The Year of The Rat

While I wait for a Democrat to take more money out of my check, weaken my military, redefine Marriage, and continue the onslaught on the Zygote population; or a Republican to pretend that hunters may need assualt rifles and handguns to bag a trophy buck, (humans more often hunt humans with such weapons), and to plan the next government to topple or to believe that moving students from one school to another in some way improves the education system, and while Republican suits shutter over McCain and Huckabee bringing ruin to the Red Ranch, and Bill Clinton rustles through old closets trying to find his Black card and Black shoe polish for his cheeks, plenty of things have been rumbling through my mind.

So it is Black History Month, I guess I am suppose to be excited about that, especially since I will be teaching a course on The Black Experience next week, assuming that students will actually sign up for the course. I have spent many years running away from Black History, for a couple of reasons the largest being how it has always been fed to me with a notion that if I do not know these facts I am nothing. If the MLK's birthday slips my mind, somehow I am being disrespectful or if I do jump at the chance to learn about Harriet Tubman I am not Black enough and a disgrace to the culture. I understand such stories are suppose to give young brothers like me hope that I can achieve great things in a society that seems to know more about my color's failures than success; however, I've always had a mother to give me that encouragement; others aren't so blessed. During college, it came to my attention that all of my life (I know it is funny when a 24-year-old uses such a phrase) I have never been taught Black culture, but only dates, names, and places. When You study World War I, you study the ways in which it affected WWII and what was learn because of the two wars. At least in my education, when you study Black History you learn names what they did, where they did it, and how they died, and magicly you are suppose to gather something of substance from such a vague list of information. Perhaps I am strange, because some do get alot out of it, I need more. I treat Black History like I treat Church. If you expect me to enjoy a "God is Good all the time sermon" telling me what Christians already assume then you are wasting your time, I need more. Giving me a list of Black accomplishments doesn't make my face shine, I am proud, but uninterested; I need depth. I have rambled to ask the question: how do I teach facts and substance in eight classes? Moreover, how do I teach substance when I have not been taught substance? We will find out in the coming weeks.



Lets talk about health. While I write this I am sick, which is the second time on this trip. The first time earlier in the school year I was very fatigue, somewhat similar to my sickness in Cambine, Mozambigue yet here I am able to walk without worry of falling over. Now, I have the same fatigue very slightly, and stomach issues as well. Since my landing in Asia, I have lost 11 pounds due to the lack of Southern grease and American additives and other junk we lace our food with. I will be fine tomorrow. My spiritual health is intact, I just finished reading a wornderful book called I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Athiest by Normal L Geisler and Frank Turek. The book claims that it takes much more faith to be an athiest than a Christian, and ultimately more faith to believe in any other religion other than Christianity. It uses scientific research, logic, philosopical discussion to prove its points. With compelling evidence it reveals evolution as a broken theory and basically debunks all other faiths as truth. It was a really fantastic read. I also read The Alchemist, which was wonderful, and I am trying to sift through Surprised By Joy and The Abolition of Man both CS Lewis works, and I am about to start reading A Lesson before Dying by Earnest Gaines.

I want to be Liberated, free from what you see,

detached from the damage that my words,

my run-a-muck conclusion, and the skin color

illusion have on my character, what my heart

meant to say before my intellect got carried away.

Can I be carried away by free winds, not man made

oscillating fans. I want to liberated before captivity

consumes and dooms me. Set me free old truth,
and do it in my youth; not in the golden years when few

lend me their ears, arrogant, know it all young folks.

I want to be liberated, end the lease to the liar living

inside of me whispering apprehension, self-suspiscion

all within me, taking too lightly my potential. I want

to be liberated from secular sentiment, the morality

and animalistic freedom predicament. I want to be
free.

Writing is on and off here. The above passage is the first stanza in a new poem I am writing, but I stand stuck at the moment. Writing here is interesting. It doesn't come too easily, but when it does it is usually good, or at least something I like. Trust me, I have written tons of things I don't like, but I keep them as a reminder of my writing's development. My journaling has come to a standstill, but I am trying to get back to it. As for writing down my thoughts, that is sometimes promising and other times I just can't find the words. Poetry is strictly on inspired bases only. In the past, I could just make a poem out of my everyday thoughts, but not here. Perhaps that is good. My significant other has challenged me to write a Fiction work, which I have started on and it has proven to be a great challenge that I am enjoying.





