My Room

For anyone who is interested, I made a short film showing the different setups I've used in my room. I think you'll all agree that my new one is better ;)

Wow -- What a Great First 2 Weeks!

Phew! So many things happened since I got here, I feel like I'm already 40! But 40 is the new 20 anyway, so really its like I only aged a year :) But anyway, on to the update!

Firstly, I took care of a ton of bureaucratic stuff (and there's plenty left!). I got my philosophy courses all approved, so I'm right on track to complete my philosophy minor. I got my student visa renewed (even though it had already expired). The school ended up renewing my scholarship, even though my GPA was lower than their threshold :), so I was extremely grateful for that. My schedule is pretty much locked in now, and I've scheduled all of my tutorials as well. I have a pretty brutal Tuesday-Thursday, but I managed to have NO obligations WHATSOEVER on Fridays, and I don't start till 3 on Mondays.

I got my tricking sampler finished (finally), and I encourage anyone who does not know what tricking is to watch it :

I also finally got a chance to go tricking with a Hong Kong tricking group, and I will now be training with them regularly. They are very good, and I've already begun to learn many things from them. Most of them don't speak English, so it is also a fun way to practice Cantonese :) Over the next few weeks, I'll be working on making a Hong Kong sampler, so you can look forward to seeing some new tricks from me sometime soon!

I also went to my first jam night last night at a bar called Swindlers. Every Sunday night they have an open jam night, where anyone can come up and play, and it is such a blast! There were so many great musicians from all over the place. There were a bunch of Filipino guys who were just virtuosic at every instrument they touched. I even met a guy from Columbia who is here teaching music, and we conversed in Spanish for a bit, which was a fun experience. He is the second person I've met here that is from South America. It was pretty daunting to jump in with these guys and play jazz-fusion improvisation, but I gave it a go and I love it! Toward the end, the manager of the bar got on the drums and we got to play some metal together \.(-.-)./ I'll definitely be going back next week.

Meanwhile, back on campus, I've been collaborating with my German friend to start up a Cross-Disciplinary Student Think Tank, dubbed X-Tank. We currently have no think tank on campus, and the modus operandi over here is so parochial; just study, study, read, work, study --- but not really much thinking, so we figure this is just what the campus needs. We are seeking to make a think tank that will take our students' forward thinking ideas and combine the skills that students from different faculties have acquired to bring those ideas to life.

On the home front, a lot of my furniture arrived this weekend, so I've been cleaning up my room and getting it set up to be maximally conducive to my studies and recording projects. Its like an executive office now, and everything fits just perfectly in the room. The door literally has just a hair's width to open fully. I'll try to get some pictures uploaded soon. I am so excited to begin working in my new office! It is a stark improvement from what I was doing before!

Things have been picking up at Foundation Global, where I work as an English tutor, and they integrated me into the team right away. I've been teaching English to students in mainland China over Skype for them, and also been doing some private sessions here in Hong Kong. I basically work to help these kids get into schools in the U.S. by improving their foundational English, test-taking, writing, and interviewing skills. The money is pretty good (non taxable ;), but I think the most valuable thing is the experience I am getting teaching such a diverse set of kids.

I teach one class of 4 kindergartners who can barely speak Chinese, much less English, and have an attention span about as long as the beat of a fly's wings. That is a serious challenge to keep them all captivated and learning, but the parents are coaching me a bit, and I hate to say it, but I think I'm growing fond of the little children.

I also have this one kid who is a genius. He's like 7. Our whole first session he pretty much ignored me, and I kept talking to him like I though a 7-year old would respond to best. I guess I came off a bit condescending, because when he finally spoke he went off on a tirade about politics and the one-child policy in mainland China. Since then we've come to better terms, but he still stubbornly refuses to write anything for me.

Regardless, I enjoy it, and I am working hard to improve my teaching skills. I've actually come to the conclusion that everyone should work as a teacher at some point in their life, because the skill of conveying information in a way that someone else can understand and apply it is essential in any management position. As Einstein so eloquently puts it, "If you can't explain something simply, you don't understand it well enough."

Sorry to wait so long since my last post, I've just been so busy with all this work recently. Things look like they're starting to calm down though, and I'm starting to get into the swing of things, so these posts should be coming more frequently (and be a lot less lengthy!). Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one, and feel free to give me an email if you want to know more!

Till next time,

Kyle