The Hong Kong Story and Weekly Visit to the Starr's

This weekend was another hot date with my roommate Terrence! She really wanted to do something with me this weekend, so we decided to meet up with her friend Dennis and explore the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. Phase One of the grand plan was to meet Dennis at 10:30am in TST, or Tsim Sha Tsui for those of us who don't live here. Too bad we didn't actually leave the university until 10ish, and then we had to stop at Terrence's apartment to drop some things off. I saw her mother again, and also met her grandmother. I love Terrence's apartment. Its right in the heart of the Ladies Market in Mongkok, and its so nice and cozy. Living right above all the hustle and bustle has to be very exciting. I wouldn't mind living there. Her grandmother is very sweet; the only English word she knows is Hello and she kept saying it to me the whole time I was there. And she was beautiful! I think all the women in Terrence's family, Terrence included, are just gorgeous.

After a brief visit at her home, and getting some money from her mother, we ran to the MTR Station and jumped on the train. We got there at 11:15am, and Dennis was merciless in his teasing of Terrence. I should note here that people in Hong Kong are never on time. It can be a little irritating at points, but like everything else you have to get used to it. Local students will walk into class 10 minutes late and think nothing of it. Some will apologize, but being late isn't really a big deal. The museum was only $5HK to get in, which is less than a US dollar, if you want to compare it. Things here are cheap! We decided to explore the permanent exhibit, the "Hong Kong Story", which is Hong Kong history from Precambrian Times up until the Handover in 1997. It was one of the most well-done musems I have ever been in. There was so much information to cover, but the musem was huge and it presented everything really clearly and thoughtfully. I want to go back again. The pictures from it turned out fabolously. A lot of the musem was really interactive, and built so that you were walking down a street during the Japanese Occupation, or through a Punti hut. Such a great museum- I was like a kid in a candy store, espcially when we got to the section about Chinese Opera. I was so excited that Terrence promised to talk me to Cantonese Opera before I left. Several times, in fact. We must have been in the musem for 3 hours.

For lunch, Terrence and I headed back to Mongkok, and Dennis went home to Central. As we were walking to the MTR Station together, we got someone to take a great picture of the 3 of us. Its one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip so far. We said hello to her mother again back in Mongkok and went to a local place for sushi and Japanese noodles. I love salmon sushi- its my favorite. After lunch, Terrence took me to Fa Yuen street, which is another street market where no tourists go. I try to avoid tourists, they make us Westerners look bad- the whole "Ugly American" thing is so true. Its a better market to go to, because there is a greater variety of things, instead of all the knockoffs at the Ladies Market. Its the one place in Hong Kong that I have been able to find yarn and knitting needles. If you walk down the center of the street, you see the main booths, but the more interesting things are between the booths and the actual bulidings. Thats where all the little boutiqes are, and the little curiosities, like an incense shop that I wandered into. It sold items like incense or paper goods for Buddhist worship. Terrence did a little bargaining and I picked up a lovely bracelet for $14HK, which is less than $2US. I helped her pick out a very cute skirt and top. Hong Kongers love to shop! From Fa Yuen street, we headed over to Grand Century Plaza so she could go to a bookstore. In there she got me beginers writing books like they give to kids in kidnergarten, so I can learn to write Chinese. I did a little bit in each book, and I'm afraid that my handwriting is terrible. I can recognize a few characters where ever I go, and thats pretty exciting for me. I'm still pretty illiterate by Chinese standards. She went off to meet her boyfriend and high school classmates for dinner, and I took the bus back to Lingnan. By the time I got home, I was incredibly exhausted. I could feel my leg muscles twitching from the combination of Friday's tai chi chaun class, and the walking I had done. If I keep this up, I'm going to have fantastic legs when I get home! My pants have been getting really loose too. Now I know why all the people here are skinny!

Sunday was another evening at the Starr's. Its really nice to have somewhere to go every Sunday like this. Mrs. Starr and I have the same name, so we always sit next to each other and mess with Prof. Starr when he calls her name. I found a kindred spirit in a girl named Heidi who is from Hong Kong, but was sent to school in Austrialia as a child. We spent an hour talking about the books we've read, and she is going to lend me a couple. The sky was finally clear enough from their balcony to see clear to the airport and to Hong Kong Island at the same time. It was breathtaking.

Tomorrow we have a day off from school for Sports Day. If the weather is nice, I think that I might explore more of Tuen Mun and try to find the temple here. I'm also very excited right now because Jason will be here on Friday! We are going to have so much fun! Crazy adventures are assured to happen. As always, I love and miss everyone very much! Look for new pictures!