As some of you may know, it is The Year of The Rat. Chinese New Year in Mainland has been affected by severe snow storms and a transportation gridlock because of it. Many of the students from central and northern China didn't even attempt to go home. In Hong Kong, there isn't any snow, but there is a chill factor that I did not expect. For the first part of the cold season I was reminded of the 93 snowstorm where my family were freezing in our powerless Pratt City home for days. Obviously, there is not any heat in the dorms so I broke down about a week ago and bought a small heater for about $25 USD. Despite its size, it makes my room very toastie.



There were plenty of feastvities in Hong Kong celebrating Chinese New Year. I only attended the parade which was smaller than I expected, but still interesting since I don't think I have ever seen a parade in person. Here are some pictures from the show.





I hope all the pictures have made you smile. They are just from around Hong Kong during the break. Here are some more.




Well, I hope this blog makes up for the last one, and brings a little cheer, laughter and careful thought into your lives. My mother's Birthday is in a week or so (FEB 22) and I hope that it is a great day, I think she is turning 30 or something close to it. I wish I could spend it with you mama. Until I blog again, be cool friends.

This Year is Truly New

I initially thought that he was simply a gimmick. A new Democratic token set in place to continue the notion that to be progressive you have to be liberal. He spoke, and I realized that he could tame fire and electricity all in the same breath. So, I thought, finally we have someone spectacular to replace Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, but I imagine that hot air or myself could replace them. He decided to run for president; I thought, well, that is extremely ambitious, I hope he has a bullet proof vest. Then there were the polls, the debates, and finally Iowa. Suddenly I thought, oh my damn!, this Negro might be able to win. I am not saying that Obama has my vote, but he surely has my utmost respect and a piece of my heart as well. It is no secret amongst my friends that my hat tilts to the right, I usually define myself as a moderate conservative, but who knows what will happen this year.

This is truly a new year. Discovering January 1st again doesn't make a year new, that is just recycling. A year is new when so much has changed, and it is very clear that the "new year" will have very little in common with the previous year. I know, we try to make it new by making resolutions that we never keep, or by following through with changing one thing in our lives, and usually it is something easy like new curtains or more environmental friendly light bulbs. A painted room is not a new room, it is just a room that's been refreshed. This year is ultimately new for me, because from now until December, I will be engaged in something new. From watching a Woman and African-American fight for the top spot in their political party, and it is almost frightening to think that they are the only contenders on the left side, (a tear for Edwards). I am facing my last semester here in HK with as much optimism as I can muster. I have applied to more graduate programs, and when I return home I will either be involved in a program I love, or be working and waiting to reapply, which is a thought that scares me more than Hillary Clinton as president (I couldn't resist, I just might move to Liberia if that happens). So, the year is new in the most revolutionary sense, and I am relishing in it.

It seems that I have alot of catching up to do. I will try my best to get you back on track with what's going on with me in HK, but it probably won't be in this blog. This blog is going to be very skimpy, sorry. Here is a picture from my HK Church's (The Vine Center) Christmas Play.

This is a picture of most of the ETAs and some of our Research Fulbright friends on a cruise sponsored by a great gentlemen named Danny Lui, along side our good friend Glenn Shive, who is responsible for making our program possible.

So my good friend Will came to visit for about two weeks. We had a good time, some moments were very funny, and others a little sad as we experience sudden battles with homesickness. It didn't feel like Christmas at all. New Years was brighter. We spent our time in Central waiting on fireworks that weren't really that good at all. It is sad when Birmingham, Alabama has better fireworks than you. We were pre-warned by some locals that New Years in HK is not that big of a deal, but that Chinese New Year will be something exciting and wonderful.




Here are my pals, Will, Shanita, Sarah, and me.


