It is now long overdue that I introduce myself on here, however settling into my new Hong Kong life has been extremely hectic. I have now been in Hong Kong for exactly two months and already I am struggling to remember life before Hong Kong, England seems like a distant memory already!
Most of you have met me by now, but if you haven’t Hello! I have come to Lam Woo this year to teach English speaking focused lessons with forms 1, 4 and 6 and I am also trying to improve the English language environment of the school. A lot of students at the school have mentioned that they don’t get enough opportunities to speak English outside of lesson times and so as a result their English isn’t very natural and fluent… well that is where I come in. I spend a lot of time in the English Corner or walking around school and I am always happy to stop and have a chat, play a game or go out for lunch. Ask me questions about England, I love talking about my home country, or tell me things about Hong Kong and what I should do to make the most of my year (or more) here.
A bit about me
I was born on February 9th 1991 in Blackpool in England. Blackpool is a town on the North-West coast, by the sea. Blackpool was a very popular tourist spot for many workers in England until flights to Europe, which promised better weather, became very cheap. It is not as popular anymore but people still visit to go to the beach and to go to Blackpool Pleasure Beach, a big amusement park which is located there.
I went to a boarding school called Rossall School, there were many students from all over the world studying there, however I was a day student and only stayed at school overnight occasionally. This was always very fun as it was like having a sleepover every night and we would stay up late watching films and having midnight feasts, just like you read in the story books about boarding schools.
At school I worked hard however I was very chatty and used to get in trouble for talking too much in lessons! I used to love going to school so that I got to see my friends and I would always stay for activities in the evening. I also had to go to school a lot at the weekend as my school was very unusual and had lessons on Saturday mornings!!! I also used to play hockey for the school team every weekend.
School life in England was very different to school life at Lam Woo. Students here definitely work a lot harder and take their education more seriously. In the summer holiday in England homework would be unheard of supplementary lessons were very uncommon.
At the age of 18 I moved to Edinburgh in Scotland to go to University to study Psychology. This was my first time living away from home and at first it was very scary, however I moved into University accommodation and met a lot of friends. For my third year I did a University exchange in Montreal, Canada. This was the most amazing year of my life as I got to meet lots of new friends from all over the world and I travelled to lots of different places around America and Canada. In May this year I graduated from University and spent the summer back at home with my family and went travelling to Denmark, America, Canada and the Maldives, before moving to Hong Kong in August to start my next adventure.
My Interests
If you had not already realised from what I have written above, I love to go travelling. I have been very lucky to have visited lots of different countries around the world. When I was younger I would always go on holiday with my family, however now I like to travel with my friends. One of the reasons I wanted to move to Hong Kong was because I thought it would be a good base to travel to lots of different countries in Asia.
So far since arriving in Hong Kong, I have travelled to Guilin in China. This was one of the most amazing places I have ever been too and I cannot wait to see more of China. I have also just booked to go to Thailand for Christmas with my family. They have never been to Asia before so I am looking forward to showing them around.
Some of my favourite places where I have travelled:
Another one of my passions is food. I love to try all different kinds of food and I am enjoying making the most of all the different types of cuisine Hong Kong has to offer. What I eat in Hong Kong is very different to what I used to eat back in England. I never used to eat meat, rice or noodles and now these are the three main staple foods in my diet! My favourite foods I have tried here so far are cha sui bao and Kimchee at a Korean restaurant near to my flat.
I like to try and stay healthy by doing exercise. In a city as hectic as Hong Kong I think it is extremely important to make sure you find time to relax and to look after yourself and not get too swept up by the fast paced life style. Running here is much harder than in England due to the lack of space and the problem of air pollution, however I am really enjoying going hiking at the weekend and I have found a great place in Tsim Sha Tsui to do yoga.
This blog is going to be a place for me to share my experiences in Hong Kong and also to make recommendations for books, films and websites to help you learn, but most importantly, enjoy English. I may also run discussion topics, opinion polls or competitions. So keep checking for new updates!
Please come and say hello at school or leave me messages on here, I am excited to get to know you all!
With love,
Hattie
You can read more about Hattie and Chatteris in this school news letter article: Introducing your New Chatteris Native English Teacher.
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