For now, there have been no big adventures, except for that of daily life in Hong Kong. I have mastered the transportation system, ordering dim sum, some basic manners, and how to bargin. I've gotten incredibly accustomed to living here by this point, and it really feels like home, instead of some place that I am visiting. I've made tons of friends among local kids, which makes me happy. My classmates have stopped treating me like a non-entity, and realize, "Hey, maybe she can check over my work, and help me out!", which is much better than not being talked to. Even a couple of guys said hi to me today, and that is a sign of real progress. I really want to have the experience of the "real" Hong Kong, and what its like to be a citizen, not a tourist, and so far I feel that I have been sucessful in doing so. Classes are going a lot more smoothly now that I know the routine, and adjusted my clock. My roommate is just as awesome as ever. She and I love to tease each other, and she is taking me out tomorrow to the history musem, and out to lunch. She is going to show me where the locals go and all the little things that tourists never see/do.

I am also taking another class, a Tai Chi Chaun class. Today was the first day for it, and boy was it killer. Mr. Wong, the instructor came up to me when I first entered the room and said "I not teach this class in English. Find a friend to help you" Too bad I didn't know anyone in the class! He made us do all sorts of crazy streches until my muscles started twitching. A girl named Julia befriended me, which was really lucky for me, because I had no idea what he was saying, all I could do was follow the movements. We only learned some basic hand movements though. He also told me that I can't wear jeans. Nevermind the fact that I have another class right before his......Then I had tea with my friend Irene who is also really cute and sweet. She teased me for not calling her the day before and then told me that she missed me. We are going to do something together next week. I also have my first big presentation next week, which I think that is going to be relativly easy, and on Friday Jason comes to visit me! Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! We're going to do a ton of hiking/camping. I am so excited to see this kid, I can describe. The closest that I can get to it is that Jason is the Laurel to my Hardy.

And I promise that I will be better about updating things. At least every couple of days should be good, don't you think?

So here is the run-down on what I've ben doing in this past week and a half since I've last updated. I have completly succeded in completly humilating myself infront of several groups of strangers when going to my Statistics class. I thought that I had woken up about 10 minutes before class started, so I was in a huge rush going out the door. I first went into the right building, but the wrong floor. So I put my hand on the doorknob to open it, then realized it wasn't my classroom. Then I went upstairs to the right classroom and just rushed in because I thought that I was late. When I turned around, I was looking at some strange professor, who was most definatly not my professor. I started to argue with him insisting that my class was in this room, and he must be in the wrong place. Then I caught a glimpse of the clock over his shoulder- I was an hour early. My face turned bright red, and I bolted from the room. Later, Christian, an exchange student, told me that he was sitting in that class when I came in. He also said that it was the funniest thing that he has seen in days.......great.......So when I actually got to class I was a little stressed, and tired from a quick nap. I honestly tried my best to stay awake, but I lost that battle. I must have only snoozed for like 5 minutes, but when I woke up, Dr. Law was starting right at me. Then he said, "its time for a break, some of you look like you need a break. For the second time that day, I turned bright red and wanted to run. But then this professor always gets a huge kick out of picking on me. So as soon as that class was over, I was outta there! You could see the dust cloud from where I ran.

Later that week was the AIESEC Cultural Party, which was a ton of fun, so that made up for my horribly embarassing day. AIESEC is an international organziation of students that promotes peace, understanding, and an end to conflict. You know, peace-loving, tree-hugging hippies- my kind of people. They hosted this cultural party so people from different countries could get together and make friends. Helen was my group leader, which was pretty awesome. I adore Helen- she is one of the funniest locals I know. We were split into smaller groups, and I was the only Westerner in my group. I met some locals, and people from the mainland. One of the guys in my group insisted I call him Tiger- I learned later that all the mainland girls are in love with him, but I just don't see it. We had to run around campus in our groups playing teamwork/mind games. Our group came in second, but it was so much fun that it didn't matter. We had a Pun Choi dinner in the canteen after the games. Pun Choi is a huge bowl of food with all types of meat and vegetables in it that everyone shares. Its got everything in it, from chicken to prawns to lotus. I really like Pu Choi dinner, but its hard to find here. There is also some legend behind it, but no one told me. During dinner we had to sit through some presentations a.ka. shameless promoting of AIESEC. They were entertaining. I also got the whole group to sing Happy Birthday to Christine. It was fantastic. After dinner we played one more game which was like an eating/drinking contest. It was fun, but I made myself a little sick because I had to eat half a can of Pringles in a minute. All in all it was a great time. The AIESEC kids have been wonderful to us.

