Job Discussion Forums

[Zero Hero]

Extreme? The bar or the adjacent off-license? Either way, the only thing extreme about those places are the prices! $60 HK for a pint of Guinness? That is out of my league. The people I know who go there earn anywhere between $50,000 and $80,000 a month. No thanks, I'll buy a can for $10 and have it on my roof along with a nice smoke.

Also, as a blue-eyed, blond-haired Englishman, going to places like Extreme entails having to apply Filipino and Thai girl repellent. The one and only time I did go there my arrival engendered ten or so SE Asian girls, most if not all of whom were wearing skirts not too much longer than my belt, to spring up and begin to all swarm around me in order to vie for attention. I am sure they are nice enough, but needless to say, my local HK Chinese other half does not tend to welcome or appreciate my being the target of such overt female attention.

As for Wan Chai, forget it. With the exception of Stanley, I only go to the hellhole otherwise known as Hong Kong Island when I have to (i.e., when I have to go to the Twin Towers for my visa renewals). The last time I had to go there I found myself wishing I had a machete with which to cut my way through the hordes of people.

No, not my scene at all. I'll leave those places to those with more money than sense, and more patience than I could ever profess to have.

[jezebel]

Ahh, good to know the ESL teaching community in HK would be an inspiring and inviting reason to choose HK. Yes, I am being sarcastic.

P.S. Regardless of the language background of a country, there is always a market for medical/scientific english assistance. In Canada outside of the french province of Quebec, English is the language of hospitals and labs. But there are also many foreign researchers who come to do a PhD or a postdoc or whatever, who either want to practice their english skills (and discussing scientific matters is the best area to improve on) or need editorial assistance when writing scientific documents. So I would take any bet that says that there will be just as many non-English speakers in HK doing research or medical training, who need to develop their English skills.

Thanks for your hostility, it has never ceased to amuse me, with each consecutive post more bitter than the last. Is this a symptom of living in HK? Does it embitter you? Although I was hoping to get some preliminary acclimation to HK culture, I'll likely end up waiting a few years until I can go there for my real intention, in a medical-related position. I guess I'll have to make a tradeoff - either pick up the language skills I'd hope to get, or have an enjoyable time in an attractive urban area, rather than trying to get both in one place.


LIAM: Thanks for your open-minded response and your ability to think in a way that is not tainted by black-and-white absolutism. When I said "tell it to me like I'm a 5-year-old", it seems I should have added "but not in the tone of an abusive father". It's nice to know that at least one person on this forum who is making a living as a teacher actually enjoys the act of educating others with patience and respect. Your inspiring words block out the circular rants of the frustratingly narrow-minded naysayers - if only more people had your talent to inspire others!

[shmeagain]

Jezebel,

Before ZH flames you for expecting too much from this 1st world wonder that is HK and that you should go to China to try your luck(he probably has by now), I would like to mention that I was being supportive.

Also, and I think a lot of people would agree, the people who post here are definitely not the mainstream teaching community you will find in HK. We're all decent teaching types with long hours and busy city blues.

Look at the number of people posting and the number of people reading the posts ( a lot of them from other countries I'll admit) - for almost 2 years I only read the posts on this forum just because I didn't have time to join and/or felt like replying.

I know at least 35 teachers - all centre and part time school teaching so no formal NETS - and I don't think anyone of them even looks at this forum. I think you can look at the China, Taiwan and S. Korea forums and get a good idea of the people in that country (let me know if you disagree) but for HK it's a bit different as you only have a handful of regulars.

So please don't think that we're all like ZH or Ger (where IS she?) - we're just like everyone else I suspect, it's just that there's more to do than reply to questions we know the answers to - if that sounds selfish, well then welcome to HK!

[well-travelled]