ming’s musings

Early October - Swine Flu’ed?

After getting home from an evening jog around Sai Kung one night, I stepped from the humid and balmy night into my Gran’s freezing air-conditioned living room (Hong Kongers like to recreate arctic conditions indoors).

The sudden change in temperature caught my immune system unawares and one night later, I was lying in bed with a vicious fever.

Worried that it was something like H1N1, I saw a doctor who said that it was a possibility but nonetheless gave me tons of conventional drugs to fight the fever, blocked nose, phlegm and tight chest I was having.

3 groggy days later, I got on the plane and managed to make it past Mainland quarantine checkpoints without too much hassle.

Mid-October to December - Centre Opening

After arriving back in the ‘Jing and cursing the freezing weather, I gave myself a day to settle before heading to my brand spanking new centre which was due to open in a few days time.

I was freed of my duties in the Wangjing centre and I was able to focus completely on opening the new centre - the first opening for the company in 2 years - and getting everything like the staff, procedures, systems and teaching materials in place.

The centre is based in the Zhongguancun area of north-west Beijing - China’s so-called Silicon Valley. Due to the high number of IT professionals, businesses, and prestigious Chinese universities, such as Tsinghua University and Beijing University, based in this area, competition between English training institutes here is particularly fierce.

It took a while to sink in that I was my own boss now and that I was now responsible for staff hiring and development, responsible for my students, and responsible for the success of the centre. After years of following a schedule set by my manager, I was now organising my time as well as others.

It’s still sinking in tbh.

Here are some photos to give you an idea of what my centre is like.

December - Other developments

In December, I renewed the lease on my apartment despite a 25% increase in rent. I weighed up the idea of moving to Zhongguancun but decided that I was happy where I was and that despite the increase in rent, the price was still well below the going market rental price. And packing, I hate packing. Especially in the cold.

I also went to Seoul for the first time for a few days to visit J and attend her niece’s 1st birthday celebration. It turns out that a Korean baby’s 1st birthday is a very big deal. I had a nice time despite the freezing temperatures (-10c!) and heavy snow.

Seoul itself is a modern metropolis and I was very impressed with it’s infrastructure and general convenience of everything from the public transportation to the very impressive ‘best-airport-in-the-world’ Incheon International airport.

As the end of the year approached, I prepared myself for the new year thinking that if things go well, 2010 will be just as eventful as the year I left the UK and headed to China…

And that’s 2009!