Teaching in Hong Kong, Day 8

Sorry about the delay in filing these but we got seriously busy with the whole “learning and teaching” thing so I’ve had to wait until today to catch up.

Wednesday the 17th was pretty much  day off for the students – I took the opportunity to catch up on some course preparation – but in the evening we were heading out to meet the Hong Kong Alumni association for the University of Adelaide. Hong Kong local David Wong, our Alumni Ambassador for Hong Kong and China, here had discussed a meet-up in a conversation with Luke van Trigt from our Alumni Relations and University Engagement section. We all met up at a German restaurant and beer house called Brotzeit, down in East Tsim Sha Tsui. Rather than shepherding the students, I decided to meet them down there and this worked out very well, with all of us getting there pretty much on time.

We had a great evening out, meeting Charles Ng, the President of the local Alumni Association, and Timothy Lok and Belinda Poon, both Directors of the association. It was great to be able to sit around and talk to people about working and living in Hong Kong, with people who were connected to our own institution.

Here are some pictures of the night, to show you that an intensive overseas course isn’t all work. (Although my students will tell you that there’s quite a bit of it in there!)

Thanks for the round, David! A great welcome from the Alumni.

Thanks for the round, David! A great welcome from the Alumni.

We then wandered out for a walk along the Avenue of Stars, which pays tribute to Hong Kong’s amazing film industry. Of course, Hong Kong itself is pretty amazing.

With a backdrop like this, we all look pretty good.

With a backdrop like this, we all look pretty good.

Of course, the Director’s Chair can prove too much of a temptation for some…

Lights! Action! Sahil!

Lights! Action! Sahil!

The whole point of a trip like that is to get out and about, adding to the classroom with some local flavour. Thanks again to the Alumni for setting this up and coming out!


Teaching in Hong Kong, Day 3 (Expeditions and Yum Cha!)

We’ve built this course so that, while the students work reasonably hard, there are still days off and time to explore the new country – why on Earth would you take students to a different city that they then don’t get to see? Today’s expedition was MTR down to Tsim Sha Tsui and on to the Star Ferry to take the classic trip across the Hong Kong Harbour. It was a gorgeous day and we sat up the front to get good breeze and view – here they are!

Taking in the (warm) sea air.

Taking in the (warm) sea air.

There’s always something happening in Hong Kong and, on the walk across the land fill towards City Hall, we ran across a movie being shot. We watched it until we chased away for “getting in the way” which I think is movie-making speak for “eh, go away”. After some questionable navigation due to the many changes in the area (sorry, everyone) we made it to Maxim’s and got a seat straight away. Fortinately, one of the students speaks Hokkien and some Mandarin which, combined with some pointing, got us an amazing feast of yum cha. Here’s the view from my seat:

The Panoramic Yum Cha Experience at Maxim's!

The Panoramic Yum Cha Experience at Maxim’s!

It was great to relax and just hang out as we talked about all sorts of things and just enjoyed spending some time in a new place. The course starts again in earnest tomorrow at 9am, and the students have some work to do, but I left them to wander in Central – I think most of them were heading for the Peak as it was a most delightful day! Here’s a picture of what it looked like as we walked around:

Buildings are big in Hong Kong.

Buildings are big in Hong Kong.