Not too bright

First of all, I keep forgetting to mention that I don't post all of my photos on this blog. I just post the ones that represent what I've done the most. You can find all of my photos here. Also, for more photos of my One Day Excursion trip (Big Buddha), you can check them out here.

Last night I went out for dinner again with Uncle Richard. It's still weird thinking of him as "uncle." Whenever I talk about him with friends, I usually make quotation gestures with my hands. Dinner was fun again. The only weird non-Canadian joke was him offering to marry Emily and make Renee his concubine. (We were talking about Renee getting her Canadian citizenship - at first he offered to marry Renee, but then switched to marry Emily.)

My sister is convinced that the more education I get, the dumber I become. Right now, I have to agree with her.

Last night I stayed up until 2am, writing a newspaper analysis for my History of Palestine/Israel class. It was actually an easy assignment, but I procrastinated and kept getting distracted by things on the internet. Therefore it took me 4 times longer than it should have.

Anyways, I got up at 7am this morning so I could read the readings that were due for the tutorial today. I realized at like, 8am that I didn't know where the tutorial was going to be held. (I had missed last week's tutorial and attended a different one to make up for it.) So I sent Ursula a text message on her cell phone asking where it was. I didn't want to phone her in case she was still asleep, so I decided to walk to main campus and then phone her. Well, I got to campus and went to the classroom where I thought the tutorial was supposed to be, but turns out it wasn't there.

To make a long story from becoming any longer, I ran around campus trying to find my damned tutorial, compulsively redialing Ursula's number and never getting an answer. Just as I got back to my dorm after giving up, Ursula messaged me. Turns out there was no tutorial today - it's next week. DOH!

And now I'm off to waste time till I go visit the CUHK Film Society. I'm excited to see what it'll be like. Ta ta!

P.S.
I now have 3 postcards taped to my bedroom door. Why aren't there more? >:(

One day excursion

Well, my typhoon signal finally escalated from 1 to 3. I'm happy. And now I have a greater understanding of what it must have been like in Louisiana. Our windspeeds were (well, still are) around 70-100km/h. There were many a broken umbrella today.

Today was our "One Day Excursion" for $160, we got on some coaches and went to see a couple of bridges, the world's largest outdoor seated Buddha, and Tai-O Fishing Village.

The morning started off a little badly. The bridges would have been neat and pretty to watch... If you weren't fighting to stay on your feet. The wind was howling and breaking every umbrella in sight. Also, along with the strong wind came strong rain, and coupled together, we had some horizontal rain. Thank Buddha I brought my rain coat from Vancouver... I was able to bundle myself in it, saving my umbrella and keeping relatively dry. The rain was coming down in sheets. It was crazy.

The next stop on our itinerary was the Big Buddha on a mountain on Lantau Island. The ride there was beautiful - the scenery was amazing. It was a nice change from the city. You could actually forget you were in Hong Kong for awhile.

I have to admit, the Buddha was surprisingly large. You could see it a mountain top away. Anyways, that's all there really was to the Buddha. You could walk up by its feet and see some things in the hall underneath it, but I don't know what I was looking at and it wasn't terribly interesting.

There was a small temple at the base of the Buddha's stairs where we went to eat a vegetarian lunch at afterwards. It was pretty, and not too touristy which was surprising given the celebrity status of the Buddha statue. The meal was fantastic. I could have done without some of the company though. One Californian dude kept mentioning about how he'd have to go order some McDonald's when he got back, because he needed the meat. Puh-lease. Eat the food and shaddup. I think he was trying to be funny, but he failed miserably. My fave dish of the meal? Deep-fried Tofu in sweet and sour sauce. Mmm. Tofu.

Next stop was the Tai-O Village. It was a tiny village on the water's edge. It was very rural... Now I have an idea of what rural China must be like. Everyone lived in little hovels. It was interesting, but we only had 40 minutes to hang there till we had to get back to the bus.

Although we didn't really do much all day, we were all worn out on the bus ride back. I slept nearly the entire way. Gah. So sleepy. But now I must go find some food (gonna have to venture back out into the rain). Toodles!

P.S.
Could somebody please write to Hong Kong and inform them that club sandwiches do not contain eggs and/or cucumber? Someone neglected to inform them of that when they brought the recipe over.

A few nights ago I went to CitySuper (a grocery store) and I just about started jumping up and down from excitement. They sell Doritos! And nachos and salsa! OMFG! I was so happy to see that. They aren't dill pickle chips, but they come in a pretty close second!

Ooh. I'm also happy because when walking around the Avenue of Stars yesterday, I found Andy Lau's star! I think he's a fantastic actor (he's one of the 4 Kinds of Hong Kong Entertainment)! So I got my photo taken at his star. Hee! I also saw Jackie Chan's and Jet Li's stars, but they pale in comparison to Mr. Lau. (If you don't know who he is, check out the movies, "Running out of Time" or "Infernal Affairs.")

Suddenly I don't feel so bad...

VERY HOT WEATHER WARNING

VERY HOT WEATHER WARNING

THE VERY HOT WEATHER WARNING IS NOW IN FORCE.

THE HONG KONG OBSERVATORY IS FORECASTING VERY HOT WEATHER
IN HONG KONG TODAY. THE RISK OF HEATSTROKE IS HIGH.

WHEN ENGAGED IN OUTDOOR WORK OR ACTIVITIES, DO DRINK PLENTY
OF WATER AND AVOID OVER EXERTION. IF NOT FEELING WELL, TAKE
A REST IN THE SHADE OR COOLER PLACE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

THE HONG KONG OBSERVATORY ADVISES THAT PROLONGED EXPOSURE
UNDER SUNLIGHT IS TO BE AVOIDED. LOOSE CLOTHING, SUITABLE
HATS AND UV-ABSORBING SUNGLASSES CAN REDUCE THE CHANCE OF
SUNBURN BY SOLAR ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION.

SWIMMERS AND THOSE TAKING PART IN OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES SHOULD
USE A SUNSCREEN LOTION OF SPF 15 OR ABOVE, AND SHOULD
RE-APPLY IT FREQUENTLY.

