Learning for a better future

This little boy maybe 5 or 6 years old doing very concentrated his homework on a street corner - no parents etc. in sight. I watched him for a while & then made the 2 photos. A little blurry, but still catching the mood.

Off to the mainland now

back on Friday only....maybe I get some photos for you. Sorry for slow posting !

CY LEUNG & his 500M House at the Peak

Now CY Leung is in trouble - it is maybe exaggerated - I dont know - but it is welcome to all his critics - please read here: CY's critics seek no confidence motion 24-06-2012 The Labour Party says it aims to move an emergency motion of no-confidence against Chief Executive-elect, C.Y. Leung, amid controversy over illegal structures uncovered at his Peak residence. Mr Leung -- a surveyor -- has accepted full responsibility for the unauthorised building works, even though he also says he wasn't aware they were illegal. The Labour Party's chairman, lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan, said he hoped Legco president Tsang Yok-sing will waive the 12-day notice requirement so the motion can be moved on Wednesday. Mr Tsang said he would study the reasons behind the motion of no confidence before deciding whether to approve it for Wednesday or not. Speaking after RTHK's City Forum, a vice-chairman of the Democratic Party, Emily Lau, said it was too early to say if her party would back the no-confidence motion -- but she could not rule it out. The party's central committee will hold an urgent meeting tomorrow night to discuss the issue and decide the next step. Legislator Miriam Lau, who heads the pro-establishment Liberal Party, said she would like to see an investigation first into whether Mr Leung had lied, before deciding what should come next. She said Mr Leung should be given a chance to explain fully.

DEAR READERS

More than 4 years I have started this blog. Now I have passed the mark of 50,000 reads + almost 80,000 page views. Thank you very much for your support. The initial reason was the troubles of getting CHINA VISA before & during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. This problem had eased in October 2008 at least partly. Now that blog focus more on other things related to HK & China. I want to keep that blog alive as it gave me a lot of joy in posting etc etc. Thanks for you following this blog.

Laowai stops cars: Allows 120 [ambulance] to go first

Please read here (after checking this must have been in Chengdu): Yesterday noon around 12:00, city resident Mr. Tian was a passenger on the Line 1 Public Bus, accompanying family to see the doctor at Huaxi Hospital. When the bus reached the Wuhouci Street and Jiangxijie Road intersection, there was a lot of traffic and the bus was unable to move forward, while the traffic under the Old South Gate Overpass was particularly jam-packed. A 120 ambulance trying to make a turn into Wuhouci Street was also caught in this traffic, stuck and unable to advance. Mr. Tian then noticed a laowai had suddenly appeared in the midst of the traffic. This laowai wearing black pants and a t-shirt was actually busily opening a path in the traffic, and Mr. Tian turned on his mobile phone to record this scene. To allow this 120 ambulance to turn onto Wuhouci Street, this laowai ran back and forth amongst the packed cars on Jiangxi Street stopping cars from both directions. He first intercepted a taxi traveling south on Jiangxi Street, sticking both of his hands out on the car’s windshield, pushing the car backwards with all his strength, using improper/broken Chinese to say: “Don’t come, don’t come, there must be a sick person on the ambulance, let the ambulance first pass.” Afterward, the laowai ran to the other side, intercepted a Buick trying to make a left turn into Wuhouci Street, and also used all his strength to push the car back. This reporter saw in the video that both intercepted cars were all very accommodating. Video here:

TVB LATE NEWS 14.06.12

Some news cuttings here .........still about Donald - he has 16 days to go - give it a break, its meaningless to ask him to RESIGN now.
See here:

Apple Shop in Shi Long

Recently APPLE opened a new shop on the mainland. In Shi Long Town - this is the last station before Guangzhou with the train from Shenzhen. Please see here & be aware only original APPLE products are sold there:
It always needs 2: First the greedy operator running that shop - second any stupid customer believing this is a real APPLE shop. My guess: This shop will not last very long.

Lacrima Di Rei Edit - By Kruder & Dorfmeister

From the movie "Aguirre" - but a re-mix:

THIS IS A GREAT ONE FOR YOUR WEEKEND !

