October!

Wow! These past 2 months have gone by so fast for me. I thought that I had updated more recently, until I got a few "hints" that people are desiring more info from me. (I get it Jen, OK?!) It's been crazy here, and I've got a lot to share with you lovely people.

First of all, my older sister Emily got married in October, so I flew back for the event. I'm so happy to have a new sibling in my family! Now two of my older siblings are married, so I guess it'll be my turn soon...;) I loved being home and seeing all of my family that came from far and wide, some of which I haven't seen in years! My grandparents Darkow and my Uncle Bill were staying at my mom's place, so out little house was fairly packed with people and puppies! It was also wonderful to snuggle up with my dogs once again- sometimes I go through puppy-withdrawl here, but I'm working on convincing the hostel association to let me have a dog, wish me luck! From my Dad's side, there was my Auntie Ninou, my grandma Memee, my cousin Chris, and my Titi Jo. We all managed to sit down for dinner the night before the wedding and I got a few great candid pictures. (I can be quite sneaky with a camera when I have to be) While I sitting there at dinner, I realized how much I love all of my family, and how nice it is for us to all get together after so much time and distance. These people are really wonderful! In this picture, there is my older brother Greg, the Marine, his wife Heather, and my auntie Ninou. I still remember going to her house as a kid and I thought that she was the coolest person ever because she had a SuperNintendo and a dog! That was pretty exciting for a 6 year old. Emily, Greg, and I spent a lot of time at her place before we moved to Baltimore. This dinner was a lot of fun because we all just got to sit and giggle for awhile. I really treasure moments like these. The next day was the big event itself...

Emily's wedding was quite lovely- I've never seen my sister happier or looking more beautiful. She had her wedding, and the reception, at the Cloisters, the same place where Will Smith got married. It's a restored cloister that was shipped over from France and rebuilt in Baltimore. It's really quite darling, though I thought that the two statues of armor were a little much, but that doesn't matter. My cousin Hannah was a bridesmaid, I was the maid-of-honor, while Chris's two god-daughters were junior bridesmaids, Shelby and Madison. Those girls are incredibly sweet and well-behaved, and they looked so darling. Emily wore a stunning off-white princess gown, with the rest of us in midnight navy. My mother and grandmother made the veil, which has become a bit of a tradition in our family. Well, I guess that you can see the rest of the details from the pictures. My brother Greg wore his dress uniform to walk my sister down the aisle, and he looked mighty impressive. I've posted all of my wedding photos online for you, but I've put one of my favorites here. This was actually taken by my cousin Chris, and I love it because we all look so happy together, even if we all look a little goofy. The ceremony was small and intimate; I think about 100 guests. The reception was slightly larger, but just as intimate. The caterer, whoever it was, was delicious. I didn't manage to get some wedding cake, but it looked tasty! Emmy and Chris had their first dance to "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaacs , and I cried like a baby when I gave my toast. My cousin David got the garter, while the best man Stan caught the bouquet for one of the junior bridesmaids, who wanted nothing more than to catch it. I thought that was a really sweet gesture on his part. This is pretty much the quickest explanation of wedding ever, but what is important is not the details of it, but how happy my sister and her new husband are. Even though the trip was long, I'm glad I flew the 18 hours for it. One of my favorite nights ever!

The next day, less than 24 hours after the wedding, I had fly back to Hong Kong. Some of us have jobs, you know......That was not a fun trip, I was tired, emotional, and hungry. Not to mention that American flight attendents are quite nasty! The next couple of days were pretty rough, jet-lag wise. I didn't really get over it in my short time home, and I felt like my soul was in Chicago, and my aura was somewhere over the Pacific. It took about a week of waking up at 5am and going to bed at 8pm to get over it. Yet again, it was totally worth it. October was also about getting to really know my students and feeling comfortable with them. They are really a great group of kids, even if some of the girls talk a bit too much in class. I helped them prepare for a inter-class debate, which we one. I was so proud of them and I felt like such a mother-hen. From grading their journals and watching them in class, I can see them grow academically and as people. They don't seem to be as shy around me as before, which makes working with them much easier. October was also the month that I threw an "American" party for my hostel. That mostly consisted of playing charades and making some good homecooking for a huge group of students. They went through the food in about 10 minutes flat! It was a great compliment, and thanks to my mom for supplying the recipies. October went by fairly fast, and it seems like November is going to be the same way!