A couple of nights later, a group of exchangers headed out to a karaoke club. The building we went to, 16 floors tall, had a karaoke club on every floor! Asians really love to sing off-pitch to songs they love. We were invited to a members only club by the manager Tim, who wanted to show us that he could "party" with Americans. He sang a couple of songs with us, and had beers with some of the other exchange girls. He taught me a pretty cool fan trick, which I can still do. But after that, the next time I saw him, he was passed out one of the couches, dead drunk. I asked one of our waitresses what happened, and she told me that Tim likes to show-off to foreigners by getting really drunk every time they come in. Manchi, the waitress begged me to take some pictures of him, and email them to her, and I was more than happy to oblige. Who doesn't get a kick out making fun of their boss? We sang a bunch of great songs too, and the other people in the club loved us. We got cheers and standing ovations every time. I think that the highlight of the evening was when all of us got us for "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", complete with some of the girls acting as background dancers. It was so much fun! I think that I might have to go back there, or to at least another karaoke club. Did I mention that the name of the club is the Joy Luck Club!

Another week of classes

So another week of classes has gone by for me, with everything going well. The classes here a little bit easier for me though. Its mainly because everything is taught in English, and for myself, a native speaker, I have a "home-team" advantage. The readings are pretty light and the lectures are really clear. I think that the best lecturer I have is Prof. Sundram for Indian History. He is so excited about everything that he reminds me of my beagle Tucker- always bouncy and ready to go. My other favorite class is Cultural and Historical Writing, mainly because its so small and the subject matter is really interesting. In our tutorial, only half of the class showed up, which means me and one of the guys. And this was the day that we were suppose to have a "class discussion"- that was fun. It turned into just me debating with the professor because the other guy didn't really understand the reading. As much fun as it was, I hope that all the other tutorials for that class will be like that. Its small enough, but I don't want to be the dominate force. Most of the kids here don't talk in class. No one wants to disagree with the professors or try to start a debate. They like having exchange students in classes because they liven things up a little. So this week of classes ended well.

Friday night was the Chinese Latern Festival, which has been described to me as Chinese Valentines Day. Jess and Karen took us to the Tuen Mun Town Park for the celebrations. It wasn't as big as Chinese New Year, but it was still fun. The park is very beautiful with rolling hills and artifical waterfalls. In the waterfalls they had placed all these beautiful laterns of fish, birds, and some bigger ones of people. The biggest ones were of the 4 great beauties of Chinese history. There were also a lot of performances by different troupes. We managed to sit down and watch some Chinese Opera, and then some acrobats, and finally a magic show. The power started to fizzle during the magic show, and by the end of it, the power went off, so everyone headed home. I was hoping to find laterns that we could buy, but no such luck. I t wasn't as exciting as I hoped it to be.

Saturday I went with Megan and her roommate Jess to what I have dubbed "Monkey Mountain" in Sha Tin. Its about an hour trip from school, up in the hills. There are a bunch of nature/hiking trails right on the Kowloon Resvior where wild monkeys roam. And its not like that you might see a monkey in a tree if your lucky. These monkeys are just hanging out in the road, on the fence, swimming in the resvoir, and having a good time. They're a little on the smaller side when it comes to monkeys, and the only noise I heard them make was a kind of huffing noise. They had very wise-looking faces. I took tons of pictures so you can see for yourself. We walked up one hill and they started following us and then lined up on either side of the street. It almost looked like a monkey-style ambush. There was also some monkeys that you could tell have been hurt by people carelessly driving down the road. It made me a little sad to see how dependent the monkeys have become on the humans for food. There were candy wrappers all up and down the road even though they have huge signs that say "DON'T FEED THE MONKEYS!" We went up the side of one mountain, and then down a more offbeat path. Jess started freaking out because we went near some flies. Her big fear is bugs, so she made us turn back. So we walked up another dirt path that was really beautiful. We were right in the middle of a bamboo forest with all these streams running through. There were some monkeys sitting on rocks on the side of the path and they just ignored us as we walked by. I was no less than 5 inches away from a monkey. It was really thrilling. We spent about 4 hours just walking around the park and watching monkeys.

Jess took us home to her apartment in Mongkok so we could have dinner with her parents and meet her family. Her parents were very sweet, and funny. Her dad is a retired doctor and her mother is a nurse. They made a great meal for us, and I told Jess' mom that I would never go home if I could eat her food everyday. Her parents also took us to the local park to play badmintion and learn some tai chi. Oh boy are her parents good! Megan and I were running around the court, sweaty and panting trying to keep up, and they didn't even break a sweat. It was really fun though. Jess' dad is really funny. He also taught us the first 4 steps of the 28 step tai chi. We've been invited to come back every weekend so that we can keep Jess active, or so they said. Jess is skinny and active, I don't see why she needs our help.

