I HAVE A ROOMIE!! - 23rd-30th September

It's always fun to have some time with friends and this week has proved no exception. Part of the Gap Year experience will always be about making friends, meeting new people and building relationships. This week has made this part of my gap year a key theme, with many more new friends and having good and stimulating conversations with those I have known for a little longer.
I am delighted to announce that, after a month of solitude, I am going to have a roommate!!! Ruth, who will be working at a sister school to Siu Lun, arrives in October and I am really excited and looking forward to being able to share a flat with someone, getting used to yet another change in my life and getting to know yet another person which I cannot wait for.
On Wednesday I travelled down to Wan Chai to The Vine church, a vibrant community with close ties and similarities to my home church, Holy Trinity Brompton, for their quarterly Newcomers Evening. This gave me a chance to meet the pastors/leadership team, meet others who are new and learn about the vision and history of the church over a plate of food. No complaints there! It was a wonderful time and made me ecstatic to learn of the Worship Central conference taking place, a little piece of home making an appearance in this unknown place! I can't wait and am currently planning to volunteer which will be a new and exciting experience for me. It was wonderful also to meet the outgoing Senior Pastor who is incredible and hear from the new one who is full of passion for the church which is reassuring.
Following a frankly rather exhausting week with kids being all sorts of annoying and smart and cute but distracting each other at the same time, it was good to be able to relax and read all the spoilers about Season 7 Episodes 1 and 2 of The Big Bang Theory which sound promising.
Saturday morning and afternoon saw Will and I joining the two girls, one of whom I have mutual friends from Oxford, and the guy working in Yuen Long, in Mong Kok for a spot of shopping in the pop up market that happens there. It was such a vibrant place with amazing thngs to look at, loads of I <3 HK t-shirts and I won't deny the fact that I will be buying some at some point, as well as a variety of other items. I was on the hunt for a dress up costume for our monthly Birthday Party which in October requires us to dress up in fancy dress. I am cheating and going as a St Trinians school girl, photos will follow!! I need to go back, however, as we have a Chinese culture day in a couple of week's time and they had beautiful dresses that I am set on buying.
Saturday night saw the gaps from Britain hitting the streets of Central and Lan Kwai Fong, known for its bars and pubs as well as good company, including Batman...everyone bar Ruth and a guy Jacky was there, Charles joining us late. It was so good to finally meet the gaps, stomach bug and loss of Octopus card (Hong Kong equivalent of Oyster card) preventing me beforehand. It was a fun experience and now I can say that I have been clubbing...sure let me see a new side to some people! I managed to remain sober but it is always true that you can have an awesome time without needing to be intoxicated! It seems that when you are dancing with people who are drunk, it doesn't matter whether you are or not, even if you are a bad dancer, only you are going to remember in the morning if you were sober!
I can't wait to see what National Day tomorrow will bring! I hear fireworks may be on the cards and this evening, I've just returned from meeting with some amazing friends from St Peter's who have been incredible supporters of my trip out here and delivered the Care Package from home that does have the biggest bar of Cadbury's Chocolate I have ever seen and probably will ever see for the next 10 months.

I also adore this week's cantonese word, I learnt it at church yesterday and it is awesome!

Batkinson xxx

Cantonese word of the week - pronounced: hey-mon; translation: hope!
Quote (not from here but a general quote that I adore) of the week: 'What is the point in fame if you have nothing significant to say?' - Curt Mega
Prayer points:
- I NEED SLEEP!! I am running on very little, due to just being not able to get to sleep...
- continued patience with the kids, some are testing my patience and it is wearing me down. I'm getting used to it slowly but it is still hard.

My first mail that wasn't spam from England from my mummy and the gorgeous Matilda!!! Thank you!!!

Hanging with Tim and Elizabeth this evening, such wonderful people and so good to see some familiar faces!!

The African Fellowship Choir leading the 4pm service at The Vine!! It is one of the few times that I have been totally exhausted by worship, and in a good way!

Ben underneath the changing lights, don't know if the green makes him look scary enough...

That is actually a building but it is lit up at night so it doesn't look like it! How awesome is that??

