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| Standing alongside "James" the shark! |
This week was another good week in Hong Kong...After waiting weeks for a really sunny and free day, last Monday arrived with clear blue skies and bright sunshine - the ideal day to go to Ocean Park which is the biggest theme park in Hong Kong. I spent the day flying on rollercoasters and other stomach-churning rides and then by contrast wandering through various aquariums seeing lots of different fish of varying shapes and sizes. The different animal exhibits, in particular the Giant Panda habitat was really enjoyable. However, the highlight of the whole day for me was the spectacular dolphin and sea lion show with the animals’ exploits out of this world! It was absolutely brilliant and very entertaining.
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| One of the many amazing acrobatic moves. |
Of course, Thursday was Saint Patrick’s Day and it simply wouldn’t do to let the day pass by without doing something to celebrate. So the Northern Irish contingent met up with Simon Duff in Wyndham Street to sing a few well chosen songs from home and a Guinness together. Allen’s mum sent out some leprechaun hats and I eventually managed to build up enough Dutch (as opposed to Irish!) courage to wear it and represent my Irish roots. Unfortunately, I realised too late that the Hong Kong people don’t know very much about Saint Patrick’s Day and to add insult to injury I discovered that in Chinese culture if you wear a green hat it is a symbol that you have been cheated on!
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| The first ever leprechaun on the MTR in Hong Kong! |
During the week a friend, Summer, from Mainland China asked me to help her with her English as she had a test this weekend to see whether her English was good enough to participate in an International placement. This brought back memories of the days at school when I had to practice for my French and Spanish orals but significantly this time the roles were reversed - I was conducting the oral and asking her the questions! In chatting with Summer, I was quick to realise how important learning to speak English is for the Chinese and the fact that having the ability to speak English fluently, opens up many more opportunities not only in Hong Kong but throughout the world.
One of the main things you learn through travel is that language is such an asset. Being able to speak a foreign language is so important in Europe and also here in Asia; indeed it makes me feel embarrassed that I am not able to speak a foreign language fluently. This is highlighted even more among the International students, who are all extremely good at communicating using English. Whilst English is probably recognised as the “world” language, this in my view has created a lax attitude in the UK to learning languages, an arrogance which will need to be reviewed in a rapidly changing world. I know that now back home foreign languages are gradually being introduced and emphasised more and more in primary schools. However, I feel that it needs to be a more prominent part of the primary Curriculum to encourage children to start learning a foreign language at an earlier age – because in my view starting to learn a foreign language at secondary school is too late. In Europe and here in Hong Kong children are encouraged to learn English as early as kindergarten and starting at this early stage obviously makes a notable difference. Certainly, it will have contributed in no small part to the economic prominence of China, Japan, India and the Asian continent in general who potentially will be the key world powers of the future.
This week we have our last group presentation to do so it will be a good feeling to have completed all of our group work assignments for our various modules. This has been hard work but we have all worked well together contributing to the overall success of the group. Of course the timing has been excellent because next weekend is the Hong Kong Sevens, the biggest rugby event of the year, so I really hope that I will be able to grab some tickets. Unfortunately they seem to be like gold dust so I will need a bit of luck if I am to get hold of any.
Until next time...
Joi Gin (Goodbye)
Michael
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