Ha. Suddenly I don't feel so bad about having turned on the a/c this afternoon and falling asleep. Go siesta! I just checked the weather, and not only is there a hot weather warning (it's 5pm and there's still a humidex of 47 degrees), but there's also the Typhoon Warning Signal No. 1 has been hoisted. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to catch a wind drift and fly back to Canada. :)

Not much tomorrow. My ant problem is slightly less urgent. I bought ant traps, but now the stupid insects crawl OVER the traps rather than INTO them. I was wondering why this was, and my friend Alyssa concluded that I've been invaded not by regular ants... But by smart ones. 3 years of university education, and that's the best we can come up with. :)

I had my first semi-interesting course today. My chinese history in the field prof actually taught us something today, which was a nice change. However, you can tell that Hong Kong students don't pay as much tuition as exchange students... We had to wait for nearly 45 minutes while they got the computer to work so he could use his powerpoint slides. In the 45 minute downtime, he just sat at the front of the room and let us chat/sleep/grumble. In North America, they'd have written on the whiteboard or just gone on without the slides. I don't know how much material we missed covering, but the entire situation seemed kinda silly.

Not much else has happened today. I was pretty tired in class due to not getting a good sleep. I had nightmares about not being able to communicate with the people here - things kept happening but I didn't know what was going on and no one could explain. I tossed and turned then finally got up around 6:30am. It was strange, because this is the second night in a row I've had nightmares. (The first night I dreamt that ants were crawling over me, and I kept waking up.) I hope this isn't becoming a trend. :P

I managed to do my laundry. (I finally know how to work Washing Machine #4!) Then I crashed for a bit. I'm thinking of going to the Island tonight to check out a salsa dance studio for lessons, but I'm still feeling pretty tired, and don't feel like trying to find it right now. (More the latter than the former.) Maybe I'll go Monday, when the intermediate class is going on.

Last night was the Shaw welcoming dinner for all international, returning exchange, and mainland students. We were randomly placed at tables so we'd get to meet new people, and there was a head honcho at each table. Bad/Good luck placed me right beside the head of Shaw College, Professor P.C. Ching. He was very pleasant and used to live in Canada for awhile. He had also just returned from a courtesy call with Bill Gates. Cool man. The food was good, with the exception being dessert - they served that damnable sweet green pea soup again. I hate that stuff.

Oh, and I learned a bit about the Taiwanese way of celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival! According to Pei-chin, they always eat Pomelos (a kind of big grapefruit type thing - we have them in Canada). She didn't get to eat one like normal, so she bought one. And, for fun, you're supposed to cut the skin off the pomelo very carefully and then put it on a little kids head. We didn't have a little kid, so Pei-chin demonstrated. :)

I'm sure other exciting things have occurred, but I can't remember them right now. I guess you'll just miss out. :)

Uncle Richard the sequel

Tonight was by far one of the funnest I've had since I came to Hong Kong! Emily and I went to meet Uncle Richard (it seems so funny to call him Uncle) and he took us to the Zhongshan Fishing Village restaurant.

I've never eaten so much seafood. Ever. He ordered around 10 dishes for the 3 of us! I didn't even know what half of the things I tried eating were. Most of you know that I was anti-seafood for quite a few years, so I think I made up for it all tonight.

The restaurant was amusing in that they brought our seafood out before cooking us to show us what it looked like... And it was still alive. The crabs were tied up and trying vainly to make an escape. That was surprising, but I guess I'm getting used to being shocked here, since it didn't bother me at all.

Anyways, I ate: shrimp, chinese brocoli, some kind of Australian crab, a double-shelled crab (it's a seasonal crab that's captured just before it finishes growing a new shell), some kind of mussel, sweet & sour pork, scallops, and mango pudding. Gah! The food didn't seem to end, and Richard was insistent that we keep eating. He'd keep serving us despite our protests.

True to his word, he paid for the entire meal. And he's still excited to take us out again next week when Kimberly's along. Throughout the meal, we discussed cultural differences and he explained things about Hong Kong from a business owner's perspective. Also, according to him, the price of a small one bedroom apartment with open kitchen is $1000CAD/month. GAH! My plans to work in Hong Kong just got a little less enthusiastic.

After the meal, he invited Emily and I to go to his old Kung Fu school. We said sure, and he paid for a taxi to go to a random section of Hong Kong. I was a bit worried when we went up the stairs of the building, because the building was super decrepit and sketchy looking. I actually had my hand on my personal alarm just to be safe. (This is being put in for my mom's benefit.

Luckily I had no reason to be afraid. We got into the school and it was so cool! He introduced us to all the students. (Introductions went along the lines of, "This is the most handsome student here!" or "This is the student with the most potential!" "This is the oldest student here! He's 70 years old!") Emily and I got to sit down and Richard badgered everyone into demonstrating various weapons and forms. Cool cool cool! The people were so friendly! I felt bad because they were performing for us rather than training, but they seemed to be having fun. We're going to go back again next week so Kim can see.

When we were done at the kung fu school (it's actually some other martial art that I can't remember the name of) Richard led us to the Prince Edward train station. He gave us a hug and made sure we knew how to get home. (Bah, the trains are our second home! Of course we know how to get around them!) A few seconds after we seperated, he phoned Emily to make sure that our phones were working in case we got lost. LOL, he's so funny.

There were some awkward moments though. Throughout the night he had been joking with us, but in a non-Canadian approved manner. For example, in the taxi ride to the school, Emily didn't have her seat belt on, and I joked that I would be her seatbelt, and put my arm across her stomach. Richard laughed and eagerly asked if he could also be her "seatbelt". She and I were kinda weirded out by that, and I responded by laughing and saying that she'd be safe enough with just me. That would have been kinda creepy, but he told the people about it at the school, so it seems like it was just generic fun for an old man in the presence of young women.

When I got back to my dorm tonight, Pei-chin and I started talking. She didn't realize how big Canada was. We got out a world map, and I was giving her examples of how long it took to drive to locations in Canada. She was surprised to find that the trip from Owen Sound to Moosonee took 15 hours... Her response was, "Wow! When I go to school in Taipei, it takes me 5 hours to drive there and my friends think it's so far away!" I then started showing her pictures of Canada and my hometown - whatever I had in my Pictures folder on my laptop.

I also explained to her about the co-op system and jobs in Canada. I was trying to describe my previous jobs to her. Do you know how hard it is to explain what a Nuclear Power Plant is to someone who's second language is English? I tried various tactics, including going to the Simpsons website and pointing to Homer's workplace. I finally resorted to using an online translator and typing in "Nuclear Power." I don't think she believes that I worked there.

It was a fun and long conversation. We discussed transportation differences and job aspirations and so on. It was really interesting and informative. I'm so lucky she's my roommate - I've met a few exchange students who aren't getting along with their roommates. :(

Anyways, it's 1:17am right now and I should go to bed.