Sunday I spent sleeping in, lounging around, and doing my homework for the week. I did one weeks worth of homework for 5 classes in one day- thats how easy things are here. Prof. Starr had another gathering that evening as well. It was much smaller than the last one, only about 15 people. I met some more mainland students, and the English tutors. Our university was on TV for a little bit, so we all watched that together. Mrs. Starr made some Valentines Day cookies for us as well. It was a nice quiet night compared to all the craziness that has been going on. I didn't take as many pictures as I hoped to. This week of classes should be interesting, since it is the first time that I will actually have real work to do.

My roommate is the best basketball player ever!

Its true folks, my lovely roommate Terence is the next Yao Ming, that is, if she wasn't 4 feet tall. Today was the first game of the inter-hostel competition that they have every semester, called the Presidents Cup. Terence was playing for the Hostel E team, also know as the best hostel ever, and so I went to cheer her and my friend Helen on. Loudly, very loudly so that they would be horribly embarassed. I think that I did a pretty good job. Helen made a couple of great baskets even though she claims to be a horrible player. I should have played, I would of had the game in the bag because I'm head and shoulders above all the girls, and a good deal of the guys. My team won 40-8, and I look at it as a good start to the semester. I bought my roommate a pack of cookies as a celebratory gift.

I also got my first letter from home! (Thanks Ms. Paula!) I am also really looking forward to my care package of jelly beans and hot chocolate from Allison. It makes me feel really good to know that people are thinking of me and reading this. I am always thinking of everyone back in the states, so I have to say that I miss everyone and love everyone very much. As much as I love it here, no one compares to my family, friends, and loved ones.

Classes have started back up again, and it makes for a nice change. I'm taking 5 classes right now, but since I don't have a job, I feel like I could take more because I will have so much free time. I am really enjoying all my classes so far. Today was my Cultural and Historical Writing class with my one and only American professor. This class is pretty tiny: just myself, one other girl, and 2 boys. Thats it. This is the smallest class that I have ever been in and I know that I can't slack off. Even the professor said so. What made my day though was that they 2 guys in the class were talking about me and the way that they know they were talking about me is that I kept hearing the English word "exchange". I need to learn Cantonese just so I can know what people are saying about me. It didn't seem like anything bad, but I still want to know what was being said. My history class yesterday was pretty entertaining as well. The professor was really excited to talk about the ancient Indus River Valley civilizations. He thinks that Harappa is the greatest place in the world. He said so verbatim. It was really fun to watch and hear him make cheesy jokes. I love professors who make cheesy jokes, they're the best. Tomorrow is my Statistics class (booooooooooooooooooooooo) and also my Film/Cinema Studies class. The Statistics class is the one where the professor talked about me in Cantonese infront of me, so tomorrow should be interesting. I'm also really excited for my film class, because the professor for that is really fun and makes cheesy jokes. They don't compare to St. Mary's professors though!

I think a hike to monkey mountian might be in store for this weekend. I don't know the real name of the place yet, but its a nature park with monkeys, big monkeys that chase people sometimes. Makes for some exciting pictures!

Other good news: Jason told me that he might be spending his spring break with me. I am really excited for that because I really miss my best friend. I am used to seeing him everyday, so his visit is going to be great!

Interesting cultural thing I learned today as well: Here, the guys are the ones who have the sterotype of spinsterhood and cats attached to them. I was sitting outside of my hostel reading with Helen when she told me about it. Mostly the guys will take care of the cats, and a lot of the guys on campus will just hang out with them and talk to them. Helen leaned over to me and whispered "Most of them are lonely because they don't have girlfriends, so they get cats" Interesting cultural flip flop, don't you think?

Last of the New Years Adventures

Look! My life has become a 3-parter! Isn't it exciting? There is just so much to tell yet so little time to type it all. I'm a little hopeful that things will calm down now that New Years is over and classes will be starting back up tomorrow. All the Lingnan students should be coming back tonight or tomorrow. Its a little erie with no one here.

