Asia

Can’t quite believe the Hong Kong experience has actually begun.  I arrived at the airport Sunday night, proceeded through customs, and found myself looking for the sign that said “ICS”.  I felt more nervous at this moment than at any other time so far on the trip.  This would mark the first real conversation I would have in Hong Kong.  It would give me a sense for who these people actually were… people I will work with closely over the next two years and who previously I’d only known through phone calls and emails.

I’m writing this post from my classroom, two floors below my on-campus apartment.  We haven’t yet hooked up email for the 7th floor residences, but the facility is far from primitive.  Construction finished up last fall, which makes everything here brand new.    So new, in fact, that we have marching orders from our principal to do as much as we can to make this place feel more like “home” (you know how new places sometimes have a certain “sterile” quality).

Hong Kong has impressed me so far in the breakneck speed at which life is lived, and also in its unparalleled commercial success.  I’ve witnessed the efficiency of the public transportation system… don’t think I waited longer than 5 minutes for any of the trains.  Overall, you get the sense that the Chinese are phenomenal entrepreneurs.  

On Thursday we went to Macao to watch the US Basketball team play Turkey in an exhibition at the Venetian.  Got back to the school about 2am but who cares?  It was the Dream Team… and in Macao!!!

People here are great… I’m already stoked about the many new friends I’m making, both among the new group of teachers and the returning ones.  It should be a great couple of years.

Tags: basketball, Hong Kong