P.S. Oh yeah... And I've been invaded by ants! :( Our apartment and the one across from us have a major ant problem. :( The ground looks like it's moving! They seemed to have made a nest in the drain in our Kitchen floor. I shoved a towel into the drain (my luck, we'll have a flood and nothing will drain) but today, they had found another way into the apartment through the baseboards near the bathroom. Gah. I went to Lok Fu to buy some ant traps, but I think I'll need more.

Uncle Richard take care of you

Today was very cool. I started off my day by checkin' out the Yuen Po Street Bird Market. Basically it's a small outdoor market where you can buy songbirds of all shapes and sizes, along with accessories for their cages. It was neat because there were lots of old men just hangin' out, taking their birds for walks. It was quite unique.

I also tried checking out the Fa Yuen Market - an outdoor market that sold a wide variety of goods but was primarily aimed at locals. Have you ever seen fish spawning? Trying to swim upcurrent? That's how I felt walking around this market. I could barely move there were so many people (today was a holiday). I also kept getting attacked by some plant a little old lady was carrying over her shoulder. Leaves taste bad.

However, the real highlight of the day came around 5pm. I met up with Emily and Kim so we could wander around. We had made plans to meet some locals for dinner and needed to waste time till then. We decided to go into the Peninsula Hotel (an upperclass hotel with expensive fashion shops) to look around. This place had a maid in the bathrooms that you had to tip on your way out. Gah.

Anyways, we were poking in and out of stores randomly and happened to go into a jade jewelry store. The prices were pretty decent. We were looking at some jade bracelets that were $150HKD each. The shopowner then asked Emily where she was from, and when he learned we were from Canada, he got super excited.

Turns out he's a Canadian citizen too! He also lived in Victoria, the same city Emily lives in. He showed us some old newspaper clippings from when he owned an art gallery and travelled around with his exhibit. He was so excited to meet us (he's a Canadian citizen now). He pulled out one of those cheesy Canadian pins that flash light.

His name is Richard, but he insists on us calling him Uncle Richard. We ended up hanging out at his shop for nearly an hour and a half just talking. We got to see photos of his pet turtle, "QQ" and see some videos of it on his handheld. He was asking us how we enjoyed HK so far. It was so much fun. He gave us each a business card and told us, "Anytime you need anything, you call me 24 hours. That's my cell number. You call anytime!" He's taking us out for dinner tomorrow and Thursday too. He was so excited and happy. I can't wait to see him again.

He gave us each a jade bracelet for free (he told us it was chinese tradition to give gifts... Yeah right, but he refused any money for them).

Typhoon Signal No. 1

I survived Macau. And for once, I think this is the appropriate statement, rather than the generic joke of "Or maybe Macau survived me."

First off, I'd like to point you towards my photos from Macau. They can be reached here.

Macau was both more and less exciting than Hong Kong. I was finally in a place that spoke little to no English. Instead of English, they had Portugese signs and letters everywhere. Sadly it seems like my Spanish proficiency expired 2 years ago, because I was unable to make sense of most of the signs. Due to the huge language barrier, getting around was quite a pain. Luckily on the second day, we acquired an English/Chinese map, so we could point to our location in English, and have the cab drivers read it in Chinese.

Even though we took many cabs, we still managed to get lost quite a bit. e.g. The first night we arrived, we managed to walk 20 minutes in the wrong direction (I blame the bad English instructions we received from the hotel receptionist). We even stopped at a police station and asked for directions, but the guy spoke neither Spanish nor English, making it useless. Our little expedition allowed us to encounter giant snails and bigass frogs though, which amused me to no end.

The first night we had dinner at a Portugese/Chinese restaurant called Pinnochio (I believe I've mentioned that Asia has an unhealthy obsession with Disney) which was fantastic. The restaurant had been recommended by our travel book, and with seeming good reason.

The next day Jenny and Kim managed to sleep through breakfast, so we had a late start. The other exchange students we had encountered said that Macau was actually really boring with no nightlife to speak of. And now I can see why. The city's rep is all about the gambling and parties, but the casinos are quite different from North American casinos. They have a lot more of them, but they're quieter with fewer machines and whatnot. Plus they seem a lot more strict... We had to walk through metal detectors and have our purses searched.

All in all, if you want to go to Macau, go for the museums and architecture. The city is beautiful (but kind of dirty looking). It was fascinating to see the portugese style buildings amidst generic chinese ones. Plus there was a multitude of catholic churches which was really interesting.

We ended up going to some of the restored Churches, plus the Ruins of St. Paul's. St. Paul's was really interesting - it's an old church but the only part that remains standing is the single wall. You can walk underneath it and see part of a crypt along with the bones of the martyrs buried there. After St. Paul's, we moseyed over to the Museum of Macau which was nifty - I like how I get to learn something about non-European history finally. We also walked around an old fort called Monte Forte. It was pretty, but deadly due to the slippery wet rocks.

Now here comes the fun part. The score? Language Barrier: 1, Dumbass Westerners: 0. On our way back to the hotel on Saturday night, we passed through a beautiful plaza with a bunch of lanterns lit. There was also a stage set up and people were handing out free bottles of water along with glowsticks. We assumed that it was the beginning of the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations. All the signs were in Chinese. The was a huge party atmosphere because people were cheering, waving flags and glowsticks. A school band played on stage.

In a nutshell, Jenny, Kim and I hung around waiting for whatever festivities were going to happen to begin. We managed to get some more glowsticks and even got some stickers with the number 8 on them. (According to Kim, the #8 is a lucky number to the chinese and thus that must be the reason why everyone's wearing it for the festival.) Some head honcho guys came out to the stage and people began wildly cheering for them. (Did I remember to mention that all the signs are in Chinese?) Well, since we had no idea what was going on, we just did whatever the audience did. If they applauded, we applauded. If they waved their flags, we waved ours.

We were laughing at ourselves for not having a clue as to what was going on when Jenny finally wondered aloud "I wonder what the check mark on the flags is supposed to mean? Vote yes to communism!" ... That joke made us start to wonder... Then to worry... I read the banner on the back of the stage and could make out something in Portugese that looked like it meant "Legislative Assembly."

When you're standing in a huge crowd of people who are enthusiastically waving and cheering for the number "8," you're very careful to subtly remove your #8 stickers... And hide your banner in your purse. We managed to non-chalantly make our way to a main street. Down the block, we managed to find some English speaking people who explained to us that the flag we were waving was for an upcoming election. DOH!

So we managed to break one of the two most important rules while travelling. 1) Never leave your baggage unattended, and 2) Never participate in political demonstrations. Note to self: Learn more Chinese!

Today we went to some temples and the "Black Beach." The Pou Tai Temple was probably my favourite. It wasn't very touristy, and you could see the locals actually going and praying and whatnot. It was very pretty and maze-like. The temple also sold vegetarian meals at lunch time, so we contributed some Putacas (the local currency) by purchasing food.

We then went to the Black Beach. Our original plans had been to go to the beach and go swimming, but all of Saturday had been raining, and Typhoon Signal No. 1 had been hoisted (meaning, "Lookout! There might be a typhoon headed our way!), so we left our bathing suits at the hotel. Which was just as well. The beach was dirty from the waves through garbage up on the sand, and the silt from the pearl delta made the water brown. I don't dig the idea of swimming in water that I can't see through!

We ended up going back to Macau (by mistake - our bus took a different route than expected) and going to the A-Ma Temple (oldest building/temple in Macau which turned out to be really boring) and the Maritime Museum (which turned out to be more interesting than anticipated). By the time we got back to our hotel, it had started to downpour again (the air liquified! my shoes were soaked!).

I used to be afraid of the streets in Hong Kong. I always thought I was going to be run over... Now that I've been to Macau though, Hong Kong seems safe as a sandbox. Seriously, the people in Macau ride lots of scooters, meaning they zip around the cars when they're at a stop sign. Plus, there are few street signs/traffic lights in Macau, and nobody wears seat belts (Only 1 out of 3 cabs had seatbelts either!). I first realized the dangers of the streets when our hotel shuttle bus nearly ran over pedetrians who were walking at a crosswalk. I actually ducked my head because I expected to see red on the hood of our bus. Then today, I came as close to dying as I ever will I hope. I forgot that scooters zipped between stopped cars... And so when I ran from behind a stopped bus, I didn't think to look first - and a scooter had to slam on its brakes and I actually felt the front wheel brush my leg as it passed by me. Gah. I think I lost a year of my life due to fright.

All in all, the trip was very interesting. I think that the two girls and I were getting crabbed out at each other because they didn't want to do anything that wasn't in the travel book, and I wanted to just explore and see what we found at times. Overall though, we managed to compromise and not go for each other's throats.

I didn't get back to my residence until 9pm tonight because I stopped for a late dinner. I then found out from a local student that the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival festivities were only going to happen tonight... There wouldn't be anything tomorrow.

I was exhausted, but I felt guilty about the idea of staying in my room knowing there was a festival going on that I might never get to see again. So I forced myself to go out again and check out Victoria Park.

I'm glad I went, but there wasn't much to see. Basically families go to local parks and light lanterns/candles/everything else flammable and spend time with each other. There were some nifty cultural displays at Causeway Bay, but I only saw 3 of them because it was nearly 11pm by the time I got there.

Anyways, it's 2:40am right now and I think it's time to go to bed. G'night y'all!

It's the little things

First of all, I managed to find this picture on the CUHK website. It was taken during our orientation week welcoming ceremony. The blonde dude in the blue t-shirt is Bart, a fun guy from Toronto. If you look at the next row, to the left, you'll see me in my brown t-shirt. Making a "V" (V is for victory) with your fingers is considered very cute here in Asia.

I've been here for nearly 3 weeks now and it still hasn't really sunk in that I'm in Hong Kong. It's the little things that drive home the fact that I'm on the other side of the world. I get slightly complacent, then suddenly I'll see insects or animals I've never seen before (I saw a gecko on the ground floor of my apartment!) Or sometimes I'll walk by a window and be awed by the view - the foliage of the forest (jungle?) and the mountains in the background. Heck, even when I'm just walking along a sidewalk I'll suddenly realize, "Hey! I'm in Hong Kong right now!" and begin to smile for no reason.

I've finally encountered a food dish that I actually crave... Sadly, it's vietnamese food, but still. It's lemongrass chicken with rice noodles in soup. I adore that dish. I've had it two nights in a row now, and wish I could have it for lunch too. Unfortunately life decides it needs a balance in some fashion, so it also introduced me to a dish that I couldn't finish. I don't know the English name, but translated directly from Cantonese, it's called "Horse bean." (Please don't make the obvious jokes.) It's some kind of white jelly pudding thing with pieces of corn in it. My local friend was devouring hers, but after two bites of mine, I had to shove it aside. It tasted like it had gone bad.

Corn seems to be a real treat here. At McDonald's, for an extra $5, you can buy a cup of corn! Yeah... Plain old corn in a plastic cup. All the KFC's here also offer roasted corn on a cob too. Corn was even offered on the pizzas at Pizza Hut. My local pal, Irene, was surprised to find out that corn isn't considered a desert item in North America.

Another cool thing that's quite different from North America is the traditionalness of things. I was walking around HK island one day and passed by a nice chinese garden. What was interesting though was seeing an older gentleman practicing with his bo staff in the middle of the garden. He wasn't trying to show off or anything, he was just doing what was natural to him. Last night I also saw a group of students from one of the on-campus martial arts clubs outside stretching and warming up with their weapons and whatnot.
Also, when you walk around in the New Territories, you'll occasionally see an old man or lady with a wide brimmed hat with a black fringe. It's part of the traditional attire of the Hakka people. I guess that it's surprising to see hats like these considering how modernized the world is becoming.

Stuff like this really emphasizes the cultural differences.

P.S.
If you ever want to chat, you can get ahold of me on Skype! My user name is mau_the_grump.

Macau bound!

Did you know that dragonflies fly in flocks? Maybe they only do it here in Hong Kong. It's so cool at dusk because you look up at the trees, and there's a cloud of dragonflies above them. And we're talkin' big suckers too - as long as your index finger.

Last night I ran into Kristin at the train station on my way to a department store. I ended up nixing my own plans to follow her to a Hong Kong Karate dojo. She wanted to find a karate club and it was somewhere near Kowloon. Anyways, we got off at some random subway station and ended up having to walk for 30-45 minutes to get to the dojo. (We're talking speed walking too.)

The dojo was disappointingly small and similar to the ones in North America. The only interesting difference was that they were much more precise than the martial artists in NA. The orange belts were very hardcore and precise in their movements compared to what I remember them being like in NA.

After the dojo, we got directions from several people to a closer train station... Instead of a 45 minute walk, we only walked about 15 minutes. I gave Kristin clear instructions to mapquest her destinations from now on. Grr!

Today Pei-chin and I went to Tai Po Market. It's at the statio next to the university, and it had a local farmer's market. My mom (she works in a public health unit) would have had convulsions walking around this place.

The first floor was fresh fish/meat. When I say fresh fish, I mean that it's still alive. You see the crabs making a run for it and the fish flopping around. As for the fresh meat, you saw blood on the floor and chunks of meat too from being chopped up in front of your eyes. And they use all the meat... Not just parts of it. I identified tongue, hoof, heart, brain, and most amusingly... Pig head skin. Someone had removed the skin off the head of the pig, so you saw the floppy ears, eye holes and snout... It was neat in a gruesome kind of way. (Oh, and mom? The meat was all hanging out in the open and I saw flies having an orgy on various pieces.)

Upstairs was fresh produce and dry goods. It was interesting seeing more veggies that I couldn't identify. The only aggravating thing was that vendors would speak to me in cantonese consistently even though I was answering in English and making animated gestures that I didn't understand. Get a hint people!

The highlight of my day though was making my plans for the weekend. I'm headed to Macau people! (For the uninitiated, Macau was formerly a Portugese colony that was handed back to China in 1999. It's mainly known for its casinos and gambling scene.)

I'm headed there with 4 other girls, 3 from California and my roommate. I'm leaving on Friday evening and getting back Sunday night. The package we bought was for 3 days and 2 nights, included ferry ride to the island and breakfast at the hotel... And I paid $685HKD - That's $105CAD. Swank! I'm very excited about it now... Because I'll be back in Hong Kong for the official Mid-Autumn Moon festival.

Oh, and another amusing story... I bought some candies on my way home today and was unwrapping them. I was wondering why the hell the store had mummified the damned things in wax paper (I had pulled off two layers of wax paper and was trying to pick off a third). My roommate noticed me and started laughing. It wasn't wax paper - it was rice paper and you're supposed to eat it. Oops. :)

Nobody said anything about tryouts!!!!

Gah! You guys nearly got rid of me for good today... I just about died today. My friend Sui Fong had invited me to go out and play basketball this morning. I was under the impression that it was just going to be a few girls getting together and playing a friendly game of b-ball.

Well, I arrived in the gym and found out that it was freakin' tryouts for the university basketball team! I figured I'd give it a shot, (no pun intended) even though it's been 7 years since I played basketball. Upon getting on the court, my extreme rustiness made itself known.

I managed to keep up with the other girls for the first hour, though I was rapidly running out of steam. I think the coach was worried about me, because I was the colour of my t-shirt (red) and sweating profusely. I can't believe how many baskets I missed. I sucked bad.

The thing that did me in was the shuttle runs... Sprints from the baseline, to the foul line, to the baseline to the middle line, to the baseline to the other baseline and back. Gah. I was a full second or two behind the other girls on both sprints. Half way through the second sprint, I just about collapsed because my legs were so jellified.

I decided that the fact that my heart felt like it was being dribbled up and down probably wasn't a good sign, and gave up after the sprints. Walking home I talked with my mom on my cell phone and could barely hold the damned thing to my ear because my arm was so tired from shooting baskets. I also didn't walk down the stairs... I more or less fell down them. When I got back to the dorm, the door was locked, and I was so exhausted and numbed that I couldn't remember the password. I had to hang up on my mom and phone one of my roommates so she could tell me the password.

Luckily a cold shower (bless the cold!) managed to revive me, because I had made plans to meet Emily for lunch. I ended up going shopping in Tsim Sha Tsui for 10 hours. (Well, Emily and Kimberly went shopping - I just followed them around and resisted buying more purses.)

I had told my pal Lidia that I'd meet up with her around 10-10:30 because it was her b-day. So around 10:15 I seperated from Emily and gang and wandered around Tsim Sha Tsui on my own. I was calling Lidia compulsively, but she wasn't answering her cell for some reason.

I've decided that I don't like wandering HK by myself at night. (I'm sure my mom will be relieved to hear this.) I can never tell when I'm in a sketchy area or when I'll suddenly be in an abandoned area. Plus, the hawkers tend to be more aggressive to white women. I didn't like walking by myself and having all these brown people (sadly, all the people who approached me were brown) thrust themselves toward me and asking me to buy "rolexes" or offering to help me with my single tiny bag. Definitely not cool.

I ended up coming home and had to walk up the mountain because I missed the last university shuttle. Gah. Basketball in the morning, shopping in the afternoon, mountain climbing at night. I'm so tired.

Oh, and I nearly had a heart attack while walking around campus. I was climbing a staircase when something freakin' moved in the bushes and made a racket. I think it was a frog, because it hopped and smacked into the leaves then stood still. But even though CUHK feels like a safe campus, that startled the crap out of me. Maybe it was a rat. I hope whatever it was got eaten by a hawk or whatever other predatory creatures we have on campus.

"What? You want me to give it to you?"

Today was fun, but tiring. (Will I ever stop being tired?) Emily and I were hell-bent on going out to buy ourselves a couple of brooms and mops. We've been trying to buy some for the past 3 days. However, whenever we go out, we decide to go exploring and figure that we won't want to carry around some long handled items, so we don't bother. Sooner or later, we'll buy them.

Instead we wandered around HK island and planned to go see the light show over the harbour at 8pm. We wanted to go out for dinner, so we began phoning everyone we knew, trying to gather people for a big dinner... But damnit! Everyone had plans! I literally phoned everyone on my phone list (and I have over 15 people on my phone) and they either didn't have time to get there, or already had plans. Grr.

We ended up going shopping back in Tsim Sha Tsui and then going to the Spaghetti House for dinner. I always feel guilty when I eat Western food now, but it's so much more satisfying! Our friends Sarah and Mavis ended up joining us.

Afterwards, we got Mavis to take us to Temple Street Night Market. It was a lot like Mong Kok, but there was a wider variety of goods available. Despite that, I much prefer Mong Kok. The people there are much friendlier and more willing to bargain. Emily got yelled at by one vendor for looking at things but not buying. And another old man growled at me (in chinese - Sarah translated afterwards) because I said something was too expensive. (It was actually a damned good price in my opinion, but I want to try bargaining because you can never be sure when they're trying to rip you off.) He said something to the effect of, "What? you want me to give it to you?" Ha. I wish I had understood him, then I would have answered with a strong and resounding, "Yes."

Just beyond the market was a series of fortune tellers... And you got it! Mau went to get her fortune told! It was the most expensive service/product I bought all day - $100HKD to have my palm read, but it was worth it. The guy was really funny and suffered having his photo taken several times. He basically told me that I'll have to wait till my middle ages (by his definition, 30) before I can become successful. He also mentioned that I'll need to be considerate of my boyfriend's feelings or he'll leave me. LOL. Finally, he warned me that a close friend or family member will steal a large amount of money from me. Now that I've been warned, you guys will never be allowed near my wallet again.

Meeting the locals

Yesterday was the official I-House opening ceremony. All the residents were invited to attend, so Pei-chin and I went down together. It was nifty. The chinese here seem really big on ceremonies... We listened to some head honchos talk about how they wanted to foster an international village in the I-House. And I think last night was a good step in that direction.

Part of the ceremony included the cutting of a roast pig. It's apparently a tradition to cut a roast pig at opening ceremonies. Something about it bringing luck and whatnot to the thing being ceremoniedidid. However you spell it. The food was diverse and fun. I tried some random yellow sauce on my pork and nearly choked to death. It was nasty.

I got to meet a few locals including Alfred, the Warden's son, and Sui Fung (see the pic), a girl who lives in the apartment across from mine. Everyone was super nice. Sui even offered to guide us around Mong Kok (please ignore the fact that she managed to get us lost twice). :)

After the ceremony I hung out with two other Canadians from U of Ottawa and we had a good time wandering Mong Kok. Jinny's only been in HK since Saturday, so we left pretty early so she could catch a bus back to her dorm.

It's strange how even in a city of 7 million people, you manage to run into people you know. On our way into Mong Kok, we ran into Jaspar and his friend from the Netherlands. On our way back from Central, Kimberly (a student from California) just happened to get on to our subway on her way back to campus. At least with Jaspar he was easy to identify... Tall, pale, blonde hair. You can see foreigners here a mile away. It's fun.

I'm headed off to Central again so I can go exploring with Emily. Normally I have no problem exploring on my own, but since I've been here, I've become used to being with other people on my exploration walks... Now I don't want to go anywhere by myself! I need to get over this.

Toodles!

UPDATE:
It's been about 7 hours since I wrote the first part of this post. :) First of all, I've fixed the first two pics so they don't blow out the margins. :P

HK island was fun as usual. Emily and I got lost (well, since she was counting on me to be a guide, *I* got us lost), but we managed to find a train station with no problem.

We mainly wandered around the streets, checking out something besides Kowloon, which made for a nice change. We found some random costume stores, which will be handy for halloween here. We also found a gazillion random stalls selling ribbons.

Another discovery was Lan Kwai Fong - the expat district in HK. I've been hearing so much about this place that I felt let down when I finally saw it. It's not even a city block of bar after bar after bar. I don't get what the big deal is... Yeah, all the clubs were of western origin (we saw a club with Canadian hockey stuff), but it didn't seem all that exciting. I guess we'll have to check it out at night sometime.

We left HK earlier than originally planned because we felt like going to see a movie, and we didn't know when or where they were playing. I managed to get us to Mong Kok and found a theater, so we went to see The Brothers Grimm. That was an amusing movie, but nothing terribly exciting. I was more amused by the chinese subtitles, and the fact that I was laughing at things no one else was laughing at. (I'm sure that when all the people entered the theater, they all saw this giant white ghost sitting at the back of the theater.)

I just pretend to be rich

Mong Kok kicked ass today! We started off our day by having lunch at Pizza Hut. I feel justified in going to a western restaurant because I haven't eaten ANYTHING western since I came here. I'm glad we went though, because it was crazy fancy! As you can see in the picture, the restaurant had linen table cloths, fancy plates and so on. And it didn't just serve pizza - included on the menu was pasta, creme brulee, and even lobster! However, the upper classness of it all did mean that that meal was more expensive. Instead of costing me like, $5CAD, it cost me $10. :D

After lunch we went to the market. I'm so glad I went again, because I got to bargain a lot more today and I had so much fun. I feel kind of guilty about it though, because it's already so cheap for me, and I'm trying to take away these people's way of living.

But my conscience got shunted to the back of my mind and I set to shopping with gusto. I bought (all prices HKD):

• A cell phone chain (some random accessory for cell phones that's really popular here - Asking price $20, Mau pays $4.50
  
• A hiking backpack (seems to be reasonably well made) - Asking price, $300, Mau pays: $180
  
• A bamboo purse thing (impractical but pretty) - Asking price, $160, Mau pays: $100 (should have bargained more I think)
  
• And finally, the crowning piece of my collection! A fake Dior handbag! It was crazy trying to get it though. Emily was talking to some young girls our age and suddenly turned to me and told me, "These guys want me to go up to some back room but I'm too scared to go by myself" so I offered to go with her. We left Alexa downstairs and told her that if we didn't return in half an hour, to call the army or something. We had to walk down this back alley, into an apartment building, go up to the 22nd floor and entire a locked apartment. There was a curtain right behind the apartment door, so you couldn't seen inside. However, just beyond the curtain, instead of apartment furniture, there was shelves and shelves of cheap designer knockoffs! I ended up buying this purse. I don't know much about designer handbags, but Emily assured me that it was a good deal... I just looked up the price right now and holy crap! Asking price: $280, Mau pays $190.
  

By this time, all of us are poor (Emily paid $880 for 4 ripoff Louis Vuitton wallets), so we decided to head back towards the university and made a side trip to Ikea.

I actually spent less than $100CAD today. Life is good.

Warm showers, how I miss thee

Can anyone remind me what a hot shower feels like? I haven't touched a hot water tap since I've moved here. And that's not an exaggeration! ***Edit: I should clarify - It's not that I don't have access to hot water, it's that I have no interest in turning the hot water on! It's too bloody hot to have anything but a freezing cold shower.***

Last night I discovered another amusing and interesting cultural difference between the East and West. I was talking with Pei-chin when somehow we got on to the topic of suntanning. I told her that in the west, it is very popular to go sun bathing and it's considered very pretty to have bronzed skin. I even mentioned how we have sunless tanning cream.

Well, apparently in the East it's the complete opposite! They strive to maintain very white skin. (That explains why they all use sun umbrellas!) She even showed me some popular skin products she owns that are meant to "whiten" your skin.

We were both laughing over the big difference between our cultures. It's strange how even though we're more interconnected than ever, that we can still have such different expectations.

She also went through the Mandarin lesson I had yesterday. She was laughing hysterically as I explained to her how we were learning (we just practiced the mandarin sounds that we don't have in English). I'm so looking forward to learning some new words from her!

Our other roommate/flatmate, Emily, a local from Hong Kong, came into our room last night to chat. I'm happy that she did because I got to learn a bit more about her and be less intimidated. :) She'd been to Miami on an exchange before, so she was very good with her English and seemed very Western.

She gave me some good advice on bargaining in Mong Kok (you should expect to be able to drop the price by 20%). So today I'm headed off to the markets again with some Canadians.

Let the monotony begin

Well, today was my first day of classes. Luckily for me, my cantonese extended to being able to ask "Where is 2 4 1," meaning, "Where's room 241?" The damned classroom was on some weird balcony with no sign on it.

Anyways, my History of Modern Palestine and Israel class seems promising. The prof wants to focus on how the news can be very biased and so on. I also had a lot of fun at my Intro to Mandarin class. For the most part, all the people in my class are Westerners, plus a Frenchie/Korean or two. Time will tell how things will be. I'm mostly psyched for my Chinese History class on Thursday.

There's one girl from Germany in all of my classes this term which is nice. We had fun today comparing country's and the like.

Speaking of making new friends... I was walking to the subway station when I overtook a chinese girl. She smiled at me and said "Hello" and I replied likewise. I kept walking really fast, trying to get ahead of her on the path but she kept pace with me and kept looking at me. I didn't know what to do. Seriously, for 3 minutes she walked beside me, silent. I didn't know whether to stop, speed more more (I was already at break neck pace) or try to broach a conversation. Finally she asked, "Are you an exchange student" and proceeded to grill me on Canada, my thoughts about HK (was she a communist spy?), and the like. I just keep chuckiling over the first 3 silent minutes. It was so awkward!

I have to admit, a lot of my expectations about HK have been blown out of the water. For one thing, bathrooms aren't nearly as terrifying as I was expecting. Honestly, the bathrooms in my apartment are probably the scariest I've come across. Everything's much cleaner (well, street wise that is). People are very appreciative of my attempts to use (mangle?) cantonese.

I need to find an English bookstore... I'm lacking in reading materials.

Masses of people

First of all, in case I didn't put it in my other post, please pay attention to the links on your right. You'll notice one entitled, "Mau's HK photos." The purpose of this link should be obvious, but for my obtuse friends, I'll clarify. It's my photo website! http://www.flickr.com/photos/mau_the_grump/

Today was the first day I've had off. Normally I've been running around doing things for orientation week, but today was just for me.

I wanted to make sure I know where to go for classes tomorrow, so I dragooned some friends into going for lunch, then exploring campus finding classrooms. The expedition turned out to be short and sweet since most of the buildings were locked. Silly chinese people and their security concerns.

Since the campus exploration plans were kinda nixed, Kristin, her friend Miki (from Japan) and I decided to go shopping. I wanted to buy a cell phone like Kristin's because it was super cheap, so we went to Shatin mall. Lemme warn you against going to Shatin on a Sunday. Walking there reminds me of water slides... Once you get on, you have no choice but to go where the slide sends you until it spits you out - whether you want to stop of not. Literally, you couldn't move in this mall.

It didn't help that Kristin couldn't remember where the store she bought her cell (or mobile as they're referred to here) was. I'm not surprised though - the mall is actually several malls connected together, each with a minimum of 3 floors. Thank goodness for english speaking mall staff. With vague descriptions ("it's a store that sells cell phones and starts with the word 'cyber'") we got there. I bought a cheap mobile phone and sim card for $448HKD. That's $68.50CAD for you in North America.) So if you ever feel like wasting money on an international phone call, just email me for my 8 digit phone number. :)

Afterwards we wandered around the street outside the Shatin mall (we were just preparing ourselves for the upcoming onslaught of going back into the mall to get to the subway.) We found some cool non-touristy market full of merchandise I don't know how to use and foods I can't identify. (Okay, that's a lie, I recognized the dried octopus. Or was it squid?) I think Miki got ripped off because she was speaking English... She got charged $18HKD for a bowl thingie that probably should have only cost $10HKD.

Instead of going back to our dorms, we decided to go to Mong Kok, a region in Kowloon. Damn that was a good choice! Mong Kok is what I envisioned Hong Kong to look like before I even came here!

The streets were even more crowded that the mall were, but it was worth it. There was store after store after store. I don't think we even managed to scratch the surface of the area. We found an alleyway that was full of small stalls that sold everything - watches, jewellery, purses, clothes - you named, it, they had it. I even tried my hand at bargaining for a few things, but I don't know if it was a big bargaining area. When I refused a woman's price for a purse and began to leave, she grabbed my arm (little sucker was strong!) and was like, "No no! $4 off!" It was an educational experience.

Despite the fact that I was surrounded by stores, the only thing I managed to strike off my shopping list was a fan. I got a small 9" desk fan for $99HKD. (Approximately $15CAD - is that a good deal?)

Miki, Kristin and I went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. I think that food is my biggest problem here. Not that I can't find anything to eat - as a matter of fact, there's too many choices, but ordering it is really hard. I'll say the name in English, and if that doesn't work, I'll point to a picture. But the waitresses will ask me something and I can't answer. It's tough man.

Anyways, we were pretty wiped when we finally got back to campus.

Speaking of campus, I've finally taken photos of my room. As you can see, I've got a decent sized double room. My bed's underneath the air conditioner. More photos of my apartment can be found here.

That reminds me of another thing I didn't think about before coming here. In Hong Kong, every apartment has air conditioning. I'm not just talking about the single airconditioner Canadians are used to either. EVERY ROOM has an air conditioner. The pain with a/c here is that it's too hot to leave it off all night, but if you have it on all night, it gets too cold. And the a/c in this student apartment is too retro to have any kind of time control device on it.

I've met another roommate thus far. Her name is Emily and she's from Hong Kong. That's all I know about her.

Anyways, I have class tomorrow and I'm pretty tired. I guess I'll email the blog's URL out to everyone then go to bed. Take care y'all!

Alive and kickin' in Hong Kong

Damnit, I had a big long post written out, but it got deleted some how. Oh well, here goes again.

As per my email several weeks ago, you'll know that I was planning to go to Hong Kong on academic exchange. Well, I made it. Barely.

After several days of running around frantically trying to gather all the things I forgot I'd need (err, HK currency?), I finally jumped on a plane and began my 20 hour flight to the other side of the world. Long live Peptol Bismal, as I was suffering from frayed nerves that induced nausea.

My jump into Hong Kong life started a little more precipitously than I had planned. I had arranged for some members of the school to meet me at the airport. However, when I arrived, there was no one there. :| The first thought that went through my head had to do with some english slang that revolves around a bodily function. Luckily I had the address of the university written in chinese on my laptop, so I hopped into a taxi, shoved the address in his face, and off we went. (Thank god I did get currency before I left - the taxi cost me $274HKD - roughly $45CAD.)

