Sea Cadets and learning to learn

Hey, I'm becoming a Private Officer with Sam's Hong Kong Sea Cadets. They
have a title for me: "SIRRRRRRR" (said exaggeratively because I emphasize on
the proper pronunciation of the title for those of superior rank), and "P.O.
Bao". (Bao is the Chinese name I inherited from my father when he went to Hong Kong eons and eons ago. My family name "Bastien" became my father's Chinese name of "Bao Si Yen" or something). So I went to training to be a P.O.

Figure that.

There's two weekends of training. Pictures of the group:


I sat through a 2 and a half-hour information session completely in Cantonese.

I introduced myself in a few words of Cantonese too. Neat; the Chinese are very accepting of special people, so the observation goes...or maybe it's just about me. I don't know. I can't help but think during a meeting a room full of Canadians being accepting and forgiving of a foreign-speaking outsider...I'll write more when I understand it. I'll be thinking about it
a lot more. It is philosophically motivating to reflect on being the minority here, pushing myself to feel the most of it. Wow, at the meeting, pretending at times to follow and listen...I have a further respect for minorities in my classes (I already did before, but it is more empathetic
now). I wondered if being Half-Chinese had something to do with the acceptance, but Apple's assures me it isn't. Maybe being half-something I'm not a minority anywhere, or maybe ... I don't know. I'll be thinking about this for a while to come.

But I'll learn a lot of Cantonese, me thinks, while doing valuable,
worthwhile and fun community service, while having a snappy uniform to
match. Too bad I don't care much for boats, swimming or the sea. But the
people are awesome, with giving souls and kindest spirits.








I swear the people are about 3 years older than you think.
Try to spot me. Hint; I'm the only westerner there.

I've been working part-time as an English teacher at a center I was working
at before Little Ark. My focus is different this time - instead of
approaching it as propagating a western view to push the progress of the
language of the masses, I've developed an approach that is true to me -
through understanding of the HK culture and making a bridge. The feedback
has been very positive, even despite my forward and pushing stance (I tell
them I teach the way I want to be taught). I give a 10 minute break halfway
through a 3-hour class to give people the chance to leave, yet still they
stay, I guess that's a good thing. I share stories about my perspective on
HK. Knowing a bit of writing and talking Cantonese helps me understand
where they are coming from, and, I hope, makes it easier for the students to
understand that English isn't an aberration of difficulty, but similar to
all languages; you need practice and you need determination. I remind them
that despite their awe, their English is still miles ahead of my Cantonese.
Nonetheless I have this hang-up about being paid to have conversation.

These people pay for free-talk with me...I feel cheap about it.