Welcome Back to Hong Kong: The Typhoon Edition

I have returned, yet again, to my beloved city to spend another year of teaching, good food, crazy adventures, and great times with people I care about. As great as this summer was, its beyond nice to finally feel like I am back to my second home. It was last Friday evening that I landed, so this post marks almost exactly a week that I've been back in Hong Kong. The first day back I slept, and slept, and slept. My life was made up of periods of sleeping for 10 hours, and then waking up for 2, (at the most), and then sleeping again.





Heidi convinced me to come out on my second day, on an attempt to normalize myself, and to meet on of her Aussie friends who was visiting. In addition to eating the fabulous egg tarts in Tai Po, (jealous Mom?), and seeing her great folks, we got to catch up on all those moments that we missed; those moments where you wish your friend was right over your shoulder so you can look at them, and make some joke that only the two of you would understand. We had plenty of those moments that day, and plenty more to come soon enough.





A couple of days later, Harina brought dinner over that she and her mother had made for me, which was the sunshine of my day. How often do people cook for you and then bring it to your place? Thanks Harina! We ate delicious Pakistani food and had Heidi and Ben over. I really need to learn how to cook that fried bread and the curry she made for me. I love curry!





The past few days I've mostly spent with Erin, running around our old haunts like Fu Tai, Gold Coast, and the little communities near town center, earning looks from people that seem to shout "What are you doing here? Are you lost?" Which also culminates in a strange look of respect at points when they see that I clearly know where I am going, and that I am not a overwhelmed tourist. Those are some choice ones, where you really feel at home in a strange place, despite not speaking the language and being functionally illiterate.





Right now, at this very second, the big piece of news occupying my life is the status of typhoon Nuri, which just made landfall. All day the Signal 8 flag has been up, and it's expected that the Signal 10 will be hoisted later tonight, which is the highest one, and it means that the typhoon, is going to pass directly over Hong Kong. So far its just been windy and raining, but maintenance has seen fit to protect our windows by doing this. Seriously though, I think that if a typhoon decides to descend on Hong Kong, its going to take a little more then tape to hold together our windows on the 9th floor. I'm looking at it like mother nature decided to put together a show, or sorts, to welcome me back. I don't expect things to really get bad, like Florida in a hurricane, but it will be interesting to see what happens. And I also love big storms like this. My security guards knocked on my door to make sure that I had food to get through the day because they didn't want me leaving the building. To come upstairs, and attempt to communicate through my 5 words of Cantonese, was very sweet of them. I adore all the staff here.




A big CONGRATULATIONS is also due my fantastic older sister Emily, who was just admitted to grad school at Johns Hopkins!!!!! She's worked so hard for this and she really deserved it. I am so proud of you Emmy! She's going to kick quite a lot of academic ass. Seriously folk, she's that awesome, and she is going to do amazing things.

What a welcome back to Hong Kong......

Going back to Hong Kong

Hello Everyone!


For those of you who haven't been counting down the days, hours, and minutes, (unlike myself), I am flying back to Hong Kong on Thursday morning for another year of teaching and mis-adventure! This summer has been filled with touching back down in my roots with good friends, family, and food. As much fun as surreal weekends in Berkeley Springs are, its high time that I return to Hong Kong and the life that I've had there. I've really missed my students, friends, and the food there. And I'm not ashamed to say that I've missed the lifestyle that I enjoy there as well. Nothing like cheap massages at 10pm after delicious Egyptian food, all for under $40US! Who wouldn't want to go back to that? Come on folks, seriously! So, as of 5pm Friday, US East Coast time, I will be back in Hong Kong for the year. My contact info should stay the same, but in case you need it again, here it is:

HB902
Lingnan University
Tuen Mun
New Territories
Hong Kong

So I am expected a lot of love letters, and maybe some no-so loving letters, but that's ok. I just like getting mail. I am also hoping to have more visitors this year, so I am encouraging that for all of you who are still a little wishy-washy about flying out here. How many times are you going to get this opportunity folks? Everyone will be missed dearly!

10 Days!

Just putting it out there, 10 days left until I fly back to Hong Kong, not to return until next May/June!

Updates

Hello everyone! Just a few short updates for everyone:

• Pictures have been updated, including the ones from my trip to Beijing
• I'm going back to HK on August 14th
• Grandpa is fine, as is Bertie
• I've baked two trays of butter tarts

Isn't my life fascinating?

