School picnics are fun. I am glad that I can still say this. I actually had no point of reference for them before teaching here in Hong Kong. Still I imagine that they are not fun for everyone. I was recently talking with a friend who said that she does not like BBQ – barbecue. She prefers to have food made for her and served to her without all the waiting time that typically accompany BBQ. Given that school picnics are about 100 percent centred around BBQ, I am guessing she doesn’t care for them. Anyway it’s a good thing that, for the most part, I like BBQ otherwise it would be harder for me to like school picnics.
Everyone spends most of their time seated around charcoal fire pit eating meats off a metal stick and socializing. Of course, being a foreigner, there is a lot of conversation that I don’t understand. Still I understand enough to know that a lot of the conversations are around the food they are eating or around food in general. It seems that liking food goes along way in Chinese culture.
I like food but I can’t say that I love it. At least, I can’t say that I love it the way many HKers do. I would get bored if food were the only topic in life. Thankfully, it’s not. While others pay attention to their food, I can pay attention to their facial expressions and think about what pictures I want to take of them. Yeah, so taking pictures is fun, and talking with students and teachers about photography and cameras is also fun. Our conversations rarely stay on photography, but at least it gives us a starting point.
And then there are times when unpredictable diversions occur. Some of the boys noticed a near by tree. They were bored and the branches were pretty low to the ground, so 2 boys jumped up, grabbed hold of a branch, and pulled themselves up. One of the boys actually pulled himself all the way up. It looked like fun, so after they came down I decided to have a go at it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to pull myself all the way up. I couldn’t wrap my foot around the branch. By that time a group of students had gathered and everyone was cheering for me, but I just couldn’t do it. Rather than give up, I decided to let go of the branch I was holding on to and to climb the tree properly. I started at the trunk and climbed up. This had to be one of the easiest climbing trees in the world. Well at least in my mind it looked like anyone could climb it. The students were shocked to see me in the tree. When I came down, a number of them indicated that they had never climbed a tree before.
Never climbed a tree before I could hardly believe it. I grew up climbing trees. I used to go as high as I could. Adults like my mom would tell me don’t go too high, but no one ever told me don’t climb. I image the Hong Kong kids grow up with fewer injuries, as they probably take part in few “risky” activities. Of course, the advantages to this are obvious fewer cuts, bruises and trips to the hospital. Still if it were me I would rather take some “risks” and have adventure stories to tell than always play it safe.
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