My Care Package from the UK!!!! I love it so much... <3

Didn't See That Coming! - 16th-23rd September

Summer's Coming - 9th-16th September

It isn't really a very nice thing to do, rubbing something in people's faces but I promise you I will try to make this the last time. I'm still trying to understand the concept of Hong Kong currently heading towards summer. I mean, the church I'm at is having beach baptisms (people getting baptised in the sea if you don't know) on National Day so lots of people can come if they want. That's the first of October!
I can hardly believe that it has been nine days since I arrived in Hong Kong, just under 10 days since I left British soil. If I were to say I didn't miss back home, I would be lying my face off. I do miss home but being here allows me to explore and do so much more so that I hardly find time to miss anyone. Hopefully soon I will be able to show you my finished collage of pictures that I have gained over the years of my family and friends, it has been my own project since I arrived and is a lot more work than I thought.
The food in Hong Kong is something really special, I am starting to get a little bored of rice but that's life, I knew it would be a staple food. I've started to cook for myself as you can see below but it isn't sometimes quite the same as corner cafes with beef, noodles and a col drink for HK$28, that's about £2.50!
I didn't realise until Wednesday that I would start teaching lessons on my own this week. Luckily thanks to the monthly Birthday Party the school holds on Wednesday, all lessons cancelled and they celebrate the birthdays of the children who have their birthday in that month, and the Mid-Autumn festival which gives us Thursday and Friday off, I only have to teach two days. But it was still a daunting task to have to walk into a class of 15 4 year olds who expect you to deliver a top notch lesson things you honestly don't know much about, it was on the festival this week.
But I did get through all 6 lessons in the day and I now just have to repeat it with a different lesson tomorrow! Perhaps then it won't be so bad. One of the best things about teaching here are the names. There are several boys called Alvin (I know 99.9% of you would have immediately thought of the Chipmunks, I still do every day) and I can say without (well maybe a small one) a smile on my face that I get to teach Obama every Wednesday and Thursday. No joke.
Perhaps I need to keep a list of all the awesome names I come across, it would be quite astounding the list. And being a Thunderbirds fan when I was younger has meant that I am still looking for a 'Virgil' among the crowd of kids seeing as there is a Jeff, Alan, Scott and Gordon.
Until next week!
Batkinson xxx

Cantonese word of the week - pronounced: 'dough si' translation: good morning!
Prayer points:
-  I'm still pretty shattered so for rest would be amazing
- patience with the more difficult children who struggle to sit still and be quiet.

Gyozas and Campbell's Minestrone Soup!

Pork and rice, a staple meal almost every day

My route to and from school, does anyone from school recognise the number??!!

The view from my bedroom window onto the streets of Hong Kong below, at night! Quite different from in the day!

First Day At School - 6th-9th September

I never thought I would have to say that I had my first day at school today, after finishing secondary school. But then, your plans when you're 11 aren't the same as the ones you end up making when you are almost an adult. But, I still get to say it so here it is:
Today was my first day at school.
Siu Lun Kindergarten School is a brilliant school, with around 700 students who come in either the morning or afternoon, indeed there are only 3 'whole day' classes. After the SARS scare, each child has to come in with a book that notes how high their temperature is and they are given a squirt of antibacterial hand gel, an ingenious but slightly hectic way of doing the morning and afternoon meet and greet. The English department, including me and Will who is a fellow 'gappie', take responsibility for this every day, throw us into the deep end trying to pronounce their names!
One of the beautifully helpful things about Hong Kong is that almost every sign is in both Cantonese and English, as were the names on the badges the kids are required to wear every day. It immediately brightened up my day to learn that in one of the classes, there was a boy called Sherlock!
In assembly, what we were told was the Lord's Prayer in Cantonese was said following the raising of the Chinese flag and the singing of the national anthem. It was fascinating to see this occur, apparently it happens every day and they do it for both the morning and afternoon classes. I admittedly just starting humming God Save the Queen in my head as it played. We were then introduced, we are known by our first names but apparently my name is too hard for the children so in school I am known as Miss Bethy...I'm still not sure about it and when the kids say it, it sounds like Betty...hum...
Observing lessons gave me a great insight into how incredibly well behaved the majority of the children are even at such a young age, such discipline and yet their personalities shine through so clearly. I cannot wait to start teaching the gems, they are all adorable. 3-5 year olds tend to be though, don't they?
The photos attached is the view from my bedroom window over Butterfly Beach, the eclectic view of tower blocks and mountains from the 27th Floor and me trying chicken feet...yes, you did just read chicken feet...not something I will be going back to in any hurry!
All in all, a fascinating experience and I'm looking forward to seeing how the kids grow over the year.

Batkinson xxx

Cantonese word of the week: pronounced: supick. Translation: Sprite!
Quote of the week: 'Dash (from The Incredibles) can run fast! Jesus can run really fast! God can run really fast too!'
Prayer points:
- to get over jetlag, I'm still suffering a little
- to use my money wisely, this month is going to be the hardest