Pictures

I've been playing around on the blog, with the settings and things, and I realized that I have not updated my pictures in forever and a day! Sorry about that folks- more pictures will be on the way soon to enable your procrastination habits! But in the meantime, please enjoy this:

Summer Fun

Another summer is going by, and I have failed to update this thing for a long time. Everything is going well for me this summer; I'm working my old job as a receptionist, bidding my time until I go back to Hong Kong for my second year. I'll be back there on August 15th for a second round of teaching and excitement!

So what have I been up to since that last post from March? I spent my time working and teaching until the second week of May, when my students were done with their final exam. I have to say that I learned a lot this year about how to really deal with people on different levels, both as a friend, and a teacher. Sometimes I want to be both for my students, but I had to learn, (and I am still learning), how to balance these two roles. My students really taught me a few things and have helped me to be a better person. I really cherish the time spent with them, and with my professor, and I cannot wait to see them in the fall. This year should be very interesting. One of my favorite things about my students is watching them grow and enjoy learning new things. This gives me more drive to become a professor one day, even though I shudder at the thought of all the department meetings that will entail. Those are just unpleasant for everyone involved....

After classes and exams let out, Erin, Paula, and I took the 24-hour train from Hong Kong to Beijing to visit the city and see all that there was to see. There was also a double-plus bonus for me; one of my favorite people, Megan, happens to live there, so I had the chance to see one of my dearest friends that I haven't seen in 2 years. Beijing is a fascinating city to me. The one thing that I loved about it, and I know that this makes me a nerd, was that you could actually walk around and touch things that I've only read about or seen on TV, like the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and so on. These things have never seemed real to me, and there I was walking inside history. There is no accurate way of describing it, one must go for themselves. Outside of being a huge culture and history nerd, there was the modern city to enjoy. I expected the city serious and somber, as befitting a national capitol. Instead, to my surprise, I spent 90+% of my trip smiling and laughing. You have to have a good sense of humor when the only commonly spoken English is "Welcome Beijing", or if your lucky, "Welcome to Beijing." If anyone is headed there, and would like to experience the heart of the city, and earn some major street cred, rent a bicycle. It works! That was the absolute favorite thing I did on my trip.

After Beijing, I packed, spent some time with friends, and then headed back home for the summer, via Arizona and a two-week visit with my grandparents. That visit was a really treat since I have not been out to visit them in over 5 years. We didn't do much, because I was attempting to defeat my jet-lag, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that I got to spend quality time with the both of them, and I greatly enjoyed myself. Grandparents are such a wonderful thing, and both sets of mine are fantastic. Memee passed along knitting secrets, and Grandpa countless lessons and stories. I can't wait to go back and see them again!

There have been a few lows this summer; one of my aunties had a stroke, and my other grandfather is having surgery today. My aunt is on the mend, and it is amazing how much the family has rallied around her. We are all thinking of her and ready to help.

So that should catch everyone up on what has been happening in my life since March. I hope that enjoy these tibits, and there should be more to come in the near future!

The Postman hates me....

I have no idea what the postman's problem is, but every time I go to that office, he always has something to say to me. This week I mailed home some things for people, including some scarfs, and he had some opinions on that. At first he seemed happy that I was mailing things home to family and friends, but then when he asked me what was in the them, I got a frown and a lecture. I was mailing home a scarf for my mother when this happened:

Postman: "Oh a scarf for Mommy? Very nice......Chinese style?"
Me: "Um, I'm not sure, some are Chinese, some are not."
Postman: (Long pause where I am being judged) "Chinese style better"

Then I got a long drawn-out glare that made me want to run out of the post office in shame. Why, of all people, does the postman feel the need to judge me on what I send back home? Who put him in charge? I'm going to have to find a new post office now, where they don't judge me and glare at me.....

So other than my postal adventures, things are going pretty well here. My friend/former housemate was here for a visit and that was so much fun, even if going to Macau sucked. Its turning to spring here, and I think that I will spend the rest of my day outside reading. Heidi took me to a new yarn store, and I spent some money there, buying lots of yarn. My hostel kids are going to the finals of the inter-hostel debate competition, and I think that I have this job for another year! I'm also putting my summer plans together which should include, (hopefully), some traveling here, a visit with my grandparents in AZ, maybe Bonaroo Music Festival, and of course, working again. That's all the news from the homefront- I'm going to run out and enjoy the sunshine!