I am on holiday from mid-July to late August - a happy result of accumulated leave I would forfeit unless I take it now.
As an academic, my greatest interests are writing, reading and studying social phenomena. These interests are part of my daily life as well. I always have difficulty disengaging from academic endeavours, even during holidays. So I slow down, but I keep on working.
Free from my teaching duties and endless meetings, summer is the only time that I can work uninterrupted on publications. I have spent weeks, working day and night, on research articles targeting international journals. It has been an intensive writing project, so occasionally I have taken a nap in the afternoon and watched the Olympics with my family at night.
Every time I've finished an article, I've taken a break. One Friday I went to Cheung Chau with my husband, and I went to a supermarket another day. I spent over an hour there, enjoying the air-conditioned environment and choosing items. These simple activities make my holiday a real break, as they are luxuries for me during the school year. To have some time to be a housewife and mother is so enjoyable.
This summer, the Olympic Games have added fun and enjoyment. As we watched them, we talked about the Olympic spirit and admired those athletes who performed with calmness, toughness and courage in the face of failure. They are models of the best psychological qualities.
We felt sad when outstanding athletes who performed extremely well still failed to win a medal, whether or not they were Chinese. At the same time, we felt a special excitement when athletes from China and Hong Kong won. It was at those moments that we felt especially "Hong Kong Chinese", an identity that displeases most of our fellow nationals on the mainland.