have been able to do! We are super tired, but it has been completely worth it. The city is gorgeous and if you walk around, you can always find awesome places for food, coffee, and little stores that you never would have known about without some wandering/getting lost. It’s definitely been really helpful to talk to exchange students, local teachers, and to do a lot of research to make these adventures as rewarding as possible. We still have a number of exciting things left on our list and I am really looking forward to continuing our exploring and to finish up my last weeks of lessons with my students. I’m really missing being in the school now that we’ve had our long Easter break!

 

Until the next post,

Annalise

So my time is over halfway done here and I have been exploring the area nonstop! In my final post, I will be telling you all about my school experience, I just want to make sure I include everything at once!

Over Easter break, Annalise and I went to Australia! Unfortunately, our breaks did not line up directly, but we were able to get 6 days together. If Australia is on your bucket list, I highly suggest going from Hong Kong. There is a direct flight with Cathay Pacific (the same airline we used to come to HK) and it was about 8 hours. I know that seems like a lot, but compared to how long it would take to get there from USA, it is a breeze. It did cost us about $800USD, but if we planned sooner, we definitely could have gotten them cheaper. We help contemplating whether or not go to there or do places in Asia but since it was Easter Break, we could not find any direct flights that were cheap to go to places around here.  Going to Australia has always been a dream of mine and it will definitely be an experience I will never forget. We went to multiple zoos, an aquarium, the Tower Eye, which was a BEAUTIFUL view, and so many other things. Fortunately, we were able to get cheap hotel rooms from my brother, but hostels are a great idea.

One huge piece of advice: PLAN AHEAD. You can fit in so many cool things if you have a plan. Also, getting lost can also be very fun as long as you’re in a safe area. Annalise and I found so many awesome spots when getting lost.

Here are some things we suggest doing when coming to HK! Annalise has a list as well of other places.

Charlie Café- In this cafe, there are a ton of different desserts and food items that have Charlie Brown treats on them! It was very good and they had a lot of different desserts. It is located in Tsim She Tsui. It wasn’t very busy at all so we didn’t have to wait. 

58-60 Grandville Road G/F & 1/F Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Cafe Idea (Cat Cafe) – If you love cats, this is a must! A lot of drinks, food and dessert. There were about 7 cats that we were able to see but many more there. There was a room designated for the cats so if there aren’t any near your table, you can go in the room and pet them. There are more than one of these but the one we went to was located in Monk Kok.To get in there, you have to go up an elevator and then down a hallway. 

83 Argyle Street Monk Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Disneyland ($50USD with KLOOK): This is a MUST SEE. If you have gone to Disney in Florida or California, this is going to be a lot smaller but it is a lot of fun. They have the characters, rides, food, and gift shops. At 3:00 there was a parade, so definitely look up times for it because it was amazing. I suggest getting there 15-30 minutes early because they will let you in and you can be first in line for the rides and have little to no wait. I also would suggest planning your rides because the lines get very very long. It would be smart to do those rides first! It is super easy to get to. Take the MTR and there is a line specifically for Disney. The train is adorable and everything including the windows is Mickey. It takes about 1hr30 minutes-2 hours depending on the day you choose to go to.

Temple Street Night Market- Located off of the Jordan line, this is a night market full of small outside vender shops. This is where you can get many souvenirs for all your friends and family for very cheap. Make sure you bargain! They will charge you about 3x more than what they are really worth. I was able to get a (fake) Fjallraven Kanken bag for about $8. This is similar to the Ladies Market, but has more clothing and artsy gifts. Definitely worth giving a shot 🙂 

Museums: 

History Museum(FREE with student ID): This was one of my favorites! My favorite part was the section where they had all of their holidays and events in exhibitions. They explained them all and showed what they looked like. They give you directions to show you how to get around and not miss anything. Definitely read the signs that explain what is going on in each room because this is a great, FREE way to learn about the history of Hong Kong! 

MTR East Tsim Sha Tsui Station Exit P2- About a 10 minute walk

100 Chatham Road South, Tsim Sha Tsui East

Science Museum (FREE with student ID): Located in the same area as the History Museum. If you are into science, this is a definite go-to. It was $5HKD to go into the special exhibition, highly encourage it! The museum was big and FREE besides the special exhibition. There were a lot of hands on parts of the museum.

Science Museum Road, Tsim Sha Tsui 

Heritage Museum (FREE with student ID) : This is located right next to the Space Museum. You have to go up the elevator, there are signs to tell you the floor. I believe it changes every now and then on the material they have in there but there were beautiful paintings in there. It isn’t a very popular space, but if you are into art, this is definitely a quiet place to go to. They even let us sign our name using the same paint they used for the artwork. 

Ocean Park ($50USD) – This was one of my favorite things that we did here! We were able to see pandas, red pandas, walruses, and many other animals as well as go on rollercoasters! It was an all day trip. Get the tickets on KLOOK. I don’t suggest getting the deal with the food plan unless you really like rice and chicken because it only works on that for a meal. The MTR takes you directly there, but it takes about 1hr45 minutes to get there. Get there 30 minutes early! 

Big Buddha (Ngong Ping 360- $30 KLOOK): This was an absolute amazing experience. Not only was the Big Buddha beautiful, you are able to take the cable car up there and the view is gorgeous. If you are afraid of heights (like me) you can take a bus that takes about an hour and a half, but the view made it worth being a little scared. We got the tickets on KLOOK for $30USD and we we were on a cable car with a clear bottom so you could see everything. There was about a 45 minute wait so going during the week would be better or go very early. There is a lot to do up there as well. You can pay extra and go in the Buddha, but definitely not necessary to do so. There were wild cows and dogs, so made the experience that much better. 

Escalators- These Escalators will save your life. Before knowing about this, we walked up a HUGE hill that made us feel like our legs were going to fall off. The escalators can be found by using Google Map and typing in mid-level escalators. Along the way, you are able to see different restaurants (perfect if you’re craving Western food), shops, the Botanic Zoological Gardens, museums, etc. 

Tsim Sha Tsui Waterfront- You are able to go to the waterfront when you are going to see the Avenue of Stars. It is a beautiful view and a pretty walk. You are able to walk near the Space Museum, the Culture Museum, and interesting statues. You can see Hong Kong’s skyline. This walk also leads you to the Star Ferry which will bring you over to central. We went to visit this sight many times because we loved it so much! 

Avenue of Stars and the Promenade- This was super interesting to see! They have hand prints of celebrities and statues of famous people. We were not familiar with many of the celebrities, but it was still really awesome to see. They just redid the area so it all looks brand new. There are statues that you can take pictures and pose with. 

Campus at the Education University of Hong Kong, Administration Building

Kiley with Elsa, Vice-Principal at the Jockey Club School

Dr Simon XU, Associate Vice President (Global Affairs) and Director of Global Affairs Office

Annalise reading to students at the Early Childhood Center