Monday was spent at Agnes' house with another large group of exchange students. I think that there were about 9 of us. We were scheduled to leave at 1pm, but I thought that it was a little later so when Megan called me at 12:45 I was a little surprised. I put on clothes and ran down as quick as I could to meet everyone. So I was a little ticked when I got down to the plaza there was no one there. I was 5 minutes lates, but the group had left without me. Now you have to understand that before we have waited for people who have been 25 minutes late, but they couldn't even wait 5 minutes for me. I was more than a little ticked. Luckily for me, Agnes came back and walked with me down to her neighborhood. She lives in this cute little complex of 3 story apartments aorund little courtyards. Most of her family lives in this neighborhood, so I think that its pretty nice. Her whole family is incredibly nice and really funny. 2 of her uncles spoke great English and were having a great time joking around with us. And at her uncle's house I got to play with their pet Chow Chow, whose name is Bae-bae, which means Teddy Bear in Cantonese. Agnes' cousin was having a great time bringing out all the family pets and passing them around. They had a dog, 2 cats, and a bird. We sat down to a huge meal with dumplings, and all sorts of other food that I can't name. Of course, it was delicious. I took a before and after photo so you can see what we did to this food. Everywhere we go we manage to eat everything, which is a big compliment to the cook. I loved the fried rice cake/pudding thing, espcially the red one. I don't know whats in it, and I don't care. Its just yummy. So after all the exchange students manage to eat everything, we were taken around the complex to all the relative's house. One of Agnes' cousins played a great Mozart peice on the piano for us and then Julie and Sean played Hear'n'Soul for them. As we went from house to house, we got lai see pockets from all the married relatives and Agnes' grandmother. Her grandmother is really cute too, and apparently the best mah jonng player in the family. So of course we brought out the mah jonng sets. We had 3 tables going. This game is really addictive. We played for about 4 hours straight, just sitting in the courtyard with Agnes and her family. None of us are really very good when compared to her family though. I was very glad that we weren't playing for money. We then got another huge spread for dinner. Now I wish I had gotten a picture of that too. I feel like I eat so much more here, but I have to, its soooooooooooooooo good. I'm going to start collecting recipes so I can cook this stuff when I go home. At the end of the meal, Agnes' dad brought out his traditional tea set and made use all some really fancy tea. I've only had it once before with Jason, and its wonderful. I'm not sure what the name is but I think that it tastes a little bit like honeysuckle flowers. Agnes told me that they only have this kind of tea on big family occasions like New Years. And boy was it good. I might have to get some of that tea before I leave. Her family is really nice, as all the families have been. I was sitting next to her grandmother, and she and I just smiled at each other because we couldn't understand each other. At one point she said something to me, but I have no idea what it was. But she looked happy so I'm guessing that it was something good. We were at Agnes' place until about 9pm that night. Agnes and her uncle walked us back to school to make sure that we got home ok, and then we all went to sleep.

That was my last family dinner and I'm a little sad that its over. It was really nice to be in a family environment with home-cooked food. It was a really nice change of pace, and I really felt like I was meeting more people this way, and having more of the experiences I wanted to have. Shirley told me that I could always come back to her house on the weekends and I am sure that I will take her up on that offer. I don't want to spend all my time with the exchange students. I really enjoyed spending time with the locals and I have been making friends with them too. My roommate Terrance really wants to take me out and show me a good time, so there is that to look forward to. Helen is another local girl that I have made friends with and she is super sweet. We are planning on going shopping together sometime this week. And I have also found another girl who loves Bollywood films as much as I do, so we are going to watch them together.


After New Years, my week has slowed down a little. I have mostly spent my time exploring Tuen Mun and the area around school. I took some photos around Lingnan so everyone can get a glimpse of what it looks like. This campus is really beautiful and expansive for such the small space that they have. Our gym was built with money donated by Jackie Chan and is named after him. I got a great picture of one of the cats we have running around sleeping in a basket of a bicycle. We also went to an art exhibit at the University of Hong Kong on the snuff bottles of the later dynasties of China. I couldn't take any pictures though. There was also a really cool modern art disply that you had to lay down on the floor for, and it was incredible. We had to hike up this huge hill in Central and by the time we reached the top we were all sweating and panting. It was an amazing view though. Megan hiked all the way up in heels. What a trooper! Other than that I have managed to get some homework done, finished knitting my roommate a scarf, lost my phone, and then got my phone back.