This Picture is taken during our long bus ride back to the airport. Will's time in HK had ended. I put him through some interesting living situations. The first week he stayed in an clean but small room that was about the size of an walk-in closet with a bathroom/shower combination. For the last part of his visit he stayed in a somewhat nasty dorm like hostel that was at least one hour and a half from my campus. The Hostel was on top of a small mountain, so it had a great view, but you had to take a 20 minute bus ride down the incline in order to get anywhere, and the bus didn't have a public transportation type schedule. In fact, if he didn't leave on the 11am bus, then he would be stuck until 3pm.

The next semester has started and things are looking better. Like I said in my last blog, I am being very optimistic and prayerful about as much as I can. These last two pictures are just random. This one is of the kids I try to teach. They were well behave during this class for the most part, perhaps my making half of them sit against the wall, and everyone sit in silence for ten minutes during the previous class had something to do with it. Probably not, they still ran around and ignored me and my colleague a little. And the last picture is of a HUGE pool table in a bowling alley in Hung Hom, HK.



Well, there isn't really much to say this time. Life is going as normal. I am certain that my next blog will be more eventful and interesting. Just keep your eyes open, until I blog again.

The Great Deception

When I was younger, I was an extreme pessimist and a complainer. I always assumed the worst. Perhaps this was a product of me not always getting what I wanted, and while growing up around children that always seemed to have so much more than me. By the time I got to college, I realized that I grew up lacking in superficial areas, but so rich in those areas that are more important to ones development. My childhood was not full of pain and despair. Just random moments of disappointment that would hurt any selfish child. I quickly learned that many things I can not change, but I can change my perception of these unmovable things like people, the past, and so on and so forth. I finally understand the full extent of the power of expectations.

Expectations can truly make or break a moment or an experience or even a person, and I must say that I expected more out of this excursion. When I refer to my expectations, I only mean those thoughts regarding the program, not the culture. One semester has passed and now I am lounging around assessing how the first semester went. Will is here now, and we have been doing some chillin here and there. The question of this blog is, how is the program thus far, and I am about to have a Ben moment were I am brutally honest and exposed to the entire world, or at least the five people who read my blog.

May it first be noted that this program is brand new, and was thrown together lightening fast, and so that fact alone creates natural problems with the tuning and tweaking of such a program, but I feel that somethings are inexcusable. I expected to be a teacher in some sense, but all I have become is an event coordinator. Let me break it down for you. You must first understand that there is or was a problem with defining who we are, staff or student assistants. As student assistants we are slaves, as staff we have rights. There was other discrepancies with whether we were full time or part time even though in Fulbright's eyes we are part time. I probably work the least out of all the ETA's because I purposefully tried to keep my plate empty, you all know how I need my free time to ponder, write and such, without it I will go postal.

My Weekly Schedule: I teach two tutorial sessions of English (3 Hours), and I assist one primary class and teach with a colleague in another primary class (2 Hours). I do Help Desk, which is 30 minute sessions assisting the students with any language training, which usually is just have a chat with them (4 Hours). I was involved in a Human Development Module (sit through a 2 hour lecture, spend maybe 1 hour a week assisting students in the class), where my precious time was wasted, not on purpose though. This is a new thing so no one knows what to do with us. Now, that means I spend 8 hours a week doing something that is close to teaching. I didn't include the Primary school because I don't teach there, nor do I want to. In the Drama class, where I assist a teacher, I do little which is fine. I enjoy just being there watching and talking sometimes. My other class, I have lost all hope and now just pop in a Disney movie whenever I can. In fact, most ETAs do not want to be involve in the primary school next semester, however the school advertised to all the parents that we will be there the whole year, even though we (ETAs) were told that the first semester was just a trail run. Since, the primary school will be a little embarrassed if we all suddenly dropped out, I think we are going to be pleaded with to play a much smaller role. Ben speaking: "you tellin me, that just because you organized a disaster and because you want to save face after jumping the gun, that I have to be involve in a level of teaching that my temperment is not made for, with bad children that never listen to me, nor am I trained in the art of running a primary school class, just so you won't look like a dumbass."

Now, where does the rest of my time go? Well, we have to do RA type programming in the halls, which can take up a little or alot of time. Then there is Club IEd, which takes up the bulk of my time, but I do the least amount of work among the five of us that are in charge of the Club IEd center. I spend 4 hours a week sitting in Club IEd being bored doing nothing. I spend Lord knows how much time discussing the type of activities we should have in the center, which always frustrates me, because I came here to something academic. I didn't come here to play games with students or plan parties for faculty, or sing and dance for anybody on this campus. But this is how the first semester has gone. I will not bore you with actual stories of our events, but in short we are expected to be activity coordinators, performers, and baby sitters more than were are expected to be teachers. I've have gotten off much easier than many of my colleagues.

