THE LATER UNIVERSITY YEARS (1985 - 2000) This file deals with the university years following our return from Stanford University until my retirement at the end of July, 2000, though it does not deal with the dissertation work during the initial few years, which is dealt with in the previous file. Fortunately, I kept diaries for most of these years (from 1998 to 2000), which have been of immense help in recalling events that happened and also of sorting out the years in which remembered events occurred. There were also many photographs taken in this period. though getting them all in the correct years is a problem.

New Residence As mentioned earlier, Leonie, Gavin and I returned to Hong Hong late in August of 1985. Vanessa and Nadine came a couple of months or so later, once baby Nadine was bigger and strong enough to travel. We moved into Flat 5B of Residence 12 on campus immediately on return, which was to be our home for the next 15 years - the longest time I ever lived in one place in my life. (The photograph shows four residences: Residence 13 on right, Residence 15 on left, Residence 14 centre, Residence 12 centre in front of 14 and so only partly visible. The picture is recent and not from 1985; there was no reclamation, no highway and no double-tracked railway then. All these residences were built while we were at Stanford.) While in the US, I had requested that the wooded floors of the flat be stained and polished. But on arrival, we found that only about half of the lounge and living area had been done. I was rather mad and told the company they would not be paid until it was done properly. I don't think they came back; we covered the unpolished area in the lounge with a carpet. We had to collect our belongings that had been stored, though where most of them were kept I cannot recall. Some things were stored in my office, but on going there I found that a number of them had been stolen. This included the barbell (though not the weights) and a portable reel-to-reel tape recorder. Cockroaches had also got into things and made rather a mess.

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It was still the peak of the hot, humid Hong Kong summer, and we did not have bedroom airconditioning for some time. Size of the flat: The flat was large, with a floor area of about 1800 sq. ft, with three bedrooms, a study and servant's quarters. As with all university accommodation, the flat was partly furnished. The picture shows the ground floor entrance to the residence (though the recycle bins were not present when we lived there). Note: This is where the children had their sales, mentioned later in the file. View: The view from the front was across the Tolo Harbour to the Pat Sin Leng mountain range on the other side (see photograph). It was a spectacular view (though as with anything 'spectacular', it becomes 'ordinary' once the novelty wears off). The view also deteriorated as air pollution in Hong Kong worsened, until at time, the mountains were barely, if at all, visible (unlike in the photo which must have been taken on a clear day). Also, noise pollution set in as soon as the doubletracking of the railway was finished and the six-lane Tolo Highway opened, both of which were almost directly below the residence. In the end, the noise just got too much and in about 1995 or 1996, I made the first of several petitions to have the windows double glazed in order to reduce the noise level. Eventually, in 1997, this was done, though only on one side of the flat. The rear rooms still received a lot of noise that reflected off the adjacent Residence 13. Needless to say, the balcony was used less and less often. Residence roof: The roof served a double function. It had lines for hanging up washing to dry. For me, it also served as a convenient place to sunbathe on sunny afternoons in the cooler months (it was far to hot in the summers for this). Car park: Each flat was allocated one parking space, free of charge. Neighbours: The Dewars, from Johannesburg, in South Africa, came to the university about the time we returned from Stanford and lived in our residence. They had a daughter (Catherine) who was Leonie's age, a boy (Allan) of Gavin's age and a younger son, Craig, about Nadine's age. They •2

became very friendly with our children. In June, 1990, they returned to South Africa. (Leonie met Catherine and the parents briefly when she and Tom were in South Africa and were on their way hack to Harvard in August 2004.) The university had reserved the flat immediately above us for one of the joint winners of the 1957 Nobel prize in Physics. His name was Chen Ning-yang (pictured). Although he did not come from the Chinese University (he was born in China and studied at Princeton, NJ), CUHK wanted to be associated with him. The flat was only used when he was in Hong Kong; most of the time it was empty. I met him only once and had a brief chat with him. Somehow, our conversation got onto the fact that I was writing science textbook, and he was interested in that. Rent: Rent was fixed at a flat 8% of one's salary, so as your salary increased, so did the rent. This was in line with the government rents for civil servants who lived in government flats. We had to pay about $80 a month for the disposal of rubbish outside the back door. We also paid the gas and utility bills. Hi-Fi for the flat: When we returned from Stanford, we just had a large radio and taperecorder set in the flat. Soon after that (I think), I bought a Hi-Fi set. Then. at the end of 1989, Vanessa was able to get another Hi-Fi set at a reduced price from Peter White (?Whyte) who had obtained two sets. This is the system I am still using today; the radio and turntable still work fine though the CD is kaput and the tape-recorder may not work properly. Two things about this system that I recall: • At the university, it could pick up Radio 4 (FM) very well but not Radio 3 (AM). So I telephoned RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong) to see if they knew why; they actually came along to check it out, but were not able to work out why. (Perhaps Peter White had been sold two lemons, which was why they were cheap!) • When the CD tray would not open, Gavin worked out a way to open it by poking around with a chopstick. But even that does not work now. Bookworms: This was a small campus library for children. It was located in a recreation room next door in Residence 14 and not in our residence. Travel For the first few months after returning from Stanford, we did not have a car. We made enquiries about used vehicles. One we liked was a used Mitsubishi Space Wagon, which a company was selling. The good •3

point was that as well as the regular two rows of seats, the vehicle had a storage area at the rear that could be converted into a third row to allow room for seven people (2-3-2). I was about to buy it, when somehow I got the maintenance records from the Mitsubishi agents in Hong Kong and found that it had been severely damaged in an accident. In the end, we decided to buy a new car - also a Mitsubishi Space Wagon. The version we eventually got looked identical to that in the photograph, with a two-tone silver-grey colour. The licence number was DL6599. This car served us well all the remaining time we were at the university. Cleaning the car was a regular chore. Most of the time, I did it! This would involve washing it from a bucket of water and occasionally polishing it. I note from a diary entry in 1998 that the Residence 12 caretaker (Mr Pang) polished it on at least one occasion, though how much it cost for this I did not make a note of. Amahs For those not familiar with the term, an amah is a domestic servant in Hong Kong, mainly female and mainly from the Philippines (though now many come from Indonesia and some from South Asia) and who usually live in their employer's home. Traditionally, and until about 1980, amahs were Chinese ladies who served in expatriate and more affluent local households. (When we lived on the Peak, our neighbours had such a traditional amah, who dressed similar to those in the picture.) But they became too expensive and harder to get as women became educated so amahs had to be brought in from neighbouring countries. For part of our time in Residence 12, we had a total of three live-in Filipino amahs (or maids, as they now tend to be called): • The first was named Liberty. She came in September of 1989 and remained for about a year, leaving just before we went to the UK for a holiday. At that time, Vanessa was into giving massages and Liberty must have learnt how to do this as there is a comment in my diary that she gave me a massage (that is a genuine massage, and not a euphemism for other services!). The picture shows Liberty (in yellow) helping at Gavin's 9th birthday party in 1990. •4

• The second was Nora, who was the sister of our neighbour's amah. • The third and last was Myriam. She was the least efficient and did not last very long. When we had no amahs, the cleaning of the flat mainly fell on me, especially in the later years! And with 1800 sq ft to clean, it could sometimes take a long time. Sleepovers During these years, the children had many sleepovers, either in our flat or those of friends. Examples in the diaries include sleepovers at the French's, Dewar's and Boyle's or in our place. The picture shows one such sleepover at our place with the Dewar children. Young entrepreneurs Several times, the children set up a small stall by the entrance to our residence (see the picture on the first page), in order to sell things. Examples: • On a Sunday in July of 1990, Leonie, Gavin and Nadine had a jumble sale of old toys (pictured). They were there the whole day and got about $60! (This was just a few days before we went on holiday to the UK, so perhaps they were getting rid of old stuff they no longer wanted. It seems as if they had a lot of stuff! (Something I kept noticing when looking at other pictures.) • In January of 1991, Leonie and Nadine make pancakes and sold them downstairs, earning just $7! Recording studios • The day after the 1990 jumble sale (above), Leonie and Gavin went to a recording studio in the afternoon and evening, though I have forgotten what for. • In March, 1992, Leonie went to sing for advertisements, though again I have forgotten the details. • In July 1996, Nadine was selected for a TV advertisement though I don't think I ever saw it or even knew what it was about. Outings There were many outings. Examples:

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• Bike rides, such as along the cycle/walking path alongside the river to Shatin. • Visits to Tai Po Kau forest. • Visits to reservoirs. On one visit to the Hok Tau reservoir in 1988, Gavin managed to fall into the water. But by then he was seven years old and could swim. • Hikes. From time to time we would go hiking. Here are three examples: - Several times we climbed Cloudy Hill, behind Hong Lok Yuen. On one of these hikes. Gavin was playing round with a small portable generator at a maintenance site at the top of the hill, when it suddenly started. It gave him quite a shock! He did not know how to stop it. I did, just by pushing the metal plate above the spark plug onto the plug to ground the electric current to the spark plug. On another hike, we climbed up the hill from Tai Mai Tuk that went towards Bride's Pool; steep and rough in places. - In February 1990, Leonie, Gavin and I went up Ma On Shan and almost got to the top. - In December, 1989, we all went for a hike with Kylie and Arthur White (?Whyte). The Whites were friends of Vanessa who lived in Hong Long Yuen. Kylie was living in Australia and had come to Hong Kong for a holiday. • To Beas's river club (with friends who were members), where they could ride on the horses there. • Beach trips. This included Tai Long Wan and Clearwater Bay. To get to Tai Long Wan, as there are no roads to there, we had to take a ferry from next to the University station and head off down Tolo Harbour. At one of the stops, we would get off and climb over a hill to get to the beach (the path is part of Stage 2 of the MacLehose trail). This could take up to two hours to get there. But it is a nice beach and quite safe (though there is another part of it that is not son safe). The two pictures (below left) show one outing at the beach. Clearwater Bay could be reached by car. The other picture is of one visit to this beach.

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A near-drowning at Tai Long Wan: On one visit to Tai Long Wan (probably on the same occasion of the above pictures, three of us got into difficulties in the water. Joe Boyle, John Jones and myself went across the small hill to the the main beach at Tai Long Wan (see photograph). Here there are large waves and quite a strong undertow. The three of us entered the water and without realising it were caught in an undertow and taken further out. We then found that we couldn't get back! We struggled against the current. Joe Boyle and I had to help John Jones who was not very fit and was a poor swimmer. At one point he told us to let him go and look after ourselves, which we refused to do as we would of drowned, again not realising that by remaining with him, the three of us were in danger. We saw a pleasure junk further out in the bay so waved and shouted. They could not hear us and just waved back unaware of our predicament. After about 30 minutes, we could touch the bottom but it was still some time before we got to the shore where we collapsed exhausted, especially John Jones. We slowly headed back to the others but agreed that we would not say anything about what had transpired. So this may be the first that some readers are finding out about that incident. • Horse rides: In October, 1989, I took the children to a horse show in the New Territories, where they had rides on horses. • Visit to an outlying island: On one occasion, a group of us from the university took a ferry to Ping Chau (East) Island, which is quite close to China and is noted for its rock formations. The picture shows us with Michael Bond who was part of the group.

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Pets Over the years, the children had a number of pets or potential pets. • Fish: In 1988, we kept small fish in a kitchen aquarium. These died - perhaps fortunately on July 1st, the day before we set off for our holiday in the US. • Bird: In April 1991, Leonie and Gavin found a budgie in a tree. They named it, appropriately, Treetop. Unfortunately, it died the next day. They buried it at the rear of the residence. • Cat: In March 1992, Leonie brought home a stray cat she had found. They named it Abby. The next day, we took it to the RSPCA. • Dog: In 1992, Leonie, Gavin and Nadine got a puppy, which they called Rocky. I was not in favour of getting it, as cute little puppies eventually grow up to be big dogs that are not suitable for living in high-rise residences. Also, there was not enough time to train or take care of him or to take him for walks. Because of this neglect, the dog was a source of trouble at home and with other people. Birthdays The children's birthdays were almost always celebrated, at least when they were younger. Leonie always seemed to come off best as her birthday, being in August, meant that she sometime had two parties - one in Hong Kong and one overseas. The pictures below are just from one year - 1998. • Leonie is 9 years old. She gets two parties - one in Hong Kong and the second while we were on holiday in San Francisco. • Gavin is 7 years old. How do you like his Mao costume? • Nadine is 3 year old this year.

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Christmases Every year, again when the children were younger, we would have a Christmas tree with lights and gifts placed under it. The tree was plastic and the same tree lasted for many, many years. So too, did the lights. Some pictures: • The first picture is from 1985, the first Christmas in this flat and the first after returning from Stanford. • The next two are from 1987.

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• Every year, the Chung Chi social committee set up a manger scene on the lawn in front of the chapel (pictured below in 1988). They also put on outside activities and a party for children (pictured in 1987).

Reiki and massage After a couple of years back, Vanessa became very interested in massage and Reiki. For massage, she had a special table, which she had brought back from the US on one of her trips (summer of 1986?). Her clients were mainly people who lived on campus. She was also interested in Reiki and would conduct classes in the flat. I helped with some of these but was not particularly interested and would sometimes go to the office to work while these sessions were held. She also had a Reiki teacher in California and went over there to become a Reiki 'master'. The photograph shows a group of people in one of her Reiki classes. The Reiki teacher is the lady on the sofa, second from the right, who had come to Hong Kong to see Vanessa at work. Park /n Shop In 1989, Park 'n Shop opened a small supermarket on the central campus, not far from the swimming pool. This was extremely convenient as before this, we would have to travel to Shatin to do such • 10

shopping. I/We would sometimes take the car and fill it up with goods. At other times I would buy some things after work and carry them home. Note: The university had buses to bring staff to work and take them home again; different buses served different locations around Hong Kong. These buses departed at about 5.15 pm from the central campus. In order for people from the separate colleges to get to their buses, the university provided a free shuttle bus from each college at 5 pm to take staff to the central campus. I would often take the bus from Chung Chi and then walk downhill from the central campus to our residence. Often, I would first call in at Park 'n Shop to buy things and carry them with me. Sometimes there were more bags than I could conveniently handle and occasionally a passing resident in a car would give me a lift. Swimming on campus Leonie, Gavin and Nadine would often go swimming in the university pool. I was keen to get them to swim and would offer monetary incentives, at least for Leonie and Gavin, who by this age knew how useful money could be! On a door in the flat (the storeroom), there was a large sheet of paper on which they added the number of lengths they had swum. The goal was to be 200 lengths in a season. The year 1989 seems to have been a key year. • In August 1989, Leonie and Gavin each did 20 lengths (1000 metres) and earned $100. • In August 1989, Leonie did 24 lengths and in the following month, got to the goal of 200 lengths. Gavin achieved the same goal in October. • A year later, in September 1990, Gavin (aged 9+) did 200 metres (40 lengths) of crawl unassisted. This was a marvellous achievement for which he received $100. In November of 1991, his time for 20 lengths (1 km) was down to 28 ½ minutes. • Nadine, not to be left out, managed to do ¼ width in September of 1989, aged 4+ years. This increased to ½ width in June 1990 then one width (about 20 metres) in September, 1990. However, she did not get any monetary reward. Having accomplished these feats, I don't think the incentive scheme was used thereafter. Note: There don't seem to be any post-1985 pictures of swimming in the university pool, so I have included the one above from the 1998 trip to the US; I think it was taken somewhere during the trip to Arizona.

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Children's Schooling Initial schooling Immediately on return, Leonie and Gavin began school. Leonie was in Primary 2. She attended the Beacon Hill Primary School. This was a fee-paying ESF (English School Foundation) school, which the university, following the government scheme, would subsidise the cost of the education for overseas employees (and senior local employees). The alternative would have been local Chinese-medium schools or other international schools (which are usually more expensive than the ESF). Attending this school meant I had to get a uniform for her. Gavin, being just four years old, was still too young for formal schooling and spent the year at the campus nursery school. Campus nursery school This school was originally housed in the rear of the Chung Chi College chapel, but is now in a location nearer the medical centre pictured. The university provides the facilities for this nursery school but it is not run by them. A Western lady on campus (Mrs Jenny Chan) was in charge, assisted by two Chinese ladies. Priority was given to children of campus families. The school operated just in the mornings, and would finish at 12 noon. Nadine began nursery school in September 1988 when she was 2 ½ years old and continued there until 1990 when she was five years of age and began primary school. I think she might have gone to the original school initially then to the newer one. The university provided a bus (though it was not free) to transport children to the school and home again. Sometimes, I would accompany Nadine back on the bus and get off at the swimming pool and take her for a swim. Other times, I would take her to the Chung Chi pond area. Beacon Hill Primary School This is the primary school that Leonie and Gavin attended at first. Leonie did Year/Primary 2 to Year/Primary 5 while Gavin did Primary 1 to Primary 4. The school (pictured) is located in Kowloon, not too far from the Kowloon Tong MTR station. • 12

Gavin begins school: In September 1986, Gavin began primary school at Beacon Hill. The picture, right, shows Gavin (with Leonie) not long after he started school. (The picture was taken just outside Residence 12.) In 1990, Leonie and Gavin then moved to the new and much closer Shatin Junior School (see below). Travel to the school: Initially, travel to and from Beacon Hill school was by a bus provided by the university (not free) and a parent had to be present for each journey. This job was shared amongst the parents of the children that used the service. The picture shows the school bus with Leonie boarding, circa 1986 (judging by the size of Nadine held by Vanessa - who seems to be about one year old) with Catherine Dewar just behind her (and Mrs Dewar at the back on the right. Residence 12 is behind the bus.). In September 1988, when Leonie was starting Year/Primary 5 and Gavin Year/Primary 3, the university decided to discontinue its bus service. Thus the children had no easy way to travel to school. So Leonie and Gavin had to go themselves by public transport. We would take them to the university station by car (or they would take the campus bus) and they would then take the train to Kowloon Tong and a mini bus from there to the school. After school, they would travel home on the same route. Not the most ideal system but it certainly helped to develop self-confidence in them. Shatin Junior School (SJS) This school opened in September 1990. Leonie was in Year/Primary 6 (and so spent just one year there) while Gavin was in Year/Primary 4 (and had three years there). The school is situated in the hills inland from Shatin town. A bus service to and from campus was provided, but by a private company and not by the university. • 13

Nadine begins at SJS: Nadine began attending SJS in 1990. In February of that year, potential students were required to go to the school for 'interviews'. I think this was mainly to exclude children who could not speak English well enough but whose parents wanted to enrol their children there. I took Nadine there, but she hardly said a word, though she did get involved playing with the toys that had been laid out. Anyway, she was accepted, and began in April, one term early, primarily for familiarisation. Then, in September, she began Year/Primary 1. The picture shows Nadine at our campus bus stop not long after she began school. She spent all of her primary school years (Primary 1 to Primary 6 or Year 1 to Year 6) at SJS. Shatin College This was the ESF secondary school associated with Shatin Junior School and was opposite to it, though had been built a number of years before SJS. Years at the school: • Leonie: Year 7 to Year 12 (first term) Form 1 to Form 6, September 1990 - December 1995. • Gavin: Years 7 - 10 (Form 1 - Form 4), September 1992 - June 1996. • Nadine: Years 7 - 10 (Form 1 - Form 4), September 1996 - June 2000. Rangi Ruru Girls' School In the 1990s, we thought that we might eventually move to New Zealand and live there. For that reason, we looked for a school in Christchurch that Leonie could attend for two years before going to university. The school had to have a boarding establishment and the school selected was Rangi Ruru. She finished Year 11 (Form 5) at Shatin College in June, 1995, but because schools in the northern and southern hemisphere are six months out of phase, she did one term of Year 12 (Form 6) at Shatin College before beginning Form 6 at Rangi in February 1996. She attended Rangi for two years then spent half a year at Otago • 14

University in Dunedin doing pre-medical studies before moving to the University of California San Diego (UCSD) in September, 1998. The picture above shows the original building at the school. For the first year, Leonie lived in a dormitory with other girls in the school boarding house. In the second year, she lived in a flat; these were houses adjacent to the school that the school had acquired. The picture on the left shows Leonie standing outside the house/flat she lived in in her Form 7 year. Christ's College Gavin left Shatin College at the end of Year 8 (Form 4) in 1996. In August of that year, he began mid-way through the Form 4 year at Christ's College in Christchurch. I was on holiday in Christchurch prior to his arrival and searched out possible boarding schools. This was not easy as it was half-way through the school year and most places had been taken. I preferred St Andrew's College, but there were no boarding places available. I then tried Christ's College and there was just one available place. This was tentatively reserved for Gavin depending on an interview. When he finished school in Hong Kong, he came over, with his long hair cut and looking very smart. The interview with the principal went well so he moved in almost immediately. He left the school in December, 1998 at then end of Form 6 (not staying for Form 7) and soon after went to San Diego (where Leonie was), walked into a US Marines recruiting centre and enlisted! School sports The schools in Hong Kong did not have facilities for a wide variety of sports. There were no grounds nor swimming pool and only the assembly halls and outside concrete areas could be used. Because of this, public facilities were often used to allow students to participate in sports and other physical activities. The picture shows Nadine at the sports centre in Shatin where the school took them on buses for PE classes. All three children participated in a number of school sports as below. • 15

Leonie: • Swimming: In September 1990, when in Year 7 (Form 1), Leonie got a third place in a breaststroke final race. In October 1993, she was in a relay team that won. • Cross-country: In November 1992, when in Year 9 (Form 3), Leonie took part in a crosscountry inter-school race and her team won. • Athletics: In February 1993, Leonie took part in an inter-school athletics competition. She came 6th in the 100 m final and 3rd in the 200 m final. In December, 1995, at the Shatin College sports day. Leonie won the girls' 100 m and set a record, which still stands, I think. (This was also her last day at Shatin College, after one term in Year 12 / Form 6.) • Rugby: Leonie played rugby for a while at Rangi Ruru. However, she was aware of the huge gulf in standards of Rugby in Hong Kong and New Zealand. To quote from an e-mail she wrote (in 2012) “I remember having to play Aranui High in Rugby and running for my life”. Gavin: • Swimming: In October 1993, at the school sports meet, Gavin came 2nd in the 50 m breaststroke race. (This was at the same meet as for Leonie above.) • School rugby: The ESF also had mini rugby tournaments and when Gavin was in Years 6, 7 and 8 (Primary 6, Form 1 and Form 22), he took part in these. These tournaments were organised on similar lines to the Hong Kong Mini Rugby tournaments (see below). Earlier, in 1990, when in Primary 4, he took part in an IBM 7s tournament. In December of 1993, Gavin was selected to represent Hong Kong for his age group. Nadine: • Netball: While in Year 4 (Primary 4) at Shatin Junior School, Nadine started playing netball. She took part in a number of netball tournaments. This is a sport she liked a lot. • Hockey: Nadine was playing field hockey in 1997 1998. She was picked for an Under 13's team. For some teams, she played goalie. • Skiing: Nadine went on school trips to Verbier in Switzerland for skiing holidays. In total, she went four times, from 1997 to 2000. • Swimming: In September, 1999, when in Year 10 (Form 4), she came second in the 50 m breaststroke final at the Shatin College swim sports. Table tennis: On occasions, the children would come to the Chung Chi College gym to play table tennis. School camps Every year, there were school camps. Here are some of the camps they attended: • 16

• Outward Bound: Hong Kong has an Outward Bound camp located in Sai Kung (pictured). Many schools take students there for about a week. Leonie, Gavin and Nadine all did courses there. - In March 1990, Leonie spent about four nights there. She was still only in Year/Primary 6. When the camp finished, I went across to collect her. On the way back, I got a ticket for “speeding” [doing about 58 km/h in a 50 km/h zone; the speed limit on the road had been reduced for some reason and they were just waiting for 'victims'.] I was none too happy! This was the only traffic ticket I have received. (Incidentally, this day was also Nadine's last day at Chung Chi nursery school.) - At the end of March 1991, Gavin (Year/Primary 5) did an Outward Bound course. - In April 1996, Nadine attended Outward Bound. • Others: Camps were held in other places as well. These included Cheung Chau Island, which seemed to take place when they were in Primary 5. School concerts Leonie: - 1989 Leonie Greek play at Beacon Hill (Year/Primary 6, her last year at this school). - In March 1990, we went to Shatin College to watch a combined Shatin College and SJS performance of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat” which starred Leonie in a main role. She was one of the principal singers in the production. She was in her final year at SJS at the time. - In June 1990, in her final days at SJS, Leonie played the clarinet in an ensemble at as SJS concert (pictured). - In March 1991, Leonie won the New Territories music festival final, and soon after performed at the prizewinners' concert in the Shatin Town Hall. - In May 1991, Leonie performed in a school concert in a play called “Rainbow's Ending”. Gavin: - 1989 Gavin participated in a concert about American Indians at SJS when he was in Year/Primary 4. • 17

- 1990: In February, we went to Shatin Junior one evening for Gavin's performance in a pantomime. Nadine: - In December 1999, to where Nadine performed in a flute group at the Shatin College Christmas concert.

Others Mini Rugby In Hong Kong Rugby, there are a number of rugby clubs for children between the ages of about 8 to 13. Gavin, and for a short time Leonie, took part in this so-called 'mini rugby'. They belonged to the Flying Kukris club which was based at the grounds of the British military camp at Sek Kong (the same ground where the 1981 and 1982 marathons started and finished). - Gavin started (I think) in September of 1989, when he was 8+ years old and in Year/Primary 4 and continued until he was aged 13 and was then too old for 'mini' Rugby. The pictures show Gavin (right, circled) playing in a tournament at Stanley Fort and scoring a try at the same tournament (below, left).

- Leonie started in February 1990 when she was 10+ years old and in Year/Primary 5 and continued for only about one year. The picture (above, right) shows her at a Hong Kong Rugby 7s tournaments in which mini Rugby teams played in curtain raiser games. She usually played on the wing; the reason, she said, was to keep her as far away from the ball as possible! • 18

Practices were held on Sunday mornings from September to about March or April. I and the Dewars, who lived in the same residence and who had a boy (Allan) in the same club, would take turns to drive them there. Every so often, there would be tournaments against teams from other mini-rugby clubs at the different grounds, including Sek Kong (Flying Kukris home ground), RAF Kai Tak, King's Park, Happy valley (racecourse ground) and Stanley Fort (another military site). Towards the end of each season, teams from the various clubs would take part in curtain raiser games in the annual Hong Kong Rugby Sevens tournament. Kung Fu For a year of two, starting in 1988, Leonie and Gavin took part in Kung Fu evening classes on the campus, which were primarily for university students. But they were welcomed. For this, they had a special Kung Fu uniform. My exercise After returning from Stanford, my exercise routine changed a little. There were no more marathons. • Swimming: This was always the regular summer exercise, in the university pool. In addition, but only for two or three winter seasons, I went at lunch time to the heated pools at either Fanling or the Sports Institute (next to the Shatin racecourse). In the early post-Stanford years, there was the occasional university staff swimming competition. Not many took part though. The picture shows me receiving a medal for coming second in a race, won by Michael Bond, who was a good swimmer and won most of his races. • Running: I did campus running in the cooler months, but not the longer distances I had done previously as preparation for marathons and other races. • Weight training: This was done regularly throughout the year. As Chung Chi College did not have the best facilities for this (just • 19

one 'multi-gym' machine), I went for quite a number of years way up to the New Asia gym which was much better equipped. However, in my later years at the university, I did go to the Chung Chi gym (pictured), as that was in our Faculty of Education building and so I did not have to walk all the way to New Asia college. • Saturday runs/hikes: In 1990, when nearly 50 years old! I started to do regular hikes/runs on the paths and trails in the many country parks around Hong Kong. These started off as hikes but eventually became runs. I remember how the running started, which was in the first season: I was on the way down a (steep) hill in the Sek Kong area when I decided to run down, but then kept running even when the downhill section had finished. Of course, I didn't often run uphill as they were too steep for this. On a few occasions, the runs would last for 11 or 12 hours! (The last pages for the later years of my diaries contain the routes and times for all the runs in each season.) • MacLehose trail: Of the 1100 sq km comprising the territory, about 60-70% is not built on (partly as it is too steep). As a result, there is enough space for many country parks, which number 10. There are many trails in these country parks. Trails from Sai Kung in the East to Tuen Mun in the West across these parks were connected to form a 100 km trail, which was named the MacLehose Trail after Sir Murray MacLehose (pictured), the governor from 1971 to 1982, who was an enthusiastic hiker and who established the country parks. The photograph shows the (closed) road down from Tai Mo Shan to Route Twisk on Stage 8 of the trail. Of course, it is not all such smooth going as this; on some stages, there are only rough tracks and very steep at that! • Oxfam trailwaker: Every year, the charity Oxfam organises a sponsored 'walk' along this trail (though for serious teams, this has become an international race). But to participate, one must form a team of four and get a minimum amount of sponsorship, which I could never do. So, the option was to do it alone, by myself. I tried this twice as below. • Wednesday, February 27, 1991: This was my first attempt, which took place at the end of my season of hikes/runs for the 1990 to 1991 hiking season. Highlights: - Vanessa took me by car to the starting point early in the morning for a 5 am start. The weather was fine and cool; good conditions, which lasted for the whole run. • 20

- It was dark at the start but no problem as the most of the first stage was a road around the High Island reservoir so there was little chance of tripping over. I kept telling myself to go slow as there was a long way to go. - I carried a small backpack with water and food. It was a nuisance having to carry this stuff, compared with the sponsored walk, where participants get food and water, plus any medical care needed, throughout their hike. I never ate all the food, but ran out of water after about 12 hours (5 pm, the end of Stage 5 at Tai Po Road). There was a Country Park management office there so I went in and asked if they had any water. They did, so I filled up my bottle. - From the start of Stage 6 to the end, it was night time. The moon was shining. I had a torch but eventually gave that up, as the bright light of the torch, while illuminating the spot immediately in front of me, caused everything else to appear completely black so I kept hitting branches. So I switched off the torch and relied on the light from the moon alone, which was fine. Many of the rough tracks were a light colour which caused them to reflect light and so were easy to see. Also, the moon allowed me to see surrounding obstacles clearly. - A couple of times, I was so tired that I lay down on picnic tables for brief sleeps. One of these was, I remember, at the end of Stage 8, where the road from Tai Mo Shan crosses Route Twisk. I tried to limit these 'sleeps' to about 10 minutes, but probably overslept. - After 22+ hours, I finished the trail. I took a taxi back to the university as there was no public transport at this time. I got to bed at 5 am but was up at noon and went to the office in the afternoon though not surprisingly, I started to feel tired. But I did it - I completed the gruelling trail, unsupported (apart from getting a re-fill of water). • Friday, March 6, 1992: My second attempt! This again was at the end of my season of hikes/runs for the years 1991 to 1992. But it was not to go so smoothly this year. - Another 5 am start, though Vanessa was more reluctant this time to get up early and drive me to the start. - Conditions were marginal at the start but soon deteriorated with rain, wind and temperatures dropping to 90C instead of rising to the 150C that had been forecast. - I became so cold and wet that I gave up during Stage 5 at about the half-way mark. I walked down the path to Shatin railway station. In the shopping mall by the station, I saw Gavin with some friends; he did not seem to want to see me though. As it was a Friday, I guess he was on his term break holidays. This was to be my final attempt at doing the MacLehose trail. Once seemed to be enough. The Oxfam trailwaker continues - now in November of each year as the weather is more settled than in April when it used to be held, and I often meet (and pass!) some of the slower hikers on what is my first or second run of my season.

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Injuries: Occasionally, I would get an injury as a result of exercise. Running would tend to give the occasional leg muscle injuries. Also, I would sometimes trip and fall (mainly through not seeing something sticking up in the path), hurting hands, arms and occasionally legs. This was always worse if the fall happened while running down rather than up a path. Lifting weights would sometimes result in lower back injuries. One such painful back injury occurred in January 1990. This lasted for more than a week, so I went to the university clinic to get treatment for my back from a physiotherapist. Big mistake, as she just made my back worse! That same evening I had to teach; it was agony! After a couple of 'treatments', I did not go back and the back eventually came right. Children's artistic and linguistic participation All three were involved, to a greater or lesser extent, in music, ballet and Mandarin. Music: Some highlights: • Leonie: - Leonie began piano lessons some time after we returned from Stanford, possibly in 1986, but I am not sure as I did not have a diary for that year. But by 1988, when she was nine years of age, she was well into it. She took lessons on campus, from Irene Law (the same folks who had looked at the flats before we came back, and at whose flat the picture was taken). - In 1989, Leonie attended a concert at the City Hall with Vanessa and the Laws (Irene Law - music teacher) and presented a bouquet to one of the performers. - In September 1989, she began to learn the clarinet when in Year/Primary 6 at Shatin Junior School. - She performed in an ensemble at a school concert at the end of that year. After that, I think she stopped learning the clarinet. - In February, 1991, Leonie wins a music competition for the piano. About two weeks after this, she then won the New Territories music festival final - and got her photo in a newspaper. And a little while after this, she performed in the prizewinners' concert at Shatin Town Hall; we all went to the concert. • Gavin: - Gavin began to learn the violin in 1989 when he was about eight years old, though I don't think his heart was in it. He wanted to get some rock music instrument (electric guitar? drums?) but I was not too keen on this as the noise might have been too much for the neighbours to take. • 22

• Nadine: - Nadine started flute lessons in September, 1995, when in Year/Primary 6. - In December of the same year, Nadine's choir at SJS performed in a restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui. Ballet: Some highlights: • Leonie was the first to start ballet, but it did not last long. It was held in the recreation hall in Residence 14. Leonie recalls that on one occasion, the lady teacher (who was a campus resident) threatened to throw her out the window for some reason. That so upset Leonie that she did not return and abandoned ballet. • Nadine was the one who took to ballet. She attended the Jean Wong School of Ballet, which had a branch in Newtown Plaza, Shatin. She began in October 1991 (aged six). I would often accompany her there. She continued with ballet all the time she was in Hong Kong, and then later when she went to San Diego in 2000. The photograph here was taken at home; it is not a ballet picture as such such but the pose is definitely ballet style. In Hong Kong at Christmas time, there would always be a performance of Tchaikovsky's ballet Nutcracker. (The photograph here is from the 2012 performance.) Nadine took part in this on two occasions. I enjoyed going to watch her, even though ballet is not to my taste. One year, after I had retired from the university, and Nadine happened to be in Hong Kong at Christmas time, we both went again to watch this ballet at the Cultural Centre. I think this was in 2009. (I have an entry in my diary for Christmas Day, 2004, which I do not understand: “In afternoon, Nadine decided to go to see the 'Nutcracker'. She called me to say she got 2 of last 4 tickets so I rushed in but we were a little late.” Does this mean we managed to see it or not? Art/Painting: There is a comment in the 1990 diary that Leonie and Gavin were taking art lessons though I do not recall the details. • 23

Mandarin: In 1988, Leonie (aged nine) and Gavin (aged seven) began Mandarin lessons. According to my diaries, they were still doing it in 1990. Laugh Olympics: One evening in 1988, an event called the “Laugh Olympics” was held in the Sir Run Run Shaw Hall, I think. Leonie went onto the stage and told some jokes. (The Run Run Shaw Hall is a large auditorium built and paid for by the Hong Kong film magnate, Sir Run Run Shaw. The fourth college on the campus was also named “Shaw College”.) Churches In the years before going to the US, we attended English-language services on Sunday mornings, which were held in the choir stalls of the Chung Chi chapel (pictured. The parking area is where the outside activities would take place - see earlier picture on page 9). The college had a full-time chaplain. There would be about 20 to 30 attending, almost all from the campus. On returning from the US, there was a different chaplain and the services were usually held in Chinese. So, we moved for a while to the Kowloon Baptist church in Kowloon Tong. Leonie and Gavin attended the Sunday School there. As parking is always a problem, we used to park our car in the nearby Baptist College (later Baptist University). I remember once an incident that did not please me too much. Gavin had taken a children's picture bible/new testament, but his teacher (a girl in her teens I think) would not let him use it during the class. But going to this church every Sunday morning meant a lot of travelling. An entry in my 1988 diary says that Leonie and Gavin were attending a (Seventh Day) Adventist church though I don't recall anything about this. Personal computers Remember that when in Residence 6, I had an Apple II computer? During our time in Residence 12, we went through three personal computers, which the children used. These were: 1. 'BBC' computer: We bought this computer in 1988. It was a simple computer with very limited features. Simple text documents could be written but with almost no formatting. (Symbols could be added to text to indicate formatting, e.g. before and after a word to indicate 'bold' or 'italics' but this • 24

only appeared when the document was printed; only the symbols showed in the text on the monitor.) The monitor had a very low resolution but had colour. Information was stored on low-capacity floppy discs (no hard drives then). Simple games could be played. One that was used was named 'Pod', who was a very simple cartoon character. In 1988, shortly after getting the computer, Leonie used it to write a story. I also used it for writing up manuscripts for textbooks I was writing at that time. (Since then, publishers expected typewritten manuscripts rather than handwritten ones.) 2. It was not until 1992 that we got the next computer, more typical of today's personal computers though much less sophisticated. I think it came with a small hard drive. It was bought from a local computer company and had a number of problems initially. On setting it up, an internal battery would not work and had to be replaced. Then the printer broke down and had to be repaired. This computer came with Windows and a simple word processor called 'Write'. (Leonie and Gavin still have some 'Write' files, which use the .wri extension, and can be opened using WordPad.) 3. 'Tiny' computer: In May, 2000 - only about three months before I retired - I bought a third computer, this one being mainly for Nadine's use. I noted in my diary that it cost HK$6300. It had Windows 95 as the operating system and was in use until 2005 when I got the current Dell computer. 4. Office computer: The first personal computer I got for my office, provided by the faculty, was in 1993. We could have got one earlier than this, but we had to pay half the price; noone accepted those terms! From then on, I seldom used the home computer. Note: Zookeeper. This was an interesting computer game which was on either the second or the third computers above - I cannot remember which. I still have a copy of the files on my current computer. The game itself cannot be played though the images (photographs of animals, etc.) can be viewed (the photograph here is of a jungle animal from the game.

Asthma I note from my diaries that asthma was a persistent trouble during these years. There are many comments in my diaries to this effect. These included attacks, the continual need to go to the university clinic for medicine, effects it was having on my exercise and the need to take puffs from the reliever inhaler during exercise. It would also make me quite tired at times. (I sometime think that people with asthma, at least if there is a genetic disposition to having it, such as me, should not be allowed to have children. This would perhaps ensure that fewer people would need to suffer from it. It is also hard on a family when one is frequently tired or stressed out because of it. But then, I would not have had three marvellous children!) • 25

Books After finishing my dissertation, I continued to write textbooks. These were often not new books but just revision of previous books that were out of date, primarily because of syllabus changes. There were quite a number of books, for Hong Kong, Singapore and Brunei, some of which were never completed due to publishing companies folding or to books not being approved. The sheer number of book I was involved in has proved to be rather confusing to me, even though I have diaries and even though I wrote the books! In a separate file, I list all the books I have written (most by myself but some in collaboration with others) from the first feeble attempt when I was Burnside High School which I probably would not have used myself (“Science for Today”), to those at the time of writing this file in 2013 such as the Junior Science books for Singapore (photograph, right). Refer to the file named “Textbooks”. A Hong Kong publisher closes down In 1983, Heinemann Educational Books, who had published the earlier science books in Hong Kong in the 1970s and early 1980s, decided in about 1982 to produce a new set of books for Hong Kong. This resulted in “Understanding Integrated Science” Book 1 in 1983 and Book 2 in 1984. But, as science in Hong Kong was a three-year course (Form 1 to Form 3), the complete set was needed in order to market them effectively. I had finished the manuscript for Book 3 before going to Stanford and expected the book to come out in 1984. But that is not what happened! Sometime in 1984, the company accountant absconded to Taiwan with a large amount of the company's funds. As Hong Kong does not have an extradition treaty with Taiwan, there was no way of getting hold of him. (The same problem occurred earlier in the 1970s when the ICAC was homing in on corrupt - and wealthy - police officers; many of them fled to safety to Taiwan.) As a result, the company folded. Book 3 was never printed and so the whole series could not be marketed. 5. Singapore steps in: Heinemann in Singapore took over the Hong Kong books. In 1989, they brought out a revised Book 1, which was reprinted in 1990 and 1996. Singapore has a twoyear lower secondary science course in schools. But did Book 2 ever come out? I am not aware of it and have no copy of it in my possession. But a Book 3 came out (cover pictured), though surely this could not be for Singapore. Anyway, I don't think the book was widely used. (It would be easier to find out if • 26

computers and e-mails for in use then as I would have saved letters and communications.) The only advantage of the books not being used is that I was able to recycle most of the content for later books, which saved a lot of time. Heinemann in Singapore, in its turn, was also to close down with unpublished works of mine (see later)! Another Hong Kong Science and Chemistry series Macmillan publishers, who had published my earlier Chemistry books for Hong Kong, now slightly modified this book for use in Singapore. Because of the different syllabus there, I had to write an additional two or three chapters. This book came out in 1987 (cover of textbook in photograph). It was only in blackand-white and was used mainly in schools with the brightest students. In later years, some of the students who had used my book had become teachers, and when I was in Singapore helping to promote other books, I met a number of those who had used this Chemistry book when students. They tended to give good comments (unsolicited) of the book. After my dissertation work had been completed, Macmillan in Hong Kong stepped in to get me to produce science books (which they could not do earlier as I was under contract to Heinemann for these). This resulted in “Science for the 90s for Hong Kong”. Books 1 and 2 came out in 1990 and Book 3 in 1991 (cover of Textbook 2 in photograph). These were the first full-colour books of mine (textbooks only; workbooks still only black-and-white). They did quite well. The Chemistry books: In the 1980s, “Chemistry A New Approach” was used in Hong Kong. But in the 1990s, this too had to be revised. The result was “Chem 2000” Books 1 and 2 (just two remember, as these were for the two years Forms 4 and 5 leading up to the HK School Certificate examination), which came out in 1993. The books did very well with several reprintings and a second edition in 1999. That same year, a Chinese language edition was also published but was not as popular. In the early 2000s, this series had to be revised again for a new syllabus which resulted in “Chem Quest” Soon after, Macmillan • 27

hived off its Hong Kong textbook division to another local publisher, while they focussed on the China market and produced a bilingual edition of my Chemistry books (which I have never seen!). The new publisher was clearly not as interested in promoting my books and no further editions came out, which then saw me completely out of the Hong Kong book business. The science books that did not make it Once the “Science for the 90s for Hong Kong” series was in need of revising at the end of the 1990s, Macmillan got me to revise the books. But these never made it into the market. There were two such series: 1. “Integrated Science 2000”. Books 1 and 2 came out in 1997. But no Book 3. After rejection, this was modified to give: 2. “Science 2000”. Books 1 and 2 came out in 2000 but again there was no Book 3. What did these books not make it? The Education Department in Hong Kong by then had a textbook review committee to evaluate and approve books for use in schools. They also required publishers to produce complete books that could be reviewed and not just manuscripts or proof copies (expensive for the publisher!). Hence the need for Books 1 and 2 to be complete. In the review process, half of my books were reviewed by one group from the committee who thought they were good and approved them. But the other half were reviewed by another group and rejected (perhaps there as someone in this group who did not like me)!! As a result, the whole series had to be withdrawn! Following the first series, the “Science 2000” books were submitted with the same result. This saw the end of my writing science books for Hong Kong. Heinemann Singapore closes down Heinemann in Singapore, who had published Book 1 of “Understanding Integrated Science” (see above), got me to write two new series of textbooks: 1. A three-book lower secondary science series for Brunei secondary schools. 2. A new Chemistry book that could take over from the Macmillan book. Neither of these was to be completed (at least by Heinemann). First the Brunei books. Brunei begins education in the local language then later in Primary 4, switches to English. Because Brunei is a very small place with a very small market for books, most publishers would not produce books if there were several of them competing. Hence, the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Brunei had a tender system where publishers could produce one or two sample chapters, and based on these, one publisher would be selected to produce the books for the whole market. These sample chapters were also tested out in schools with real students, and the students found my work to be the best, especially in the use of English. • 28