Oh, I almost forgot the Dragon and Lion Dances! Just for New Years they have these part-dance, part-martial arts teams who are usually hired by businesses and large corporations to come and perform. It is suppose to show the wealth of the business and also bring good luck in the coming year. The lions consist of 2-men teams, with a strong powerful guy in the back, and a tiny energetic guy in the front. The jump from pole to pole with the front guy being lifted up on the other guys shoulder, or just in the air. Its really incredible to see. The dragon consists of a huge line of guys as the body and they chase around a ball that is suppose to be symbolic of lettuce. (Because dragons like lettuce? I have no idea) We got to see 2 teams in one day, it was fantastic. After the show, the lions and drummers go to each store, and "eat" the lettuce that is hanging from the ceiling. They run around the store, and then spit out the lettuce while keeping the lai see packet inside. I think that it is suppose to spread good luck around the business for the coming year or something like that. One of the guys we knew from Lingnan was a part of one of the teams so we got to take a photo with him. And when we left we all waved a big goodbye to him. He is going to look like a big man now to all of his friends because a crowd of Western girls waved to him ;)


That is everything up to date now. Classes resume tomorrow and my roommate comes back. Currently I'm watching Dr. Zhivago in Cantonese with English subtitles, which throws things off a little. They call it "Till the End of the Time: Dr. Zhivago" Weird.

Updated List of Places I've Been:

• Mongkok
• Temple Street Night Market
• Tin Shui Wai
• Harbor City
• Tsim Sha Tsui
• Heng Fa Chuen
• Lantau Island
• Sham Shui Po
• Central
• Wan Chai
• Hong Kong Uni.
• Kowloon

Oh, and answers to Wende's questions:

There are mailboxes in the hostels, so thats where I get me letters as soon as people send them to me.

I have to get my packages from the Wong Building which is right around the corner

My MSN screen name is badpixy@hotmail.com, for all those who don't have it, and my AIM screen name is badpixy798.

I have a cell phone, but don't call it unless you really want to because it will cost a fortune. IM me and I'll give it to you just because I don't want my phone number on the internet.

I miss everyone so much and I'm sending you all big hugs!

More New Year's Adventures

So in my last post, I left off on what happened Saturday. That Saturday, the last day of the year of the Rooster, Zuza, another exchange student from Canada and I arranged to have dinner at Cherry's house. Cherry is one of the international buddies who lives on the floor below me. Her apartment, or flat as the call them here, (I love the traces of British influence left like that), is in Tin Shui Wai which is about a half hour trip from school. I meet Cherry at around 3ish and we rode the metro and then the Light Rail to her house. Dinner wasn't until 7:30pm, so I had plenty of time to kill with Cherry. She took me around her area, showed me this beautiful park, and then we were accosted by some guys who wanted us to join there cult. She also showed me every shopping center in the area. The main hobby here is shopping but I can't imagine just spending all my free time like that. And I thought Americans were consumers! There were 5 malls for an area the size of my hometown. It just blew my mind. We did a lot of walking that day too. After walking all around Tin Shui Wai, we arranged to meet up with Zuza. Of course it was her first time on the Light Rail, so it goes without saying she got off at the wrong stop. Thank god I got this phone, otherwise we would never of found her. Cherry and I had to jump back on the tram and ride 2 more stops and then I had to stick my head out the doors and yell "Zuza! Get on the train!" We then took a half hour train ride back in a circle to get back to where we needed to be. We made to Cherry's house on time though. She lives in a apartment building on the 12th floor and she has a great view too. Its amazing because people back home would pay a premium for this kind of view, but everyone here has a great one, no matter where you go. We had dinner with her mother, father, and her brother Pelky. Pelky spoke some English, but Cherry had to translate everything that her parents said. I took a picture of the food just to show how much was made for us. During the New Year, it is good luck to have even number of dishes, so her mother made 8. The chicken was all together, even with the head, because the whole chicken together is a wish/luck for the whole family to stay together forever. And let me say this, Cherry's mother is one damn fine cook. I feel like I gained weight just from that one meal. I tried 2 different kinds of fish, sea cucumber, (I think), and lotus root. I really liked one of the types of fish she made, baked all light and fluffy. I know I've said this before, but I will say it again- I love love love the food here! After dinner Cherry showed us around her home and we took pictures with her family. She explained all the alters in her house, (for ancestor worship), and we spent a little time with her family. Around 9ish we left her house to head over to the Yuen Long New Year's Fair. There are 20 fairs like this in all of Hong Kong, just for the New Year and these things are crazy. It is some of the biggest crowds that I have ever seen in my whole life. It was so packed that we couldn't even see over the crowd to the seller booths. There was also a band on one of the patios of an apartment building overlooking the market. Vira- you'll get a kick out of this- they played "Wig in a Box" from Hedwig! It was wonderful. I waved at them and the lead singer blew me a kiss. Cherry also was translating what people around us were saying. Mostly it consisted of comments like "I've never seen any westerners come here before" It made me feel cool, just a little bit. I also bought some snapdragons for my room. They were this beautiful shade of deep purple that I have never seen before. Sadly enough, they have died by now and I forgot to take a picture. Oh well, next time. We spent about 4 hours in the Fair before Zuza and I decided to call it a night. By the time I got back to my room, I had done so much walking that day that I wore holes in the pair of socks that I was wearing. (Send socks!)

