Day Thirty

The last day!

I have about 30 minutes left of my internship here in Hong Kong. And I'm so happy! I will definitely miss the kids here, but I am so ready to take a break and relax. Tomorrow is going to be awesome! And with the list of fun places to eat and see, I am just ready to vacation! So many good things ahead!

Today I had lunch with the KYK staff. Super yummy Pakistani food from a restaurant across from the center. I learned the difference between naan and roti. Naan is thicker and fluffy. Roti is thinner and crispy. But to be honest, I still don't get it. It looks the same to me here at the restaurant. Starting from the front... We have beef curry, fish curry, and chicken curry! I think that is naan.... I'm not sure, but it's baked with some kick to it! It was delicious! And all the way in the back is fried rice with a chicken hiding in the center. Super yummy rice! It's different. The grains are much longer than what I'm used to.

A great way to end my internship! Thank you so much for making my stay here interesting and exciting! Even though the conversation during my evaluation meeting got a bit intense and a little sad, knowing that our mission as a social worker is to make the world a better place for EVERYONE no matter what part of the world we live in. To make a change, sustaining change, it will take time. Just keep swimming!

Day Twenty-Nine

Last day with the kids! We had a movie day today. Since my workshop was somewhat based on the characters of Inside Out, we watched Inside Out! It's a little bit too complex for the little ones to understand the meaning of the movie, but the kids that were a little older seemed to enjoy the movie. I provided soda pop as requested and added small bags of M&M's as a bonus! The way they package them here is cute, but I only got five peanut M&M's in my bag... Talk about a rip-off!

Here's a view that I will miss on my way to work. But I kind of won't miss it because it is super hot hiking up the hill to the bus stop. A nice blue sky for the last couple of days of my internship.

Day Twenty-Eight

I can't believe that I only have today and two more days left!!! Today is more than halfway done! I started today with supervision. Our conversations always last longer than I thought they would. They're only supposed to be an hour only, and I'm pretty sure all six of my supervisions were more than one hour long. I am seriously over this right now... I just want to spend my days exploring Hong Kong right now. I found out today that the temples here in Hong Kong also have charms similar to the shrines in Japan. I could really use one or two in my life.


These are pictures of my walk home from the bus stop last night... It's such an amazing view on my way home. And looking back I can see all of the mountains. Pretty nifty.

Day Twenty-Seven

Today is the start of my last week of my internship in Hong Kong... It's been quite an experience, and I made the most out of what was given and thrown at me. I really enjoyed learning about what Lady MacLehose has to offer the ethnic minority community. There is definitely room for improvement, but there always is. I just hope that after my experience here, I'll be able to help the next student prepare himself/herself for Hong Kong better. Thankfully, I've lived in two other Asian countries before this. If not, I don't know how I would have survived. Although, it is also a bad thing that I have because my expectations on living in Hong Kong are too high since I was expecting the same experience living in Japan and South Korea. There were some low times while staying here. Overall, it was a good learning experience. I think I've learned a lot about social work. Where I see myself as a social worker. Social workers in Hong Kong. Also social workers in other countries like Thailand and South Korea. I am ready for this week to be over, so I can start my last year in the MSW program. But before starting the fall semester, I'd like to relax and vacation a bit here in Hong Kong and also back at home! I have a list of yummy eats here I want to go to. I could use some time by the pool. OH! But I can't do all that until I finish my paper for my independent study on social work in South Korea! Oof!

I am really looking forward to fun foodie adventures like I had this past weekend... Tsum Tsum cuteness in Festival Walk. I'm really loving the cute exhibits at these malls!! If only Houston did exhibits like these in our malls!!

 

I also had Ichiran ramen again... Amped up on the spicy level!

And I went to the Charlie Brown Cafe and 

had french toast and a roasted hazelnut latte with Snoopy!

 

Day Twenty-Six

The last session of my workshop!!! It started out great with all the kids here. We began with the slides and talked about things that make us sad and scared. But then I lost half of my kids. Even though I specifically said that all the kids for the workshop are here, and any other kid that enters the center is not allowed in the session.... The other workers here at the agency couldn't keep out other kids barging in and interrupting my workshop. To think, they thought I could do what they are doing and my workshop all by myself........... I am so glad my workshop is over... I only four more days of my internship left. WOO!

