Well, it鈥檚 been one crazy month and a half since I arrived in Hong Kong and I can hardly believe everything I鈥檝e seen, done and experienced already! Even the journey over from the UK is probably worth an entry dedicated all to itself, since it turned into quite a drama pretty much as soon as I started packing. | "How does a girl pack for a year within 33kgs?" | |
My flight was, unfortunately, three days after the terror plot was revealed - which led to a series of comical events including luggage restriction issues (on top of the issue of weight restriction I was having anyway- how does a girl pack for a year within 33kgs?!) and new terminal restrictions meaning my parents weren鈥檛 allowed in to see me off. Enter: my dad. He had the bright spark idea to fly to Heathrow from Leeds - thus already being in the terminal, enabling to them to see me off up to departures, with the added bonus of avoiding the parking problems due to the extra congestion. Genius. Of course that would be too perfect, however. So naturally when my suitcase came around the carousel at arrivals, it had to have a huge gash across the front. Two luggage straps and a great deal of sticky tape later and there seemed only one real solution; to buy a new suitcase at the airport and unpack and repack all of my stuff into it. I certainly attracted a few puzzled onlookers as I stuffed my knickers into a bag I hadn鈥檛 even bought yet, slap-bang in the middle of terminal one! Unfortunately this was all before a BMI lady appeared with a new replacement suitcase. My parents said they got some strange looks when they handed over two huge but empty suitcases at check-in on their flight home. Fourteen hours later (or rather 12, due to some oil spill incident on the runway- you have to laugh) and I finally arrived in Hong Kong. By a bizarre twist of fate it turned out I was sitting about a metre away from another Gelt (graduate English language tutor), flying over to do the same programme! It was a bit of a shame we only realized that approximately 13 hours and 50 minutes into the flight, but we landed nattering away and it was great having someone to venture through immigration with. The first thing I noticed about Hong Kong wasn鈥檛 the heat, I think because I鈥檇 expected it, but rather the smell. Everywhere in Hong Kong has a real distinct smell, be it bakeries, fish stalls, although some of these are good and some are really really bad! For the first few days the lights and heights made my head spin, but as I met more people and became more settled I found myself really getting used to being here. The second thing I noticed is how mixed everywhere in Hong Kong is. You can have a huge cosmopolitan building and right around the corner you鈥檒l have a real 鈥渟hanty-town鈥 building, with window ledges draped in drying clothes. It certainly is a place that hits your senses, but strangely after only a few weeks I hardly notice all those things anymore. I guess you can adapt to things wherever you go. For the first two weeks we all stayed in a YWCA hostel in Ya Ma Tei, Kowloon, whilst having general orientation and Gelt training. In terms of getting to know one another it was a bit like fresher鈥檚 week at uni- everyone makes friends so quickly, and it鈥檚 great having a big group of really good friends out here already. After getting used to the early mornings during teacher-training (consisting largely of us 鈥測oung responsible graduates鈥 running around, playing games and singing songs!), we all emerged official Gelts- ready for action and to be placed in our schools. And so the adventure has begun, and I鈥檓 acutely aware of how the craziness of the past weeks is likely to be only the beginning of a mad, mad year. I am now a resident in Mongkok- the most densely populated part of Hong Kong and the whole world apparently!- a far cry from village-life North Yorkshire. Mongkok is completely crazy, on some streets you can hardly move for people, but I love the madness of it. My school is in Kowloon Tong, a few stops up the MTR, and my flat is very small but perfect. And as it happens I鈥檓 sharing it with the girl I met on the plane! Must be fate. Neela | 