Sunday, the first day of the Year of the Dog, was the day of the big parade. It gave me a chance to indulge my secret love of parades. (But don't tell anyone) And I also love marching bands and there were a couple of them in this parade. They have it every year just for the New Year. Cathay Pacific Airlines sponsered it this year. A large group of exchange students, myself included decided to head on down to Central to line up and see it. The parade started around 8:30pm and lasted until 10ish. There was every kind of performing group in this parade. My favorite was the Korean drummers with the twirling ribbon hats. They had to drum while spinning their heads to keep the ribbon flowing. And they also had Japanese laturn acrobats. These guys were carrying huge towers of giant candle lit laturns and when they would stop, they would balance them on their forehead, hips, shoulder, etc. It was amazing. This was one of the coolest parades that I have ever seen. And then the American representation came through and it was the Steelers cheerleaders. Could we not think of anything better to represent us? I hung my head in shame for that. I think that I really want to visit Korea now. I've added it to the list of places I want to go in my lifetime. It was really a fantastic parade. They really go all out for New Years here.

Sunday I spent with Shirley and her family on Hong Kong Island. Going to Shirley's apartment is about an hour trip from school in Heun Fa Chuen. She met me at the metro stop, and then we walked over to her apartment. Talk about swanky! Shirley lives in the beautiful 8-building complex right on the water. There is a resort-style pool and very nice facilities. It has doormen and a spa inside. I have never been in a apartment building that fancy. I might have to live with Shirley, and she invited me to come on weekends when I don't have anything else to do. Its a shame because I really could get used to living like that. She lives on the 6th of her building and it is a beautiful apartment. Everyone here has a great view no matter where you live. I met her mother, father, and younger sister Vicki. The first thing Shirley's mom did was cook something for me. That keeps happening to every house that I go to, they first cook for the guests before anything. I had a sweet red rice pudding/cake thing with a fried egg. I need to get some recipies before I leave so I can make this food when I get home. We had sometime to kill, so they decided to teach me how to play Mah Jonng, which I'm not very good at. Its incredibly addicting though. I won $2HK, which is less than a penny for me. After a couple of rounds, we took a bus to get to Shirley's uncles apartment for dinner and fireworks. We took a public bus there, and we just kept going up and up into the mountains of Hong Kong Island until we reached the top. This was the area where real houses are, not apartments, but they cost about 9 million HK to live there. When we showed up at Shirley's uncle's place, there were about 20 of her relatives there and they were pretty happy to see me! All the married couples gave me lai see money too. We played Uno witht the kids and some of her younger cousins taught me how to play Big 2, which is a pretty fun game. Her cousins were really cute and friendly to me. I managed to beat them a couple of times before dinner. They put out a huge meal for dinner. There were two large crockpots filled with all sorts of meat and seafood arranged. The other pot was all vegetarian. The food was piled about 6 inches high! Then they brought out several more dishes and everyone chowed down. I had some chicked and vegetables, and something that I thought was pork. I tired abalone, but I don't like it that much. I had about 3 plates of food, it was that good. When I asked Shirley's aunt what dish I was eating she told me that I was eating clams and started serving more onto my plate. I was so full of food that I had to stop her. They kept trying to fill me up with food, but I just couldn't eat anymore! We returned to our card games until it was time for the fireworks. It was rumored that the Hong Kong government spent about 2 million dollars on the fireworks and after seeing them I wouldn't be surprised if they had spent more. This was simply the biggest longest fireworks show that I have ever seen. I think that I got some really fantastic photos so you'll have to check them out and let me know what you think. It lasted for about 20 minutes, which I think is a little long for fireworks. When it was over, the smoke from the fireworks was so intense we had a hard time seeing the Kwoloon side of Hong Kong. After that, it was family portrait time. I stood off to the side at first, but then the family pulled me in and told me to consider myself as part of the family. That really meant a lot to me and I almost teared up when they said that. I got a nice picture with Shirley, her sister, and her mother. It was such a nice gesture of them to include me. I was really flattered. New Year here has been incredibly wonderful to me.

Happy Lunar New Year Everyone!

I know that I haven't updated in a couple of days, and I feel a little bad about that. When I called my mom today she said that people have been asking her why I haven't, and its simply because I've been so busy that I haven't had the time to sit down and organize all my thoughts. I've managed to upload the pictures I've taken, and I am also working on organizing them. Life is fast-paced here and if you slow down for one second, you will be left behind. I will try to be a little bit better about updating from now on. Sorry everyone!