Anyways, the kids that made it through the discussion and the interruption really enjoyed the rest of the session. We practiced our deep breathing with our painting of scared and shocked faces. After we were finished with the water colors, we worked as a group to make lavender play dough! Smells beautiful. We also had time at the end of our session to have sculpture contests! We attempted to make Mickey Mouse... and gave up... and decided to make Olaf instead!

Day Twenty-Five

Today was a snoozer. I didn't really have much to do except countdown the hours until it was time to go home. I am SO ready for tomorrow. The last day of my workshop!!! Today was a perfect day to catch up on making my notes from the Joint World Conference in Seoul presentable to turn in. The notes I typed up were so brief, and after looking over it today, it needed to be re-written... Only I can decipher what I wrote.

There was a ceremony today that the agency has been planning for some time now. Too bad I didn't understand a thing. The people there were trying to talk to me, but I couldn't communicate with them. I felt really rude not talking to them. It probably seemed like I was ignoring them, but I didn't know what to do since I don't know Cantonese.


When I left for KYK today, I noticed this newspaper's front page! Just seeing these cute little Hello Kitty balls makes me happy. It makes me even happier knowing that I have all of them! Yeah! Here a picture of the cookie my colleague got me from the ceremony today.

Day Twenty-Four

The third session of my workshop went a lot better than the last one. The little girl that made a mess on both the first and second showed up again. I specifically told her brothers that she wouldn't be able to do the activities for the next two sessions and that only the children who signed up for the workshop can attend. There is only enough material for those children. I did have help today. She watched the little girl while we started the session. But even with just one little girl to watch, she wasn't able to manage her behavior. That was when I realized I have to use the dividers during the next session. The little girl could not sit in one area and continued to interrupt the workshop. The center is a really difficult place to run a group. I would not recommend having a group here at KYK, and if possible, booking a room in a different center would be better.

We made stress balls today!

For dinner tonight, I went all the way to Causeway Bay to go to Times Square. When I arrived, it turned into a magical Finding Dory world. All the characters from Finding Dory were all over the place. I loved it! First it was the Neko Astume cats all over Harbour City. And tonight I got to see the display for Finding Dory at a different shopping mall. 

I arrived a bit earlier than I thought I would since I got off of work earlier since I started it earlier than usual. So, after I took pictures of Finding Dory, I went to the underground food area to get a snack. I found a shop that had oobanyaki at Sweet House Cha Cha. I bought a box to go and had myself a melon flavored soft-serve. It was delicious. And as I was walking out of the food area, I walked by ROYAL MILK TEA! THE BOTTLED RMT! If only I had my backpack, I would have filled it up with RMT. Some for now in HK. Some for later back in America.

For dinner, I went to Chung's Kitchen. The food was delicious!! A good friend's sister's in-laws live in Hong Kong and made the reservation and ordered all the yummy food. I felt a bit fancy to be eating a traditional Chinese dishes at such a nice restaurant at Times Square. I feel like there are different levels of restaurants at a shopping mall. From casual to semi-classy to super fancy. This place was between semi-classy to super fancy. I wouldn't find myself at a restaurant like this on my own. All the places I want to go eat at are casual and super cute! I would have taken more pictures than the entrance, but the atmosphere of the place seemed too nice to bust out a phone to take foodie pictures...

Day Twenty-Three

I'm really thinking these supervision meetings are a time for me to vent. That is what I end up doing every time. Venting about my dorm. Venting about my colleagues. Venting about my sessions. After talking about what happened at the first two sessions, I really wanted to know what the problem was. Is it because I wasn't prepared enough. I always prepare as much as I can. I prepare for things that I think could possibly happen. I prepare for the worst situations. I guess you just never what could happen. I can't control or predict everything... However, my field instructor did point out that at my center I don't work with social workers. With my group, they may not know or understand what to expect and how to help. In order to prevent the chaos that happened yesterday, we listed solutions to the issues that I had. Possibly checking out a laptop from the university. Asking someone to specifically watch and manage the children that are not in the group. Asking someone to manage the flow of the children coming in and out of the center. There's no way that I could do all of these things and hold a workshop. I can't wait until this internship is over. It is too frustrating. I can't wait until my internship at Texas Children's starts. I faxed my paperwork and emailed it just in case! I am ready to be a sponge and learn everything I need to know to be a successful medical social worker!

