Commute

Life in Hong Kong will never be the same! Gone is the 10 minute stroll to work. Our office has moved from Exchange Square out to Taikoo Place. I'll let that settle in, that's an additional 25 minute commute to work. You know you live in a bubble of convenience when a 35 minute, door-to-door commute provokes a new blog entry.

I still reminisce those times when weeks, nay, months that would pass without me leaving the 1 km radius of my comfort zone.

CNY: In... China

My first experience of Chinese New Year in Asia was during my 3 month Asia-extravaganza-end-of-university holiday. I remember way back in 2006 we traveled to Shanghai and would be disappointed by the, well lack of Chinese. Coming from Sydney, we were cautioned about the sheer density of the Chinese Population, to our surprise, it was rather sparse and pretty lacklustre considering the enormous population. Unbeknown at the time, this would be my first experience of a major Asian city grinding to a halt during the Lunar New Year. A large percentage of the population comprises of expatriates either looking to return to their "hometowns" or to take advantage of an extended vocational stoppage period which accounts for the quietness.

This would be my second Chinese New Year in Hong Kong. The first one was interesting, that's an understatement. Hong Kong residents can be afforded up to 3 days public holiday (depending on the year) which can equate to up to 5 days off work! After 2 days it gets pretty quiet by the end of the second day. Heck, it gets so quiet that it becomes boring! Nobody is in town and the social scene doesn't have the legs to continue for more than 2 days straight. This predicament is exasperated by the fact that any flight out of Hong Kong during a public holiday period demands at least a 50% premium on regular flights. The bottom line is, pay extra or stay in Hong Kong. The frugal are left with the standard options of Macao or Shenzhen; the later being the break in our monotony.

With a train through to Lo Wu, some confusing border crossings and a friend's apartment we finally ended up in the southern Guangdong city of Shenzhen. The impetus was Phil's drive, he is due to leave Hong Kong soon and wanted a trip to China to show us the wonders of a city. I had been there before but the promise of seeing "a side of China that you normally wouldn't see" was the alluring factor. I interpreted this to be dodgy massages and Karaoke bars. Instead it was a on-the-spot visa, no massages, hanging out at the apartment, visiting cocopark and wandering into what can be best described as Shenzhen's equivalent to Sega World's Crush. The trip was short and punctuated by a disgraceful grasp of Cantonese and Mandarin, excellent Cantonese cuisine, the discovery of KFC's Peking Chicken Roll and the unanimous decision that we were glad to come back to Hong Kong.

The Shaolin Mafia

Dragon Dash, a unique urban challenge for charity that takes you across Hong Kong in search for "The Dragon" (reference, official website). The description appealed in many ways, it was spoke to me and my insecurities. It (the description) knew the selfishness of Hong Kong life and the self-centred drive of the Hong Kong local. It also knew that I had probably seen less than 20% of Hong Kong and that I was more than happy living within the confines of my Hong Kong Island bubble. It was a no-brainer, and took very little convincing to assemble our team of five, the Shaolin Mafia.

The maximum team size for the event was five people, with the restriction of at least one female and at least one male. The Shaolin Mafia, 2 males and 3 females were up early on the Saturday morning and ready to find 'The Dragon' with the team moto "Let's not come last". The event turnout was amazing, a sea of red t-shirts converged in Admiralty for the start of the event. Smartphones would be a requirement with the clues and guidance being streamed to each team via the mobile site.

I really wish I had documented the day better, the reality of it all was that it was a mad, frantic rush around Hong Kong. We found ourselves looking for clues in Admiralty, Mongkok, Ngau Tau Kok, Kowloon Walled City, North Point and Happy Valley. The clues ranged from "Tall Africans", to Hello Kitty trinkets, novelty ties, photo challenges, running around MTR stations, fruit challenges, 3-point challenges, physical activities, planking, looking for buskers, steps, so many steps, counting challenges, reading plaques, decoding riddles and plenty of trains, cabs and steps.

Excellent day, tremendous amount of fun, laughter, moments of stress, defeat and elation all done with a close group of friends. After what appeared to be a tragic start we somehow rallied and managed to come in 3rd place. The elation was short lived when we, well, I realised that I had dropped the tie along the way - We had been disqualified! 

Boxing Day

The night before we had planned to utilise the amazing rooftop and wake up early for sunrise. At 6:30 the alarm went off, it was still pitch black. Jon rolled over and muttered something, still half asleep, we unanimously agreed that we would skip sunrise and steal a couple extra minutes of sleep. We finally rose at 7:20. Sze Ji needed to be at school by 8 am and seeing that we were just around the corner we left . The house was abuzz, the mother and uncle left for their respective jobs and we said goodbye to the family and headed to school.

The kids had their routine morning exercises which we playfully partcipated in with them. After breakfast we wandered around the corner and must have walked no more than 500 metres before arriving at the Farm. This particular farm specialised in two harvests, sweet potatoes in the Winter and Dragon Fruit in the summer. Lily and gave a quick tutorial in the art of sweet potato harvesting. Hoe and mounds, dig. I can't help but feel we butchered a lot of this season's produce destroying a fair percentage of the crop. Still it was fun way to experience more local life it was nice to be in the sun. It was interesting, a lot of the group had lost interest in digging potatoes and had moved on to the photo taking and modelling. Lily continued to dig.

We arrived back covered in dirt and had another sharing session. It was interesting to hear about the different volunteer's experiences. The level of Cantonese was beyond me so Vincent was able to translate. It was a very moving experience, tears, laughter and prominent moments of silence were shared. We talked about the various distances kids had to travel to school, some leaving the house before sunrise. The different living conditions and varying levels of poverty. One thing that remained constant was the hospitality and generosity of the house holds. It spoke volumes about the simple lives that these people led and despite not having a lot to offer gave up more than was required.

Lunch was in the classroom and afterwards we joined the children during their lunch break. After 2 days interacting with the kids it was clear that they were more comfortable with us around. Punching, hitting, grabbing, hugging, jumping all over you. It was also the first time I interacted with some of the other kids outside of my group. It was obvious that there were varying levels of English, some kids getting stumped at "hello" others able to elicit my name and my age. The day was spent in the warm sun running around with the children - They would pinch and poke and run off, steal my beanie, steal my glasses.During this time, I forgot about all the troubles back home and almost lost track of where I was in my own life. It was just nice seeing the kids run around having fun.

The kids headed back to class and the School Principal addressed us and thanked us for our time and effort. He explained the kids situation and how much this simple 3 day trip would affect them. Our afternoon was spent in the classroom observing their interaction with the teachers. The final school bell sounded for the day and the kids exploded from their classrooms, most of them bee-lining for their bikes, the exit or the waiting relatives at the gates. There were a few who made straight for the bus and the group of volunteers. A small group of the volunteers headed off to one of the hospitals in Guangzhou to visit one of the students with cancer. We said our final goodbyes, photos, high fives, hugs before we finally made our way back onto the bus. The lights were turned off and almost instantly all members drifted off into sleep, it had been an exhausting trip and we started our 5 hour journey back to Hong Kong, a world with public transport, hot water and a sheltered  view of the world around us.

Christmas Eve

My previous, albeit brief flirtations as a volunteer had kindled an interest to dedicate some time to philanthropy in Asia. In particular, volunteer work within China. Admittedly, I was resigned to the fact that this experience would probably take place a little later in my life. This was more because I lacked the critical tools to embark on such a program. Namely, a basic grasp of the language and more importantly time to facilitate a stint overseas. This all changed one week ago when I stumbled across House of Learning, a non-profit organisation whose energy is directed at helping the less fortunate in Hong Kong and China. Anita, the Project Organiser graciously invited me along for the trip.

The lead up to my adventure into Qingyuan, China was riddled with problems. I had enlisted three days before the start of the trip and had missed the relevant training sessions leaving me completely in the dark. Worse still, on the night before I was scheduled to depart I discovered at 10 pm that I had accidentally left my passport in the office. The next hour was spent convincing the security guard to let me into the building and trying to figure out the after-hours office door code. It was a great relief to finally have my passport back in my possession.

My six o'clock alarm does not agree with me. I immediately regret going to Lan Kwai Fong the night earlier for those 'Quiet Pre-Christmas Drinks'. Struggling on four hours of sleep, I find my house mate still awake from the night earlier. He still looks drunk, and immediately all inhibitions about forfeiting my Christmas in Hong Kong dissipate. After all, that would have probably would have been me all weekend. I dump a protein shake and make for Lo Wu.