JUst recovering from a bad virus infection - heavy antibiotics - just looking t find something suitable for your weekend joy !
Here it is - I hope you like it as much as I like it:

My letter to CY LEUNG about P1 admissions

It seems my letter to CY Leung on his webpage has somewhat been dust in the internet.
Pressed the submit button - no confirmation at all - even not a feedback on the email I had submitted.
So maybe Mr CY Leung needs to check his IT department - I am afraid my letter never was submitted.
Here now the letter I have sent:
quote
Dear Mr CY Leung,

I am a ****** native living in Hong Kong since almost 15 years. I am a permanent resident - my spouse is Hong Kong born  - our son is almost 6 years old, he can read english since he was 4 years old, he speaks a passable Mandarin & fairly Cantonese. Since more than 9 month we are "labouring" on finding the right PRIMARY 1 school place for our son. Especially very troublesome is all the DSS schools application procedures. My son attended more than 10 interviews in different DSS schools - he "failed"all. As a parents you feel very saddend by this results: Is our son so stupid - this feeling is shared with most of the other parents. My son even refused to go to further interviews & feeling very uncomfortable with that situation. It seems even not 6 year old children must already have a grade of some kind of "professor" - being a child only doesn’t matter. 

Some of these schools allow 2,000 - 3,000 applications, but they have only 150 primary seats. They even conduct 2,000 - 3,000 so-called interviews. Surely the result is for many parents very frustrating - 95% will be rejected. Then there are the "lucky ones" due to whatever reason got admitted to 4 - 5 schools after successful interviews. We know several families being that "lucky". What are they doing ? They register their kid at all schools. They are blocking the seats until the very last minute to be released for the not so lucky ones. This system is very wrong - the Hong Kong Government very much supporting this DSS schools. Why there cannot be a system forcing the parents getting the green light for several schools making a final decision immediately (that should be in November prior to the forthcoming school year). That would take away a lot of burden from the "not so lucky" ones & release some terrible pressure for many families. I personally think that this is a very important part of the Education System (procedures) urgently need to improve here in Hong Kong. We are all very hard working families - the EU debt crisis is putting a deep shadow over HK & China economy - we still have not reached the bottom line. I am afraid it will get more worse in the 3rd & 4th quarter of 2012. Putting all that extra burden like that P1 admission on top - I think this is not good. Many parents / families we know, being friends with sharing the same thoughts.

Best regards ***********

unquote

By the way some of the DSS schools 2nd phase with maybe only half of the seats vacant still accept up to 900 applications - for maybe 60 seats: Application fee for 2nd phase interview = HKD 50:

900 x HKD 50 = HKD 45,000 - not bad under the consideration that out of the 900 (if they attend all) only 60 have the chance at all to get admitted ! They must have some very greedy accountants at this school !

HONG KONG PRIMARY 1 SCHOOLS ADMISSIONS

On last Saturday the results of the LUCKY DRAW for POA admissions (government aided schools) have been released. Itwas the most worst result within 10 years: Only 72% applications got admitted to one of the 3 preferred schools. Our son was very lucky - almost like winning the Mark 6: He got a place in a nearby school 5 minutes walking from home. No getting up at 6.30 am to have a 1.5 hours school bus drive one way & same on the way home. We registered him today. The school has only one class per year - they have a big garden to teach the children gardening & planting vegetables. It looked like a little paradise to me compared with some of the schools located in Shamshuipo, Tok Wa Wan or Shatin. Besides this we still participated in the game for 2nd phase application of some DSS schools. Totally absurd: One school still having more than 900 applications for 2nd phase interviews...maybe just 60 seats left: They are looking for LITTLE EINSTEINS ? How much of this procedures is really for the kids and the parents or is it only for the school to polish their reputation ? We got the best of the best of Hong Kong children in our classes ! Some parents also jumping on that kind of "train". Question: Is this what your kid needs to start their school life - far away not. They are kids - not "robots". I visited CY Leungs home page & submitted a letter about this procedures to him - unfortunately I cannot tell if my submission was successful, because after pressing the submit button there was no reply like "submitted" or "thank you for your message". Something wrong on that page ? Here is the link, write something to CY Leung - lets see if it gets through:
CHALLENGE CY LEUNG HERE !

DAZED & CONFUSED

Sorry for no essential posting - too much work & too tired. Tomorrow Sunday office again - doesn't matter - WE A HAVE TO WORK HARD - if we want to get something moving. Here an old time classics 42 years old THE ZEPS - DAZED & CONFUSED - enjoy:

Sorry so busy - but here something SPECIAL

FAMOUS GERMAN ACTOR KLAUS KINSKI BACK IN 1971 - JUST SEE THAT - HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CHINA VISA - BUT IS STILL VERY RELEVANT. IT IS GERMAN LANGUAGE (AFTER THE ORIGINAL A LINK WITH SUB TITLES) - THIS WAS A VERY CONTOVERSIAL PERFOMANCE - MANY INTERRUPTIONS BY THE AUDIENCE - FIND OUT YOURSELF: hERE THE SUBTITLES VERSION: