WEEK 3

Francis Li, 17. Challenge: Rock climbing

This week I didn't climb the wall, mainly because I have hurt my left shoulder. I suspect I must have overworked it with weights earlier in the week.

So I stopped using weights but kept up with my regular daily exercise routine: a 30-minute run and sit-ups.

On Wednesday I dropped by the library to find books about climbing, hoping to continue learning while avoiding any physical strain.

I didn't have too much luck since I was told the books that I wanted were not available. Instead, I found only one starter's book, but it was quite useful as it described some of the basics in a very straightforward manner.

I hope I have recovered by next week as I really miss climbing the wall.

Gigi Lam, 15. Challenge: Write songs/learn the saxophone

I have now had two saxophone lessons. Because I managed to produce sound with the reed in my first lesson, my instructor decided to teach me how to play some notes in my second.

I was able to produce the correct tones right after his demonstration and he was impressed. I can now play the C major and G major scales and a minuet by JS Bach.

I have no saxophone at home, so to practise I either have to borrow one from my instructor or book a practice room. As a reward for my progress my instructor gave me the room for free. Hooray!

Carey Lee, 19. Challenge: Voluntary work

This week was important for me - the A-level results were released and would you like to guess what grades I got? I'm not telling, but I hope a bright future lies ahead!

I took part in a training course in public housing applications for the elderly on Friday. I was a bit stressed because the procedures were complicated. I will be required to ask the applicants for details of their assets and incomes. This will be a difficult job because it is personal information. For this reason I need to win their trust at first. The course was very useful as it taught me how to communicate with the elderly and understand their needs.

I also took part in a camp for young volunteers in Sha Tin over the weekend. I was happy to see their dedication to voluntary work - it proved that young people in Hong Kong are not lazy or apathetic about society.

Carmen Kong, 16. Challenge: Learn Spanish

Hola! I finally got the chance to meet John Hone, the Spanish-speaker I mentioned last time. Although he won't be my tutor, he gave me a simple lesson by introducing the language and explaining how widely used it is.

One of the trickiest things about Spanish is the use of masculine and feminine nouns. Most feminine nouns end with the letter 'a', while most masculine nouns end with 'o'.

For instance una chica means 'a girl' and un chico means 'a boy'. Learning Spanish is all about logic. You can guess whether a word is masculine or feminine by looking at the spelling. However, since inanimate objects have no gender I couldn't have known that a book is masculine and a chair is feminine.

Afterwards John gave me a Spanish learning book as a gift. Hasta leugo, amigos!