Me: "Mrs. For-ninn-tonnnnn"

I'm almost done week 1 of 10 at King's College! Routine should never be under-rated: getting up when it's still dark out, sitting outside on the top floor of the ferry while munching on cereal, walking and busing and more walking, and only then do i begin my day at school. I'm glad my boys already know me and my style of teaching, so we can skip the whole intro thing and just jump right into the curriculum. At least that's the intention.

For my Form 1 class, we're covering "HK's Political Development", and let me just say right here how much I am learning myself. I gotta be really with it if i'm expected to relay the info correctly. There's the Executive Council, the LegCo, bow-tie Donald Tsang, HK's ongoing flirtatious relationship with 'universal sufferage' and now with the CE (Chief Executive) election coming up in late March, there are countless news clippings that i have at my immediate disposal for teaching material. That is, if i can time manage better and actually get around to talking about the headline news. I think i'll present it at the beginning of class tomorrow.

To me, it seems as if HK is constantly going through an identity crisis, what with being an immigrant port, then under British rule for generations, and then being handed back to the Mainland, and who knows what kind of pressure and influence they (Chinese Party Members) are exerting behind closed doors. All i can say honestly is that there is a lot of talk in the Hong Kong staff room and in the educational boardrooms about how the curriculum has shifted bigtime towards learning more Chinese History, Mandarin, and basically looking at all (Social Studies) subjects through Chinese (and i mean the beloved PRC) fuzzy lenses.

Ah, but at least i've got my boys (as i endearingly address them) to keep me focused. They are young, impressionable, full of energy and questions and innocence. They haven't reached the stage of indifference, of rude sly remarks to their elders, of being in the mindframe of "that sucks and i don't care". Well, most of them haven't even reached puberty yet! Which makes me taller than a lot of them, when i'm wearing heels - yes, you read right. For all 'my girls' who would never haved imagined me in heels, well, it's happened. It may not help me teach the political development of Hong Kong any better, but at least i feel i command a lot more respect and attention in my class of 35 and 43 students. And isn't that half the battle?