Betta Splendens

Hello again!
Last night the other two students, Mac and Dan, arrived so Chris has been able to move out and our sitting room returned to us. It was very strange showing them a bit of Hong Kong last night... it reminded me of how long I've been here myself I suppose. Although it's only a month it feels like it could have easily been a year...especially now that I've bought a fishtank and some fish for my room... probably not a good idea because I'm only here for a few months but I'm sure I'll think of something!
I got three rummy-nose tetras and one Siamese fighting fish, bought from a specialist breeder. It took me about an hour to pick which one I wanted but in the end I went for the one that looked the most like a Chinese junk. Quite beautiful!

Working at The Early Learning Centre

Well that’s my second week of work finished and it has gone extremely fast!
There is so much constantly going on in the office that the days just fly by; always something to see or do! I’m extremely happy here!
To be honest the main reason the days go so fast is that we are working very hard. I’m just lucky that I love what we are doing so it’s no real hardship. It’s a bit like a man digging in his allotment… he might hurt his back and get sore and tired but at the end of the day he can sit in the shed with a cup of tea and look out proudly at his day’s work. Perhaps he has hoed some peas, or made a new trellis for his runner beans, or dug up some good potatoes to bring back to the wife for tea.
So that’s me. I’ve got soil under my nails but I’m glad for it.

Tara for now x

Oh yes…this is me discovering the wonders of magnetism in the ELC showroom:

Lightan

Whilst on the topic of robots I will tell you about another toy I bought yesterday. He is 'Scope', one of a small series of metal transformable lighters. They turn from 80's style lighters into 80's style lighter robots... again a result of a strange Japanese cartoon about a boy who found a lighter which turned into a 40 metre tall lighter.
Actually when I investigated mine I found that he can turn into a really rather credible telescope...well maybe not credible.... as well as fire his eyes about a metre when you press on his head.



If you still need convincing:




The place where I bought this robot was right in the seedy heart of the toy empire in HK...down back alleys and past trays of steaming octopus legs and into the bowels of strange smelling shops and labyrinth-esque shopping centres. Hong Kong really has it all! This shop smelt heavily of thinners, I think an intentional thing to make all the customers light headed and make none too wise decisions. It's a good job they didn't have it in the shop selling small ugly plastic monsters* (for extremely high amounts of money considering what they are) or else I would have bought a few in my delirium!

Anyway, speak soon x

* These were Marusan toys, for anyone interested:

Gundam

Welcome to the Universal Century. In this near future, over 80% of humanity live in space colonies in Earth orbit, ruled over by the Earth Federation.

The friction between Earth and its colonies soon escalates into the devastating One Year War, which serves as the backdrop for Gundam Mobile Suits.

Even after the One Year War, the struggle continues, and throughout the UC era, Earth and the space colonies will clash, time and again, in a never-ending conflict...

Welcome to Gundam.

Gundam is very popular here in Hong Kong, it reflects the obsession with all things Japanese that the youth culture here entertains.
I thought I better discover the joys of Gundam.


Six long, eye-straining hours later I had made my first Gundam…


He is ‘Oowashi Akatsuki Gundam’, and seems to be operated/driven by a small blonde girl, although I still haven’t quite worked out that bit.

Were the six hours of kit box model assemblage all through the night worth it, for six inches of golden angular plastic?
The answer must surely be yes.

Buddha, The Rain And The ELC

Today is Buddha's Birthday, so perhaps it is fitting I use this public holiday to catch up on the last week . Last Friday Bill took us to see the big Buddha statue on Lantau island. We decided to take the cable car up there, which gave us amazing views of the mountains and ocean below us. The Buddha was only built about ten years ago, but looks like it could have been there for hundreds of years. It’s quite big. It’s located at a monastery, so there were plenty of Buddhist monks to see, plenty of chanting to hear and plenty of incense to smell. It wasn’t quite the spiritual haven you might imagine, largely due to the hundreds of tourists, making it seem slightly commercial. It’s still a great place though, if just for the pure spectacle. Because it’s a real monastery there is a vegetarian only menu in the monastery restaurant; plenty of slippery mushrooms for me to attempt with my chopsticks.



On that same day a fellow DFI student, Chris Holden, arrived. He is working at Galey Toys and had to come faster than he expected. Unfortunately he was not able to sort himself out some accommodation until the other two students who are coming, Mac and Dan, arrive. This means he is living in our sitting room for a fortnight.
Then it rained.


The rain is pretty impressive in Hong Kong…everyone has an umbrella with them throughout the rainy season (most of the shops have a plastic umbrella cover dispenser at the entrance so you don’t drip!) because the rain just suddenly arrives without any warning. It was heavier than any rain I’ve seen before, and apparently was a just a light shower according to our work colleagues. I’m looking forward to a proper HK typhoon!

Work is brilliant…I’ve only worked there for three days but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it so far. We were taken out for lunch with the whole team on Monday which was a lot of fun. It’s a very relaxed and exciting work environment…lots of prototype toys lying around and strange noises coming from around the room. Because everyone is so friendly we’ve been able to settle in easily and I think it’s going to be an excellent (if extremely hard work and tiring) experience.

I’m sorry for the delay is writing this blog entry, apart from work making me very tired I also received some extremely sad news from a good friend of mine on Monday evening, and my thoughts have been with her.
Bill just rang to invite me out for a meal tonight at Discovery Bay where he lives, so that’s something to look forward to!

Speak to you later chaps

Work tomorrow...

I'd almost forgotten that I'm here to work! Tomorrow morning I start my first ever full time job. Bringing home the bread. Bringing in the baco...nut roast.
I'm quite nervous...I'll let you know how it goes and what I've been up to these last two days tomorrow evening.
Wish me luck!

Birds

The day before yesterday we went to the bird market. This market is a purpose-built Chinese-style garden, full of market stalls selling all kinds of birds and elaborate birdcages. Not sure how legal all the species are, there were one or two toucans tucked away. There were countless mynah birds, finches, parrots, canaries, bee-eaters, budgies, canaries and even a humming bird. Old men walk around the market carrying their favourite bird, just to give it some air and show it off. A good but noisy place to visit!