One Month In

One month gone......it seems like its gone by so fast for me. It has been such a whirlwind of catching up with friends, eating good food, learning my new place, and re-aquainting myself with Hong Kong. I'm sorry that I haven't been better at keeping in touch and everything update, but I really have been that busy, but I'm sitting down and doing things properly now. So what has one month brought me?

• The joys of having my own apartment




• A new appriciation for how hard teachers work




• Suprising emergence of cooking skills




• The desire to remain here for a significant amount of time

Having my own apartment has been the nicest thing about coming back here. I've had my own room at points, but never my own entire home! It might be tiny, but I love it. The apartment the university gave is on the 9th floor of one of the student hostels, with an amazing view of parts of Tuen Mun, Fu Tai, and the mountains. The day I moved in was hazy with pollution, heat, and an insane level of humidity, so much that it looks cloudy, but no folks, that's a sky of hot ickiness. Thank god for working AC. A living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom make up the apartment. It sounds lovely, but you have to keep in mind some space has to be sacrificed in room size, when you have 7milion people living on 25% of the land in Hong Kong. For example, my kitchen is so small that I have to close the door in order to open most of the cabinets and the fridge. My bottom counters are only about 3 feet tall, so that means I either squat to cook, or sit on my very short stool. The living room is spacious, filled with free furniture, and I'm not one to turn down free furnishings. (My couch holds the honor of being the most comfortable couch out of all the tutors) From the living room, there is a short hallway for the bathroom and bedroom. On a good day, with a little bit of optimism, the bathtub is about 4 feet long and 2 feet wide. The interesting thing about the tub is that when you step into it, its actually a few inches higher than the rest of the bathroom floor- I think that it has something to do with drainage. I also get my own personal hot water heater, which for some reason was put inside the shower. This translates into showering sideways most of the time. There was also a two-week long epic battle between myself and the hot water heater; it didn't want to give me hot water for longer than 3 minutes, but I was bound and determined to figure it out, and I feel that I have. Some time it blasts me with a sudden jet of ice-cold water, but most of the kinks have been figured out. Next to the bathroom, there is my bedroom, about 10 feet by 10 feet, so maybe a little bit bigger than the dorm rooms at St. Mary's. What is really nice about the bedroom is that there is a queen-size bed in it, while the rest of the tutors have twin beds. (Suckers! ahahaha) For as tiny as it is, my apartment feels rather spacious. And I have lovely wood floors. The laundry room is conviently right across the hall, as is Paula, one of the other English tutors. It turns out that I'm not the tutor for this hall, Hall B, but the tutor for Hall C, but when they were contructing the building, the contractors neglected to build a tutor apartment. It makes is a little more difficult to meet my students and plan hostel activities, but I think that matters will be much easier after this week, and the Becca-Bash my hostel is throwing me.

As lovely as the apartment is, what I love most about it is that it is my first home, all to myself. I don't have to share with siblings, or roommates, (though I love all of those mentioned), which feels incredibly liberating. I can walk in my front door and know that I'll have my own space that is just mine. This might sound a little selfish of me, but I've been sharing almost everything since I was small, and I know I'm not the best roommate- just ask Greg about sharing a room back in Towson, or any of my college roommates about my cleaning habits- (or lack thereof......) Maybe this is just the way that everyone might feel this way about having their first place, or its just me- I don't know, but it's all mine and I love it!

The excitment of having my own apartment faded as the first day of classes. As it got closer, so did my feelings of panic and fear that I would be a terrible tutor. The constant thought that went through my head that week was "What am I doing here? I have no teaching experience. Just because I'm a native speaker doesn't give me expertise!" The first time I met the professor I was working with was one of the most tense lunchs ever.......at least for me.........he seemed fairly relaxed. Now that we are three weeks into the term, I'm still having my doubts, but I feel a bit more secure in my position. Watching the professors lecture in class, and outside of class, I realize why they say teaching is one of the hardest jobs on the planet. In truth, sitting through my first department meeting is what really made me appriciate all the work St. Mary's professors put in. I just have question- Are they all that boring?! I was close to taking my pen and jamming it into my hand in order to make the meeting even slightly more interesting. Thank goddness we only had to go to the first one. But seriously folks, teachers work haaaaaaaaaaaard! I had no idea how time-consuming it was- one of the several reasons I've been terrible at keeping everything updated. I kneel before you-I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy!

