The first bike ride is the hardest
The first bike ride is the hardest
The summer break is over and I am back at my desk in Hong Kong. In fact, the night I returned to the College, arriving on campus at 11:30 pm, my first job was to go straight to the office and prepare an urgent fax to help one of our students obtain an exit visa to return to the College. I don’t know yet whether the effort will be successful or not, but you have to feel for a student when he does not know whether he will be able to leave his country to return to Hong Kong to continue his studies less than two weeks before the scheduled return date. We have issues also regarding air travel for two of our students who seem unable to get tickets from their home countries in time to commence their studies in a couple of weeks. Add to that the fact we have just been advised that the work visa for one of our new teachers has been refused, and I am sure you can appreciate why the vacation period for the head of an international school is anything but a holiday!
Riding my bicycle is a great experience at any time of day, because there are always other people around. In the early morning, I share the track with other cyclists and joggers. On weekend mornings, I pass hundreds of elderly people in Ma On Shan park doing their tai chi, shadow boxing and other traditional exercises, often to the accompaniment of traditional Chinese music. The afternoons tend to be family time on the bicycle tracks, as parents go riding with their young children, who often sway perilously despite the training wheels attached to their bicycles. Late afternoons are probably my favourite time, as the cool of the evening brings school children out riding as a break from their homework, sometimes with as many as four children sharing the one bicycle with arms and legs flying in all directions.
Sunday, 5 August 2007
Sunset over northern Australia - my parting view of Australia as I returned to Hong Kong this week