yo! i’m here! ya it’s interesting that sometimes you can reconnect with some long lost friend easily but sometimes fail to. i guess thats what 緣份 mean. anyway, i guess you’re just not that close with mar# before, thats why you find it weird la. no big deal. i bumped into him at central before when i got lost for an art exhibition and turned out he was lost too, then we had a short chat and just bye after we found the place. is he still working at archi firm now? 

I met with Sandy and Marcus last night. It was weird how although it is inevitable that people change over time, some become closer to you, some otherwise.

R

yo! so bored at work these days….. 

where is everyone?

r

dear jane,

don’t be so angry nor frustrated. just make sure you don’t become like them…people like them are what’s out of your control, and what makes it so difficult to make this world a better place. but see - we can do a lot, too. we can make sure we don’t make things worse x

R 

stumbled upon their voices again by chance. do you still rmb what you were like when you were 17? do you rmb what has happened since? sometimes I feel like I don’t, but then I have become what has happened to me already.

R

had a lunch chat with some education final year students who are volunteers at the park yesterday. we discussed a bit on experiential language learning which was my PGDE interview question. it seems that most of the students prefer teaching with textbooks such as Longman. But i think experiential learning could be more interesting. isnt it better to learn what’s the most familiar to them such as the street name near their school or home? then extend to the community and know more about the world? I find it strange that the students dont agree teaching with storytelling but memorizing. I would say rote learning isnt bad but we can work something more to make learning more interesting, instead of just for exams. 

A student shared with me her teaching practice experience. She said there was a number of hyperactive kids in the class and said嫦娥奔月as 嫦娥私奔. They were very distracting and not disciplined. So she was very angry and scolded them. I recall what my advertising friend said, he was very naughty in class and teachers dont like him but he was extremely good at Arts and Design. Then i asked this student what about creativity of those distracting boys? Then she replied with an irresponsible tone, ” it’s none of my business anyway. I am responsible for teaching them Chinese.” 

when i asked what do the principals usually look for from a candidate, they said teaching experiences. then i told them i dont have a lot just some and they suggested making up something. well…well… no wonder they said teachers are good ‘water-blower’…. 

and some future students even want to stay and play at the park after work….they complained the park for not offering benefits but just a certificate to them. to be frank, who f*cking care about those certificates? 

if i were the principal, what would i think about this conversation?

H you know what you need? An absolute break. Come home.

R

Hi there. Pardon my lack of posts recently but my workload has been picking up so rapidly in the last two weeks. It’s week 4 only and I need to start looking at three class projects already.

Sometimes I wonder if working 9-5 (or later) is gonna be better or worse. I am assuming that after work you don’t think about work but my student life in the last few years has been the complete opposite - I think about work every single day and even on the weekends. I was doing a problem set on a bus to San Francisco last Sunday because I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough time for work. I’m really not sure I can do this for another five years, or maybe this will stay the same with working outside of school because it’s really a problem with my mindset.

Just speaking out loud.

I had to go to a networking breakfast event this morning. Since I was representing my company, I had to dress a little more formal than usual. 

I wore a dress that has sheath cut and is sleeveless. Almost covering my knees. Grey. Paired with flats. 

I felt so out of place taking the train from Che Kung Temple station, switching station at Kowloon Tong, taking subway all the way to Central. The first thought that came up on my mind is “I want to move to somewhere else”. I don’t know where - just somewhere without the commuting crowd that makes me feel so out of place. 

The event was at the American Club. The venue was very nice, people in there all dressed very nicely, the breakfast was fancy. The interior decor is cool, quiet, stainless. I had a rather good time, though a little detached.

Then I took the tram back to my office in Wan Chai. The bathroom without air-con in my office suddenly becomes unbearably stuffy and smelly. I had lunch with my mum at the canteen in APA - fast food suddenly seemed ridiculously unrefined. 

But then I am angry at myself for thinking that way. I grew up taking public transport and eating in canteens anyway - I know everywhere in HK but Central (I just realize this morning figuring out my way to the venue). What does a fancy dress make me? 

ok I’m done. Just want to think out loud.

R