The other area of my that I've been pleasently suprised in is how well I've been able to cook an take care of myself (Thanks Mom) I love being able to cook everything for myself and planning all my meals. The most fun part about this is going to the wet market daily to buy ingredients and talk to the vegetable ladies. The wet market is a place about a 10 minute walk from the university that is reminescent of a farmers market in the States, but everything is much more fresh. So fresh, you could take home a live chicken, kill it, pluck it, and eat it if you wanted to. I don't know about you, but I don't like my meat that fresh. The ladies that work there have gotten to know my face fairly well, and we have a good time teaching each other to count in our respective languages. I can count to 3 in Cantonese now. I love be able to be creative with my food! Just tonight, I made myself some chicken stir-fried with green beans in a black garlic sauce- very tasty! Some American dishes are going over very well here too, especially mashed potatoes and chili. Its seems to be a hit whenever I make it. I've already made it for my old roommates birthday, and I've been requested to cook for another hostel party later this week.

The other thing that I find myself thinking on quite often is how comfortable I could be in spending a couple more years of my life here. My students are just wonderful, and it helps to know that English teachers here live fairly comfortably. Its not something that is definite in my mind, but I wouldn't be too upset if that's how things worked out. I love being independent and Hong Kong has the perfect environment for me to be fairly independent. Now don't get me wrong, I love living at home, but its high time that I go out into the world, on my own, as scary as that can be. When I come home, that might be a little bit more difficult than I want it to be, one of the many reasons why Hong Kong is more appealing to me. Well, it remains to be seen yet- it really depends on how the rest of this year and this job go. I'm loving Hong Kong at the moment, and I don't think that's ever going to change!

I miss all of you dearly, and I'm encouraging everyone to come and visit, if you can! Please keep me updated with news from home.

New Territories Living

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Becca! I'm back in Hong Kong and loving the life here. It's taking me forever and day to get over my jetlag, but I couldn't be happier to be back. My first week and a half here have been pretty tame, filled with re-adjustments and acclimating to the oppressive humidity of a tropical summer. (Who doesn't love going outside and instantaneously feel like their face is melting off?) What I've enjoyed most of all is catching up with my old local friends, some which never thought that we would see each other again.

My first night here I was taken out to the trendy area affectionaly know as TST, because foreigners like myself seem physically incapable of pronoucing it There I was pleasently suprised by Greg, a former exchange student, who is also here teaching English at a primary school. He had just arrived a few days before myself, and neither one of us had any idea that the other was here. We might do some traveling together, perhaps to Korea to visit our mutal friend, Sunny.

Classes/teaching starts within the next couple of days- hopefully by then I'll be over my jet-lag and in a more rested state of mind. I have to admit that I am slightly terrified of changing from student to teacher in a couple of months, with no teaching experience myself. I'm working with a nice British professor and his English 108 classes. I also have library hours where I lead discussion groups and have drop-in time to help students with their English skills. Right now, I'm fairly exhuasted, so I'm going to get some shut-eye. I miss all of you!

HK, Round 2!

Hello Everyone!

This is just a brief note to let everyone know that I landed in Hong Kong safe and sound. I've been using these couple of free days to try to get my sleep schedule adjusted, but so far I'm failing. As soon as I become more coherent, I'll have a nice long post with pictures of my lovely apartment and all my new contact information. I'm not homesick yet, but I wish that all of you wonderful people could come and visit, because I think that everyone would love Hong Kong. More to come latter!

Love,
Becca

Back at good old SMCM

Hey folks!

I'm back at SMCM, starting my senior year! Yay! Right now I'm in my third week of school, and its going great! I'm taking a little more of a workload than usual, but I would like to gradutate in the spring, so thats just how its going to be. This summer was great, but I didn't do much. Waking up at 7am, working all day, and entertaining my highly energetic dogs took a lot out of me. I had some great times, like the O.A.R concert with Devi and my girls. I got to babysit my wonderful nephews and spend some time with them. Its insane how big they have gotten! After work got out, I spent a week in WA visiting my mom's side of the family for my grandparents 50th and Darkow family reunion. Most of these folks I haven't seen in 5+ years! It was great to reconnect with all of them and to be surrounded by family. Mom and I went vintage clothes shopping with my cousin Andrea, where I found this great antique dress! My sister and her boyfriend managed to get off work and come, which made things even better. Grandma Darkow taught me how to work in color with yarn, and I found some great yarn in my old home town. It was such a nice visit out there. Some days I really miss living out there, surrounded by family on both sides, but then I have to think about all the wonderful family and friends that I have, and that I would have never met if we hadn't moved to MD.