I was first approached by Heinemann in early 1994 to write the books. After visiting New Zealand in the summer, I stopped over in Singapore on the way back to Hong Kong to meet with the publishers. (This was my first such visit to Singapore. I remember the “Traders Hotel” where I stayed, which was new - and had a nice pool! See photograph right.) After many delays, Book 1 was published five years later, in 1998! I also visited Brunei in March, 1997 for a few days in connection with the book, but this could not have been for promotion as the book had not come out them, though most of the materials for all three books had been done. At the same time, Heinemann had a manuscript from me for a Chemistry book that I had given them in 1996, but little progress was being made on it. The reason, which I did not know at that time, was that the company was in trouble. Then, probably later in 1998, Heinemann in Singapore folded. That was the end of the Chemistry book. Fortunately another company. Pan Pac (Pan Pacific), took over the Brunei science series and Books 2 and 3 came out in 1999 and 2000 respectively (cover of Book 3 pictured). The year 2000 marked the completion of the implementation of their new Secondary Science Syllabus. I also went to Brunei a second time in April 2000 (but see a later file for this). Brunei visit: March, 1997 I am now not sure of the purpose of this first visit to Brunei, but it was probably for workshops for teachers to use my Forms 1 to 3 science books. Heinemann had to pay for everything. The Brunei MOE was quite clever in its contract with the publisher, which included paid trips by Brunei officials to places such as the UK for 'training courses'. So, the publisher's profit from the project was very small. While there, I had a good time. They took me to a fun fair, which I enjoyed, and was taken around sightseeing, though it is a small place and not that much to see or do. The pictures show: a secondary school

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(which I visited), the main mosque, a water village, at the fun park (roller coaster and big drop), oil refinery. I flew from Hong Kong to Brunei in a Royal Brunei Airlines Boeing 757. There was only one flight a week! This was because most people in Brunei are Muslim and Hong Kong does not cater for them well. Hence, tourists from Brunei prefer to go to Singapore, which caters for Muslims well as it has a large Muslim population of its own. From Brunei I flew to Singapore on a Boeing 767 of the same airline to meet with the publisher.

Vietnamese refugees In an earlier file, I mentioned how refugees, particularly those of Chinese extraction, fled from Vietnam to Hong Kong in the late 1970s. This continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s. As many countries no longer wanted to take them or took only a few, the others had to be detained in Hong Kong. Others, who were not thought to be genuine refugees, were forcibly repatriated to Vietnam. One large detention centre was the Whitehead detention centre at Wu Kai Sha across the harbour from us (designed to accommodate 28 000; pictured). There were fights and riots at this and other detention centres as well as forced repatriations from time to time. Refer to the file “Happenings year by year” for specific incidents at the refugee detention centres.

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School/Faculty of Education School / Faculty of Education • When I joined the university, we were still the “School of Education”. As of 1991-92, the School has formally been reconstituted as the Faculty of Education. • New building: We were first in Block 1 of the original Chung Chi buildings (pictured). On returning from Stanford in 1985, we were still in this building. About a year later, we moved into our new building immediately opposite (second picture, which is almost the same as one I have hanging on my wall). Note: The room at the bottom right of the lower photograph is the Chemistry laboratory, which I used though not for laboratory work - there was not enough time for this, and anyway, school practical work for Chemistry is not difficult for teachers to pick up. • Offices: I had two offices in the new building at different times. The first was Room 409 (top floor, just out of the picture on the right). In July 1992, I moved into Room 417, a larger office on the opposite side of the corridor with a view of the Chung Chi pond area. This office was actually for 'senior' lecturers, which I wasn't, but there were not enough senior lectures for all the available offices, so the dean (To Cho-yee, our neighbour from Residence 6 days) gave me one. (I include the room numbers here just in case anyone happens to walk through the building and in interested to know where my offices were.) New Buildings at Chung Chi • In January 1990, work started on knocking down the Block 1 of Chung Chi teaching block (the block in he photograph above) and a new building, the present one, constructed. My office in our new building at that time overlooked this and it was quite noisy. • In February 1992, they started to demolish Chung Chi teaching blocks 2 and 3. These were then replaced with the present structures. (Picture shows one of the new blocks. The chapel is in the background. The Faculty of Education building - Ho Tim Building - is on the right.) • 31

Office computer In October 1993, the faculty provided us with personal computers. And in 1995, we became connected to the Internet, which then was in its infancy. My teaching Having a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, my work was modified as follows: • I continued the course on “The Teaching of Chemistry” for the Diploma of Education programme, but now began to teach courses on “The Psychology of Teaching and Learning”. • I also taught Master's courses on subjects related to educational psychology. In addition, I supervised theses of students enrolled in Masters programmes. At one time, we had an M.Phil. programme for which a thesis was compulsory. At other times there was an M.Ed. and an M.A (Education) in which a thesis was optional (I think). • I also supervised some Ph.D. candidates. However, there was only one such student who did work related to my speciality. I saw him all the way through his work and he is now on the faculty. Unlike at Stanford (and other US universities), there was no programme of course work that had to be done. Rather, we followed the British system, where the supervisor would set work that the students had to do. Chemistry and micro-teaching “The Teaching of Chemistry” course was for 50 hours, 20 hours or so of which were officially designated as 'micro-teaching' (though in some subjects, the teachers did not use it for this purpose). In micro-teaching, a student-teacher teaches a short topic to a small group (about five or six) for a short time (say seven to 10 minutes). The lesson is to emphasise teaching skills more than the content. In my programme, I focused on questioning skills as these are very weak among Hong Kong teachers. The students' lessons are video-taped and then reviewed by the group and me and also self-evaluated at home by the students. Ideally, after evaluation, students should re-teach their lessons, but we did not have the luxury of time for this. When I started doing micro-teaching, my students would teach others in their class, but this was a little artificial if they taught Chemistry as they were Chemistry graduates. However, it often turned out that when they taught school-level Chemistry, a lack of understanding was frequently revealed! To make the teaching more realistic, I started taking my full-time class to a secondary school in Shatin (the same one whose students I had used for my dissertation research) to teach real school students rather than themselves. In 1988, the English tutor joined me in taking her students to the school and we would usually go on the same afternoon after school. However, one day, the English group damaged one of the video cameras they were using. Later, I got a • 32

'bill' from the School of Education for this damage. This became a big issue! As my Chemistry class was also there, and gear was transported in my car, I also got billed, though eventually I never paid! As a result, I never took my class to any school again for microteaching! My thinking was that the School administrators were more concerned about the camera that about enhancing the quality of the students, and also that there was no big deal when similar cameras or other equipment got damaged on the Faculty premises! My students, particularly the full-time day group, found micro-teaching very helpful whether in actual schools or teaching among their own groups. Outside committee work At the university, we were required to contribute to the community. This often took the form of sitting on various committees. For me, one such committee was the Chemistry subject committee for the HK Certificate of Education examination ('School Certificate'). This was frequently a waste of time as the permanent government people on the committee tended to ignore suggestions from 'outsiders'. At one time, the secretary of this committee, who was a former Dip Ed student of mine at CUHK, actually said so though in an indirect way!

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