Expectations can make or break an experience. Currently, I am unfulfilled and unsatisfied. Of course, there is light in this grim picture I have painted, and you have seen that light in past blogs. Something can't be negative without something positive existing as well, other wise everything is just indifferent, right. Also, some experiences, if not most, are what you make them. In these two weeks I have off of work, I will carefully think about ways I can make this experience more fulfilling, because the powers that be are not going to do it for me, nor do I think I could articulate to them what exactly I need at this juncture.

We went China this past week, and observed a secondary and primary school as well saw several universities around the Guangzhou area. The picture above is of students studying at the university where we were housed. Three are from Zambia. The trip was okay, I enjoyed the schools and the students. The primary school students were very excited about seeing an Black at their school, which was a major contrast from other experiences I have had here. It is funny how regardless whether we are all presented as teachers from America, the students will always choose the ETAs that they feel is most resembling of America. For example, if the students were asked to mingle with us and ask us questions about English or America, they would typically start with my White colleagues (there are eight of them), and then with my Brown Colleagues (there are three of us), and then my Asian Colleagues ( there are five of them). All this time I thought I was American, I am just an immigrant, go figure. I will let you ponder that for awhile. The most uncomfortable part of the trip was when we would get together with teachers and discuss class room/education issues, which none of us are qualified to do. At one school, one teacher asked us tons of questions concerning her primary school class. While some gave good answers, I sat there, thinking we shouldn't be giving advice on teaching. Hell, we aren't even teachers in our program for real. Now, if she asked about planning a yoga night or a Christmas party, or a game night, then we have more than enough experience to do that.

Never mind my rant, let us end my first experience in China on a good note, beautiful pictures and a video.

These three pictures below are from me and my colleagues teaching a secondary school class about Global Warming. We really didn't teach them anything, because they already knew everything, but whatever.

The picture below is a very funny story. One of the student's mothers actually works in Birmingham, AL at UAB. So, the student has actually visited Birmingham, and was somewhat familiar with my college (BSC), and my Highschool (JCCHS). It was all very strange. But here is the most hilarious part. Near the end of our visit, the students put on a talent show for us, where they acted out scenes from plays, did a little singing, one student actually recited the Gettysburg address (he forgot half of it, which undoubtedly single handedly damaged Chinese-US relations for several decades to come, I don't forget much). Several of my colleagues performed as well. My B'ham-China connection friend came up with some of his friends to perform a reenactment of Finding Nemo, which means a part of the film was played, but muted; and he and his friends provided the voices for the characters. We saw several such performances it is hilarious. Anyway, look below and see what T-shirt he is wearing.

I almost died laughing, for one moment I was that annoying parent in the front row who can't keep quite whenever their baby gets on stage.

The next group of pictures and the Video are from the Primary School we visited.

We sat in on this class about saving and not wasting.

Students waving at me. I actually have several pictures like this.

Here is me, my colleague (Sarah Kim), two teachers and the daughter of another teacher not pictured.

We did a little sight seeing. We went to a gorgeous temple, a museum, and shopping.

The bottom picture is from a cruise/dinner sponsored by the secondary school.

I know that the majority of this blog may sound much more on the negative side, but I am honestly only thinking positively about next semester. I will find my niche on this campus, I will find what my heart burns for, or cry trying. Forever wrapped in this endless search for something of substance, something that gets me angry, something pulls at my emotions, and leaves me knowing that there is no other path, but one. I hope you've found that thing that you most care about, and if not I hope you are not giving up the search. Until I blog again. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Holidays

Okay, so I began on this blog earlier and then somehow, I lost all that I had written which is really stressful. Thus, what I had original posted has been lost forever, and now I will post completely new thoughts, with a little bit of the old in place.