So right now this is the courses I'm taking:

• RELG 381: Religious Topics- Passage to India
• SOAN 490: Senior Seminar
• ANTH 281: Archeaology and Pre-History
• PHIL 304: Values Inquiry
• ANTH 243: Biological Anthropology
• POSC 1OO: Intro to Politics

I know that it seems like a lot to do, but I want everyone to keep in mind that my seminar class only meets 7 times, so that cuts down on a lot of what I have to do. As long as I graduate in May, its all worth it. Oh, and a little FYI- I'm starting a new blog just for my knitting stuff. So if you have any cool knitting/yarn related links or anything that feel would be appropriate, just pass it my way. I'll set up a link for it on this page as soon as I have it set up.

There's no place like home

Dorothy was right; there is truly no place like home. I'm loving being back and getting back to work, but all my friends seemed to have dropped off the face of the planet. I was really looking forward to hanging out with everyone when I got home, so get on it guys! (Hint hint)

This summer is pretty much going to be similar to last summer, working and hanging out. I'm even working at the same summer camp, but with an upgrade in position. I went from checkpoint to receptionist like that! *snap* The wonders this does for my career.....But all in all, its great to come back to a job where I was liked so much they were after me to come back! The staff is great, and I have a boss that I actually enjoy working for. If I ever again have a summer where I need a job, I know where I can go. It also feels like a relief to have a job, earning money instead of spending it.

As for my sentimental side, I am missing Hong Kong with all my heart. The first week home was so surreal, and I've noticed some major changes in myself, and some others have pointed out. The things I would say I miss the most are my wonderful friends that I made there, both local and other exchange students and the food! Oh, how I miss the food. Hong Kong food is fantastic, but the food in Thailand is like food sex- its that damn good. And cheap!

I know that I was little out of touch while I was in Thailand, but thats what happens when you have to pay for the internet. Needless to say, my trip was beyond fantastic. I'm in love with Thailand. I got to see my best friend, meet great people, try bizare foods, stay with monks, and be there for the King's Diamond Jubilee. And Thai people are some of the most kind hosiptable people you will ever meet. I never had a bad experience with any of the locals. As for were I went, I spent some time in Bangkok- craziest city ever, then in Hua Hin, where Jason's university is and where the king lives. Then we headed back up through Bangkok to a little town near the Burmense border called Pai. Pai was such a small town, but it was wonderful. Its where I ate the best food of my life and swam in a waterfall. I also meet Israelis, South Africans, Germans, and whole bunch of locals. After Pai we headed back down to Chiang Mai, the 2nd largest city for the week long celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee. The Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej has been on the throne for 60 years, which makes him the longest reigning monarch in history. He even outdid Queen Victoria! There were yellow shirts, fireworks, portraits of the king, and parades every way you looked. It was truly spectacula. My favorite event was held in Bangkok; only royalty, both Thai and international, was invited to a viewing of the royal barge parade on the river that circles Bangkok. It was also broadcast nationwide on TV. It was one of the most opulant displays of granduer that I have ever seen. Just breathtaking.....All in all, Thailand was incredible. I miss it so much!

So thats my vacation in a nutshell. There are some other great stories, but they would take way too long to type out, and I think that people would run out of paitence. If you are interested in hearing more, or just wanna talk/hang out, you know where to find me. I'll update over the summer, but I can't promise any excitment to compete with my trip abroad- just me working really. Its good to be home!

Thailand!

So Thailand is awesome, not buts about it. I don't have time to go into detail about everything, but here is a short list of all the awesome things I have done in a little under a week:

• ate frog- yum!
  
• fed/petted an elephant
• had ant egg soup- not that tasty
  
• spent a day and night a socialist Buddhist community
• tried fried grasshoppers
• swam in a waterfall
• went on alms rounds
• met the first ordained female monk in the Thai Theravada tradition
• learned some Thai
• got a job offer to work at a animal shelter in Hua Hin

More to come later when I don't have to pay for the internet. I'll be home soon!