I didn't realize just how damned mountainous Hong Kong was until I was in the taxi. We got lost on the CUHK (Chinese Unversity of Hong Kong) campus and I was getting motion sick just from going up and down the damned hills trying to my find my residence!

Anyways, I made it to my orientation hostel alive and jetlagged (it's a 12 hour difference between HK and Ontario). I was immediately ushered (herded?) to my temporary orientation dorm. There, I got to meet my roommate, a nice girl named Wendy from california. She was super nice and full of helpful advice for getting around HK.

Basically orientation week was just a series of info sessions, trying to figure out classes, meeting new peopole, and getting to know how the city worked. I have to praise the student volunteers here at CUHK. They were the nicest and most helpful people I've EVER met. They would answer all of our questions, no matter how retarded, translate for us with the locals and so on. They were always curious about our various countries and would try to explain HK life to us. I hope I can keep in contact with several of the girls I met.

Lots of tours happened during orientation week. We learned how to get to the Shatin mall and also went on tours and dinners. Too much has happened, so I'll just cover some of the highlights of the week.

The Welcoming Dinner
On Wednesday, we all went to Shatin for a giant welcoming dinner. We were tossed at random tables to meet new exchange students and try authentic chinese cuisine. There. Was. So. Much. Food. My favourite part of the meal was when the chicken dish came out. Try eating your meal without a guilty conscience while this is staring at you.

To get to the dinner, we all climbed into some coaches and got driven to the restaurant. After the meal though, suddenly a helper gets on the stage and announces that the meal is over, and we're responsible for getting home ourselves. This wasn't too huge of a deal though, because the subway was like a 5 minute walk away. It'd just have been nice to have advance warning, right?

East Tsim Sha Tsui Tour
On Thursday, those of us who signed up, got to go for a tour of East Tsim Sha Tsui. It's a region in Kowloon along the waterfront overlooking HK island. It was basically just an excuse for an indepth transit system lesson. We took the subway over, and learned how it worked.

My small group went for dinner at Satay King. Thank goodness we had local students with us, because I think I'd starve if they weren't there to order food for me. We had a good time and got to learn more about each other's cultures... For example, I learned that in HK, it's perfectly acceptable to throw bones/shells/whatever else you don't want to eat on the table beside your bowl. During dinner conversation, I also learned that Sex in the City is a very popular tv show here. Who'd have thunk it?

After dinner, we strolled along the harbour and got to see the Avenue of Stars. It was amusing, but I didn't recognize any names. (I shall find Jackie Chan's star sooner or later!)

However, the real gem of the evening was simply the view. HK at night is mind boggling. It's a mass of lights. Words can't describe it, so I shall simply point you towards the photos I made of the tour.

Moving Day
On Friday, we got to move into our permanent hostel. I lucked out and got into the I-House, a dorm where 1/3 of the students are local, a third are from mainland china, and a third are from overseas.

I'm now sharing a room with Peggy, a girl from Taiwan. She's super nice and is really helpful in my quest to learn people's chinese names. (I'm making an effort to learn people's chinese names rather than their english ones, as I feel it would be more polite here.)

Our dorm is both better and worse than anticipated. She and I got a huuuuuge double room to ourselves. Most doubles are half the size as ours. However, this also means that our common room is smaller in exchange. I doubt we'll be in the living room much because we have to pay for the a/c there... I'll stick to my room's a/c thanks.

As for the bad part of the dorm, it's kinda dirty here. Just like, accumulated dirt from the past, hmm, several decades? I think the shower curtain in the one bathroom watches me while I pee. I've added cleaning supplies to my shopping list.

HK Island Tour
Yesterday was the final event for our orientation. The exchange students hopped on 7 buses and went to HK island for the day. It was both boring and fun. We hit up Repulse Bay, a touristy destination that had a shrine to 2 gods who are supposed to protect fishermen. Besides the fact that it was really pretty, there wasn't much to see.

The second stop was Stanley Market. It's a huge outdoors market where you can buy everything and anything. The key thing is that you're supposed to bargain for everything. My roommate recommended that I never pay more than 20% of the asking price. After we left the place, our tour guides admitted that it was a huge tourist trap. But nonetheless, it was cool to see stall after stall of weird clothes, souvenirs, and so on.

The final stop of the evening was at Victoria Peak. It's famous in HK because it's the highest elevation in all of HK. It was very impressive to see the view. But that was all there was to it. Seriously, I spent more time in the mall than on the balcony because there were so many tourists. Never the less, I managed to get my photo taken. :)

Miscellaneous
And now for the funny stories.

When I first arrived in my orientation dorm, I reeeally had to go for a pee. I ran into the bathroom and let loose. However, after relief came the jolt of realization... The stall didn't have any toilet paper. Thank god my mom insisted on buying me a pack of kleenex before I left. I was able to save the day, and later learn that you have to supply your own TP in dorms. Argh. No wonder my res bill is so cheap here.

I've also verified that chinese people really are short. The bed in my orientation dorm was builty for someone 2 inches small than me. I could fit on the bed, but I couldn't stretch out unless I angled my feet to the side. Similarly, I can't use the shower in my permanent dorm unless I crouch underneath the shower head. This amuses me greatly. Another pain in the neck is travelling on the transit system. I'm too tall to see out the windows, and thus have to bend my knees to see what station I'm arriving in. This isn't very good seeing as how I'm lost at the best of time.

Why didn't anyone warn me about the climate here? Yeah, you said it would be hot, but you didn't clarify that to you, "hot" means that I'll be trudging around a mountainous campus in a humidex of 45. Gah! I shall never bitch about the heat in Canada again. I promise myself this. The weather here has on average been about 33 degrees, but when coupled with 90% humidity, it jumps to a humidex of 45+ degrees. I feel like I'm swimming in a sea of lava most of the time. Seriously, it's nasty stuff here. You're trying to get around the hills on campus and can't breathe because the air is so thick, then you also spend the rest of the day looking like you've had a shower because you're sweating so much. I think the student helpers were seriously worried about some of us at times. Everyone drinks water here (less than $1 for a 770ml bottle of water), but for me, I can practically feel the water evaporating from me the moment it touches my tongue. Most students go to bed cradling a beer bottle. Here, I go to bed cradling a bottle of "Bonaqua."

Thus has been my first impressions of Hong Kong. I shall continue to fling pictures in your direction. Joi gin! (Goodbye in Cantonese.)