At the start of the second semester, my school sends its kids on week long (more like 5 days) trips throughout south and east Asia. This year's trips included Borneo, Thailand, Nepal, and Hong Kong among others. I was on a trip to Hong Kong with 21 sophomores and juniors, along
with two other faculty members. The goal of the trip was to get a mix of physical and mental challenges. We stayed in a three building hostel called Bradbury hall on the far North East tip of Hong Kong (about 45 minutes from the city). For the physical challenges, our kids went on a variety of hikes, the most difficult being a sunrise ascent of Sharp Peak (about 1400 feet). The true event of the trip was the "Buddy Program," in which each of our students were paired with a mentally handicapped child from a Hong Kong Buddhist school. The "buddies" performed a variety of tasks together, from general icebreakers and communication games, to kayaking to abseiling and riding a brief zipline.
and we were a bit concerned about this inexperience going into the week. In the end, this turned out to be no problem. Even the language barrier, all the special needs students spoke only Cantonese, proved to be no serious impediment. A part from a couple moments of serious frustration, our students were open, active, and supportive with their buddies. There was a wide variety of disability so some kids ended up with real active, wily buddies that required plenty of attention and focus. Others were with more docile kids from the Buddhist school, and they're time with their buddies was a little less lively. Similarly, it was undoubtedly the first time that the Hong Kong students had ever had contact with western (at least culturally) children for such an extended time period. After ice-breaking for about four hours the first day (Monday), we spent almost the whole of Tuesday together, the Buddhist school children even slept over that night before leaving at about 4pm the next day.
The night they slept over, the Hong Kong kids performed a brief show for the upcoming Chinese New Year. After a brief attempt at teaching our students some Cantonese ("say with me... "), there was a little lion dance with two kids in a costume, dancing to drummer. Then a couple other kids came out and did some routines with Chinese circus toys. It was really fun, and they seemed to have a great time performing. Our kids gave a couple brief dancing performances, the last one ending in a giant conga line. We hoped that our Buddhist buddies would be wiped out and sleep well in the room above mine... well, you know what they say about the best laid plans. One kid would occasionally bark just like a dog and I heard him running around for a while before I finally collapsed. Luckily teachers from the Buddhist school were on hand to help keep them in line.
However the kids all slept together, which was quite the experience for our Dhaka kids. At about dawn all the Buddhist school kids were up and at 'em, making sure that our kids didn't miss any of the new born day.The real challenge for our students turned out to be living outside of their comfort zone. Multiple girls on the trip refused to eat most of what was available, usually something made by their classmates. The bathrooms, flushing, seat-less, "squatty potties," were unacceptable. As a result a couple of the girls gave themselves upset stomachs by refusing to use the only available toilets. Most of the boys were OK with the conditions, and complained less, but many of the kids really lack a relationship with the outdoors. This is somewhat understandable in Dhaka, where most students live in gated, planned communities for ex-patriots. Driving just outside the city can take hours, and the air quality and lack of parks encourages the wealthy to huddle in their pockets of clean cocoons of modernity.
Being outside all day was probably my favorite element of the whole trip... not that chaperoning 21 16 year olds isn't a reward all on its own. Hong Kong is a city that really loves recreation; parks and basketball courts dot the city and people really take advantage. Many of the walking trails in the unpopulated (and often protected) outskirt islands are paved to make walking easier and prevent erosion. These islands are beautiful, and as the sun stains the fog that rolls in and out in the evening and mornings creates some fantastic views. Also, I got to swim in the old Pacific Ocean a bit... brisk, but refreshing and fun.
The day time temperature was at the precise level at which it is warm enough for a t-shirt in the sun but chilly as soon as you step into the faintest bit of shade. This made pretty good hiking weather though.
The morning hike kicked off at about 4:40am, the world still quite dark. It was a pretty gentle hike for about the first hour, all on concrete trail. The second hour and a half was on a dirt trail that occasionally took us straight up rocky paths that required all four limbs to scale. We eventually split into two groups to allow the fitter, or more ambitious hikers to reach the top for sunrise. As it was, the sun came up about twenty minutes before we summited, but by then we were close, and could see the fog turning orange and pink over the bay below us.
We ate breakfast on top of the mountain and took a break. Unfortunately for me, who had only worn shorts and athletic shirts made to keep me cool, the wind was really whipping off the top of this peak. We made it down in about an hour and a half (not without some feet first slides down some of the steep, unstable parts). From there it was shower, pack, and on to Stanley Market for some much anticipated shopping. For kids with money to burn, there are surprisingly few outlets to do so in Dhaka, so this was a bit of a treat. We finally landed in Dhaka at 11pm local time (I had now been awake for about 21 straight hours) and I was able to crash at home an hour or so later. By then I had seen about enough of high schoolers for a day or two, and thoroughly enjoyed my hot shower, big bed and quiet sleep.
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