So, of course, Thanksgiving is not a Hong Kong Holiday, so to be honest it past with little thrills. Well, there was a little excitement. Wednesday, one ETA decided to tackle the task of making a couple of pies (Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, and Pecan) so that we could have some type of Thanksgiving dinner. All was going well, the crust and pies were made from scratch, and they were ready to be put into the oven. The kitchen was reserved from 1-5pm, and we got a late start, thus it was somewhere near 5pm when we finally put the Pecan pies into the oven, and other pies had already been cooking for a couple of minutes. 5pm came and we were kicked out of the kitchen, pies and all. We stood at side with four partially cooked pies, trying to come up with a plan. As I mumbled to myself that such a thing would never happen at BSC, southern hospitality hasn't made it to HK just yet. Suddenly, we remembered that there were two toaster ovens in our dorm that we could use. So we carry the pies all the way across campus, drawing pleasant stares from faculty and students. In the end, the toaster ovens actually worked and the pies turn our terrific. On Thanksgiving Day, we had to put on some activities for the students teaching them about the American holiday, which makes me feel more like an activity coordinator than a teacher. On Friday, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at KFC. So ends, Thanksgiving 2006.

It truly is the holiday season. I take the 275 bus towards the KCR (Train station), and I pass Tai Po Centre, and notice lights hanging from the sides of some of the small buildings. Santa Clauses face has become inescapable in shopping areas, and decorations for the season have escaped from the storage rooms seemingly over night. The malls have there decked out trees towering from floor to floor, and no one can deny that Christmas is close. I won't be going home for the holidays, but home will be coming to me. My best friend Will is flying in on the 18th, and he will be here through New Years.

Now, random Hong Kong adventures. If you ever find yourself in HK, you have to go see the Chi Lin Nunnery. This gorgeous temple was built without nails, and houses some magnificent statues of Buddha. Photographs of the actual gods was not allowed, so you have to come and see them yourself. Enjoy the pics.

One weekend, I took ride on the Duckling or Junk Boat around the harbour. This is actually a free ride for tourist, so I and a friend took advantage of it.

In this photo, you can see the 7th tallest building in the world, the IFC building.

As for my weekend, I went hiking with the ETA's and the man responsible for raising the funding for our program, Glenn Shive. We first had to take an hour boat ride to one of the smaller islands, and from there we began our journey. One of our colleagues had knee surgery a week or two prior to this trip, but she came along anyway, mostly because we were under the impression that the Hiking would be easy and breezy. So, a couple of us decided to take the trail slowly. Lagging behind turn into a bad idea once we got to a small village. We weren't really sure whether we should go straight or turn. We decided to go straight, which went from being a nice paved trail, to a skinny dirt trail. We passed some cows along our way, and quickly realized that we were lost. A couple that we assumed were locals (All Asians are locals to us) were passing by and we asked them if the trail headed towards the beach. The couple ensured us that we were going the right way, so we kept on. We finally got to a beach that was somewhat empty but beautiful. Yes, we were at the wrong beach. The beach that we were looking for had a string of restaurants on it. So what did we do? What any young Americans would. We kicked off our shoes and enjoyed the beach. I tried to get a cell phone signal to contact someone, and although I found some obscure signal it wasn't any help. Finally, people, who weren't from our group, started to fill up the beach. One of us decided to ask some of gentlemen that had come with their surf boards if they knew how to get to the other beach. The guys said that the other beach was actually just over a small rocky hill to our right. Feeling a little more comfortable, we hung out for a little bit longer, and then headed over the small mountain, assisting our injured friend whenever we could. In the end, we found the beach ate some nasty food, but wonderful french fries, and returned to campus exhausted.

Well, there's my recent adventure. There is much more to come. I will be in mainland China Dec 10th - 15th. Today, I am actually going to get a haircut. I ain't going into China with all this hair. Speaking of my African features. Random story, sometimes we are too lazy to wait for the 275 bus that takes us back to campus, honestly we spend half an hour waiting on this bus when we can just pay four American dollars and take a taxi. One evening, the taxi driver that escorted us home said Jumbo to me, which is I think goodbye or something in Swahili or Zulu or some African dialect. Anyway, just thought that was funny, a Chinese cab driver speaking an African language to me. Well, I hope your Holiday is bright, and meals many, and love ones close. Until I blog again.