Hong Kong: The World’s Biggest Stairmaster

Here I am as a Crimson Summer Exchange teaching fellow in Hong Kong, the most overwhelmingly densely populated and built-up city I have ever seen. I have been jaunting along under the illusion that New York City is the biggest and craziest city in the world, and that nothing can compare; I have said as much to friends I’ve met from around the U.S. and especially from European cities (Dublin, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, even London and Paris.) And here I must confront my ignorance, because Asia has already blown New York out of the water. New York is crowded and busy and illuminated, but at least most restaurants and retail are confined to ground level. In Hong Kong, the area that is in fact called Times Square is level after level after level of these places—from the ground (what Americans would call the first) through the fourth or fifth floors off the streets. What this means is, essentially, that four or five New York City blocks’ worth of sheer stuff is shoved into a single street in Hong Kong.



This is not to say that Hong Kong has more by volume, but there is certainly more by density, if only because they’ve had to build up in order to conserve space with such a high population. Hong Kong is also built on very hilly terrain, so the streets lead you up and down stairs and elevators constantly, through buildings and back out again, without a grid system or clearly defined and continuous street to speak of. In other words: my already pitiful directional skills are challenged beyond their limit here. The concept of my “independence” is a joke; sans cell phone for now, I will disappear into the LED-screened abyss if left to my own devices here. Thankfully, my fellows and co-fellows are a group of super friendly and open students from Harvard Ed School, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Cambridge, and Oxford. They understand the fact that I may have gone to one of these institutions, but I certainly never learned to read a map--much less a map that insufficiently depicts the unending changes in elevation.



It’s fascinating to come here after being in Europe, and to see the “developed world” being developed in such different ways. The USA, Europe, and Hong Kong (I won’t make sweeping continental judgments just yet) all have access to the most cutting-edge technologies, but big cities in each put them in your face to such unlike degrees. Europe has maintained its old-time architecture and character the most of the three, Hong Kong the least. Of course all three have rural areas far less affected by technology, and Asia features the greatest disparities between the extremely technologically developed urban centers and the poor and radically underdeveloped rural villages. But as someone who considers herself a more urban person...maybe I need to temper that description. Hong Kong is too much for me, and I’ve come to love and appreciate the independent cafes and small “downtown” and bar scene of New Haven. I didn’t like living in New York last summer because it was too big and too much--but being in Asia just may have changed my mind on NYC. It seems fairly manageable by comparison. NYC people: I may be willing to live near you one day, after all!



Furthermore, as far as I can tell, the national pastime here is shopping, closely followed by eating out. In other words, Hong Kong is one big mall. I hate to say that this does not seem like a terrible overgeneralization. You are constantly walking in and out of shopping centers here. Hopefully, I will soon discover other features that undo this impression.



I should probably mention by now what I’m doing in Asia. As for the Crimson Summer Exchange program itself, I am here as one of eighteen teaching fellows from the top 3 Ivies and Oxbridge. Name brands, clearly, are extremely important to the parents who pay for their kids to attend this program. (This applies equally to universities as to retail.) I am teaching one course of my own design, and one standard curriculum syllabus designed by the program. We did some teacher training and education theory over the first few days here, and I gave my first lessons today.

My own class is Short Fiction Writing, and it went really well! The kids came up with the main ideas I wanted them to take away about constructing fictional characters, today's focus. I even felt this silly moment of revelation when we realized that the protagonist’s desire (a part of character description) is what the antagonist (a type of character) impedes, therefore creating the conflict (a key element in dramatic structure) that drives the plot (the dramatic structure itself.) Every element comes together! The kids came up with: Harry Potter (protag) wants a family, so what does Voldemort (antag) do? Kills his family! (conflict) And what does Harry do? Saves the world--but through the lens of saving the friends who have become his surrogate family. A successful lesson! Now let’s see how willing they’ll be to write me an entire short story in the three-day curricular cycle I have with them...

Teaching is fun, but it demands a lot of energy. Outside the lesson plan preparation and grading time, the sheer energy of projecting your voice and filling a classroom with personality makes the time fly but leaves you wiped out. I deeply respect all my friends doing Teach for America for the next two years, and wish them as much rest as possible.

Some observations:
1. Hong Kong students are QUIET. They may just be shy as the program starts, but it’s more difficult than I’ve ever seen it in America to get them to speak up. I broke them into groups for an activity where I asked them to discuss amongst themselves, and I literally could not hear a single word from the front of the room. I thought they were sitting silently, until I walked around and found that they were whispering to each other.

2. Five days in and I’m already sick of rice. This does not bode well.



3. Despite Hong Kong having been a British colony for 100 years until the '90s, and using British electrical outlets, the kids tend to have American accents. Perhaps this is due to...

4. ...High School Musical. (And other American movies/TV shows.) The Disney Channel strikes again, the single universal theme of my interaction with kids all around the world. Denmark? Yes. Hong Kong? Okay. Poor Spanish-speaking Guatemalan villages? Well, why the hell not.