It is now the year of the dog, (which is good for Bertie and Tucker), and it looks like it is going to be a pretty good year. First of all, let me start of by saying that Chinese New Year is now my new favorite holiday. You get a week off from school/work to celebrate, spend tons of time with family, and eat tons of good food. All the married couples and older people also give young single people lai see, which is the red paper pocket with money inside. There is also a parade, and the fireworks that the Hong Kong government spent 2 million dollars on. I also went to a few local students homes for dinner, and that was also a wonderful experience.

After looking at where I left off, I should talk about the dinner I had the night I went to Victoria Harbor. Megan and I went out with her rommate Jess, Karen, and Phoebe. Phoebe is leaving for the states soon, so she wanted to take a lot of pictures of Hong Kong to show to prove where she lives. We decided that we had to be real touristy that night and go see the ligh show in the harbor. Every night at 8pm, along the famous Hong Kong skyline, there is a light and laser show put on by all the big companies who own the buildings. I got some great shots of the skyline and with us girls infront of it. The show lasted about 20 minutes, and it was pretty cool. It was a little bit like watching electronic fireworks. The I.M. Pei building always looks fascinating to me. (Its the triangular building with white lights) Its holds one of the biggest banks in all of Hong Kong. So after the light show, we made our way over to the shopping center where we took some other really cute photos with the New Years decorations. Jess and Karen took us to a Shanghainese restaurant called the Jade Crystal Garden. To date, it is the best meal I have had here. I can't even think about it without getting hungry. Soup dumplings are now my favorite food. I can't wait to go back there! I tried this peanut noodle dish that was so spicy I started crying. Megan told me that I was still pink in the face about an hour after dinner. After dinner we walked around Harbor City for awhile, mostly window shopping (Because none of us can afford Louis Vuitton). It was a good night.

Friday morning was my breakfast with the president of Lingnan, and my last class of the week. I was a little embarassed because breakfast was scheduled for 8-9am, and I had to leave halfway through for my 8:30am class. The president of Lingnan is quite famous in Hong Kong as an economist. All the students I have talked to have nothing but nice things to say about him. He is retiring next year though. The president is a very funny and knowledgable man. I hope that I will get another chance to have a full meal with him. So because of my early breakfast with the president, I had to go to my Methodologies in Cultural Research all decked out in my suit and heels. And I thought I got weird looks for just being an American. Now I was a dressed up American at 8:30 in the morning. The good news is that people at least sat next to me in this class. I just hate having class that early. My professor has a weird accent too, and I have yet to place it. Would it be wrong to ask him where he is from? Once class was let out, I just had to go back to my room and catch a quick nap. Terrance had a afternoon class, and as soon as she got done with class she took me out to Mongkok where she lives. I was introduced to her mother, who runs a booth in the ladies market, and the neighborhood that she lives in. Terrance and I then went and got a light dinner at a spicy noodle place. Apparently I hadn't learned my lesson with spicy foods, because I thought it would be a good idea to have more. In this restaurant, there are 4 levels of spiciness that you can order and I was brave enough to try level 2. I immediatly started crying, turning pink, and my nose was running. Terrance got a good laugh out of it as I was coughing for 5 minutes straight. I took the soup home with me but I have yet been brave enough to try it again. After our short dinner, Terrance took me to the Flower Market in Mongkok, which I have been dying to go to. You could smell the flowers from 3 blocks away. I love being in the flower markets, being surrounded by fresh flowers everywhere. Terrance also took me to one of the New Year Fair's that has a huge market for students. A lot of university students get booths and sell fun products, like the pillow set that looks like mah jhong tiles that Terrance is selling. I found some yarn and knitting needles there that I really love. We walked around the market and then Terrance showed me home. Sadly, she had to go back to work until 3am that morning.

I just have to take a second and talk about how wonderful my roommate is. Terrance has been so kind and welcoming to me. She hasn't been around as much as she would have liked to be, and she told me how bad she felt about that. I was really flattered that she has already taken me to meet her mother. Terrance also was telling me how much she wants to take me around and show me all her favorite spots in Hong Kong. I'm knitting her a scarf right now to show her how fabulous she is. I think that living with her is going to work out wonderfully.

As of right now, it is about 3am. I want to continue on and talk about my New Year's experiences, but I need to get some sleep. I don't have any plans for tomorrow, so I might have a little more time to update again. Something will popup though, I know it.