[edit] I got lucky. There was a meeting today with my preceptor who is a social worker and the workers here at KYK. I updated her with my workshop and the issues I've been having. I gave her the cliff notes version of course. She was able to take charge and help me by giving solutions to manage the extra children. She will be providing me with a volunteer to keep watch of the children and the traffic.

Food pictures time!! I had tom yum noodle soup for dinner. It was delicious! I also learned how to order KFC deliver to my dorm! DANGER... I ordered a feast. I have a feeling I'll be eating KFC for a couple of days...

KFC feast!

Day Twenty-Two

The second day of my workshop was chaos. Six of the kids came for the session but at different times throughout the session.... And KYK is too small for the kids to all lay their bodies on their floor to draw themselves jumping for joy... The support from the others in the center was lacking as well... I was literally sweating and panicking. Luckily, with the kids coming in at different times, the ones who came first finished and the next group of kids had space to get their bodies drawn. I'm glad more kids showed up for the session, but it opened my eyes to why projects at the agency aren't as effective as they could be. I realized I need to vocalize what I need rather than expecting the help when it's needed. The next two sessions will have seated activities, so there won't be a need for a bigger space for the children. Hopefully, my supervision with my field instructor tomorrow will help me process these first two sessions of the workshop. 

I had a wonderful Sunday! I started my day with brunch at Tim Ho Wan, the cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant. To be honest, I've had better dim sum. Maybe there's a certain location I need to go to? It wasn't horrible. It was good dim sum, but I guess I need my soy sauce, vinegar and chili oil. There was a dish I've had for the first time. Fried lychee with meet inside. I would not order it again. It is not my cup of tea.

After brunch, I headed north to Sha Tin. I went to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum where the Bruce Lee exhibition is held. It was amazing to read all about his history. I didn't realize he died at a young age. I didn't even know he was married and had two children. I wanted to take more pictures, but there are so many people... that and certain areas don't allow pictures to be taken........

Then it was time to meet friends at Harbor City. To kill time, I went to 1881 Heritage that has a Victorian feel to the area. There was also giant ice cream sundaes in the middle being displayed! That's what I am taking a fake bite out of in the selfie. I knew I was getting closer to the harbor when it started feeling and tasting salty. I spotted people fishing and others jamming out on their violins. There was a lot going on there. I will definitely go back and wander around some more.

The reason why I was going to Harbor City was for the Moomin Cafe!!!! One of my wonderful students during my time in Shinyokohoma introduced me to the Moomins. So cute! And when I discovered that there is a cafe here in Hong Kong, I knew I had to go and check it out. On my way to the cafe, I was surprised with all the Neko Astume cats all over!!!! I am guilty of playing the game on my phone, and I have all the cats I took pictures of and with. Hehe. Hong Kong is just filled with cuteness. It was an overload of cuteness this evening!!

Finally made our way to Moomin Cafe. Super cute on the outside. Super cute on the inside. And a super awesome view where we sat. We were faced the harbor and could watch the light show. I kept rubbing my eyes thinking my contacts were getting dried out and blurry, but it was just the window. HAH! I really like these cafes that have stuffed animals you can sit with. I sat with B. Duck at Izumi Curry, and tonight, we sat with some black thing and Moomin. But I am seriously so glad I was able to convince the waitress to let me the kid's meal because all the other food seemed mediocre and over-priced for such mediocrity. Who doesn't want Moomin shaped pasta at a Moomin Cafe? The other main dishes weren't Moomin themed at all! I told the lady I wanted to get a small meal in order to get the pancakes for dessert!! And that is what I did.