At 7:40 I finally arrive at Lo Wu, I was supposed to meet the rest of the party at 7:30. It should have come as no surprise that I was running late, typical. I had throughout the train ride received multiple calls from the team leaders who were trying to solicit my whereabouts. "I've just arrived. I'll meet you there shortly" I pant as I dart through the early morning platform crowd. 8:00 I'm still lining up at immigration, another phone call."Whereabouts are you?" I hear. "Sorry, I'm almost there, I'm caught up at immigration" I reply. "Immigration? Wait, you've gone to far, you were supposed to meet on the Hong Kong Side of Lo Wu". This was not panning out as I had expected, and I questioned what I was doing at the Chinese border going into a country with complete strangers and zero language skills. I was almost tempted to abort this adventure and just return to Hong Kong with all the other expats and enjoy Christmas eating a truck load of food and getting drunk; then again, that's really just every other weekend in Hong Kong.

It was almost 9 am by the time I finally met the House of Learning group outside the Shangri la Hotel, Shenzhen . I was horribly late and despite not having met a single member of the party I was already infamously known as "Derek, the guy who was late". The first thing that strikes me is the sheer number of volunteers willing to help. Professionals of all ages, students, young families, the odd straggler had all voluntarily decided to forfeit their Christmas in Hong Kong.

I was immediately introduced to my team and for this weekend, Michelle, Mandy, Rachel, Kenny, Manic and myself would be known as 'Group Six'. We boarded the coach that would be our primary mode of transport for the next few days and settled in for the drive from Shenzhen to Quingyuan. Anita introduced the  group leaders and talked us through the upcoming itinerary, this was of course all in Cantonese and I managed to understand the odd sentence here and there but the reality of the language barrier dawned on me. I spent the journey seated next to Pauline, although I wasn't much company as asleep for majority of the four hour commute, occasionally waking up to the sound of chatter and the sound of myself snoring.

I was absolutely starving by the time we arrived at our first stop, Ching Hing Hotel. After we emptied our bladders and then crammed into the dining area of the hotel where lunch was served. The warm food was welcomed by the group and almost immediately we were back on the road. I was well fed and well rested and my attention was drawn to the rural backdrop we were motoring through. Passed through areas of fairly dense vegetation and the simple local abodes we continued along the dusty road for another 10 minutes until the concrete walls of Ya Wen Primary school eventually crept up on us. The children gathered together as the bus slowly pulled through the gates of the school. There were looks of anxiety, curiosity and excitement, from both the children and the volunteers.

The kids were divided into groups and our group, Group Six had their first session with Anita in the Brain Enhancement session up on level four. Up until now, I still wasn't entirely sure what role I would be playing here, I knew there would be English involved but the interaction and contribution that I would be able to bring was still unknown. Anita pulled me aside and asked if I would be able to help with the Christmas Carols, in this case "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". There were no hesitations and I immediately agreed although I would have been lying if I had said I wasn't nervous. I was handed the microphone, the music started and  soon enough I was singing solo in front of 30-40 students in a foreign language that they didn't understand. The only time I sing is when I'm blind drunk - I was completely sober and couldn't help but feel that this performance would end up on the outtake of an American Idol bloopers segment. The next 20 minutes we spent going through the lyrics and dance moves to the song. I would read out a few lines as I paced among the students while Anita explained the story in Cantonese.

After the open mic session I was a little more relaxed and we were given time to go through some activities with the children. The first task was to get the kids to write their name tags in both Chinese and English. The next activity was to help the kids create English sentences with the following prompts: Who, What, When, and What if. To wrap up the day's activities the kids created a Group Six team banner using arts and crafts.

The most challenging thing I found was the inability to communicate with the children. Each time I opened my mouth the children looked at me dumbfounded. The other volunteers were able to interact with Cantonese I found myself constantly muted and having to use basic body language as a form of communication. It was actually quite frustrating as I felt a sense of helplessness trying to find out what the kids were doing and thinking. One of the things that grabbed my attention was the amount of energy they possessed and how fleeting their attention span was at times. They were constantly doing something, one minute working hard, the next minute being distracted by something seemingly insignificant. By the end of the day I was completely exhausted and had a new found respect for primary school teachers.

Our day ended with a candid sharing session about our first day's experiences: the children, the work, their attitudes and the various difficulties and surprises. A delicious dinner was served downstairs and the volunteers again heartily wolfed down the food; famished by a combination of hyperactive children and the cooler than expected climate. Proceeding dinner we prepared the Christmas Bonfire for the ceremonial cooking of the potatoes and the exchange of our gifts. We checked into Ching Hing Hotel and a group of us wandered around town looking for provisions and the odd snack. We stumbled across a restaurant that served dog meat and unanimously continued our search. Buggered, I retired early and practically fell asleep the instant my head hit the pillow.