Allergies in Hong Kong

There are a few day-to-day things I love seeing in new places, grocery stores for example. I also seem to enjoy seeing how various health care systems work, like that time in Paris or when I went to a very strange hospital in Budapest. Well Hong Kong is no exception... It started two days ago when I woke up with itchy red skin and bloodshot eyes. I've always had sensitive skin so I didn't think much of it but no matter what I tried it didn't seem to go away. Finally I went to the doctors and they told me it's very common, I'm just having an allergic reaction to the pollution and the difference in air here in Hong Kong. The best part about this story though is how easy and relatively cheap the whole process was. I walked in, showed my Canadian driver's licence, waited 20 minutes, saw the doctor, he examined me and gave me the medication I needed right there and then. No long wait, no trip to the pharmacy, just in and out and the whole thing cost me 56 Canadian dollars! Although we have amazing health care in Canada one of the creams he gave me would cost that much alone. I feel much better and I'm hoping this allergic reaction to beautiful Hong Kong will go away soon! 

Settling in

I've been in Hong Kong for about 3 weeks and it's been an amazing 3 weeks! We've just finished training and start officially teaching tomorrow. The kids are so cute that no matter how you feel they always manage to make you smile! I'm looking forward to having my own classes and getting to know my students.  We've been so busy with work we haven't done much tourism but we've managed to go out in the evenings quite a bit. It was Olivia's birthday the other night and we had incredible Indian food (seriously sooo gooood).  I also got a little taste of home at our local Canadian bar where we enjoyed beers and burgers. Friday was Valentine's Day and we all went out to a single's event just for kicks. I'm going to try to be a better tourist once I have more time and also I'm starting to plan a little adventure for Easter break!

Stay tuned... 

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

I arrived in Hong Kong just in time for Chinese New Year, which meant the city was buzzing even more than usual. I met tons of people through the school I'll be teaching at and we battled through jet lag and began exploring. Among many stops we went to the Botanical/Zoo gardens, the flower market, Chi Lin Nunnery, and Big Wave Bay.  We also enjoyed the night life, which is quite an experience compared to Canada where most nights end around 2 am, but here they can go on till 6 am! I also went to visit my cousin who works for Thomson Reuters and got to play reporter and go in front of the camera!  I didn't take pictures of everything (I've been too amazed to take out my camera half the time) but here are some shots:

Jon and I reporting live from HK

Chi Lin Nunnery

Olivia and I

"Winter" in Hong Kong

Decided to hike from the beach, unbelievable views!

Happy Year of the Horse everyone!